City Council Eases Ban on Building

A seven-month building moratorium was partially lifted Wednesday as the City Council decided that water conservation measures have worked well enough to permit a limited amount of new construction.

“I think it’s time to give some relief” to local builders, City Councilman Scott Diehl said. “I think it’s time to move ahead.”

The 4-1 vote enacted an ordinance that will allow builders who have already won city approval for their projects to be issued building permits. Since January when the freeze was enacted, the city had stopped reviewing any plans for new residential construction.

The ordinance will allow construction of 250 homes in addition to 35 acres of industrial and commercial development. Also, construction can now begin on 24 acres of new public parks on three sites in the city.

However, Mayor Candace Haggard said the ordinance will not completely open the door to developers.

“A lot of people have been really inconvenienced” by having to take water conservation measures, she said. “I don’t want them to think that we’ve scraped and saved just so we can build a bunch of houses. I think we should make that clear.”

City officials said water conservation measures are working and new sources of fresh water are expected to become available this month. Water use in the city has dropped by about 600,000 gallons per day compared to last year, said Greg Morehead, city water supervisor.

“We are elated by the city’s water consumption on a daily basis so far,” Morehead said. “We feel it would be reasonable . . . to allow this amount of growth in the city.”

By mid-August, a new city well and a pipeline for reclaimed water are expected to begin operation, bringing in an additional 900,000 gallons daily.

Some City Council members were concerned about what would happen if these new sources of water fell through. “I believe the level of risk is less than 5% that the pumps will fail” on the water well or that the reclaimed water project would not be approved by the state, Morehead said.

The building restrictions were enacted following a near-crisis last summer when water levels at a reservoir serving the city sank from its 48-million-gallon capacity to an all-time low of 17.3 million gallons on Aug. 18.