Study Focuses On Proposed Jail’s Impact On Palm Springs Tourism

A proposed jail’s potential impact on Coachella Valley tourism will be the focus of a study jointly undertaken by Riverside County and a lobby whose members are largely opposed to the site of the planned facility, it was announced today.

The county and the Palm Springs Desert Resort Communities Convention & Visitors Authority plan to conduct a “destination impact study” to ascertain whether the proposed Riverside County Regional Detention Center in Whitewater would undermine the billion-dollar tourism industry in the Coachella Valley.

“I am very proud and pleased by the county’s partnership with the CVA, and I appreciate their willingness to work together on this,” said Supervisor John Benoit. “Absent an objective economic study, it is difficult to ascertain the actual impact to tourism … if this detention center is built in the San Gorgonio Pass.”

Benoit and Supervisor Marion Ashley met with desert-area hospitality industry officials last week and heard a number of objections to the proposed “hub jail,” which would occupy a 200-acre site at the intersection of Rushmore Avenue and Tamarack Road.

The facility would be visible from Interstate 10 — the eastbound approach to Palm Springs.

“One person told me (the Board of Supervisors) has the power to decimate tourism and ruin life as we know it in the Coachella Valley,” Benoit said during Tuesday’s board meeting, repeating the comments of one tourism official.

“There’s a lot of misinformation out there,” he said. “We need to counter that with solid information. But I’m also willing to look at alternatives.”

Ashley emphasized the importance of keeping an “open mind.”

“I don’t know that (a study) is going to change anyone’s mind,” he said. “We need to do the best thing for the Coachella Valley, the Pass area and the county as a whole.”

Cathedral City Mayor Kathleen DeRosa, who chairs the CVA’s Joint Powers Authority Executive Committee, said an in-depth analysis of the detention center’s impact was vital.

“The tourism (industry) is … the largest employer in the Coachella Valley,” DeRosa said. “We want to ensure this important economic engine is not negatively impacted.”

A draft environmental impact report on the hub jail was completed and approved by the board last year, with no findings of serious land-use issues. A comment period on the EIR ended in December.

The $300 million detention center would be built in stages, initially providing 1,800 inmate beds, with an additional 5,400 beds coming available as the facility is expanded.

The additional capacity would ease overcrowding and might prevent the sheriff from having to release misdemeanor offenders before their sentences are served because space limits are maxed out at the county’s other four detention facilities, according to county officials.

Around 2,000 new jobs might be needed to staff and maintain the new jail.

Benoit did not say when the joint study might be finished.