UPDATE–On July 21, the Palm Springs City Council voted UNANIMOUSLY to reject Oswit Plan 5. Below are details of the plan rejected.
The conservation group that has led the opposition to this project has submitted a fifth flood-control design concept to the City in the past weeks. Now the leadership of this opposition group is stating to the City that flood-control is needed to protect the EXISTING homes in the Andreas Hills neighborhoods and the Tribe. This is in spite of rallying their troops for five years to say the area never floods, the project is too costly, it will harm the environment, was really for an old housing development, is massive, should be designed by environmental people, will take forever to build and will be noisy, will be an eyesore, etc. Those same people now have designed a flood control trough concept and submitted the plan to the City for review.
The City Agenda that just was posted this past Thursday, states that the Oswit plan concept presented will be REJECTED by City Staff at the Council Hearing. This means the plan concept is INFEASIBLE. The right thing to do is for the conservation group to accept the City’s plan to protect the lives of the residents living in South Palm Springs who have been burdened with the fear their communities will be cutoff from the City and any emergency services in a severe weather event. Instead, the conservation group is rallying people to STOP the vote on the City’s plan that is stamped, shovel-ready, and fully approved by the Riverside County Flood Control (RCFC), FEMA, CalTrans, Dokken Engineering, and the City Engineers. Please help get the City’s plan approved, and tell the City ENOUGH–approve what has been fully vetted and ready to go! Attend the Meeting, or ZOOM if you really cannot attend in person. ACT NOW
Below, please see Oswit Concept Plan for flood control for the Andreas Hills Communities. The City has already reviewed this plan and is rejecting it at the City Council Hearing. Some professionals for the community have put together a brief synopsis of the concept that must be considered infeasible by the City. Once you review these details, you may likely draw a similar conclusion.
Oswit Concept shown was provided by Oswit. It consists of approximately a 1,000 foot-long trough emptying into the SAME culvert as in the City’s Plan, moving water under the street to the golf course–that naturally flows to the Palm Canyon Wash. Please note, the Oswit Concept crosses Oswit, City, and Tribal lands, making construction approval very difficult. The City Plan is constructed solely on City property.
The City’s Plan footprint (multi-colored) is shown at the bottom of this image. It is compact and takes up a very small area of land, all within the City-owned parcel of 3 acres. The City Plan leaves the majority of the site frontage intact, fostering the open nature of Oswit Canyon while minimizing habitat destruction.
The Oswit Plan is a 1,000 foot-long trough that is shown in the tan rectangle that runs from the Lyyken Trail to dozens of feet SOUTH of the stop sign at Bogert. This trough is area is LARGER than the City Plan on this site.
The Oswit Plan requires destruction of the blue & tan rectangle areas of land. This is to excavate for the flood retaining wall. This excavation will require the entire sidewalk and at least one lane of South Palm Canyon. See excavation details determined by the Community’s engineers and landscape architects forced to make some assumptions given the Oswit Plan has almost no dimensions. The amount of disturbed land, sidewalk, street is huge compared to the City Plan.
This section drawing shows the excavation needed to erect the flood wall along the sidewalk.
The sidewalk, street, and tons of soils will need to be excavated and hauled or dumped into the canyon while the wall is being formed, poured, cured, and then backfilled. Much canyon land is disturbed with the needed excavation, and the OSHA requirements for a safe dig. The retaining wall needs to cure for 28 days, so the trench must stay open before backfilling.
Oswit Concept retaining wall creates a physical barrier to public access to the canyon.
Cost of 1,000 feet of sidewalk, 1,000 feet of one- to two-lanes of street would need to be considered, as well. If two lanes of the street are needed to safely excavate, frame, and pour the T-wall section, keeping South Palm Canyon open at all times to local traffic may become problematic during construction. Alternatively, pounding steel piling would allow for more of the street to remain intact, but the days of severe noise disturbance would wreck havoc on the wildlife and nearby residents.
