Relief may be in sight for residents of a Palm Springs mobile home park often left cleaning mud and debris from their streets and homes after rain from storms floods their neighborhood.
The county plans to begin construction of a flood control project later this year in the Rimrock neighborhood that contains the Safari Mobile Home Park off Cherokee Way, with the aim of eliminating the flood zone that exists where the mobile home park currently sits. Ahead of construction, they plan to speak at a virtual meeting with neighbors. That meeting is planned for June 11.
During the meeting, organized by the Rimrock Neighborhood Organization, residents will be able to learn details about the project and how it may affect them during what could be 18 months of construction.
As currently planned, the project will result in approximately 5,450 feet of underground pipe and a seven-acre water detention basin. More than 1,300 feet of reinforced concrete pipe will be installed under Santa Monica Street, which runs through the middle of the mobile home park. Storm water from the pipe will end up in a detention basin along Matthew Drive near Linden Way.
The county has already begun taking some concerns from Safari residents under advisement, according to Carlene Hart, chair of the Rimrock Neighborhood Organization. Hart said traffic control plans that would have caused disruption to the use of Matthew Drive have been altered to allow for the continued use of the road by residents who walk and bike to nearby Von’s Grocery Store.
“This was a huge win for our neighborhood,” she said in an email.
Plans to mitigate flooding in neighborhood have been part of the county’s Master Drainage Plan (MDP) for decades. A proposal similar to the current project, made by county staff in 1982, did not move forward after it was determined it was too costly to remove some of the mobile homes in order to lay the pipes. The current plan does not require removal of any of the homes.
