The guidelines would have cost the developer $6.5 million, according to Robert M. Bushkoff, a representative of Kansas-Lincoln.
The county argued that the requested contributions were voluntary and therefore legal.
According to testimony, however, of 50 such applications approved by the county since January 2001, all but six developers committed to meeting the affordable housing guidelines in place at the time. Those six already were affordable housing developments.
An attorney for the developers derided the county's effort as putting "the holy water of voluntariness on the whole exercise."
County Attorney Stephen A. MacIsaac said yesterday that the county would study its options, including appeal.
Favola said she was aware that the county's guidelines were vulnerable to a court challenge. She said the county last year had asked for a 5 percent contribution of space and then boosted it this year to 10 percent.
Board members felt pressure to ask more of developers because each new project in Arlington gets more resistance from neighbors. Deriving a larger community benefit from such projects made it more feasible politically to approve them, she said.
"Arlington, like other places, has people who say, 'I don't want any more growth,' " Favola said. "We, the county board, were willing to stand up to that. But we said we will make growth worth your while.
"We kept upping the bar [on affordable housing]," despite protests from developers, Favola said. "We couldn't tell if they were just bullying us, or if this was going to be a big, big deal."
Staff writer Annie Gowen contributed to this report.
