The Clovis City Council approved the introduction of an ordinance that would establish a water supply fee to pay for future developments at its Monday, March 9 meeting.
According to city documents, the need for additional water is directly tied to land development that creates demand for water supply. The water supply fee will be used to acquire new water resources for land that developed with water demands that exceed available allocation.
In July 2019, the council approved the Cooperative Agreement between Fresno Irrigation District (FID) and City of Clovis for water utilization and conveyance, and the Firm Surface Water Supply and Purchase Agreement.
The Firm Surface Supply Agreement provides 7,000 acre-feet of water supply for the city of Clovis. The supply will be developed over a 25-year period. The agreement costs $35 million, which will be paid by development impact fees and water enterprise funds for the next 25 years.
The water supply fee passed by the council March 9 is part of the fees that will help pay for the $35 million investment.
The fee varies depending on zoning. Land that is designated as rural residential and lies within the bounds of the FID would have a water supply fee of $11,060 per acre. In contrast, a lot designated as medium density residential in the FID would have a fee of $7,170 per acre.
The fee is also dependent on whether the land is in the FID, as a rural residential lot that is outside the FID would have to pay about $5,000 more for the fee per acre.
The council will proceed with a second reading of the ordinance and will decide on a resolution to adopt rate schedules at its next meeting, which takes place March 16.