Whitewater Jail Off The Table

The Riverside County Supervisors removed the project to build a jail near Whitewater from it’s list on Tuesday because the price tag is just too high, county officials said.

Completing the first phase of the detention center was expected to cost $300 million.

About $22 million has already been spent on the environmental impact report, design studies and other costs.

Residents and business owners have mixed reactions to the plans being scratched on the new jail.

It would have been built just north of Interstate 10.

“I think they should build it,” said Abdul Salaam, a Palm Springs resident. “There’s a lot of crime going on out there and they need to fix it up.”

Last month, Supervisors Marion Ashley and John Benoit argued for sidelining the project, despite the fact that it’s been at the top of the board’s to-do list since February 2007.

Instead, they want to focus on expanding current jails — they say that’s a cheaper option.

The Indio jail was built in 1959 and now it has 354 beds.

Benoit wants to raise the building and replace it with a new jail housing 500 beds.

But that’s a far cry from the 7,200 beds that would have fit in the proposed Whitewater hub jail.

“I have a son that’s trying to be a correctional officer and it does help the economy in certain ways,” said John Hopper, a Riverside resident.

The Indio jail represents about 9 percent of the county’s 4,000 jail beds.

But the Coachella Valley has about 20 percent of the county’s population.

“People coming here for tourism I think aren’t even going to recognize that there’s a building on the left or on the right of the highway,” said Will Howes, a La Quinta resident.

The proposed jail has been fiercely opposed by some local leaders who argued it could hurt local tourism and the environment.

But Alba Guerra manages Heavenly Couture in downtown Palm Springs and she welcomed the jail.

“From the beginning, when I saw it, I (didn’t) understand why people are making such a big deal of it,” said Guerra. “I mean, tourists come here to shop and to walk downtown.”

The board’s vote on Tuesday will be confirmed on May 10.

It’s on the consent calendar with a resolution prepared by Riverside County counsel.