By Mary O’KEEFE

Five seniors received scholarships from the Crescenta Valley Town Council at its monthly meeting on May 15. 

Jacob Curtis from Village Christian School, Amaras Elyaspoor from Providence High School and Joseph Choi, Darcey Ireland and Yeseung Cho, all from Crescenta Valley High School, were the recipients. 

Kelly King, assistant superintendent, Educational Services, gave an update to the council and the audience on the progress of the CV High School track and field. 

The lights and stands are ready; however, there is still construction being planned including installing a new turf on the field over the summer. A question was raised concerning when the field may be ready for use by club sports. King said it would not be until the summer turf replacement was completed. It would then be open for use by club sports and to the public for general use of the track.

The meeting also hosted representatives from Crescenta Valley Water District who discussed a proposed rate increase and change in the rate structure, called a budget-based rate structure. There were several questions about the proposed changes.

  For households, water budgets are based on the size of the yard, the number of people in the house and real-time weather data. Indoor water budgets are based on household size. The default household size is four, based on the average household size garnered in the 2020 U.S. Census. Customers may request a variance if the household size is different than four. 

Wastewater rates are based on the number of people reported. So it is important that customers contact CVWD to let it know the size of the household. Outdoor budgets are based on irrigable area, calculated as 30% of the lot size with a maximum of 4,353 square feet, according to CVWD. 

There were many questions and concerns about this new rate structure including, if it is based on households of four, for example, how will CVWD take into consideration specific issues like whether a home has a pool. 

A person in the audience asked if CVWD had taken into consideration that pools have an evaporation factor, which would be different than a home with just a yard. 

The CVTC representative stated it had not taken that into consideration. 

Regardless of the rate structure change, CVWD customers will see an increase in monthly charges.