INSIDE

No date yet on water hookups

By Meg Olson

Point Roberts water district commissioners could offer no new information this month about when they might start handing out water system connections again, and a crowd of 13 frustrated property owners left the monthly water board meeting to share their beefs outside the district offices.

“We can’t give you a time or a date when this is going to be resolved,” said water commissioner Renée Coe at the April 12 district board meeting. “Everything has taken a lot longer than we had anticipated and legally we have to take everything step by step.”

Patty Boyd said an ad they had run in the All Point Bulletin asking for all those who wanted a water connection to contact her had gathered the names of 36 property owners so far. “The point is there are people out there who are contacting us from the U.S., Canada, even South America, and they’re concerned,” she said. “Why can you not start taking applications?”

“We’re in a moratorium and we haven’t decided which way to go,” said district manager Dan Bourks. The moratorium was put in place in July 2005 when district staff were faced with a sudden surge in demand for a dwindling number of water connections allowed under the existing comprehensive plan. A new plan has been prepared and was submitted to state regulators last month.

Property owners like Sandy Moniz-Lecce asked commissioners for a best guess on when they would begin allotting water connections again, so she could decide if they would ask Whatcom County to extend their building permit. “We applied for a permit in 2005 and now it is 2007,” Moniz-Lecce said. “We’ve been patient.”

A new concern, she said, was that the county would be implementing building code changes in July and there was a worry property owners would have to “start all over again” on their permits if they hadn’t put the last piece in place by then: a water connection.

“We don’t have anything to do with Whatcom County planning and development services,” Coe said. “You applied for this permit while we were in a water moratorium. That was a risk you took.”

Whatcom County building official Sam Ryan confirmed as of July 1 the county will be reviewing permits under the 2006 International Code Council building code. “There are some changes. It’s not massive,” she said. “It’s a model code and it changes every three years.

Ryan said they were aware of eight property owners whose permits were on hold, waiting for water verification. “Everything else is done,” she said. Normally those permits would expire in 180 days and the applicants would need to reapply, but Ryan said in this case they were granting extensions to the end of 2007 if applicants paid for all services so far except for the permit fee.

“It’s not really through any fault of their own so if they put their reason in writing we’ll give them that extension,” she said. “The question is, how long can we do that?” If they can’t get water by the end of 2007 applicants would need to reapply under the new code.

Bourks told audience members at the April water district meeting that the next step on the road to allocating water connections would be to determine a new general facilities charge (GFC) for new connections, and to hold a public hearing on the new fee. Bourks said he hoped to hold that meeting in May. “Hopefully,” he added. “We are working with four other people on this and we have to coordinate scheduling with them.” As the All Point Bulletin went to press no meeting date had been set.

Once commissioners adopt a new GFC, they will need to determine how to allot the 160 water connections the state will currently allow them to issue. “Let’s take the next month and sink our teeth into that again,” Coe said.

District legal staff is reviewing an agreement with local developers to have them contribute financially in building additional storage, which, under the new comprehensive plan, will allow the district to issue more connections. “We’re ready,” said Randy Forsyth of Staunton Properties, which last month purchased 36 acres from the Butler family for $3 million intending to develop a possible 100-lot subdivision.

Commissioners said they would also be looking past the current moratorium to long-term water supply options, from rainwater harvesting to negotiating a new contract with Canadian water authorities. “Water’s going to be a way bigger thing than the price of oil in the future,” Coe said.