As published in The View, July 2023:
President
Hello, neighbors, I am writing this after having recently attended the Pulte Town Hall meeting about the Desert Retreat development (along Avenue 40 and Madison). I sent a recap e-blast the following day.
At the Town Hall meeting, Pulte announced they would no longer seek to enter our community to upsize the sewer line to accommodate the Desert Retreat development. I asked them twice to confirm their statements, and they did. But, as with any verbal announcement, the SCSH Board and the SCSH City Development Coordinating Committee will remain vigilant to make sure this will not be approved under any circumstances.
The main concern now is the Desert Retreat entrance location. Pulte insists the main entrance will be directly across from Shadows Restaurant and the South Golf Course, controlled by a traffic light. Their claim is one of safety, arguing that other options were less safe as well as incompatible with traffic flow. No evidence was presented to back this claim. Traffic flow probably will back up in the mornings during the school year if the traffic light is placed at that location. A more logical location would be further west on Avenue 40. My conversation with the City of Indio indicated the City’s traffic engineer will be involved with this assessment.
To be very clear, only SCSH residents are eligible to use our amenities. Our golf course and restaurant are open to the public. There will be other issues, like how we control the use of nonresident golf carts that are driven into the Shadows parking lot. Will nonresident golf carts be allowed on the golf course (presenting liability issues)? As these issues arise, the Board will address them.
Finally, here is the latest update on the CVWD project on Jefferson and Avenue 40. Chris Stevens, a SCSH resident and Chair of the Ad-Hoc North Channel Committee, is intimately involved with this project; and he shared a recent conversation on the topic:
Once the 40th crossing is completed, the next step is to construct the drain outlets into our property. Following the completion of the drains, the Jefferson Street crossing will be rebuilt. The City of Indio wants this work done before the start of school in the fall. The remaining work to be done within our property includes completion of the spillway into the pond; construction of the pond and a service access road and golf cart path on the east side of the pond; and finish grading of the site and landscape installation.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that the Association is still in negotiation/litigation with CVWD at this time.
Your comments and concerns are always welcome. If you have not registered your email address to receive e-blasts, I highly recommend registering so that you will be informed of the important HOA events that directly affect our community. Register at www.scshca.com/emailsignup.
Contact the author at jerry.conrad@scshca.com.