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Salton Sea’s leases might end

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on October 5, 2008 at 6:20 am

From the Imperial Valley Press:

At the shore of the Salton Sea, a several-foot-wide strip of land crunches underfoot. Fish scales, heads, even full skeletons litter a shoreline where the water has rapidly receded over the past several years.

And yet the sea remains a tourist destination in the fall and winter months. “We get pretty busy. We get a lot of people here,” Rosa Reagles said. “They love the desert. People like to come out and see the desert and see the Salton Sea.” Reagles is assistant general manager for the Salton Community Services District.

Reagles, along with Dennis Reiger, president of real estate company Executive Homes, are trying to develop the Salton Sea, to turn it into a thriving community year-round, as well as boost tourism for the snowbirds that come to roost. But the land they want to develop is leased from the Imperial Irrigation District. The 50-year-old leases expire in October 2009, and the IID is unsure whether it is going to renew them. Until a decision is made, Reagles’ and Reiger’s projects are halted.

“We would lose the restaurant, we would lose the RV park,” Reagles said, if the IID did not renew the leases.

At issue is whether the properties will be flooded:

Whether or not the Imperial Irrigation District decides to renew a group of leases around the Salton Sea depends largely on whether or not those properties are likely to flood. “The IID cannot be put in a position where we’re going to be liable for more flooding,” said IID board President John Pierre Menvielle.

In the 1970s and 1980s, the sea level rose dramatically and several IID-leased properties flooded. Residents sued the IID and the board passed a resolution to no longer lease properties below a certain elevation, 220 feet below sea level, where a study showed the sea was unlikely to rise above.

The IID was held responsible partially because of the unique nature of the Salton Sea.

Read more from the Imperial Valley Press by clicking here and here.

October 5, 2008 · Filed Under Salton Sea

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