Baker City considers lower water and sewer fees to spur housing growth

Baker City is looking at lower water and sewer hookup costs as a way to turn more vacant lots into houses, with council goals calling for a streamlined new-development process, water and wastewater ordinance updates by August 2026 and a development code update by December 2026. The city adopted Resolution No. 3988, its consolidated 2026-27 fee schedule, on April 14, and the new schedule took effect for fees billed after July 1.

The fee discussion sits inside a larger utility buildout. Baker City says its water system is gravity-fed from the Elkhorn Mountain Range, with 88% of the municipal supply coming from the Baker City Watershed. The city is upgrading the mountain transmission pipeline, improving mainlines in town and developing an alternate groundwater source for added capacity and drinking-water redundancy. A new well is intended to provide additional summer water and backup supply, and residents age 18 and older can sign up for water and wastewater service at City Hall, 1655 First Street, or by submitting a Connect Order form.

That infrastructure work also reflects old pressure points in the system. The mountain transmission line replacement project was just over halfway complete, and the old concrete pipe dated to the 1930s. For city leaders, the question is whether trimming connection costs can make a difference for small projects that otherwise sit idle, especially the kind of infill development that depends on already-built streets, pipes and neighborhood services.

Baker City’s Housing Production Strategy gives that question a formal policy backdrop. The city submitted the plan to the Department of Land Conservation and Development on Sept. 8, 2023, and it was posted for a 45-day public comment period on Sept. 13, 2023. The strategy grew out of Housing Advisory Committee meetings, stakeholder interviews, open houses, a community survey and a Planning Commission hearing, and it lays out 15 strategic actions aimed at housing development and affordability. The plan identifies housing affordability and homelessness as key issues.

The numbers show why the city is pressing the issue. Baker City had 10,099 residents in the 2020 census and an estimated 10,071 on July 1, 2025. Baker County had 16,668 residents in 2020 and an estimated 16,658 in 2025. In a community where population has barely moved, even a modest change in hookup costs can decide whether a single lot, duplex or small house project moves ahead or stays on paper.