I wrote a recent editorial series about the ongoing tensions between the San Juan Water Conservancy District (SJWCD) and the Pagosa Area Water and Sanitation District (PAWSD)… concerning the future uses of the 660-acre Running Iron Ranch, which is jointly owned by both districts — on behalf of the community’s taxpayers. The two boards agreed, back in 2015, to work towards the construction of a reservoir on the property. The boards also agreed, then, that PAWSD had the right to sell the Ranch, at its sole determination, after consulting with SJWCD and with the Colorado Water Conservation Board.
During a special meeting yesterday, the PAWSD Board met in an executive session to get a better understanding from their attorney about the legal issues facing the two districts. Presumably, the attorney’s advice will influence the Board’s future decisions.
Following the executive session, the Board voted unanimously to send a letter the SJWCD Board, outlining a number of concerns about the Ranch, and about the ongoing lack of cooperation between the two districts.
Disclosure: I currently serve as a volunteer member of the Pagosa Area Water and Sanitation District (PAWSD) board of directors, but this editorial reflects my own personal opinions, and not necessarily the opinions of other PAWSD board members or PAWSD staff.
Following the special meeting, the PAWSD Board convened a work session to discuss the district’s existing policy of waiving certain water and wastewater fees for developers who are constructing ‘affordable’ workforce housing within the district. The policy dates from 2020, when the CIF fees were fairly reasonable, compared to water district fees in surrounding communities.
The PAWSD Board had determined that the district ratepayers and taxpayers recognize the wisdom of providing government support for workforce housing, and were willing to help subsidize the waivers with modest surcharges added to their monthly bills.
You can download the 2020 waiver policy here.
Past recipients of the waivers were Habitat for Humanity of Archuleta County and Archuleta County Housing Authority; total waivers have amounted to about $128,000.
The amount of the existing waivers depended upon the selling or rental price of the new home or apartment building, as suggested in this section:
But certain PAWSD fees were substantially increased last month — in particular, the wastewater ‘Capital Investment Fee’ paid by new development projects. The CIF for a new home being built within the PAWSD wastewater district uptown, increased from $6,532 to $24,655. This greatly increased fee will apply mainly to properties within the Pagosa Lakes Property Owners Association (PLPOA) subdivisions. New commercial development will see a similar percentage increase.
This substantially higher fee will mean a greater impact on PAWSD revenue, with each waived project.
Board member Glenn Walsh told his fellow Board members that he could support increasing the waiver amounts for housing in the 100% AMI (Area Median Income) range, provided restrictions were placed on the deed, guaranteeing that the unit would remain ‘affordable’ for a considerable length of time.
I offered a different perspective to my fellow Board members. The local non-profit Pagosa Housing Partners has conducted two recent surveys of workforce households, and the results suggest that, in Archuleta County, the families and individuals ‘severely cost-burdened’ (paying more than 50% of their household income for housing costs) were mainly in the 60% to 80% AMI levels. Relatively few households earning 100% AMI were ‘severely cost-burdened’.
Here are the 2021 survey results.
Based on this information, I recommended that PAWSD offer fee waivers only to projects that serve working families below the 80% AMI level. These are the families and individuals most seriously affected by the lack of affordable housing in our community.
The Board agreed with this suggestion, and the staff was asked to bring a resolution of the policy change to our regular Board meeting next week, on Thursday March 14. The new policy will likely look more like this:
PAWSD District Manager Justin Ramsey noted that the existing waiver policy has resulted in considerable staff time, spent analyzing waiver applications — many of which do not qualify. Board member Gene Tautges suggested that PAWSD might be able to enlist a local company to handle the applicant qualification process, and have the applicants pay for the service. The Board was generally in favor of exploring that option.
Board member Paul Hansen suggested that the surcharges that fund the waiver program will need to be increased, to cover the increased fee levels, and proposed that the Board might want to institute a brief moratorium on waivers, until the details can be worked out. Again, the Board appeared in favor of the idea.
I mentioned that the Pagosa Springs Community Development Corporation (PSCDC) plans to attend our regular meeting next week, to share information about a 10-home construction project in the Trails subdivision — and is hoping to get CIF fees waived. If the Board votes on a waiver moratorium, that might put the ongoing PSCDC project in a difficult spot. But the Board didn’t see an obvious alternative to a moratorium, since the proposed policy change, and higher surcharges, will likely require adjustments to the PAWSD fee schedule approved last month. Fee changes require a public hearing, with 30 days notice.
Because these discussions took place during a work session — during which motions cannot be made or voted on — the actual decisions on these issues will most likely take place next week at the regular meeting.
The Board also expressed support for the formation of a Running Iron Ranch subcommittee, to engage in negotiations with SJWCD.