Rancho Mirage mayor says no to CV Link environmental impact study
City officials with Rancho Mirage are threatening to opt out of the CV Link if the Coachella Valley Association of Governments or CVAG continues with an environmental impact study.
That could create a huge gap in the project, a proposed path for pedestrians, cyclists, and low-speed electric vehicles, connecting valley cities for 50 miles.
“If they do try to take a study of the roads that we have already prohibited, that’s Highway 111 and the Butler-Abrams Trail among others, then what we are doing is with drawing the availability of Ramon Road so there will not be a connection through Rancho Mirage,” said Dana Hobart, mayor of Rancho Mirage.
On Monday the CVAG executive committee is scheduled to vote to undertake an environmental impact study where they would look into the possibility of the route running along Highway 111 in Rancho Mirage.
City officials have already voted unanimously to not let that happen and have recommended CVAG look at using Ramon Road as an alternative to the route.
“At the moment there is not much development on Ramon and with future development we will be able to make room for the existence of CV Link there,” said Hobart.
KESQ asked CVAG representatives why they were going to study an area that wasn’t approved by the city and got this response in an email from Erica Felci, public information officer for CVAG.
“The environmental review under way for CV Link is based on smart planning standards – not politics – and it allows us to meet federal and state guidelines. Several city officials have noted that if CVAG does not review all the options now, going back for additional studies later can be very costly. Mayor Hobart has personally proposed a route that would add miles to CV Link by going around the outskirts of the city. But it is ultimately the Executive Committee that will decide whether it is worth spending the nearly $200,000 that it would cost to study the route up to Ramon Road that Rancho Mirage has supported.”
We talked to people in Rancho Mirage and some would like to see it follow Highway 111.
“The area through Palm Desert is a little bit hazardous right now and we have to find a way out to be safe. There’s a lot of cyclists in the area with the Tour de Palm Springs and anything that would keep us safe and link us would be smart,” said Tracy Delaney, a cyclist in Rancho Mirage.
The current estimate of construction cost for the 50-mile CV link project is about $100 million.
DO YOU THINK THE CV LINK SHOULD BE ABLE TO FOLLOW HIGHWAY 111 THROUGH RANCHO MIRAGE, OR SHOULD IT RUN ALONG RAMON ROAD? LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS BELOW OR LET JOE GALLI KNOW OF FACEBOOK OR TWITTER.
