Standard Optical Co. v. Salt Lake City Corp.

535 P.2d 1150, 1975 Utah LEXIS 698
CourtUtah Supreme Court
DecidedMay 9, 1975
DocketNo. 13924
StatusPublished

This text of 535 P.2d 1150 (Standard Optical Co. v. Salt Lake City Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Utah Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Standard Optical Co. v. Salt Lake City Corp., 535 P.2d 1150, 1975 Utah LEXIS 698 (Utah 1975).

Opinions

ELLETT, Justice:

The defendants had for a number of years considered forming a special improvement district for downtown Salt Lake City. They had appointed an ad hoc citizens committee for the purpose of considering the nature of the improvements which should be made.

[1152]*1152In December, 1973, the city engineer submitted to the Board of Salt Lake City Commissioners a cost estimate of the proposed improvement, which was approved by the Board. A Notice of Intention was prepared by the city attorney and approved by the Board providing that it was the intention to make the following described improvements :

To remove all existing curbs, gutters, sidewalks and street paving and construct new street paving, pedestrian paving, landscape structures, planters and planting, curbs and gutters, together with new street lighting and drainage structures, and to do all other work necessary to complete the project in accordance with Salt Lake City Standards.

The Notice of Intention further provided:

All other necessary things shall be done to complete the whole project in a proper and workmanlike manner according to plans, profiles and specifications on file in the office of the Salt Lake City Engineer. .

It set forth the boundaries of the proposed district and the estimated cost of the improvements. The property owners were to be assessed a charge of not to exceed $505 per front foot, and the city was to pay the remainder of the estimated cost in the amount of $872,405.20. It further provided that protests should be filed on or before January 16, 1974, and that any protests so filed would be considered on January 17, 1974.

The Notice of Intention was published pursuant to law,1 and on December 26, 1973, a copy thereof was duly mailed to the registered owners of each lot, parcel or plot of real property located within the proposed Special Improvement District.

On January 17, 1974, at a regularly scheduled meeting of the Board of City Commissioners all written protests were received, filed, and referred to the city engineer, the city attorney, and the Planning and Zoning Department for reports and tabulation. Furthermore, every person present at the meeting was given an opportunity to make protest and to state any objections which he cared to make to the proposed Special Improvement District. It was then decided that a second meeting should be held after a complete tabulation of the written protests was made.

The next day a notice was sent to all registered property owners within the proposed district requesting their attendance at the second meeting to be held on January 25, 1974, at 2:00 p. m., in the commission chambers. In addition thereto, notice of the meeting was published on January 21, 1974, in a newspaper having general circulation in the city and county.

A tabulation of the protests filed showed that less than two thirds of the owners of the property to he assessed were opposed to the proposed district, to wit, only 49.15 per cent, or, if three questionable protests were counted, there would be 51.23 per cent.

At the announced meeting on January 25, 1974, there were more people in attendance than there had been at the meeting held January 17, 1974. All of the plaintiffs herein were either present in person or through counsel, and all who desired to speak either for or against the proposed district were given an opportunity to do so. After the meeting a number of those who previously had protested the matter withdrew their protests, so that the final number of protestants was only 44.4 per cent of the total owners within the district.

On or about February 13, 1974, the defendants approved the plans and specifications of the architect and caused to be duly published a notice to contractors requesting the submission of bids to be opened on March 7, 1974, The date of opening the bids was subsequently postponed until March 21, 1974. Only two bids were received, each on a “line item” basis, but at a price greatly in excess of the estimated cost of the improvement. [1153]*1153Because of the assurance given by the city to the property owners that the cost would not exceed $505 per front foot, the city undertook to eliminate or change some of the proposed improvements.

Based upon the opinion of the consulting architects and the facts before the city commission, it was determined to make certain modifications and deletions which would have no adverse effects on the aesthetic appearance or the overall general utility of the project. Thereafter a “Target Vitality” summary sheet containing possible revisions to the lowest base bid was prepared which brought the cost of the project to a figure within the original estimate.

A notice of another meeting to be held April 16, 1974, was sent to all property owners. A summary of the proposed changes patterned after the “Target Vitality” summary was distributed to all persons attending the meeting, and all persons desiring to be heard were permitted to speak.

The adjusted line bid of Gibbons & Reed Company as computed by the city was below the engineer’s preliminary estimate and below a similarly adjusted bid of Shocker Construction Company, the other bidder on the project. The contract was thereupon awarded to Gibbons & Reed Company.

The appellants claim that the formation of Improvement District Curb and Gutter Extension No. 38 — 480 was irregular and contrary to law because certain changes in the vehicular-traveled portion of the street were not stated in the Notice of Intention and were not made by a regularly enacted ordinance. They also claim that the contract with Gibbons & Reed Company was not awarded pursuant to law. They make other assertions of error as offshoots of the foregoing.

To begin with, it is to be noted that the establishment of an improvement district by a municipality in pursuance of statutory power is a legislative act which is conclusive in the absence of any evidence that it was procured by fraud or of proof that it is manifestly arbitrary or unreasonable or unjust and oppressive.2

There can be no claim of fraud in regard to this matter, nor is there anything arbitrary, unreasonable, unjust or oppressive about it. If there could be any such claim, the burden of proving the same would be upon the plaintiffs herein,3 and there is no evidence to justify it.

The appellants assert that by deleting certain of the plans and specifications and inserting new ones in the contract, particularly in narrowing that part of the street used for vehicular traffic, the city did not act in accordance with law, and that had the property owners known that such was to be done, there would have been more protests filed, to wit, more than two thirds, which under the statute4 would have prevented the formation of the district. They rely upon the case of Gwilliam v. Ogden City5 in support of their claim. However, since that case was decided, the law regarding the notice of intention existing at the time has been repealed and a new law6 enacted which only requires that the improvements proposed be described in a general way. Not only were the improvements described generally in the notice of intention, but the notice specifically referred to the plans ánd specifications in the office of the city engineer.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
535 P.2d 1150, 1975 Utah LEXIS 698, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/standard-optical-co-v-salt-lake-city-corp-utah-1975.