The following updates were provided by Riverside County District 1 Supervisor Kevin Jeffries. District 1 encompasses the cities of Canyon Lake, Wildomar, Lake Elsinore, most of the City of Riverside, and several unincorporated communities.
By Kevin Jeffries
“Temporary” Good News
For those of you who endure the punishing daily commute of the Interstate 15 corridor through the Temescal Valley and Corona, a small but very important “temporary” southbound lane is going to be added between Cajalco’s southbound on-ramp and the southbound off-ramp at Weirick.
As you all know, the severe bottleneck that occurs as the toll lanes merge into the free lanes nearly shuts down the southbound traffic for hours per day, seven days per week. The original plan was for the toll lanes to continue all the way to Hwy 74 in Lake Elsinore and eventually to the San Diego County line. The Great Recession significantly delayed (wiped out?) the revenues for that extension project to proceed as originally planned.
As RCTC looks for new revenues to build the ultimate “someday” project, they have started the years of studies, engineering, and environmental analysis necessary to seek state approval (the state doesn’t really fund or build any freeway “capacity” anymore, and primarily seem to exist to make it harder for us to even build our own lanes!).
In the meantime, recognizing the problems the new lanes have caused, this interim lane addition was identified as a quick solution, and is expected to be rapidly constructed and completed next year! It’s a start! https://www.rctc.org/new-southbound-lane-on-i-15/
Good News – Bad News
The economy is strong, and as people are returning to work and looking toward the future, homeowners and business owners have large numbers of proposed projects and improvements they are seeking to construct and obtain county permits for.
The downside is, they are being submitted in such high numbers that the county can barely keep up with the people lining up at the Land Use counter. In fact, with increasingly challenging staffing shortages (vacancies, transfers/promotions, retirements, COVID, burnouts, lack of qualified applicants), the backlog of permit seekers has grown substantially, to well over 400 at the writing of this column.
Unfortunately, significant hiring challenges are facing nearly every sector of public and private employment, as you can see with the “Now Hiring” signs on nearly every restaurant and retail store. Even more alarming, COVID restrictions, combined with increased retirements have reportedly created hundreds of vacancies at Cal Fire (our fire protection partner and contractor) and the California Highway Patrol.
If you’d like to help with Planning, or one of our many staffing shortages across multiple agencies, check out our county HR page at https://www.rc-hr.com/find-a-job/job-searching/county-job-openings.
Is Traditional Zoning Gone for Homes?
If you live in a typical single-family home development, and like your neighborhood, and moved there because you like the lawn and space between homes, I may have some bad news for you: the state of California has decided that one of the ways they’re going to solve the (admittedly serious) housing crisis is by putting new houses on your block or cul-de-sac.
Because they know best, SB 9, recently signed by the governor, would allow up to four residential units on nearly every residentially zoned lot, with only the most basic restrictions, and no opportunity for your local government to say no.
The board of supervisors has asked our Planning Department to give us a report soon on the possible ramifications of this new law, but it may create crazy development incentives to only approve small lots with no yards, versus larger one-acre lots that could later be subdivided into four, with no further review by the county.
Congratulations are in Order
Few of you have likely ever heard of the March Joint Powers Authority. It’s a local “Joint Powers” organization with officials from the cities of Perris, Moreno Valley, Riverside, and the County of Riverside that assumed land use authority over much of the former March Air Force Base lands when the base was downsized/realigned (though it is still quite active as the March Air Reserve Base).
The JPA has been focused on economic growth and local job creation. Over the next three years, the JPA will begin winding down its organization and turning most all its remaining responsibilities over to the appropriate cities and/or the county. With the recent retirement of its executive director, the JPA conducted a national search for a replacement and found an extremely qualified candidate right here in our own backyard. Please welcome aboard Dr. Grace (Williams) Martin, the new executive director of the March JPA. For more information on the JPA, visit www.marchjpa.com.
