thebull
10-20-2005, 08:15 AM
100,000 homes proposed
SALTON SEA: Officials say such a development would pay to revive the ailing saltwater lake.
12:14 AM PDT on Wednesday, October 19, 2005
By HENRI BRICKEY / The Press-Enterprise
Proposed Salton Sea Economic Revitalization
The plan: More than 100,000 homes plus retail, industrial and business development.
Where: More than 300 square miles along the western shore of the Salton Sea
Timeline: Construction could begin in three years. Project would be built over 40 years
Officials say they finally have a plan to pay for the restoration of the ailing Salton Sea, and it involves building more than 100,000 homes along the western edge of California's largest lake.
The plan would cover 300 square miles, including a former military weapons test site. In addition to tens of thousands of new homes, the plan includes industrial and business parks, shopping centers and possibly an airport, said Ron Enzweiler, executive director of the Salton Sea Authority.
If plans to develop the Salton Sea's shores bear fruit, the area could end up with a population roughly equal to the current population of the Coachella Valley.
Officials hope to use taxes generated by the new homes and businesses to pay the bulk of the $1 billion required to clean up the Salton Sea. In order to finance the development plan, the authority wants to borrow $600 million through a bond issue.
The plan will go in front of the Salton Sea Authority board on Oct. 27. The meeting starts at 10 a.m. at the Imperial Irrigation District office, 1285 Broadway, in El Centro.
One board member said Tuesday that bonding for development may be the only way to ensure that the sea will ever be cleaned up.
"One of the biggest problems with the restoration of the Salton Sea has always been who is going to pay for it," said Imperial County Supervisor Gary Wyatt, president of the Salton Sea Authority. "Outside of this plan, there is no other plan. And that's the honest truth."
For years, officials have struggled to find a way to reverse the sea's declining health.
Two major things work against the Salton Sea: too much salt and too many nutrients. These two factors are to blame for most of the sea's problems, including the fish and algae die-offs that cause the stench often associated with the massive saltwater lake.
Officials are working on a plan that they hope will turn the sea into a more stable environment for wildlife. It involves a $1 billion project that would divide the Salton Sea in half with a dike. The northern end would be a saltwater lake, and the southern portion would end up as a salt sink.
Until now, there has never been a way to pay for the proposed cleanup project, which still hasn't been formally approved.
But before people get too excited about the idea of building homes to pay for the cleanup, one member of the Salton Sea Authority says more work needs to be done.
"We're getting ahead of ourselves," Riverside County Supervisor Marion Ashley, who also serves on the Salton Sea Authority board, said by phone Tuesday. "We need a better understanding of what we're getting into."
Until the Salton Sea Authority approves a finalized plan for the restoration of the sea, Ashley said recruiting developers to turn the western shore of the lake into a city is premature.
Ashley isn't the only one concerned about the plan.
Chris Schoneman, manager of the Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge, says the plan would affect a portion of the refuge now used as feeding habitat for snow geese.
"If the refuge was not there all of a sudden, the snow geese would search for food in other areas," Schoneman said.
If that were to happen, Schoneman says the geese would most likely target nearby private farms.
"There could be huge damages to crops," he said, adding that he has seen feeding birds damage up to 20 acres of crops overnight.
Another hurdle developers might face is getting approval to build homes on the site of the former Salton Sea Test Base. Over the past 50 years, more than 1,000 missile tests were conducted at the 7,200-acre base, which closed in 1993.
Enzweiler said the former test site has been cleared and determined safe to build on.
"They swept the site down to 5 feet and removed all ordnance and hazardous materials," he said.
Wyatt said the proposed development plan would not have attracted the real estate industry leaders it already has if it was so improbable.
He said the Salton Sea's western shore is poised for massive growth and is considered by some in the real estate industry as the "hottest development opportunity in the United States."
"This is not pie-in-the-sky stuff," Wyatt said. "It's already happening right now."
In recent years, Imperial County has issued 35 to 50 building permits a year for projects on the sea's western shore. This year, over 1,000 building permits have been issued for the western shore, Wyatt said.
If the board approves the development plan next week, Enzweiler said he anticipates it will take about three years to obtain all the permits and approvals for construction to begin.
SALTON SEA: Officials say such a development would pay to revive the ailing saltwater lake.
12:14 AM PDT on Wednesday, October 19, 2005
By HENRI BRICKEY / The Press-Enterprise
Proposed Salton Sea Economic Revitalization
The plan: More than 100,000 homes plus retail, industrial and business development.
Where: More than 300 square miles along the western shore of the Salton Sea
Timeline: Construction could begin in three years. Project would be built over 40 years
Officials say they finally have a plan to pay for the restoration of the ailing Salton Sea, and it involves building more than 100,000 homes along the western edge of California's largest lake.
The plan would cover 300 square miles, including a former military weapons test site. In addition to tens of thousands of new homes, the plan includes industrial and business parks, shopping centers and possibly an airport, said Ron Enzweiler, executive director of the Salton Sea Authority.
If plans to develop the Salton Sea's shores bear fruit, the area could end up with a population roughly equal to the current population of the Coachella Valley.
Officials hope to use taxes generated by the new homes and businesses to pay the bulk of the $1 billion required to clean up the Salton Sea. In order to finance the development plan, the authority wants to borrow $600 million through a bond issue.
The plan will go in front of the Salton Sea Authority board on Oct. 27. The meeting starts at 10 a.m. at the Imperial Irrigation District office, 1285 Broadway, in El Centro.
One board member said Tuesday that bonding for development may be the only way to ensure that the sea will ever be cleaned up.
"One of the biggest problems with the restoration of the Salton Sea has always been who is going to pay for it," said Imperial County Supervisor Gary Wyatt, president of the Salton Sea Authority. "Outside of this plan, there is no other plan. And that's the honest truth."
For years, officials have struggled to find a way to reverse the sea's declining health.
Two major things work against the Salton Sea: too much salt and too many nutrients. These two factors are to blame for most of the sea's problems, including the fish and algae die-offs that cause the stench often associated with the massive saltwater lake.
Officials are working on a plan that they hope will turn the sea into a more stable environment for wildlife. It involves a $1 billion project that would divide the Salton Sea in half with a dike. The northern end would be a saltwater lake, and the southern portion would end up as a salt sink.
Until now, there has never been a way to pay for the proposed cleanup project, which still hasn't been formally approved.
But before people get too excited about the idea of building homes to pay for the cleanup, one member of the Salton Sea Authority says more work needs to be done.
"We're getting ahead of ourselves," Riverside County Supervisor Marion Ashley, who also serves on the Salton Sea Authority board, said by phone Tuesday. "We need a better understanding of what we're getting into."
Until the Salton Sea Authority approves a finalized plan for the restoration of the sea, Ashley said recruiting developers to turn the western shore of the lake into a city is premature.
Ashley isn't the only one concerned about the plan.
Chris Schoneman, manager of the Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge, says the plan would affect a portion of the refuge now used as feeding habitat for snow geese.
"If the refuge was not there all of a sudden, the snow geese would search for food in other areas," Schoneman said.
If that were to happen, Schoneman says the geese would most likely target nearby private farms.
"There could be huge damages to crops," he said, adding that he has seen feeding birds damage up to 20 acres of crops overnight.
Another hurdle developers might face is getting approval to build homes on the site of the former Salton Sea Test Base. Over the past 50 years, more than 1,000 missile tests were conducted at the 7,200-acre base, which closed in 1993.
Enzweiler said the former test site has been cleared and determined safe to build on.
"They swept the site down to 5 feet and removed all ordnance and hazardous materials," he said.
Wyatt said the proposed development plan would not have attracted the real estate industry leaders it already has if it was so improbable.
He said the Salton Sea's western shore is poised for massive growth and is considered by some in the real estate industry as the "hottest development opportunity in the United States."
"This is not pie-in-the-sky stuff," Wyatt said. "It's already happening right now."
In recent years, Imperial County has issued 35 to 50 building permits a year for projects on the sea's western shore. This year, over 1,000 building permits have been issued for the western shore, Wyatt said.
If the board approves the development plan next week, Enzweiler said he anticipates it will take about three years to obtain all the permits and approvals for construction to begin.