RUHS Wellness Center Project Moreno Valley
Summary
SCH Number
2025090987
Public Agency
Riverside County
Document Title
RUHS Wellness Center Project Moreno Valley
Document Type
NOE - Notice of Exemption
Received
Posted
9/22/2025
Document Description
The Wellness Center is proposed as a separate building on existing County-owned property which currently contains the RUHS Medical Center campus. The new facility would be two floors, consisting of approximately 120,000 square feet of floor area, and would include 100 beds (75 adult and 25 child/adolescent beds in separate units) for inpatient treatment. This new facility will expand existing inpatient services for behavioral health patients, relocating services from the existing Arlington campus. The average inpatient stay would be approximately six days and there would be no long-term inpatient stays (greater than one month) at the facility. The location of the Wellness Center on the Medical Center Campus will enhance synergies and coordination of care, simplify logistics and infrastructure, and better integrate behavioral healthcare within the broader spectrum of overall community health support. As part of Wellness Center site development, parking will be constructed to the north and south of the building, with the existing parking lot to the east of the building to be reconfigured. Truck loading/unloading would occur on the north side of the building. Vehicular access to the proposed Wellness Center building site would be accommodated via driveways along existing Cactus Avenue and Nason Street and new proposed driveways along Brodiaea Avenue to the north, which will require an extension of the roadway from the east near Nason Street. In addition, the Wellness Center would include the reconfiguration and installation of storm drainage infrastructure west of the Wellness Center in a north-south direction from Alessandro Boulevard at the northern end to Cactus Avenue at the south. The Wellness Center Project would also consist of a parking area and construction staging area to the west of the Wellness Center building, and a therapeutic Wellness Park to the south that would include passive amenities such as pedestrian paths, a lawn, gardens, shade structures, and seating areas. See Exhibit 1, attached. The California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) has awarded RUHS a $184 million grant under the Behavioral Health Continuum Infrastructure Program (BHCIP) pursuant to the Behavioral Health Infrastructure Bond Act of 2023 (AB 531) (Act) which provides for grants to “construct, acquire, and rehabilitate real estate assets or to invest in needed infrastructure to expand the continuum of behavioral health treatment resources.” Under California Welfare & Institutions (W&I) Code section 5960.31, the Act also provides that certain projects qualify as a “use by right” and are subject to streamlined, ministerial review, meaning a qualifying project does not require a conditional use permit, planned unit development permit, or other discretionary local government review or approval. In addition, qualifying projects are exempt from California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review. All of the criteria under W&I Code 5960.31 have been met. Moreover, the project elements described above are necessary to provide independent utility for the Wellness Center to operate as a separate project and meet the distinct state policy goals in conformity with AB 531 and W&I Code 5960.31.
Contact Information
Name
Mike Sullivan
Agency Name
Riverside County
Job Title
Senior Environmental Planner/Facilities Operations Manager
Contact Types
Lead/Public Agency / Project Applicant / Parties Undertaking Project
Phone
Email
Location
Cities
Moreno Valley
Counties
Riverside
Regions
Countywide
Cross Streets
Cactus Avenue/Nason Street/Brodiaea Avenue
Zip
92555
Parcel #
486-280-025, 486-280-026, 486-280-057, 486-280-037
Notice of Exemption
Exempt Status
Ministerial
Type, Section or Code
Sec. 21080(b)(1); 15268
Reasons for Exemption
This Statutory exemption finds that CEQA does not apply to ministerial projects proposed to be carried out or approved by public agencies. The Wellness Center Project has been approved by the Riverside County Board of Supervisors and carried out by the County of Riverside. As discussed above the California Legislature passed AB 531 which provides for grants to “construct, acquire, and rehabilitate real estate assets or to invest in needed infrastructure to expand the continuum of behavioral health treatment resources.” Under California W&I Code section 5960.31, the Act also provides that certain projects qualify as a “use by right” and are subject to streamlined, ministerial review, meaning a qualifying project does not require a conditional use permit, planned unit development permit, or other discretionary local government review or approval and that the qualifying project is exempt from CEQA review. As discussed above, the Wellness Center qualifies as a use by right project and is ministerial. Therefore, as a ministerial project, the Wellness Center is not subject to CEQA as defined in PRC Section 21080(b)(1).
Exempt Status
Other
Type, Section or Code
California W&I Code Section 5960.31
Reasons for Exemption
The proposed project is statutorily exempt from the provisions of CEQA as it falls within the definition of a Ministerial Project under W&I Code 5960.31, identified below. Therefore, as a ministerial project, the Project is not subject to CEQA pursuant to Pubic Resources Code (PRC) Section 21080(b)(1) of CEQA.
• California W&I Code Section 5960.31: Section 5960.31 provides in applicable part:
(a) Notwithstanding any other law, projects funded pursuant to paragraph
(3) or (4) of subdivision (b) of Section 5965.042 shall be a use by right and shall be subject to the streamlined, ministerial review process and filing requirement, pursuant to subdivisions (b) and (d) of the Health and Safety Code, and not subject to a conditional use permit, discretionary permit, or to any other discretionary reviews or approvals, if it meets the criteria of paragraph (1) or (2) and complies with subdivisions (b) and (c).
(1) The project is a behavioral health treatment and residential setting, including, but not limited to, children’s residential crisis programs, peer respite, children’s and adult substance use disorder residential programs, recovery housing, short-term residential therapeutic program, and social rehabilitation program, and shall be located in a zone where residential, office, retail, or parking are a principally permitted use.
(2)(A) The project is a real estate asset, as described
in Section 5960.05, except for those described in paragraph (1) … that is funded pursuant to Section 5967.01, and shall be located in a zone where office, retail, or parking are a principally permitted use.
(b) Projects, as applicable, pursuant to this section shall comply with the core components of Housing First, as defined under subdivision (b) of Section 8255, and may include recovery housing….
(c) Projects pursuant to this section shall meet the labor standards contained in Sections 65912.130 and 65912.131 of the Government Code. [Emphasis added.]
The RUHS Medical Center is located on County-owned land in the City of Moreno Valley. Under the Moreno Valley Zoning Map, most of the Medical Center site, including the proposed location for the Wellness Center, is zoned CC (Commercial). Office uses, retail uses, and parking uses are permitted uses in the CC zone.
The Wellness Center as a fundamental service would provide behavioral health treatment services and would house patients in a residential setting where patients would be housed at the facility for an average of six days and could also include a residential therapeutic programs and social rehabilitation programs for additional periods of up to 30 days. The amenities provided, including a wellness park, an outdoor patient courtyard, approximately 100 beds (75 adult and 25 child/adolescent beds in separate units), activity rooms, multi-purpose rooms, laundry, dining areas, all areas conducive to creating a residential setting as described in subsection (a)(1) of the qualifications. The Wellness Center would also meet the qualifications for subsection (b)(2) as the Wellness Center would be real estate asset as it is located on County-owned land, is operated by the County RUHS, and is located in a commercial (retail) zone which is the principal use on the RUHS Medical Center campus.
The Wellness Center also satisfies subdivision (b) which states that a project must “comply with the core components of Housing First, as applicable, and defined under subdivision (b) of Section 8255, and may include recovery housing. As the Wellness Center is not a residential project, these requirements are not applicable here.
Lastly, the Wellness Center satisfies the condition identified in subdivision (c) as this project would be defined as a public works project, require prevailing wage and adhere to County policies that comply with the labor standards contained in Sections 65912.130 and 65912.131 of the Government Code.
County Clerk
Riverside
Attachments
Notice of Exemption
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