KESQ.com News Services

BLYTHE - The Riverside County Board of Supervisors approved a $2.2 million budget today for construction of a community and day care center near Blythe.

The Mesa Verde Community Center project has been in the county pipeline for 15 months, with blueprints for the proposed 5,900-square-foot facility approved by supervisors in June.

An evaluation of the project's environmental impact revealed no negative findings, and after the county reviewed bids from a dozen prospective contractors, it selected Escondido-based Erickson-Hall Construction to build the new facility, which will be located on the northwest corner of Mesa Drive and Pepper Drive in Mesa Verde, just west of Blythe.

"This is a project that late Supervisor Roy Wilson wanted to bring to the people who live in and around Mesa Verde," said Riverside County Economic Development Agency spokesman Tom Freeman. "The center will be a focal point for the community and provide services they desperately need."

According to EDA documents, the facility will provide space for a meeting hall, but the largest part will be reserved for a child care center.

There will also be offices for county code enforcement personnel and staff of the Desert Alliance for Community Empowerment, a nonprofit organization that promotes social and economic development in "distressed urban and rural communities," according to the group's Web site.

Redevelopment funds, generated from property taxes, will be used to pay for the project, which is slated for completion in the next 14 months.

Freeman said the project will create around 180 construction jobs.