The Village of Ashcroft is finally headed to the Agricultural Land Commission to try to officially take control of its water supplies, after learning that it actually doesn’t control them.
Deciding in 2019 there was a need to expand the existing reservoir to the north of the Village to allow for an increased expansion of the population in the future, officials in Ashcroft made a unique discovery.
“We were looking at twinning that existing reservoir to create more capacity for that area of the community, which is where we anticipate any major housing developments or something like a hotel would go” said Ashcroft Mayor Barbara Roden. “And when we began looking at the property where the existing reservoir is…we found, somewhat to the surprise of everyone concerned, that the Village of Ashcroft did not actually own the land.”
Owned by a local ranch, the Village of Ashcroft now has to go through the process of applying to the Agricultural Land Commission to complete the purchase of the land the existing reservoir is on, along with additional land from the ranch for the planned twinning of the Village’s water supply.
As for the unforeseen costs, Roden says the purchase of the land will not impact local tax payers.
“We’ve talked to the current property owners. They are more than happy to sell the property. They’ve been very, very cooperative, very fair. We have the funds,” said Roden.
Roden says the only challenge moving forward will be getting the deal completed through the Agricultural Land Commission.
“In the preliminary discussions (the Agricultural Land Commission) indicated that this would be, not exactly a slam-dunk I don’t think… that probably doesn’t exist with the ALC, but it was going to be a fairly easy process.”
As for how the Village ended up here in the first place, Roden says this aspect remains a mystery.
“We investigated as best we could through the records, and really could not find how a rather vital piece of Village infrastructure like a reservoir came to be on private property,” concedes Roden. “I can only suspect that it was some handshake deal done over a whiskey and cigar many decades ago.”
