Water fight ends in favor of OKC home developer

Oklahoma City developer Garrett and Company came away with a Denver Federal Appeals Court ruling in its legal fight with the Deer Creek Water Corp.

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a 2021 lower court ruling that agreed with the developer, the conditions to get water service from Deer Creek were “unreasonable, excessive and confiscatory,” reported the Journal Record.

It means Garrett will be able to get its water supply from Oklahoma City. The case went to court when Deer Creek put restrictive requirements on Garrett in order to supply the developer with water for the housing subdivision being developed.

The cost of development of four wells for the homes ranged from about $2 million to more than $4 million. An Oklahoma City federal judge found that had Garrett met the cost demands of Deer Creek, it would have resulted in an actual profit for the community.

Deer Creek appealed and in a recent ruling, the Appeals Court stated, “Deer Creek has the burden on appeal to convince this court that the district court erred significantly enough to justify overturning a multifactor balancing test on clear error review. As we now explain, it cannot meet that burden.”