BACKGROUND:
For the better part of the past five years Cathedral City staff and Councilmembers have been working with the College of the Desert (COD) to locate a new facility for the COD Automotive Technology Center, known as Roadrunner Motors, in Cathedral City.
Roadrunner Motors would bring much needed high-tech educational opportunities to the area. The City has long supported bringing educational opportunities to Cathedral City residents as a pathway to jobs that can support an improved standard of living.
Late last fall, city staff learned that the future of Roadrunner Motors in Cathedral City might be in jeopardy. College officials indicated that increasing costs for the project might require them to consider other locations for the facility. Then Mayor Raymond Gregory and current Mayor Ernesto Gutierrez, along with staff, have worked with COD officials to provide information necessary for the College to make a site decision and it appears that the project will be able to be developed as planned in Cathedral City with assistance from the City.
The COD Board of Trustees held a special meeting, attended by Cathedral City officials and residents on April 6, 2022, to review the three final sites under consideration. A final site decision is anticipated to be made by the Board during their April 22, 2022, meeting.
DISCUSSION:
Mayor Gutierrez, and City Manager Charlie McClendon, met with COD President Dr.
Martha Garcia, Board of Trustees Chair Reuben Perez and Executive Vice President Dr. Christina Tafoya on April 12, 2022, to review final cost estimates for the facility and ways in which the City can provide assistance. A tentative agreement was reached that the City would offer to waive a previously stated requirement for the College to participate financially in the cost of a traffic signal, which may be needed at the intersection of Margot Murphy Way and East Palm Canyon Drive.
The purpose of this agenda item is to ask the City Council to authorize the waiver of COD participation in the cost of the signal. If a signal is ultimately warranted and installed at that location the City will have to cover the COD share of the cost. Based on a traffic signal cost of $450,000 the COD share to be covered by the City would total $125,550.
FISCAL IMPACT:
None unless and until a signal is warranted and installed. The City will then have to cover the COD share of the cost estimated to be $125,550.