CVAG agrees on conceptual plan for CV Link route
Major progress has been made in laying to foundation to finally have a plan in place for the $100 million project that would connect cities across the valley with a path for bikes, golf carts, and pedestrians.
Every member of the Coachella Valley Association of Governments, or CVAG, voted unanimously to receive and file a conceptual master plan for the CV Link.
“I am pleased we got a unanimous vote on that. It’s a small step, it’s the right step, we have all been talking about this project for years,” said Riverside County Supervisor John J. Benoit.
SEE THE ENTIRE CONCEPTUAL MASTER PLAN FOR THE CV LINK
Some members of CVAG also tried to ease tensions on the project with the leaders of Rancho Mirage. That city has decided on multiple occasions it doesn’t want the CV Link to continue on a route that would follow Highway 111. Instead city leaders wanted the route to detour two miles on Ramon Road then turn south on Bob Hope Drive.
City leaders have been vocal in the community to their opposition to the project, stating that CVAG was forcing the project on the city without consideration of what the residents want.
“Somewhere along the line Rancho Mirage decided they didn’t want to have anything to do with CV Link and I’m sorry that happened. I think that it is a mistake I think that this is a great valley wide project, but if it ends up split into a couple pieces it will still be a great project,” said Benoit.
The Mayor of Rancho Mirage, Dana Hobart, said this vote didn’t matter because the people of Rancho Mirage have spoken.
“The actual fact is several months ago we passed an ordinance that totally prevented CV Link from coming into the city except through Ramon Road which we offered to them and continue to offer to them. So today’s motion to accept what Rancho Mirage has said is relatively unimportant to us,” said Hobart.
According to city leaders, the master plan is considered a guiding document and is not a final draft. Leaders of all CVAG cities can take this plan back to their residents so they can discuss which routes should be studied with environmental impact reports.
The cities of Rancho Mirage and Indian Wells are still in the plan, but as a ‘no build option’ where riders will use roads as they are with no changes or new paths being built, but environmental impact reports will still probably happen in those cities.
“There’s a problem with environmental impact reports, if you don’t consider all of the options and in 10 years you change your mind and want to do something you have to go back and do that all over again, that can cost millions of additional dollars,” said Benoit.
City leaders from Palm Springs and Indio stated at the meeting that they will be having public forums on their sections of the CV Link to better understand what parts of the master conceptual plan will be used for future environmental impact reports.
According to CVAG, staff if everything goes smoothly permitting and construction of the CV Link could start as soon as next year.
