The Iowa Supreme Court will not review lower court opinions that a West Des Moines stormwater district violates state law, bringing the three-year-old case to an end.

In 2015, the West Des Moines City Council approved ordinances that charged a fee for new developments in the Sugar Creek watershed, an area of hills and valleys south of Interstate 80 in the area of Grand Prairie Parkway on the west side of the city.

The city claimed that it was creating a utility district and that fees for bridges and culverts that channeled stormwater to Sugar Creek and the Raccoon River could be spread among owners of development land in the area. The city fee was $4,962 per acre, charged when developers submitted plans for a subdivision or obtained construction permits. The area initially covered nearly 2,600 acres, but was reduced to 1,500 acres as the city eliminated land that was already developed or could not be developed.

In October 2015, attorney George LaMarca filed a lawsuit on behalf of developer Steve Gillotti’s Interchange Partners, claiming the city was looking for a way to build roads, not manage stormwater.

Gillotti owned about 40 acres in the area, most of which has since been sold to Hubbell Realty Co.

In December 2016, Dallas County District Judge Paul Huscher sided with LaMarca and Gillotti, and chided West Des Moines, saying that nature had created the utility — waterways and drainage slopes.

Huscher, citing case law dating to the late 19th century, held that nature created the utility “eons ago through glacial flow and erosion. Rainwater falling on the petitioner’s property runs downhill through the naturally occurring waterways. … Those waterways and drainage slopes were not constructed by the city, are not owned by the city, and will not be maintained or improved by the city of West Des Moines. The placement of culverts under roadways, as those streets are built, will do nothing to improve stormwater drainage from the upstream properties. The culverts, at best, will permit the continued drainage the private property owners currently enjoy and to which they are legally entitled.”

The three-judge panel of the Iowa Court of Appeals agreed with Huscher in April 2018.

Even if the culverts qualified as a city sewer facility, there was not “equitable apportionment of taxes” based on benefits to property owners, given that the connection fee was charged to owners of undeveloped property, according to the appellate court opinion.

Last week a unanimous Iowa Supreme Court said it would not review those opinions.

West Des Moines City Manager Tom Hadden said after the previous court rulings that the city might seek legislation that would change state law. Hadden could not be reached for comment today.

After the first court ruling, the city created an escrow account to hold developers’ stormwater fees pending the outcome of the case.