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Council reviews options to fund 3900 West water improvements; staff to discuss engineering options at Friday session
Summary
City engineers and developers reviewed several options to upgrade water supply on 3900 West, including a local transmission upgrade, a connection to Iron County Water Conservancy District or an extended line along Lund Highway. Officials also discussed a proposed reimbursement fee area to spread costs over benefitting parcels.
At a lengthy work session, Cedar City staff, outside consultants and council members discussed options to address inadequate fire‑flow and supply constraints in the 3900 West / Lehi area. Tim Watson (consultant) and City Engineer Jonathan Staphos reviewed multiple engineering alternatives: extend a new transmission main under Highway 56 and the railroad (boring estimated around $200,000 for that crossing alone), a connection to the Iron County Water Conservancy District (which would likely require larger pipe and could cost $1.5 million or more), or a longer transmission route (Port 15) that would be costlier but provide redundancy.
A technical complication is pressure regime and hydraulic grade. Staff explained that district tanks are lower in elevation than Cedar City’s planned hydraulic grade, which means a district tie would generally be one‑way unless additional pumping and PRV changes are made. The city must also reduce excessively high pressures on parts of its existing system; staff said they will discuss specific pressure reduction and chlorination steps during a dedicated Friday engineering session.
Consultants presented a draft reimbursement area map and several options to charge a per‑unit fee that would be collected at permit (or on final plat for whole phases). The intent is to spread the capital cost among all properties that benefit from the upgrade; staff proposed a 10‑year sunset for reimbursement agreements, a common industry standard. Council members pressed for a fixed per‑unit charge to prevent developers from pulling large numbers of building permits before a fee is adopted. Tim Watson proposed a per‑unit fee framework and said staff will return with a recommended dollar amount once design choices are clearer.
Council and residents also discussed whether the city should use existing city capital funds to accelerate work: staff said about $300,000 of an earlier $1.2 million budget line remains available after other commitments. Several council members urged that the city consider partial funding or spreading costs across the broader benefitting area rather than placing the entire burden on the most recent developers. No final decision was made; staff will return with engineering options from the Friday session and a proposed fee amount for council action.
