Assemblyman Chad Mayes, Yucca Valley native and former Mayor, has secured $22 million dollars in funding for Yucca Valley with the final funding decision to be made by voters on June 2018 ballot. Language inserted into the statewide Park Bond SB-5, a statewide general obligation bond, includes a $22 million grant which the town can use for “The development of public facilities that will assist in achieving active recreational projects, including aquatic and fitness centers.” Governor Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 5 Saturday, The California Drought, Water, Parks, Climate, Coastal Protection, and Outdoor Access for All Act of 2018. Mayes said, “For decades, we could only dream about building a world-class recreation and aquatics facility in our community. Now, with SB5, we are only a few steps away from those dreams becoming reality.” Yucca Valley Town Manager Curtis Yakimow said, “In keeping with the recreational master plan approved in 2008 and currently being updated, that grant funding would most likely go to a new aquatic center, which would include a community swimming pool, and a town gymnasium facility.” Yakimow added, “While we are delighted with the grant our biggest concern is that we need to make sure that whatever we build would be sustainable. We will be looking for partnerships for that.” Mayes said “This will be the largest state investment in parks and recreation infrastructure in the Morongo Basin ever. I am proud to have been a part of making it a possibility but our work is not done.
Exact language inserted into bill:
80052 (b) Of the amount subject to this section, twenty-two million dollars ($22,000,000) shall be available to the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for grants to desert community towns in the County of San Bernardino, incorporated after 1990, with a population estimate of less than 22,000 according to the United States Census Bureau Population Estimates as of July 1, 2016, that have adopted a master plan as of 2008 that includes recommendations for the development of public facilities that will assist in achieving active recreational projects, including aquatic and fitness centers.
