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Council hears update on secondary-water impact-fee study, irrigation ponds and NRCS funding
Summary
City staff told the Hurricane City Council that Alpha Engineering’s secondary-water impact-fee study is nearly complete and will be presented for discussion in October, with adoption possible in November; the study separates the city into three service areas and expects higher fees tied to fair‑market water costs.
City staff told the work meeting the Alpha Engineering impact-fee study for secondary (pressurized) irrigation is near completion and will be ready for council review in October, with an action item possible in November.
Alpha Engineering is finalizing the analysis and city staff said they expect Zions Bank to provide updated financing input for the model. The study will break the city into three service areas: (1) the historical canal area (existing canal-served neighborhoods), (2) the Gateway/Sand Hollow/Dixie Springs area (planned service area with separate supply and costs) and (3) “everywhere else,” where the city does not plan to acquire secondary water and developments would pay the full water district impact fee. Because the city will purchase water in some areas and fair‑market appraisals are being used, staff told the council the secondary-water impact fee is expected to increase from current levels.
Staff said they will present the plan for council discussion at the second council meeting in October and hoped to bring an adoption action item in November. “There’s a public notice requirement to adopt an impact fee,” a staff member said; updated appraisals from lenders are still pending and will affect final numbers.
Separately, public-works staff reported progress on the large irrigation infrastructure project: contractors will begin pouring concrete for two settling ponds (each described as multi-million-gallon capacity) in the next two weeks and are coordinating with NRCS (U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service) on on‑farm funding. Staff said NRCS funds are available to cover up to 50 percent of on‑farm conversion costs for early-phase applicants and urged property owners in the first phase to apply within the next 45 days to qualify for NRCS assistance; however NRCS payment timing could be delayed until May 1 of the following year.
Why it matters: the impact-fee study determines how much new development will pay to connect to pressurized secondary water in different parts of the city and whether the city will acquire secondary supplies. The NRCS support and the settling ponds are key pieces for delivering secondary irrigation to farms and subdivisions; council members emphasized timing and interagency coordination before fees are finalized.
Provenance: discussion began with an update to council about consultant progress and ended with staff scheduling the October presentation and summarizing NRCS application deadlines.
