Bonnie Bell is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

Riverside County Riverside County is a county located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,418,185, making it the fourth-most populous county in California and the 10th-most populous in the Uni ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. It lies at an elevation of 1683 feet (513 m). Bonnie Bell is located north of Interstate 10 on Whitewater Canyon Road beside the Whitewater River. The community sits where the most eastern end of the

San Gorgonio Pass The San Gorgonio Pass, or Banning Pass, is a elevation gap on the rim of the Great Basin between the San Bernardino Mountains to the north and the San Jacinto Mountains to the south. The pass was formed by the San Andreas Fault, a major tra ...

meets the most northwestern end of the Coachella Valley, northwest of

Palm Springs Palm Springs (Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Riverside County by land ...

Wind turbine controversy

The transition point from the San Gorgonio Pass to the Coachella Valley is one of the windiest locations in the United States. This makes the area ideal for wind energy projects. Beginning in the 1980s the

San Gorgonio Pass wind farm The San Gorgonio Pass wind farm is a wind farm that stretches from the eastern slope of the San Gorgonio Pass, near Cabazon, to North Palm Springs, on the western end of the Coachella Valley, in Riverside County, California. Flanked by Mount San ...

started being developed. Many wind turbines were proposed and constructed around the community of Bonnie Bell. Though a tiny community, the people of Bonnie Bell strongly resisted any wind development that encroached on the town, or the ridges around the town. In 1992 the residents successfully lobbied the Bureau of Land Management, and Mesa Wind Developers, to move 24 wind turbines from the eastern edge of the company's right-of-way, further back into the San Bernardino Mountains. In 1999, and again in 2019, new proposals to install wind turbines on the ridges of Whitewater Canyon, above Bonnie Bell, were submitted for consideration. The residents claimed the settlement in 1992 prevented any additional development on the ridge, but the Bureau of Land Management has said future development had not been agreed to in the 1992 settlement.

References

Unincorporated communities in Riverside County, California Coachella Valley San Gorgonio Pass {{RiversideCountyCA-geo-stub