Final Two Cities Endorse Coachella Valley Habitat Plan
Indio - The Indio City Council unanimously adopted the Coachella Valley Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan (CVMSHCP) at their regularly-scheduled meeting Wednesday.
That means all eight participating cities - along with the County of Riverside, Coachella Valley Water District and Imperial Irrigation District - have now signed on to the Plan. The City of Indio approval came just one day after the City of La Quinta endorsed the Plan, which is now closer to implementation than it ever has been. Before the end of this month, the MSHCP will go to state and federal agencies for final permitting.
The MSHCP is vital to both conservation of wildlife in the Coachella Valley and to future development. By balancing the two, the Plan ensures that habitat will be preserved and important development will be allowed to move forward, providing a blueprint for development and conservation over the next 75 years.
The version of the CVMSHCP nearing its final hurdles excludes the City of Desert Hot Springs, which nixed and earlier version last year. However, the Desert Hot Springs’ City Council recently authorized negotiations to possibly rejoin the Plan by way of a "major amendment".
For more information, visit the Coachella Valley Association of Governments website at http://www.cvmshcp.org/.
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