San Jacinto and Hemet will get nearly $900,000 for the installation of traffic signals at three intersections carrying traffic from the Soboba Indian Reservation’s Oaks Retreat, an athletic facility added to the reservation’s southwest side in a fee-to-trust action.

As part of the annexation of land to the reservation, an environmental impact report was prepared, part of which was an examination of the effect of traffic generated by Oaks Retreat on area streets.

The study showed the facility is responsible for a little more than 40 percent of the traffic at three intersections, Soboba Road and Mountain Avenue in Hemet, Soboba Road and Lake Park Drive in San Jacinto, and Mountain Avenue and Seventh Street in San Jacinto.

In Hemet, the Sobobas have paid $142,963 toward the $350,400 cost of installing the light, said Public Works Director Mike Gow.

In San Jacinto, the tribe agreed to front the entire $299,000 cost of the light at Soboba and Lake Park and $449,000 at Mountain and Seventh, said interim City Manager Tim Hults.

“The tribe agreed to pay for the installation of the signals and then get reimbursed to their fair share over a 10-year period as development occurs and subsequent signal fees are paid,” Hults said.

Gow said Hemet will hold the money until either a development adjacent to the intersection is built out and liable for some of the signal cost or Ramona Expressway is realigned and taken to Florida Avenue, then install the signal.

The money cannot be spent for any other purpose or mingled with the general fund.

Ramona Expressway ends at the San Jacinto/Hemet boundary at Washington and essentially follows the street to Florida, though the plan is for Ramona to continue to Florida.

The cities are working together on a plan to build the expressway extension.

Gow said Hemet also would like to extend Soboba Road past its existing terminus to Ramona Expressway.

Hults said he is not certain how far along the process is, but, under the agreement between the city and the tribe, the lights must be installed within 18 months of the agreement’s execution.

The land was taken into the reservation under a process similar to the one that has been proposed for a similar sized parcel at the other end of the reservation at Soboba Road and Lake Park Drive.

The 477 acres already added to the reservation includes classrooms, maintenance areas, agricultural buildings, fallow agricultural land, and athletic facilities.

The about 550 acres the Sobobas hope to annex at the other end would be used for a casino/hotel/retail complex.