Town to lease unused irrigation acres

By Cal Braid
Taber Times
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

 At the July 21 meeting of town council, members discussed whether the Town should lease its irrigation acres that are not in active use. Four properties on the west and north sides of town contain irrigation acres of 150, 40, 15, and 15 acres in size.

 The St. Mary Irrigation District provided options for leasing those acres in a letter to the Town. The letter explained the two primary mechanisms available depending on whether the receiving lands currently hold permanent irrigation acres.

 The first was an alternate parcel agreement. “The option allows irrigation acres to be temporarily transferred for one irrigation season from a parcel with existing irrigation acres to a parcel without any irrigation acres,” the SMRID letter said.

 As an example, if Parcel A has 130 irrigation acres and Parcel B has zero irrigation acres, the 130 acres from Parcel A can be temporarily reassigned to Parcel B for the season. Those types of transfers are cut off to applications on March 15 annually. The minimum charge is $300 for leasing out 50 acres or less, or five dollars an acre for anything above 50.

 The second option was an allocation transfer which allows landowners to move “a portion or all of the water allocation from one parcel with existing permanent irrigation acres to another parcel that also has permanent irrigation acres, for the duration of one irrigation season.”

 SMRID said the second option is commonly used when one field needs additional water. For example, if Parcel A and Parcel B each have 130 irrigation acres, landowners may transfer the full allocation from Parcel A to Parcel B, resulting in double the water on Parcel B for the season.

 Coun. Brewin was supportive of leasing all the inactive acres, though unsure whether the acres would still be useful this season or not until 2026.

 Coun. McLean asked if it might be wise to hold back some acres for watering the Trout Pond trees, but CAO Derrin Thibault said that the Town didn’t do watering in the park. Whether the Trout Pond would qualify for Town water versus irrigation water wasn’t clear. Coun. Sorensen supported McLean’s idea about reserving a few acres for as-needed use, but the point was determined to be moot because the acres would be leased rather than sold.

 Council unanimously approved a motion to lease the unused irrigation acres. The administration will complete the lease documents and move on the matter “sooner rather than later” in hopes of landing leaseholders in 2025.

 In a related matter going back to a May 12 meeting, council agreed to sell Town-owned Eureka Lands with 172 irrigation acres designated to them. Those parcels are being sold for industrial development and the Town must transfer or dispose of the irrigation acres before registering new subdivisions. No fewer than 92 acres must be sold to meet the requirement for registering the new subdivisions.

 Irrigation acres can only be used for agricultural irrigation purposes and the Town has no need for irrigation acres on other public lands. The acres are not the geographical land, but rather the acres to which a landowner is entitled to apply district water. The Irrigation District Associations Act (IDA) does not allow permanent irrigation acres to remain on lands that are not agricultural. In this case, the landowner –the Town of Taber– is required to remove the permanent irrigation acres by way of sale or transfer in order to redevelop the land for industrial use.

 The buyer must have another parcel of land elsewhere within the district that meets the criteria for permanent irrigation acres, which are subject to a land and soils classification per the IDA. That buyer can then transfer the irrigation acres to his own land, assuming it meets the criteria.

At the May 12 meeting, council carried forward a motion to proceed with a live auction with a $4,000 reserve bid. Those acres are set to go to auction this week, on Aug. 14.