Avon Lake developer Kopf Construction Corp. was ordered by a Lorain County Common Pleas Court judge to pay the $379,600 in fees plus interest to the Avon Lake Board of Municipal Utilities.
Common Pleas Judge John Miraldi issued the ruling May 3, according to a news release from the utilities board.
The ruling ended a two-year legal battle.
The board was suing Kopf Construction for nonpayment of its delinquent trunk sanitary sewer and inspection fees totaling $379,600 for the construction of numerous units within the Aqua Marine Apartment complex in Avon Lake.
The board also contends that Kopf owes $239,058 for new units constructed since the legal battle began, bringing the total owed to Avon Lake Regional Water to $618,658, plus interest charges.
However, Miraldi’s ruling only awarded the board $379,600.
Collection of the sewer connection fee was expressly vested in the board per a 1984 municipal ordinance, the release said.
The ordinance also specifically authorized the board to distinguish between all Avon Lake properties that were either improved or unimproved – the fee to be charged only upon the unimproved parcels.
The Aqua Marine development is a 53-acre site that once was home to Aqua Marine Resort, which featured an 18-hole golf course.
“The board determined that the acreage of the old course itself was unimproved so that Kopf’s development of the links is subject to the connection fee,” according to the release. “Kopf disagreed, essentially arrogating to itself the determination of fees from the board.
“The collection of fees is an essential function of the Board of Municipal Utilities, and the court has affirmed this power and accompanying duty,” said John Dzwonczyk, chairman of the ALRW board.. It would be impossible for Avon Lake Regional Water to maintain the state’s lowest water rates if we were not diligent in the collection of fees, and intentional delinquency, as has occurred in this case, is an unreasonable burden for those users who are compliant,” said John Dzwonczyk, chairman of the ALRW board.
Kenneth R. Resar, who represented Kopf Construction in the lawsuit, did not return a call for comment.
