CASE STUDIES

WESTERN HILLS WATER DISTRICT

Angels Crossing

EXPERTISE APPLIED TO:

  • Agreement Restructuring
  • Team Recruitment
  • Deficit refinancing and bond management
  • Project Cost Efficiencies and Management

The Client

In late 2020 Catalyst was retained by the Developers of Angels Crossing to assist in the restructuring of the Community Facilities District, Water Contract with the Kern County Water Bank and the Wastewater collection and treatment agreement with the City of Patterson.

The Project

Catalyst was recruited for this project based on the extensive municipal experience of having been a City Manager and also holding the positions of Community Development Director, Public Works Director, Utility/Services Director and Assistant City Manager for public safety and finance.

Catalyst was tasked first of all to develop a strategy to address the CFD bond delinquencies assumed by the new owner from the two previous owners that had defaulted on the project.

The Scenario

Angels Crossing formally Diablo Grande is an approved Master Planned Community in Stanislaus County west of the City of Patterson on the Highway 130 corridor. Angles Crossing comprises approximately 4,000 acres and has a maximum density of 6,000 equivalent dwelling units allowed.

Angels Crossing currently has 643 occupied single-family homes with the potable water provided by the Western Hills Water District and Wastewater Treatment by the City of Patterson.

Project Details

Catalyst pulled together a financial consulting team to address the delinquency of the CFD bond through the WHWD and refinance the 5.6 million deficit to bring the bonds current while concurrently authorizing the issuance of a new bond for the infrastructure cost for Phase II of the project for a total new money call of 45 million.

Part of the new money issuance for Phase II included the installation of an on-site Wastewater Treatment Plant to be able to cancel the agreement with the City of Patterson.  This was essential in that the agreement signed by the first owner/developer of the project required that residents pay 2x the sewer rate for service as a resident of the City of Patterson.  By creatively structuring the bond and the infrastructure plan to include the on-site Wastewater Plant utility rates in the developer have been reduced by half for sewer.

The second restructuring was to include in the new bond money issuance potable water system improvement for a variable speed intake pump on the California Aqueduct which allows the water district the ability to take reduced amount of surface for the actual need of the project thus substantially reducing the cost of water treatment and storage.  Also included in the bond was solar power generation for both the water treatment plant and wastewater treatment plant.

With these creative fiscal, utility and infrastructure measures, Catalyst was able to reduce service costs for the development and modernize the public facilities to above current State standards.