City of Indio Plans for Development of Adjacent Land

There have been many questions asked about what the City of Indio is planning for the development of land adjacent or near to Sun City Shadow Hills. From a meeting with Les Johnson, Indio Director of Development Services, and his staff on July 12 CHOSH was provided the following information which we want to share with all SCSH homeowners.
There are no plans for development of land immediately adjacent to our community as no properties around Sun City Shadow Hills have submitted formal plans for building permits to the City of Indio. Also no applications for building permits have been submitted for any lots in the Walmart shopping area and the farm land vicinity of 42nd and Monroe remain “unentitled”.

Entitled refers to the pre-construction process of obtaining the permitting, getting the land use approved, utility easements approved, etc. These pre-construction requirements are known as "Entitlements". When all that is done the land is "entitled" and a developer is ready to begin the building process.  The process of entitling land is a long and often complex part of a larger land planning and developing process that must be successfully completed before construction of buildings can begin.
California's development-approvals process, or land entitlements process as it is also known, is the most detailed and complicated in the nation. Project sponsors must go through more reviews, submit more documentation, and face greater uncertainty over project approvals in California than almost anywhere else.

Currently there are six areas near our community that are being considered for development and are in various stages. The six areas are:

city-of-indio-plans-for-development-of-adjacent-land
Area 1: This property is currently “entitled” for a senior assistant living facility. The owner has just requested an extension as it continues discussions with CVWD on the “North Indio Channel” that must run through the property. The north Indio channel is designed to funnel flood water from west of Sun City Palm Desert through Sun City Shadow Hills and eventually into the Coachella Valley Storm water channel.

Area 2: This property is known as the Jefferson Venture Project. It is “entitled” as a shopping center. The owner has just completed litigation with the Jefferson street overpass project on the routing of Varner Road. This project seems, in the City’s mind, the furthest along in planning but no final plans have been filed for building permits.

Area 3: This project is known as Las Montanas project. The masterplan that was submitted to the city showed multi-story living facilities, a shopping center, and office buildings. No final plans have been filed for building permits. During the hearing on the masterplan the President of the Sun City Shadow Hills Board of Directors representing concerned residents, voiced three major objections to the project as outlined:

  1. The multi-story living facilities would have views into the back yards of SCSH residents – loss of privacy
  2. The rerouting of the extreme high voltage power lines from through the center of the project to an area along the property line with SCSH. The concern was health and safety and resale value of SCSH homes
  3. The master plan also showed a “golf cart” access point into SCSH. The concern was security.

Area 4: This area is “entitled” for single family homes. No outside interest has been seen to date.

Area 5: This area currently is not “entitled”. At one point this area was looked at by Pulte as a possible Phase IV but the Association was not interested.

Area 6: The plan for this land has been approved and construction is expected to begin soon on a Grade school.

 

Article by Tom Hutson and was originally posted on the CHOSH website and appears with their copyright permission.