BACKGROUND:
In 2009, the City entered into an agreement with the City of Palm Springs to widen the Ramon Road corridor from San Luis Rey Drive to Candlewood Drive, as well as widening the Ramon Road Bridge over the Whitewater River Channel (Project). The City of Palm Springs is the lead agency on this Project.
The design for the bridge widening and related street improvements have been completed, and the Project has moved into the funding request stage.
These proposed improvements to the existing Ramon Road Bridge and roadway will impact the Coachella Valley Water District’s (CVWD) current maintenance access into the Whitewater River Channel (Channel). As a result, CVWD reached out to Cathedral City Staff to identify an alternate access point.
An existing access location was identified on the east side of the Channel, just north of the Dinah Shore Bridge, where an existing City-owned lot fronting on Shifting Sands Trail, nearly abuts the Channel right of way. This lot was originally acquired by the City to provide right of way access for the Dinah Shore Bridge construction project. The City lot is separated from the Channel by a narrow strip of land owned by Cathedral/Creekside, LP, (Creekside), the owners of the Creekside Apartment complex to the north (location map attached).
To secure full access to the Channel, City Staff made contact with the Creekside owners. Creekside has been cooperative from the start and over a few months, City Staff negotiated an access easement across the Creekside land, which completes the necessary access to the channel from the City lot to the Channel. The Creekside easement, which included a provision allowing the City to assign it to CVWD, was granted to the City and was recorded in February of 2023.
In the subsequent months, the City worked with CVWD on a cooperative Agreement which grants CVWD an access easement across the City-owned lot and assigns CVWD the Creekside access easement, thus providing CVWD with a complete Channel access road from Shifting Sands Trail. This replaces the existing CVWD Ramon Road access point being eliminated within the Project area. CVWD has approved and executed this Agreement (attached).
DISCUSSION:
The City-owned lot is vacant and is used partially for the Channel embankment and fill for the Dinah Shore Bridge. The easement to CVWD is 40-feet-wide and does not affect the Dinah Shore Bridge slope. City Public Works Maintenance Division Staff maintains the area of the City-owned lot, including the landscaping and groundcover on the slopes and lot surface. (Note: The slope along the Dinah Shore Bridge will be improved in the upcoming months with new drought tolerant landscaping once a concept plan is completed. This effort is currently underway).
The terms of the Agreement allow CVWD to improve the easement to support its maintenance equipment, and to construct a gate at the Shifting Sands Trail driveway entrance. A vicinity sketch and aerial photo are attached showing the access easements and City-owned lot.
FISCAL IMPACT:
City Staff negotiated the acquisition of the access easement from Creekside, which ultimately donated the easement to the City at no cost. CVWD will make all necessary improvements to accommodate its needs across the 40-foot-wide access easement and install the gate from Shifting Sands at their expense. Overall, the costs of the easement acquisition and this Agreement are minimal.
FIVE-YEAR STRATEGIC PLAN:
GOAL B: COMMUNITY INVESTMENT
Objective: Cathedral City roads, gateways, public spaces, and other city infrastructure are well planned, designed, constructed, and maintained.