Two environmental groups have filed a lawsuit to block a law-enforcement training facility in Imperial County. The groups say the development doesn't fit the area's rural character.
The Desert Protective Council, based in San Diego, and the Sierra Club filed the Superior Court lawsuit in Imperial County.
The lawsuit claims the Imperial County Board of Supervisors should not have approved a development called Wind Zero in December.
The developers want to build a 1,000-acre military and law-enforcement training camp in Ocotillo, with indoor and outdoor shooting ranges.
Terry Weiner with the Desert Protective Council said the suit asks that all permits and plans for development of the site be rescinded.
"And it's an intensive use that's totally incompatible with the Ocotillo/Nomirage community plan," said Weiner.
The Supervisors, she said, failed to consider the impact on a local aquifer that provides the Ocotillo area with its drinking water.
"The completed development would use as much as 89 acre-feet of groundwater each year, pumping it from an aquifer that is already in decline," said Weiner.
She also said the impact of noise levels were not adequately analyzed.
Weiner said the Wind Zero project would include a six-mile race track, two helipads, a landing strip and 56 aircraft hangars.
She said the project would also include a gated community with 32 luxury townhouses, a 150-unit RV park and 100-room hotel, restaurants, and support and maintenance facilities.
