San Bernardino County
Land Assessments

The county Board of Supervisors has levied fees of $125 an acre on Pioneertown property owners to pay off an $80,000 loan the board granted in June for emergency work on the desert community’s water system.

The supervisors Monday heard no protests against the assessments as they also authorized Pioneertown’s square-mile improvement zone to accept a $520,500 state loan to help finance an entire new $1.3 million water system. Additional assessments will be required for that construction.

The fees approved Monday will ensure repayment of costs of drilling a new well and connecting it with the community’s existing system, which officials said is inadequate and has been out of water periodically since early June.

Special districts engineer Ed Houston said the new system now in early planning stages would include six miles of distribution lines, eight small wells and a reservoir.