The Riverside County Board of Supervisors recently gave a unanimous 5-0 vote to approving a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Torres-Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians regarding the Oasis Mobile Home Park in Thermal.
The MOU is designed to prevent new residents from moving into the mobile home park, which has generated controversy due to unsafe and deplorable conditions that residents have been enduring for years, according to a news release from the county.
“This has been a long time coming," Riverside County Supervisor V. Manuel Perez said in the release. "Thank you to county counsel, folks from Housing and Workforce Solutions and the Torres-Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians."
The vote Tuesday brings together the county and the Torres-Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians "to collaborate on the health and safety issues at Oasis Mobile Home Park". According to the release, the MOU was approved by the Torres-Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians Tribal Council earlier in January.
This progress for the county, tribe and others involved in responding to issues at the Oasis Mobile Home Park results from a half-year spent on paving the groundwork for the MOU, the release said.
The MOU authorizes Riverside County's Code Enforcement Department and land use departments to remove and demolish abandoned mobile homes and cutoff unauthorized or unlawful utilities. Additionally, they will be using K-rails, a recognizable barrier, to secure empty sites.
Collaborative efforts will be made by the county and the Torres-Martinez tribe to ensure no new residents move into park vacancies in preparation for the eventual closure of the mobile park within the next few years. The county has been working to relocate park residents with the help of a $30 million state grant secured by state Assemblyman Eduardo Garcia (D-Coachella).
The Oasis Mobile Home Park on the tribal reservation has proven to be an environmental headache for both its residents and local leaders over the past few years, as detailed in a news release from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Residents have been affected heavily by dangerous arsenic levels found in the drinking water, which led the EPA to issue three emergency orders from August 2019 to September 2021.
As a result of the third emergency order, the EPA said park owners were ordered to provide alternative drinking water to residents at no direct or indirect cost. Another order directed the owners to move toward corrective actions to treat the water and communicate with all residents regarding these steps.
The drinking water system serves approximately 1,100 residents and utilizes ground water, which has naturally occurring arsenic, the release said. Arsenic is a cancer-causing substance.