Greeley requires every new development to dedicate raw water to the city. The timing of that obligation catches people off guard. Water shares are due at final plat. Cash-in-lieu and Terry Ranch credits aren't due until building permit. Once a dedication credit attaches to a property, it is final and can't be transferred. A buyer or developer who brings the wrong kind of water to a Greeley project commits capital earlier, gets less credit for it, and can't take it back.
The crediting ratios in the city's own documents make this sharper. The one share type you can buy anywhere and bring to a Greeley project is the Colorado-Big Thompson unit. On recent market evidence, it is also the most expensive way to satisfy the requirement. That shapes how anyone should price a development tract on Greeley's edge, and what a farm owner holding C-BT units should do with them.
The dedication rule, laid out
For single-family residential, the standard requirement is three acre-feet per acre of developed land. It can vary with lot size. Commercial and multifamily demand is calculated from use, square footage, unit count and landscaping. The 2026 Rate Manual sets cash-in-lieu at $57,000 per acre-foot, up from $56,500 in 2025.
Here is how each accepted source converts into dedication credit at the 2026 rate:
| Source | City credit | Cash-in-lieu it offsets at $57,000/AF | When it's due | Restriction |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greeley-Loveland Irrigation Company share | 8 AF | $456,000 | Final plat | Must have historically irrigated the development |
| Seven Lakes Reservoir Company share | 8 AF | $456,000 | Final plat | Same |
| Loveland and Greeley Reservoir share, also called Lake Loveland | 20 AF | $1,140,000 | Final plat | Same |
| Greeley Irrigation Company share, also called Canal No. 3 | 10.3 AF | Non-potable use only | Final plat | Same |
| Colorado-Big Thompson unit | 0.75 AF | $42,750 | Final plat | Accepted from any source |
| Terry Ranch credit | 1 AF | $57,000 | Building permit | None stated |
| Cash-in-lieu | Per AF | $57,000 | Building permit | No cap on acre-feet purchased |
The city states the restriction directly. Water rights bought from farms not tied to the proposed development can't be accepted unless they are C-BT units. C-BT is the only water you can bring in from somewhere else, and it carries the lowest credit per share of anything on the list.
Four units to cover one acre
At the standard single-family rate, one developed acre needs 3 acre-feet. In cash at the 2026 rate, that's $171,000. In C-BT units credited at 0.75 AF each, it's four units.
Whether four units cost more than $171,000 depends on what a unit sells for. That's where the published market evidence lines up in one direction.
- In February 2024, two northern Colorado auctions sold C-BT units for roughly $52,400 and $57,000 per unit, based on reported proceeds of $4.72 million for 90 units and $5.47 million for 96 units.
- Water Education Colorado put a single unit at $67,000 in 2024, up from $15,065 in 2013.
- WestWater Research benchmarked northern Colorado C-BT water at $85,000 per acre-foot in 2025, down from a high of $101,000 in 2022, as the Colorado Sun reported in April 2026.
Each of those figures sits above $42,750, the cash-in-lieu value Greeley gives one unit. Four units at the 2024 auction prices would cost roughly $210,000 to $228,000 to offset $171,000 of cash. At the 2024 single-unit figure, four units come to about $268,000.
The WestWater number takes care. It's a per-acre-foot benchmark, not a disclosed unit sale. A C-BT unit delivers one acre-foot only when Northern Water sets a 100% quota. Even the older, lower data points leave dedication as the more expensive route.
For a developer, this makes cash-in-lieu the effective ceiling on water cost inside Greeley. For a landowner, the C-BT units that come with a farm are usually worth more sold on the open market than handed to the city at 0.75 AF apiece. Any offer that treats those units as covering the dedication at full market value is overpaying for them.
Why the city's number sits where it does
Greeley doesn't set cash-in-lieu by following the C-BT market. The 2026 manual describes it as a fair-market-value figure based on the cost of the water portfolio Greeley has already secured plus the current cost of developing new storage. The Water and Sewer Board can adjust it by motion. The city's dedication sheet describes the rate as an average cost of all water available to Greeley plus storage, reviewed once a year.
The rate rose $500 between 2025 and 2026, while the C-BT market has moved with housing demand. WestWater's Justin Bowen tied the 2025 price drop to less building than in 2022. Brian Lewandowski of the CU Leeds School of Business said Colorado residential permits peaked in 2021, have fallen every year since, and are forecast flat to modestly lower for 2026.
The 0.75 AF credit is a firm-yield number, and this year shows why a city would want one. Northern Water set the 2026 C-BT quota at 80% on April 9, 2026. It cited low winter snowpack and reduced expected streamflow, offset by reservoir storage above the historical average. Greeley credits the unit for what it can count on in a dry year, while the market prices it for what it delivers on average. That gap explains why dedicating C-BT costs more than paying cash.
The water that only counts where it already flows
Ditch shares run on different math. A Greeley-Loveland Irrigation Company share is credited at 8 AF, which equals $456,000 of cash-in-lieu at the 2026 rate and enough for about 2.7 acres of single-family development. A Lake Loveland share at 20 AF covers about 6.7 acres. Those credits apply only if the shares historically irrigated the land being developed.
Geography matters here. The company describes its system as starting in West Loveland at the Big Barnes Ditch near US-34 and Rossum Drive and ending at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley. It also manages Boyd Lake and Lake Loveland. In 2015, a Greeley water official described the city's GLIC holdings as what let it grow westward. In June 2025, a city water official still called Greeley a large owner of GLIC and Lake Loveland shares, as reported by the Greeley Tribune.
We found no published 2024 to 2026 sale prices for GLIC, Seven Lakes or Lake Loveland shares, so we won't put a market number next to the city's credit. The structural point holds without one. A parcel that still carries its own historically applied Greeley-Loveland system water comes with a dedication asset the next parcel over can't buy and bring in. It's the one form of water that keeps its full value on the plat, and it disappears for good if someone sells the shares off before development. Any sale contract on a Greeley-edge farm needs to get the paperwork showing that historical use exactly right. Our earlier look at farmland values around Greeley covers the agricultural side of that same parcel.
Terry Ranch credits and the timing of payment
Terry Ranch credits count one-for-one with cash and are due at the same point, building permit. Greeley says its 2021 purchase of the Terry Ranch Aquifer Storage and Recovery project from Wingfoot provides about 12,100 raw-water credits for new development. Wingfoot markets the credits as a lower-cost alternative to cash-in-lieu but doesn't publish a price.
On January 26, 2026, Greeley and Wingfoot announced a Primary Employer Water Bank. It offers preferentially priced credits to qualifying job-creating businesses. The announcement quotes Water Utilities Director Sean Chambers and Wingfoot's Kyle Akin and ties the program to Mayor Dale Hall's economic development goals. No dollar figure was released.
Timing changes the comparison again. Shares go in at final plat, while cash and credits wait for building permits, so dedicating shares commits capital earlier in a phased project. On a multi-phase subdivision, paying permit by permit lets water cost track actual absorption instead of landing all at once at plat.
Plant investment fees respond to irrigation choices
Raw water is one line item. The treated-water plant investment fee is another, and lot design moves it. The 2026 minimums for a 3/4-inch tap are $16,900 for water and $9,050 for sewer. Single-family PIFs are calculated as a percentage of those figures, based on lot size and irrigation source.
- Standard lots, 6,000 to 13,000 square feet: 100% with potable irrigation, 75% with common-space non-potable irrigation, 50% with house-to-house non-potable irrigation.
- Estate lots over 13,000 square feet: 100% unless irrigation is house-to-house non-potable, which drops it to 50%.
- Row house and small format lots: 50% across every irrigation type.
This is where Greeley Irrigation Company water, accepted only for non-potable use, can still earn its place in a project. A non-potable system serves both the dedication and the fee schedule. For comparison, the city's 2025 schedule listed a $15,000 water PIF, an $8,650 sewer PIF and a $304 meter charge per single-family unit, with raw water added on top. The 2026 manual prints its fee period as March 1 through February 28. Confirm the effective dates with Greeley Water and Sewer before you finalize a pro forma.
Before you price a Greeley-edge tract
- Which water rights historically irrigated this specific parcel, and can that historical use be documented for the city?
- Are any C-BT units on the property being valued as dedication credit or at market price? Those two numbers differ a lot.
- Will the project dedicate at final plat or pay at building permit, and how does that fit the phasing?
- Does a non-potable irrigation design lower PIFs enough to justify the system?
- Has Water and Sewer Development Review seen the water plan yet? The city asks for proposed plans and a dedication approach at [email protected] before the process starts.
If the tract also sits inside a metropolitan district, our Title 32 special district guide covers the other layer of infrastructure cost.
FAQ
Can I buy ditch shares from an unrelated farm and dedicate them in Greeley? No. The city accepts water rights from farms not tied to the development only if they are C-BT units.
Does the 80% quota in 2026 change Greeley's C-BT credit? The city publishes a fixed credit of 0.75 AF per unit. Its documents don't tie that figure to the annual quota.
Will cash-in-lieu go up? The Water and Sewer Board reviews it each year and can adjust it by motion. It went from $56,500 in 2025 to $57,000 in 2026.
This post explains how Greeley's published rules work. It isn't legal, tax or financial advice. Water rights decisions should be made with your attorney and engineer.
At NorthStar Realty, we read a Greeley-edge tract the way the city will. That means what its water actually counts for at plat, what the C-BT units would bring on the open market, and when each payment comes due. If you're pricing a development tract or deciding what to do with the water on a family farm, Schedule a Land Consultation and we'll work through the numbers with you before you make any commitments.
