Carpinteria water district outlines proposed one‑time impact fee; consultants propose portfolio-based dollar-per‑acre‑foot rate

Carpinteria Valley Water District staff and a consultant presented a draft one‑time water‑supply impact fee and sought board feedback at a meeting addressing public comment and outreach. The fee is intended to charge projects that materially intensify water use at the time they require a new meter and meet land‑use change triggers (for example, adding units, subdividing a parcel or changing a footprint).

Consultant Mesa said the district is testing three supply scenarios — Coastal Aqueduct Project (CAP), a local groundwater‑banking option and a regional groundwater bank — and is currently proposing to set the fee using the average unit cost of CAP and local groundwater banking because those two strategies produce similar dollar‑per‑acre‑foot results in the district’s 50‑year supply model. Mesa emphasized the board will review more detailed modeling and assumptions at an April meeting before any ordinance or adoption vote.

Examples given to the board aimed to illustrate scale. Mesa said a dense housing project of roughly 20 units with about 4 acre‑feet (AF) of intensification would face a one‑time fee of roughly $4,000 at today’s draft rate; a larger development of about 7.5 AF would pay about $8,000; a small project (1 AF intensification) would pay about $1,200. Mesa said final dollar amounts will vary with the project’s buy‑in timing and the lifetime/depreciation assumptions used in the model.

Board members and customers asked how the fee interacts with individual allocations and “red‑line” graphs on customers’ bills. Staff said the allocation is an informational baseline (agricultural allocations are based on a five‑year historical point‑in‑time average) and that the impact fee applies only to qualifying intensifications at the moment a new meter is required. Occasional exceedances of allocation are not itself a trigger for the fee, and customers who believe their allocation is incorrect may file an appeal or contact conservation staff.

The district has opened a public comment period, mailed an insert to customer bills and posted materials online. Mesa said the comment period closes in April; staff aims to present final numbers and the ordinance for potential adoption by June or July depending on comment volume.

The board did not take final action on the fee at this meeting; staff will return with refined modeling and public feedback.