INSIDE

Water allotment method still to be divined

By Meg Olson

Point Roberts water district commissioners continue to work with legal experts on a way to hand out the 162 additional water connections authorized by the state department of health, and they aren’t in a hurry about selecting the most fair and legally unassailable method.

“I’m always worried about the culpability the district could have by excluding anybody,” said commissioner Renee Coe at the March 9 water district meeting. “That’s the only way to make it fair and equitable to the people who now depend on the system,” agreed fellow commissioner Madeleine Anderson.

Commissioners agreed to authorize an additional five hours of consultation between district manager Dan Bourks and an attorney from the insurance pool that would be defending the district in the case of a legal challenge to the way commissioners choose to allot the water connections. They also agreed to have district attorney John Milne come to Point Roberts for a public meeting, which has now been tentatively set for May. In the meantime, the district will continue to operate under a moratorium on new connections.

One of the methods being discussed, Bourks said, was to hand out available connections on a first-come, first-served basis, but to set up criteria to ensure the connections were used, such as only issuing them to properties with septic permits and requiring a building permit be secured in six months. “All I’ve heard from are people who want to build and are ready to go,” Bourks said. “A homeowner who wants to build now will make us more money than a speculator and we’re in the business of selling water.”

Randy Forsythe, representing Stanton Properties, was a new face at the meeting among the group of stymied prospective homeowners ready to build but without water. Stanton Properties has acquired 102 acres west of Claire Lane, and they plan a subdivision with 80 to 100 lots. The plan Bourks had discussed based on septic permits, he explained, would cut out developers. “I can only get two with the zoning the way it is and I need 100 to proceed so I’d be precluded,” he said.

Forsythe also cautioned commissioners against setting a new general facilities fee that only requires new customers to buy into the system, and not for future anticipated needs for growth, if some people were going to be excluded from getting a connection now by the criteria of the allotment.

Commissioners have approved a new rate structure that will start in April. They will decide the new general facilities fee at their April 13 meeting.