Point Roberts water district commissioners gave lawyers the go-ahead to draft a new policy that would require complete payment of the general facilities charge (GFC) before the district issues a certificate of water availability.

“We’ve found when we take a $500 deposit, we have a hard time getting the other $5,000 out of developers,” district commission chair Scott Hackleman told attorney John Milne in a January 10 teleconference.

Under the current system, applicants pay a deposit and an administrative fee to get a certificate of water availability they can take to the county to be able to move ahead with permitting. Once the project is permitted, the remaining fees are due.

The system has several drawbacks, Hackleman said. While applicants for a single-family home usually pay their fees and connect to the system as soon as they are permitted and begin building, developers may get a subdivision approved and not sell a lot for years. They frequently leave the district hanging for the rest of the fees. “Basically we’re taking responsibility for the infrastructure and they aren’t paying to maintain it,” he said.

Hackleman asked Milne about the possibility of putting a lien on one short plat that was delinquent in paying their GFCs, and Milne recommended they discuss litigation at another time in closed session. The golf course residential development purchased 60 water availability certificates and, with the zoning approved, now owes the district $300,000 in fees.

“With the speculative nature up here they’re gambling with our system,” district manager Dan Bourks said. “We have all this infrastructure but not enough people throwing into the pot.”

Paying all fees upfront would also clear up the murky question of what a water availability certificate means. “The county sees these availabilities as guarantees of water,” he said. “If they pay the full GFC up front, it is a guarantee.”

Commissioners also discussed the need for new policies that would allow the fees to be refunded if a project was not permitted and at what point the district would install a meter and start charging a monthly fee for water. “For me the biggest sticky wicket is when do we start charging for water,” Hackleman said.

Bourks said at present there were vacant lots that had paid to secure a water connection but had not installed a meter and so were not paying for the water. “It’s both a planning and a financial question,” Milne said. “Those vacant lots have a guarantee of water but aren’t paying for the system.”

Bourks said he hopes to have a new policy available for commissioners to review at their February 14 meeting.