College of the Desert to make presentation at Thursday’s Palm Springs City Council meeting
College of the Desert officials will provide an update on the Palm Springs campus at Thursday's city council meeting.
The project has been in the works since 2004 and almost $1 billion in taxes have been raised to fund construction. The project has faced numerous delays, prompting frustrations from city leaders and residents alike.
College of the Desert Board Chair Rubén AríAztlán Pérez and Mac McGinnis, Vice President of Maas Companies, will jointly provide an update on the campus.
In addition, the school announced that Superintendent/President Dr. Martha Garcia, Executive Vice President Christina Tafoya, and Trustee Fred Jandt are expected to attend virtually to answer any questions.
According to COD, the presentation will update the timeline for the project and provide other project details.
During a COD trustees meeting last month, officials announced they estimated the Palm Springs campus could take an additional 4.5 to 5 years before it's complete.
Original plans had construction on the campus starting in 2023.
I-Team Investigator Jeff Stahl spoke one-on-one with Superintendent Garcia about the school's commitments to west valley expansion.
College of the Desert has been updating issues with projects on the west end of the Coachella Valley.
Over the weekend, Perez promised residents that Roadrunner Motors Center will remain in Cathedral City.
The Cathedral City expansion was in development for at least two years before the school suddenly announced that the plans were scrapped, shocking even city leaders.
COD officials have previously said that the Cathedral City site brought many challenges that would cost millions. As a result, they submitted several alternative sites, including one in Indio near the I10 auto mall. But if the training center were to move to Indio, Cathedral City taxpayers would still be paying it for decades to come.
The board is then expected to vote on a site at its regularly scheduled board meeting on April 22.
Stay with News Channel 3 for continuing coverage.
