KESQ.com News Services
WHITEWATER - A proposed jail facility west of Palm Springs would pose few significant risks to the local area, according to an environmental assessment released today by Riverside County officials.
The planned Riverside County Detention Center, also known as the "hub jail," could be built and operated without damaging local roads, water supplies and habitat, according to a draft environmental impact report, the culmination of close to a year's work.
The jail has been named a top priority by the Board of Supervisors.
Though a half-dozen potential sites were selected, the preferred location for the detention center is in the unincorporated community of Whitewater, just north of Interstate 10, on a 200-acre parcel at the intersection of Rushmore Avenue and Tamarack Road.
The EIR examined the numerous potential consequences of putting a jail there. A public comment period on the county's findings began today and will continue through Jan. 15.
According to county Executive Office spokeswoman Lys Mendez, residents' concerns will be addressed in a final EIR next year.
In a 60-page executive summary, the draft EIR reviewed 17 possible environmental impacts stemming from jail construction, operation and future expansion.
An inescapable impact will be the change in scenery created by the facility, according to the report.
The area around the proposed jail site is currently designated "open space/rural" but would become "developed" once the facility, which would be visible from virtually any direction, is constructed, the EIR states.
It cited potential disruptions to local wildlife, particularly the burrowing owl, the round-tailed squirrel and migratory birds that may nest in the proposed construction zone.
According to findings, the impact on wildlife could be significantly lessened by creating "buffer zones" of 250-500 feet around nesting grounds during construction and by purchasing "off-site lands to preserve for species."
The EIR points to a significant potential impact that development might have on archaeological resources and artifact deposits that may be present. To mitigate the impact, an archaeologist would need to be retained to monitor construction.
Nighttime lighting around the jail could be a problem for residents of a housing development just north of the proposed site, according to the report, which called for a photometric study to identify mitigation measures.
The facility would have its own wastewater treatment plant, relieving the local sewage system, according to the EIR. The construction phase of the project would significantly increase noise levels in the surrounding area, but only during daylight hours, the report states.
The burden on local roads would not be significant because most vehicles going to and from the site will use I-10 and access roads built specifically to service the jail, according to the EIR.
Air quality would suffer during construction, with earth-moving vehicles and other industrial equipment in use. But the jail itself would not likely produce emissions on a scale that conflicts with the 2006 voter-approved Global Warming Solutions Act, which calls for reducing pollutants to 1990 levels, according to the assessment.
The report acknowledges the jail will increase the draw-down on the Cabazon Basin's water supplies by 15 percent. But it refers to the Mission Springs Water District board's findings Monday that the facility would not be detrimental to water tables.
The EIR briefly addresses two issues raised during a Board of Supervisors' meeting last Dec. 9, when the site plan was first announced. A bevy of Coachella Valley residents lambasted the board for choosing the Whitewater location, saying a detention center straddling the freeway leading into Palm Springs would be a turn-off to prospective tourists and pose a threat to security.
"Based on the secure design of the facility ... the proposed (detention center) would have no public safety impacts on the neighborhood adjacent to the project site," the EIR states. It goes on to say a jail would probably translate to a net gain for the local economy, with some 2,000 new jobs created, and that there is no evidence the jail would lead to "substantial disinvestment in travel-related industries."
According to Mendez, there is no timetable for jail construction. The $300 million facility would be built in stages, with the first phase adding roughly 1,800 inmate beds. Another 5,400 beds could be added under a gradual build-out over the ensuing decade.
A federal court order mandates that the county free inmates who are not guaranteed a bed for the night. According to the sheriff's department, some 3,500 prisoners were released well before their jail sentences were served in 2008 because of the federal limit. The number of releases was down 40 percent from the year before, figures show.
The county has the capacity to house roughly 3,600 inmates. Sheriff Stan Sniff warned the Board of Supervisors last month that, come March, he will lack sufficient funds to open new jail pods added to the Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility in Banning as part of an $80 million expansion project.
The sheriff's department is trying to pare down a $22 million budget deficit.
Board Chairman Jeff Stone worried that budget constraints could disrupt plans for the hub jail and said he wasn't comfortable voting to invest "more money in it until such time that we have revenue projections firmly on the ground that we can staff it."
