But now the city of 7,000 has been hit with a pair of new lawsuits in 3rd District Court.

Home-builder Parry Farms, which is developing 190 acres in the city, is asking for $22 million.

It alleges Bluffdale unilaterally changed a signed contract and that the city won't let Bank of America release $2.5 million of its total $10 million in deposits. The 125-page lawsuit also says the city refused to issue building and occupancy permits.

Salt Lake City attorney Lee Curtis said developers claim additional damages because the permit-less property is "unsalable."

Mike Sorensen, manager of Parry Farms, suspects Mayor Claudia Anderson is trying to ruin the company because it supported the City Council in recent intergovernmental struggles that led to a court fight and a referendum vote, stripping Anderson of her executive powers and handing them to a city manager.

"This may be another situation where the questionable actions of this mayor will financially affect every Bluffdale City resident," Sorensen said in a news release.

Anderson did not return calls Thursday, but Councilwoman Nancy Lord said this issue was the council's call. She said open-space amenities have not yet been completed, and it would be foolish for the city to release funds until the developer finishes the job.

Curtis counters, in a chicken-and-egg argument, that the developer cannot finish ballparks and trails until the city releases the $2.5 million.

In the other fresh suit, 23 residents want to nullify a recent deal between Bluffdale and a drug- and alcohol-rehabilitation center. That accord, carved out to avoid a fair-housing suit the city feared it would lose, allowed the business to operate in a residential neighborhood.

Some plaintiffs have said they want the agreement thrown out and the center built away from their children and a nearby charter school.

Lord, who is not up for re-election this fall, wonders why these suits are emerging right before a city election.

"It makes me feel like some of this is being done to influence the outcome of the City Council election," she said. "We tried to make the best decisions for the city as a whole, and now we're being sued over both of those."

sgehrke@sltrib.com