Plans Taking Shape For A Marina At The Salton Sea

Over 100 community members joined a Zoom meeting Saturday February 5th 2022 to learn about the North Lake Pilot Demonstration Project in the first community outreach meeting for the future Salton Sea project.

The meeting included remarks by Supervisor V. Manuel Perez, State Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia, Coachella Valley Water District Board Vice President Cástulo Estrada, Salton Sea Authority Executive Director/GM G. Patrick O’Dowd and Riverside County Chief Operating Officer Juan C. Perez. Each panelist also helped respond to over 30 questions that were presented during the two-hour discussion.

Riverside County Management Analyst Douglas Ordonez Jr., who is managing the project for Riverside County, gave a presentation on the project, which envisions an approximately 156-acre marina, offset from the Salton Sea by berms, that will create a deep water reservoir that will provide habitat for species and a recreational lake for the public near the community of North Shore.

Riverside County, which is implementing this $19.25 million state-funded project on behalf of the Salton Sea Authority and in partnership with the California Department of Water Resources, is seeking to begin work on the project by the end of 2022. Over coming months, the county will have ongoing discussions with its partner agencies regarding the water source and operations and maintenance of the North Lake Pilot Demonstration Project.

Riverside County has launched a Web page for the project, https://rivco.org/community/salton-sea-north-lake-pilot-demonstration-project, which includes a 22-page technical memorandum on the sites being considered for the North Lake.

Videos of Saturday’s meeting can be found at:

English stream https://youtu.be/7osieK9gRpw

Spanish stream https://youtu.be/eytfixGl1pI

More community outreach meetings will be held, with the goal of planning in-person meetings in the communities surrounding the Salton Sea. The next meeting is anticipated in two to three months and will be announced and posted on the project Web page.

 

Artists Rendition of a 156 acre marina on the north side of the Salton Sea near North shore.

Photo from Riverside County Supervisor V Manuel Perez, and the Salton Sea Authority