Idaho
Lawsuit goes after Idaho Falls' impact fees – East Idaho News
IDAHO FALLS – A lawsuit filed against the city of Idaho Falls alleges the ordinance implementing impact fees for contractors is unlawful, excessive and detrimental to local businesses.
The Eastern Idaho Home Builders Association, which consists of about 100 business owners and home builders throughout eastern Idaho, filed the suit in October. A spokesperson for the group, who didn’t want to be named over concerns of backlash during a pending lawsuit, tells EastIdahoNews.com the way the ordinance is worded and carried out is illegal and they’re seeking changes to the law.
The purpose of impact fees is to manage growth effectively. In 2022, the city had seen a steady increase in the population and adopted the fees to help fund infrastructure improvement projects.
RELATED | Impact fees could become a way to fund growth and development projects in Idaho Falls
Developers are responsible for paying those fees when a building project gets underway, as outlined in Idaho law.
The home builders association says impact fees are being collected during the permit process, which is illegal.
“If you develop and sell lots to anyone who wants to build — whether it’s homeowners or builders — the buyer is paying those fees when they go in to get a permit,” a spokesperson for the group says.
Before adopting impact fees, the city launched an impact study to provide a long-term growth outlook and how impact fees could be applied.
EIHBA members say the city’s 75-page document supporting the fees are flawed, and the fees themselves are not directly tied to the impact of new developments.
Different groups are responsible for paying their fair share to infrastructure costs, which are outlined in a document on the city’s website.
The EIHBA alleges the ordinance imposes disproportionate fees on developers. The spokesperson cites one instance in particular when a group of developers investing in a project were required to pay $1 million in impact fees on top of other expenses. In this case, developers were “caught in the middle.”
That was one of several instances that led the association to take legal action.
“These impact fees are not just a burden on developers; they have a ripple effect throughout our community,” the EIHBA Legal Action Committee says in a news release. “Higher development costs lead to increased rent prices for businesses, which then have to raise prices on goods and services. This affects everyone — from the cost of groceries and dining out to housing affordability.”
The goal of the lawsuit, according to the spokesperson for the group, is not to do away with impact fees entirely. They’re hoping to address the errors with city officials and to work with them “to find a legally sound, equitable approach to managing growth.”
EastIdahoNews.com reached out to the city for a response, and city spokesman Eric Grossarth sent us a written statement on the city’s behalf.
“With the City of Idaho Falls facing explosive growth, there were, and continue to be, significant challenges maintaining the public’s expected level of service for public safety, roads and parks for our residents. In 2022, impact fees were adopted as one of the only tools established by the Idaho Legislature to allow growth to pay for growth, rather than new growth being subsidized by existing taxpayers.”
“The City has great confidence in the judicial system. We intend to respond to the lawsuit from the Eastern Idaho Homebuilders Association through the proper legal channels and trust that the courts can provide a fair outcome for everyone.”
An EIHBA spokesperson says the city has responded to the lawsuit. The case is now headed to mediation, where both parties will try to settle the matter out of court. If mediation is unsuccessful, the case will go to trial.
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PAYETTE — A Payette mom’s bond was revoked Tuesday after she was charged with suffocating her twin children earlier this month and is believed to pose a danger to the life of her newborn child.
The case, which has drawn national headlines, concerns Andrea Renee Shaw, a 23-year-old Payette mother who in May 2025 said her 18-month-old fraternal twins died the same day, after receiving routine childhood vaccinations. In January, Shaw joined as a plaintiff in a federal lawsuit filed by Children’s Health Defense, an anti-vaccine organization founded by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., with several other plaintiffs claiming vaccine injury or death.
Kennedy, who now serves as secretary of Health and Human Services, is no longer part of the group after taking on the cabinet position, as was reported by the Associated Press.
In Idaho, the twins’ deaths prompted a 14-month investigation by the Payette County Sheriff’s Department. On June 29, the investigation yielded a grand jury indictment of Shaw on two counts of first-degree murder by suffocation. If convicted, Shaw can be punished by up to life in prison or the death penalty, and the court would have the ability to order the penalties be served consecutively, or back to back.
Tuesday’s arraignment at the Payette County Courthouse was primarily attended by Shaw’s relatives and members of the media. Payette County Judge Kiley Stuchlik, who serves Idaho’s Third Judicial District, presided.
A key consideration for Stuchlik on Tuesday was a request from Joseph Filicetti, the legal counsel for Shaw, to have her bond reduced from $2 million to $100,000. Filicetti said this would allow for Shaw to care for a newborn girl, who, according to court documents, was born by caesarean section on June 25, four days prior to Shaw’s grand jury indictment.
State prosecutors objected to the motion for bond reduction, noting at hand was a potential death penalty case and asserting, unlike her husband, Shaw’s story repeatedly changed during questioning. Prosecuting Attorney Mike Duke said releasing Shaw would ultimately put the newborn’s safety at risk.
“That child is the most at risk. We do not think she should be allowed to be anywhere near any children, let alone her own children,” Duke said.
Stuchlik decided to revoke bond entirely, stating Shaw posed a “risk of safety” to the newborn child that was not known to Stuchlik or prosecutors when the $2 million bond was initially set.
Also for consideration Tuesday was a request to have grand jury transcripts of witness testimony provided to prosecutors and defense counsel to prepare their respective cases.
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