City opens tap on water policy

Now that the City of Sundance has a policy in place for providing utilities to out-of-town residences, the request that originally sparked its creation has finally been granted.

Ron Anhorn first asked for approval to tie into the city’s water system from his 35-acre property on Wild Bunch Trail in May, 2023, but was told that the council could not really offer an answer until it had developed a firm policy and some time would be needed to consider and research the question.

At that time, Public Works Director Mac Erickson listed several potential future problems if the city grants the request.

His main concern, was that numerous other landowners could make similar requests and, without a policy, the city would have no solid basis on which to refuse if it had already granted individual requests.

One more user might not tax the water system, Erickson said, but the 20 other landowners who followed suit would make more of a difference.

Erickson spoke to a potential future in which the city ends up with service lines going in every which direction out of town. This could potentially compromise the system for the city users for whom the system was built and intended, he said.

With Anhorn’s request coincidentally followed by other, similar ones, the city got to work on a policy and approved its Water Connection Application and Agreement to Extend Water Service Outside City Limits in January.

“Many months” have passed since he last made his request, said Anhorn last week, asking the council if it was now ready to give an answer.

Anhorn also noted that he had been told that a concern over providing water to a large single-user tract was that the water could be used for agricultural purposes, which is not the intended use. He stated that he would be happy to sign something stating that he will not run livestock on the property.

A motion was passed to approve an agreement for Anhorn to hook on to the water system, including a clause for no agricultural land.