“Copeland Center Timing”
January 2002
New Times Article
By Dave Romero
To Honorable Mayor and City Council
Subject: Water Impact Fee Increase—April 16, 2002
The Council is considering raising the impact fee for new connections from $7095/house (already the highest within the county or among comparison cities) to $11,256/house, which will be BY FAR the highest in the county or among comparison cities. Most of this fee increase is driven by the inclusion of costs for a "Reliability Reserve". Water customers will pay $3.1 million every year though it may NEVER be used
I believe city water users would be well served by a reconsideration of this costly approach to reliability and deferring this fee increase until after the fundamental approach has been reviewed. Rather than continually paying for excess water from one source, I believe reliability can more effectively be achieved by utilizing many different water supply sources. Thus if one fails to produce full yield, other sources can fill the need.
The City currently relies on 2 sources of supply:
- Salinas Dam
- Whale Rock Dam
- Limited pumping from Los Osos Valley
The City could greatly increase reliability by:
- Agreement with Morro Bay for joint use of Desal plant
- A connection to the State Water pipeline which is adjacent to our city.
- An agreement with the Dalidio family permitting city pumping and use of water historically used for farming, thereby greatly increasing Los Osos valley water.
If all three of these additional sources were obtained, the city would have 5 separate water sources, and supplies would be VERY secure, more reliable than any other community I have heard of. Costs for adding these sources would be minimal and would allow elimination of the 2000 ac/ft reserve and its $3.1 million /yr cost. This might result in REDUCED water impact fees and water rates rather than INCREASED fees and rates.
San Luis Obispo housing costs are among the highest in the nation, with city fees adding significantly to the cost. Young families cannot afford to live here (including our own children and grandchildren), and San Luis Obispo is rapidly becoming a city of seniors and students, with fewer and fewer moderate-income families able to afford housing and provide vitality.
The fee issue is so fundamental to our community that I urge the Council to defer adding these fees until the alternatives have been thoroughly considered.
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