Alexander Loop, LLC v. City of Eugene

444 P.3d 1116, 297 Or. App. 775
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedMay 30, 2019
DocketA166156
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 444 P.3d 1116 (Alexander Loop, LLC v. City of Eugene) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Alexander Loop, LLC v. City of Eugene, 444 P.3d 1116, 297 Or. App. 775 (Or. Ct. App. 2019).

Opinion

SHORR, J.

*777This case involves claims for breach of contract and unjust enrichment brought by a group of property developers against the City of Eugene. Plaintiffs had received permission from the city to develop a 23-acre property with residential and commercial units. As part of the development process, plaintiffs agreed to undertake certain improvements to the transportation infrastructure near the development. Plaintiffs' claims are based on allegations that the city failed to fully reimburse plaintiffs, as agreed in a letter, for approximately $ 1.3 million in "system development charges" (SDCs) based on SDC credits that plaintiffs would generate through those infrastructure improvements. The trial court granted the city's motion for summary judgment on plaintiffs' claims for breach of contract and unjust enrichment. For the reasons explained below, we affirm, concluding that (1) the letter agreement does not contain a promise by the city to pay plaintiffs $ 1.3 million but only an estimate of the SDC credits that plaintiffs would receive from the infrastructure improvements and (2) the city was not unjustly enriched under the circumstances of this case.1

I. BACKGROUND

This case turns on whether the city was obligated to reimburse plaintiffs for SDC credits generated during the course of the development project. We begin with an explanation of the applicable laws governing SDCs and SDC credits. We then summarize the material facts, consistently with our standard of review of a grant of summary judgment, in the light most favorable to plaintiffs as the nonmoving party. Evans v. City of Warrenton , 283 Or. App. 256, 258-59, 388 P.3d 1167 (2016).

SDCs are fees that cities may charge developers to account for the increased demand on certain infrastructure systems caused by *1119new development. ORS 223.299(4)(a). Cities typically assess SDCs for "capital improvements" associated with the new development. Capital improvements are *778defined by statute as public assets or facilities used for the following city infrastructure systems:

"(A) Water supply, treatment and distribution;
"(B) Waste water collection, transmission, treatment and disposal;
"(C) Drainage and flood control;
"(D) Transportation; or
"(E) Parks and recreation."

ORS 223.299(1)(a).

Cities that assess SDCs must also provide developers with credits against those fees for the construction of a "qualified public improvement," i.e. , "a capital improvement that is required as a condition of development approval." ORS 223.304(4). By default, SDC credits offset only like-kind SDCs charged for the type of improvement being constructed. ORS 223.304(5)(a).2 In other words, SDC credits are system-specific, and credits generated as a result of a qualified public improvement in one type of system-transportation, wastewater treatment, and so on-cannot be applied to offset SDCs assessed as a result of a development's effects on a different system. Developers can, however, bank excess credits to offset like-kind SDCs assessed in subsequent phases of the same development. ORS 223.304(5)(c).3 Notwithstanding that default restriction, local governments have the option to establish a system for the transferability of credits between infrastructure systems "if a local government so chooses." Id .

*779The Eugene City Council has adopted code provisions governing the city's imposition of SDCs on developers as well as the generation of SDC credits. Eugene Code (EC) 7.700 - 7.740. The city council enacted the city's SDC scheme to "impose an equitable share of the public cost of capital improvements upon those developments that create the need for or increase the demands on capital improvements." EC 7.700.

The city's SDC scheme largely duplicates the scheme provided by state law. Developers in Eugene can accrue SDC credits by making qualified public improvements associated with a development project. EC 7.730(4). As under state law, SDC credits under the city code are awarded on a system-by-system basis and offset only like-kind SDCs associated with burdens on a particular infrastructure system, such as stormwater, wastewater, or, as in this case, transportation. Id . Developers may bank excess credits for subsequent phases of the same development project but cannot transfer credits to other projects or between systems. EC 7.730(6), (7).

Notably for this case, the city code expressly prohibits developers from transferring credits approved for one type of capital improvement to offset SDCs associated with burdens on a different system. EC 7.730(4) ("The credit provided for by this subsection shall apply only to the improvement fee imposed for the type of improvement being constructed."). For example, if a developer generates transportation SDC credits, it may use those credits to offset only transportation SDCs up to but not exceeding the sum total of transportation SDCs assessed for the entire development project. The developer may not use those credits to offset SDCs assessed as a result of effects on other city infrastructure systems, such as wastewater or stormwater sewer systems, even if the total number of SDC credits for any system exceeds *1120the total SDCs for that system. The city did not elect, in other words, to provide for transferability of credits despite having that option under ORS 223.304(5)(c). Thus, although a developer may receive SDC credits in excess of the total SDCs assessed in any particular system over the life of a development project, the city code prohibits the city *780from reimbursing the developer for credits that exceed the SDCs associated with that system or allowing the developer to transfer those credits to SDCs in other systems. EC 7.730(4), (7).

In this case, the development project consisted of a 23-acre plot known as Goodpasture Island with an apartment complex, a senior-housing facility, and commercial units.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
444 P.3d 1116, 297 Or. App. 775, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/alexander-loop-llc-v-city-of-eugene-orctapp-2019.