Development at Indian Canyon and the 10

The newspaper had an article about why there, so far, has not been more development up Indian Canyon Drive at the 10 freeway. It says: "After years of waiting, developer Jack Vander Woude was looking forward to breaking ground on a 65-room hotel and two restaurants once the $17 million Interstate 10 interchange project at Indian Avenue was completed this spring. The problem is, he can’t break ground after all. He and other landowners near the I-10/Indian Avenue interchange in North Palm Springs and I-10/Gene Autry Trail interchange in Desert Hot Springs face what they call a “de facto building moratorium” for any significant commercial and industrial development. It’s a classic Catch-22 dilemma, Vander Woude insists. Until a wastewater treatment plant can be built to service the area, state environmental officials aren’t allowing any large development projects to move forward because they’re concerned about potential groundwater pollutants from septic tanks. Mission Springs Water District, meanwhile, is depending on landowners and developers to help pay for a multimillion-dollar sewer project, along with the cities of Desert Hot Springs and Palm Springs and Riverside County. “We’re stuck, unable to develop all that land along the freeway,” said Vander Woude, who received the county’s approval eight years ago for his 3-acre Indian Canyon Oasis commercial project. Until a sufficient wastewater treatment facility can be built, the California Water Resources Control Board has advised Riverside County environmental officials to cease issuing approvals for all but the smallest commercial real estate projects in the Whitewater Basin Area. Only developments with septic tanks that have wastewater volume of less than 5,000 gallons per day will be considered and referred to a regional board for consideration. The halt to commercial development comes as some developers, leasing agents and landowners are seeing more eager prospective tenants amid the improving economy. Developers are also in a position to take advantage of relatively low construction costs, attractive interest rates and a much-improved freeway interchange for an estimated 86,500 vehicles that traverse the area every day." Miss Penny Lane says: She's happy, as long as the DQ remains there.