Palm Desert City Council - Study Session, September 25, 2025

Transcript text

AI transcript text.

[00:03:49] Mayor: Good afternoon and welcome to our study session for September 25th, uh, Thursday. And I know we have, uh, Council Member Kintania up here by video. Do you, do you want to ask the appropriate question since I don't know?
[00:04:11] Staff: We can. Um, Council Member Kintania, can you please state the reason for remote participation per AB2449?
[00:04:18] Council Member Kintania: Absolutely. I am ill and I would rather not share any illness with my peers.
[00:04:23] Staff: Thank you.
[00:04:24] Council Member Kintania: And I am taking the meeting from inside City Hall with nobody else in the room. Thank you.
[00:04:30] Mayor: Okay, we will move on then and let's get right to work. Uh, our first, unless there is any particular order, should we do it the way that it's presented in our packet? Yes. So, it's a circulation element general plan update from Mr. Flores.
[00:04:47] Carlos Flores: Thank you, Madame Mayor, members of the City Council. Carlos Flores, Services. Before I turn it over to our consultant, Baron Piers, today you're going to receive another update on our circulation element update that has started as of July of last year. The
[00:05:02] Carlos: City Council has received a couple updates back in February as well as June. And then our active transportation program subcommittee reviewed some of the documents in front of you earlier this month. And so I'm going to turn it over to Fehr & Peers to go over where we're at and some updates for you all.
[00:05:19] Brian Wolf: Awesome. Thank you, Carlos. Hello, Council. My name is Brian Wolf from Fehr & Peers. I'm joined also with Jason Pac. We've been working with the city together over the last year on the mobility element update.
[00:05:34] Brian Wolf: So, to give an overview of our presentation here today, we're really here summing up our work over the last year on this effort, looking at the different improvements and alternatives as part of the transportation system. We're going to go over the key updates and changes to the goals and policies in the mobility element. We'll then touch on the changes to the transportation network, including some capital projects that are included in the long-term plan for the city. We'll also touch on truck routes, VMT, and level of service, which are three policy areas that are key to mobility.
[00:06:08] Brian Wolf: So, for some background, we've been hard at work over the last year with the city coming up with different alternatives to the transportation system, going through an extensive analysis looking at how this affects traffic congestion, vehicle miles traveled, and other key metrics. And now we're at the final stage where we're looking at CEQA and further adoption going into the fall. There's three main motivators for this update to the mobility element. The first of which is really getting consistent and cleaning up a lot of the roadway cross-sections. In the current mobility element, there's some inconsistencies and we want to just provide a clean vision for long-term planning and potential roadway improvements in the city. Secondly, just tying in all the recent plans that have been adopted, such as the ATP, the Vision Zero plan, and really memorializing those in the mobility element. And then finally, addressing those legislative requirements that have come out since 2016.
[00:07:07] Brian Wolf: So our first section is going over some of the key changes and the new policies and goals in the mobility element.
[00:07:13] Brian Wolf: The first of which is safety, and so this is tied to... there we go, safety, SB 932, which is a new legislation that has come out calling on cities to adopt a Vision Zero goal and the safe systems approach to managing roadway fatalities and other serious injuries, which the city has taken great strides in with the Vision Zero Action Plan. So, we're really roping that into the mobility element here by identifying those key areas for safety improvements and also adopting design standards or putting in place the potential for safe design standards in road improvements.
[00:07:54] Brian Wolf: Next is vehicle miles traveled, which comes out of SB 743, and this is connected to the CEQA process, which we'll touch on later in the presentation. But we do have a new policy in the general plan to incorporate this and really just to promote multimodal travel as well as more efficient development patterns that reduce the amount of VMT that is generated by new development. And finally, we have emergency evacuation and resilience. This is another priority area from the state that we're incorporating into the general plan here by ensuring evacuation routes are well maintained and also focusing on climate resiliency of the infrastructure system.
[00:08:38] Brian Wolf: Some other key changes to the transportation mobility element in the general plan, again, really just to address those legislative requirements and memorialize the current practices in the city. So, some of the policies were outdated. Some of the key areas we wanted to upgrade were the public transit section, really reinforcing the city's supportive role in providing transit and connecting and coordinating with SunLine on that; consolidating some of the parking policies from the last mobility element; and then finally, preparing for some of the long-term changes that we anticipate with transportation, including the CV rail line.
[00:09:16] Brian Wolf: So next we'll jump into some of the key changes to the transportation network. So this is the roadway system, the bike and pedestrian circulation, as well as truck routes.
[00:09:27] Brian Wolf: So first, why are we updating the transportation network? This is really an opportunity for us to review what the plan is in place for the city and help right-size our network for the future. So for example, we looked at some roadways that maybe were planned to be widened in the future. However, with just current development patterns or changing priorities, including, you know, focus on walkability in downtown, that this is an opportunity to right-size and update our plan accordingly. In addition, this also is a great opportunity to review some of those long-term projects, including the...
[00:10:02] Speaker: Portola interchange, which we've come to council before previously on, and incorporate that as part of a long-term priority. And so, we'll touch on that in a little bit, also addressing some growth and again just consistency with the state laws and policy goals that council has put forth.
[00:10:23] Speaker: So speaking of the Portola interchange, this is something that we gave an update to council on in June. Just a reminder on the current status: a lot of the—all the design work, all the planning work has been completed, and there's just a need for additional funding to complete this long-desired project, which is looking at around $88 million in 2018.
[00:10:45] Speaker: And so we did receive direction from council to include and continue this project as part of a long-term vision for transportation. So it is included in the draft updated mobility element here. Some of the next steps as part of this, and that are incorporated into the action items in the mobility element, are just to review the cost estimates and costs for that project, as well as start pursuing and coordinating with agencies to find potential funding sources.
[00:11:17] Speaker: So why are we including the Portola interchange? As a reminder, it's an opportunity to help relieve congestion at Monterey and Cook Street. This is something that we identified in our traffic modeling through the general plan update as a key priority, and this is one solution to address that. The next thing is really just to align with some of the state goals to reduce VMT as it provides a more direct path of travel, while also accommodating growth, and this is a project that can be more likely to secure funding for improvements as it reduces VMT and is in line with a lot of those state goals.
[00:11:55] Speaker: Some other changes to the mobility element and transportation system—big changes were made to the cross-sections, mostly to reflect on-the-ground conditions. So we reviewed some of the roadway network classifications. One opportunity was along Country Club Drive, which right now is classified as a vehicle-oriented arterial with the potential for six lanes. Through our traffic modeling, we found that it is able to accommodate future traffic flow with its current configuration of four lanes. So, we are proposing to reclassify that as a balanced arterial to allow for bike lanes and other improvements.
[00:12:34] Speaker: We also have changes to design standards and just incorporating some of the latest best practice, including buffered bike lanes. The cross-sections were also updated to include a maximum cross-section width, and this is to help with housing approvals and tied to SB 330 legislation.
[00:12:55] Speaker: We did also introduce two new classification categories. The first one is a secondary roadway with two lanes, and this is just designed to reflect on-the-ground conditions. And then secondly is a specific plan roadway, just to provide some flexibility for those roadways where their design is governed by a specific plan.
[00:13:17] Speaker: So for Highway 111, we did look at potential improvements for this corridor. And based on the current mobility element that we're planning, the draft one that we have before you, there is a desire to provide complete street improvements along this roadway, including safety improvements for all users, potential for enhanced bike facilities, support for transit, as well as activating the frontage road. We have two potential design examples. These are very high-level planning, and it is the city's intention to refine the Highway 111 design further down the road through a more collaborative process with the community.
[00:13:58] Speaker: So, regarding bikes and golf carts, really the focus on the mobility element update is to incorporate the latest progress since 2016. So all the new bike lanes that have gone in, CV Link, other big projects, while also identifying the next gaps where the city desires to close. So specifically Highway 111, as well as Cook Street north of Frank Sinatra up by the college and the proposed rail station.
[00:14:30] Speaker: All right. So our next topic is truck routes. So, truck routes, this is a new topic area into the transportation mobility element in the circulation or in the general plan, excuse me, that is tied to new legislation AB 98. So, AB 98 requires all agencies to adopt truck routes and incorporate them into their circulation element by 2028. So, this is a perfect opportunity to meet this new legislative—
[00:15:00] Presenter: requirement. As far as where these routes should go, they should avoid sensitive receptors where possible, such as schools, parks, housing. So, we did an extensive analysis of where these locations, these receptors are located and made some changes to the truck route network. Some of the other changes are really focused on addressing safety and some past crash history that has taken place with trucks specifically.
[00:15:28] Presenter: So, the proposed changes, we list them out here. I also have a map on the next slide that we can look side by side. Some of the big changes are removing San Pablo Avenue. This was previously adopted by Council, but will be formalized in the mobility element with this update here. Also removing SR-74 south of Highway 111. This is an area with a lot of crash history with trucks. One of the other changes is removing Portola Avenue south of Frank Sinatra where there's a lot of schools and other sensitive receptors. A few other changes, one is adding Dinah Shore from Monterey to Portola to accommodate some of that new commercial and industrial development there, and then extending Portola Avenue to the proposed I-10 interchange. One thing to note is that truck routes are intended for through traffic. Trucks may still continue to use any roadway for local deliveries or pickups. So, this—oh, you have a question?
[00:16:30] Staff: No, I just wanted to let Councilmember Quintanilla know that we do see your hand up. We're going to go through the whole process and then we'll entertain any comments and questions at that time.
[00:16:41] Councilmember Quintanilla: Perfect. Thank you.
[00:16:43] Presenter: Perfect. Sounds good. All right. So, yeah, so this map here just shows the side-by-side existing and proposed truck route network. Again, those big changes are along Portola Avenue as well as SR-74 south of Highway 111. This network still provides some regional connectivity for trucks to navigate throughout the city.
[00:17:06] Presenter: All right. And our final topic before we open it up to any questions is related to VMT and LOS, which are everyone's favorite two acronyms in transportation.
[00:17:18] Presenter: So, why are we addressing these two metrics? They really are helpful for a lot of long-term planning decisions for the city, and they also help—they're used extensively in the development review process. So, first, Level of Service. This is a metric that is used to describe traffic conditions and help identify those congestion hotspots. It is a local planning decision. It used to be incorporated in the CEQA process. However, it is no longer used in the CEQA process, but it is still being incorporated in the city's transportation study guidelines, which are part of the mobility element update. Level of Service is a letter grade system that is based on average delay, and we use that information to help identify hotspots of congestion and potential improvements in the future. So with CEQA and the changes post-SB 743, we have another metric that we work with called Vehicle Miles Traveled, or VMT. And this is a metric that is used to measure the overall efficiency of driving. What it is, it's essentially a sum of the total number of miles that are driven by vehicles. And you can look at it either as total VMT—so a total amount of driving taking place within a city—or the amount of VMT generated by a particular project. But more often, it's actually looked at as an efficiency metric where you look at VMT per resident or VMT per employee. And this is helpful to help evaluate how potential changes to development or the transportation system influence how much or how long people drive. And yeah, this is also part of the CEQA process and is the new metric used for transportation impacts in CEQA.
[00:18:59] Presenter: So, as far as this process, the mobility element provides an opportunity for the city to adopt city-specific VMT thresholds and guidelines. And there's really several key reasons why this is helpful. First is defensibility in the CEQA process. By having local guidelines, you're able to help streamline some of your development in the city. And this is also helpful to have local guidelines to account for some unique uses. So, we have a higher rate of tourism in the city, so there is an opportunity to just make sure that guidelines reflect some of those unique development patterns. A big thing to note about the VMT guidelines that we're proposing here is they build off of the current practice that the city is using, which is tiering from the county guidelines. So, we're essentially memorializing that process for the city while having a few slight clarifications on how to analyze some of those more specific projects that are related to tourism and other cases. Another thing to note is that state law...
[00:20:00] Staff: ...does provide a lot of opportunities to screen projects from VMT analysis, and those will be incorporated into the guidelines as well. So for level of service, now that LOS is a local planning decision, there is still a desire to maintain it in the city's plan as it can help guide some of those road improvement decisions. It's also an opportunity to help manage your existing transportation system and look at ways to invest in existing infrastructure and optimize the existing system before necessarily expanding roadways. So, by and large, we're proposing to keep the LOS policy the same by having a LOS D threshold during the peak hour. Essentially meaning that intersections should operate at a D grade, which is around 55 seconds of average delay or better. In the downtown area, which is shown there in orange, we do have some opportunity to provide flexibility for this policy by allowing an LOS threshold. So maybe accepting a little bit more congestion in this area where it's expected and where widening may not be feasible.
[00:21:09] Staff: Another opportunity with updating the transportation study guidelines is incorporating other goals and policies, specifically around safety and multimodal access. So with safety, we have an opportunity for projects to evaluate if they will increase potential safety hazards and contribute improvements to the roadway system if they are found to increase those hazards, and then also evaluate how bikes, pedestrians, and transit users would access future development.
[00:21:40] Staff: So the last slide here before we get to next steps is how does the mobility element update influence VMT and LOS within the city. So with VMT, the proposed transportation improvements, most notably the Portola interchange, are actually found to reduce the overall amount of VMT that's taking place within the city. And this is primarily due to the shorter trip lengths, and when you provide an additional freeway interchange, people are able to have a more direct path of travel. So we see around almost a one mile per person decrease in VMT as a result of these changes. Next, with level of service and traffic congestion, we see again with the Portola interchange traffic congestion improving at the other Monterey and Cook interchanges, while also still able to accommodate that planned development. One thing to note is that near the city center, we do still anticipate some congestion there. It's currently there now and it's probably expected to grow a little bit in the future. And with this, we recognize that widening may not be feasible or even desired in this location.
[00:22:47] Staff: So next steps, we're currently working through the CEQA process, most notably is consulting with adjacent tribes about the potential changes that are taking place with the mobility element. That effort is wrapping up soon. Our next step is to go through formal adoption with Council, so adopting both the updated mobility element, which includes the goals and policies as well as the roadway reclassifications and truck routes, and then along with that, the transportation study guidelines. So those VMT thresholds, the level of service thresholds, and other safety and multimodal assessment processes there. Once it's adopted, City and Council will focus on implementation. We do have a draft implementation matrix that can help support this effort and guide some of these policies. So with that, happy to answer any questions.
[00:23:41] Councilmember: Thank you so much. Did you want to... you have something, please?
[00:23:46] Councilmember: Thank you very much for this detailed report. And I have two questions in terms of the truck routes that you were talking about. It all looked great at first when you were saying this street's going to, you know, not be accessible via trucks and everything, but then at the very end it says 'unless a truck has to make a delivery.' So how is that enforced? Are the police going to know if a truck is making a delivery to the Ralph's grocery store off of Cook Street? How is that going to be enforced? And then my second question is if I could see the slide right before next steps again.
[00:24:33] Staff: Yeah. So I'll answer your first question related to truck routes. So, ultimately as part of the AB 98 legislation, it's on the city to help inform truck drivers on, you know, the best routes for trucks. So, that's posting signage, and obviously once there's signage there... and then also online is another opportunity for that information to be shared. And with that, as far as my understanding, I don't know if Jason has a better, more...
[00:25:00] Staff: ...detailed answer. He's worked with a lot of other cities on AB 98 implementation. But there is the formal adoption through this process with, you know, a council ordinance that then they become enforceable. Obviously, there is, you know, some nuance there where a local delivery, you know, might take place, but if, you know, a truck is found on a residential street where it maybe doesn't make sense, that might be an opportunity for potential enforcement.
[00:25:29] Council Member: Okay, you have another...
[00:25:30] Council Member: Yeah, I had one other question. So, the slide right before next steps. Okay, yeah. So, in terms of results that we're coming up with in terms of helping with VMT and the LOS, it seems like we're relying on the Portola interchange to resolve a lot of this.
[00:25:55] Staff: Correct. I mean, so...
[00:25:56] Council Member: ...and in 2018 it was 88 million. So, we've had inflation. I'm going to say that number could well be 130, 140 million. And...
[00:26:08] Council Member: ...the last time we talked about it at any of the CC, it's maybe more than 150.
[00:26:14] Council Member: Okay. So, it's more than 150. And we're at a loss, as far as I know, on how to get funding for this project. The city itself, it's not, unless I'm missing something. I could ask our City Manager or our Finance Director, but it's a dream right now and not a solution.
[00:26:40] Staff: Yeah. And I think, you know, as we heard from Council in June, that it is one of those dream projects, and that's why also our discussions with city staff have found it valuable to include in the mobility element as a long-term priority. When the project is in the mobility element, it's very clear that the city wants this project, and it makes it easier to go after those potential funding opportunities. So, one kind of has to come before the other in that sense, and you know, we do lay out some of those implementation actions where we make it so that the city can focus on finding opportunities to engage with CVAG, RCTC, other state, and even federal representatives about finding potential funding for this project.
[00:27:24] Council Member: So there aren't other solutions at this point that we could put into place in terms of north Palm Desert and congestion issues with all the new homes getting built?
[00:27:34] Staff: Yeah. And I mean, the other alternative would be to not include the interchange. And we see through our traffic analysis as part of this effort that the Monterey and Cook Street interchanges, they're already busy and they're only expected to increase, especially without Portola. And so, from this effort, we saw that there is a lot of value in including the Portola interchange, and this is the first step in the long-term plan for the improvement.
[00:28:00] Council Member: Okay, I don't want to take too much time. We have a lot to go through. I was just hoping there might be a plan B if...
[00:28:06] Mayor: All great projects begin with a plan, and we need to have this plan so that we can go out and get funding.
[00:28:13] Staff: Yeah, great point. One other thing that I want to make sure that Council is aware of is there are other projects included in the circulation element. Some of those roadway reclassifications to match existing conditions and basically reduce the number of lanes does help contribute to that VMT number, and that's little to no cost to the city. So, that's a consideration. The other thing that we did want to also make sure everybody was aware of is although Portola is very expensive, if Portola doesn't occur and we do need to make improvements to Monterey and Cook Street, those would also be very, very expensive to solve the congestion issue without the new interchange. So, I wouldn't say everything's just in the new interchange basket. There are other nuances in here that would affect what you're seeing in these numbers. But the city is doing other projects that are beneficial from a VMT perspective, or other improvements that could be made to existing interchanges to help with congestion if needed, but again, also very expensive.
[00:29:13] Council Member: Thank you.
[00:29:15] Mayor: And I know Council Member Quintanilla, you had put your hand up.
[00:29:19] Council Member Quintanilla: Yes. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Just two quick questions. One, what is the weight threshold to have these restrictions apply to trucks?
[00:29:29] Staff: Um, I don't know that number off the top of my head, unfortunately. I don't know if Jason does. I'm sorry.
[00:29:35] Council Member Quintanilla: And the other one in the meantime is, how are you collecting the data on how long it takes for a car? Are you using the CV Sync data, or how are you collecting the time that cars are waiting?
[00:29:48] Staff: The travel time is... Yeah, so a lot of that is based off of established analysis formulas in the transportation planning practice. So, as part of this effort, we collected a lot of traffic...
[00:30:00] Speaker 1: ...data. So, how many people are driving on the road, and we use that information to assess how well the system is performing and estimating that average delay. So, and that does incorporate the CV Sync effort that is underway. So, any of those improvements, we did see some notable improvements in travel time.
[00:30:23] Speaker 2: So just to answer your question about truck routes. So, one of the ways to address truck routes would be to enforce a weight restriction on roadways. In fact, I'd suggest most of the agencies that we're working with are finding that as the easiest way to enforce trucks. So, that weight restriction can vary depending on the type of truck that you're trying to restrict on a specific roadway. So, if you want a, like a single unit, like a moving truck to have access for local deliveries, that weight would be very different than a semi-tractor trailer, for example. So, that weight can vary depending on the type of truck. And typically what we do is once the truck routes get established, there is a, I'll call it a secondary part where Brian talked about them needing to be on the web and accessible to truck drivers. Caltrans also maintains a statewide database of truck routes. So, there is a process to go through to send the truck routes to Caltrans for incorporation in the statewide database. And then after that, for, I'll call, maximum enforcement within the city, that's when you start looking at those weight restrictions. And then what we've typically done is worked with police to make sure that it's signed and those weights correspond to what's being used on the local roadway. So I wouldn't say it's a one-size-fits-all weight, but one that we usually work with PD and people that are on those roads to make sure that we're reflecting what's needed specifically for law enforcement to be able to enforce.
[00:31:50] Speaker 3: Thank you. That's what I figured. I know obviously it applied to the very big trucks, but now that we've got so many large delivery trucks, how do we make sure that we're not impeding business or hurting any customers that are relying on any deliveries?
[00:32:07] Speaker 4: Thank you. Are there any questions, please?
[00:32:10] Speaker 5: I want to go back to Portola. Councilwoman Nestande brings up a good point. I want to make sure I'm communicating it well because when the public asks, they want a simple answer for why we're looking at Portola. My understanding is the growth in North Palm Desert will require more capacity to get onto the I-10. Our options are expand the existing interchanges or add a new one. The difference being both are very expensive. The difference being that because Portola reduces VMT, it is more competitive for funding compared to the others.
[00:32:48] Speaker 6: Yeah, that is a true statement. And as far as you know, especially state funding and a lot of those priorities for greenhouse gas reduction and reducing VMT, that this project would perform better.
[00:32:59] Speaker 5: So the Portola is a strategic move to give us a project that's more competitive for funding?
[00:33:06] Speaker 6: That, and it's also the furthest along. We have all the design complete. There would be maybe some minor changes to that, but the other interchanges would require even more extensive planning. So...
[00:33:19] Speaker 7: All right, thank you. This, actually my questions plural, maybe better directed to staff, but just bear with me. So regarding the 111 corridor and trying to make it more bike friendly, the question is why? And partly I asked that question because, you know, I ride bikes a lot and drive up and down 111 a lot, and it seems to me like to do it well it would cost... we've already kind of built it out three lanes each way, there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of room to move unless you spend tens of millions of dollars, widen the roadway, they'd have to have retaining walls on the frontage road, etc., etc., only to drop them off if they're going westbound, only to drop them off from Rancho Mirage which has no bike lane on 111. So, it seems to me like there's superior ways of doing it if you want to get bike traffic through town going east-west, you know, direct them up Cook Street to Fairway to Shadow Mountain, you know, over to the CV Link by the bump and grind, and everybody's happy. They're on their way heading towards Rancho Mirage. So, explain that to me why it seems like trying to improve 111 to make it bike friendly is almost like a square peg in a round hole that may not have a good return on investment.
[00:34:25] Speaker 8: Yeah, and I think as part of the... we did review the last mobility element, so the one that was adopted in 2016. It did include bike facilities and that was identified as a gap in the active transportation plan. Of course, there could be some changing priorities. We do have that alternative design that does look at the frontage roads and activating those to provide some bicycle connectivity. Another thing to note is that Fred Waring has, you know, inconsistent bike lanes. So there is a gap in east-west travel, particularly in the, I guess, central-south part of the city here, and so...
[00:35:00] Staff: This is just one opportunity, and with Highway 111 being, I guess, the main street of Palm Desert and it's kind of the key east-west connector, we had discussions with city staff that this is a potential long-term project. Of course, again, having high capital costs, but I think as part of the mobility element, we're again laying the foundation with those complete street improvements, which is in line with some of those policies, and that future design could be changed down the road.
[00:35:30] Councilmember: Okay, sounds good. So we're basically following through on wishes from previous councils or years ago when it may have made more sense. But if it was up to me, if I was king, I'd say don't spend any more money looking into that. But we'll just go forward with it. The Cook Street north—I think we talked about this a little bit before the meeting—Cook Street north of Frank Sinatra to the interstate. To me, that street is already plenty wide for bike lanes. That to me seems like the easiest fix if you're trying to increase mobility. So, for whatever that's worth, it would seem to me like just a matter of restriping. And as far as coordinating with adjacent cities to close some of these infrastructure gaps, and this is again probably a question for Chris or staff, would that best be done through the Cove Commission or between staff of the three cities, or how would you—I agree that that would be important to do. I've seen some, I guess you'd call loopholes, between the cities as far as continuity of bike lanes. So, how would you suggest we pursue that if we do?
[00:36:30] Staff: It would be both. So through this plan, we would then work with our neighboring cities to improve those gap points. The Cove Commission does provide a forum for greater policy-level discussions, so we would pursue it on both pathways.
[00:36:42] Councilmember: Perfect. And that is all I have. Thank you.
[00:36:46] Councilmember: I have a couple comments. I'd like to go back to the 111. The idea of changing the character and the mobility of 111 isn't just simply of historical councils. There is an element of that, but it's also the updates coming from Sacramento with modified—you know, it's the modality and the mobility issues that we're now dealing with and that we're looking at things differently. So it has been a progression that is changing that, and it's not only about the bike lanes, it's about also the character of 111. It had become a thoroughfare and not a very attractive one. And so part of the push is to create certainly a more charming 111 than what it is now. So there's a lot of pieces to this puzzle on 111, trying to create a more welcome 111, some place people—it's a sense of place and a sense of welcome as part of what's happening there. I would like, on the Portola—and it's a great point because if we don't—if we fix Monterey, and we did Monterey about 10 years ago, I would say maybe 12 years ago, and we go back and do it again, it just doesn't make financial sense. And if we are now going to try and take traffic and not have Portola, then we're putting everybody on the surface streets, and then we're talking about LOS and VMT, and it's a mess. So to have Portola work, what I would like to do is take that 88.8, or whatever that number was, and take it off of this document because it might at some point be detrimental to efforts that we might be making to get grants. Dealing with Union Pacific immediately takes the number higher. We may be looking at 150 million, and the more time we take, that number continues to escalate. I just don't want it to hurt us as we go forward looking at something that will really serve the community well. And we're seeing what Rancho Mirage is doing on Monterey. We must have other solutions and ways to get onto the 10. So, we know that is something that we've got to keep in this plan that you're putting together, and thank you for all the work on this. It makes sense, and it certainly should help us with the mobility in our city. So, those are my only comments. Are there any additional comments or questions? No? Okay. Thank you very much. Do you have anything you want to wrap it up with?
[00:39:34] Staff: No, I think, you know, it's great to be here just to share all of the input from Council. And I think, you know, we have a strong plan in place for the city that has those key priorities while also laying the foundation for future action. So, thank you for your time today, and I'll—
[00:39:53] Councilmember: And I do love some of the red lines you have in here, by the way.
[00:39:56] Staff: Awesome. Thank you.
[00:39:58] Councilmember: Thank you.
[00:40:03] Speaker: Okay. We'll go to our next, and that is our update on median landscape master plan development, and that's Shawn Mure.
[00:40:13] Shawn Mure: Good afternoon, honorable mayor, members of the city council. I'm Shawn Mure, community services manager in public works. We're bringing to you today a presentation on a median landscape master plan. This master plan is one of the council goals for 2025, and staff have contracted with Herman Design Group to start putting together designs for the master plan. What you'll see today has already been presented to the architectural review committee with some positive feedback and some additional changes that were made as a result of that. We're bringing it to you today as a first pass. So, we're looking for your feedback on the plant material that's been included, the aesthetics that are provided through the master plan, some of the aggregate material that are used, and just the overall look and feel. I want to mention we do have a slide on funding for the plan. I'll jump back in when our consultant gets to that slide because I want to talk through some options on that. But without further ado, I would like to introduce Opus Garza from Herman Design Group, a senior planner who will give the presentation.
[00:41:23] Armando Opus Garza: Good afternoon. Thank you for the time to present our design to you. My name is Armando Opus Garza. I'm an associate with Herman Design Group. With me today is our senior designer, Francisco Sanchez. So, Palm Desert Media Master Plan. We were tasked with providing a new landscape identity for the city of Palm Desert, something that's going to help you stand out amongst the rest of Coachella Valley, and something that's going to give your residents and visitors a sense of arrival as they're coming in, whether that be from the I-10 or coming east or west from neighboring cities. So, we worked closely with the city staff to identify some of the existing conditions, things that we'd like to change, things that we like to keep, and things that we can work with. So, some of the existing conditions that you have right now are dated monument signs. They're designed with different design materials: stone, steel. You have a similar design material as nearby cities in terms of the rock, kind of the river cobble layout in terms of ground cover and such. You have very little change in the entry nodes coming from different cities unless other cities have a very lush landscape design. And then there is no sense of arrival coming in off of the main on and off ramps, this being Monterey, Washington, and Cook. And then overall, there is, what we've seen is, no cohesive landscape design in these medians. So, this is an example of your monument signs. You see the different levels of design material: rock, steel, edged-in lettering versus the pop-out design. And then here's a couple of examples of the medians as they exist today. You see different rock material being used, different types of boulders, different types of landscape, and overall groupings and planting design style. This is your entry off of the Monterey. There's no monument sign or any real sense of arrival until well after you've crossed over Dinosaur. So, some design opportunities that we've identified: we'd like to keep the existing specimen plants, the trees, accent plants that have taken a long time to become established. We don't want to go in and just rip all this stuff out. So, some of the stuff that looks really good and it's taken a while to grow in place, we want to keep that. We have median rock blankets at the nodes of all the medians. We'll want to keep that in place where it makes sense and where it meets our design standard. We'd like to remove all the existing stamped concrete. And then we'd like to use the Natina spray, which is a staining material, to help bring some cohesion to some of the gravel, crushed rock blankets, and boulders to bring them all into a cohesive design. So, here's an example of your existing conditions. On the top left, you can see the shrub material and ground cover is very dated and well...
[00:45:02] Presenter: ...over maturity. So, we'd like to rip it out. And then the yuccas, the ocotillos that have taken a while to grow in place and really look really spectacular. We want to keep those. On the upper right, um, this is a crushed rock blanket. We can keep this in place and then spray this with an Nina to give it a little bit of pop and bring it into a more organic, um, color that's going to match up with the new rock that we're, um, proposing. Uh, the bottom left, that's your stamped concrete that we'd like to remove. And then the bottom right is a rock blanket that was used, um, was installed with a cobble design—so a smooth river wash, riverwash cobble that doesn't meet the, uh, new design that we have laid out. So, we'd like to rip that out.
[00:45:51] Presenter: New design elements. So, our inspiration comes from the San Jacinto mountains, the color and silhouette, um, that you see and the up and down, uh, pattern, um, as you're coming in off of Monterey where you're coming down 111, you're getting a really striking view of those mountains. So, we're trying to replicate that in our landscape design. We have three different levels of design tiers, and this is based on the vehicle speed and density. It's taken, um, quite a few weeks, um, for the city to help us out and our design team to, uh, drive through most of these roads to get a sense of, uh, what the traffic looks like. How fast are you going? How often are you stopping and really getting a chance to, um, enjoy the landscape, uh, in the surrounding buildings around you?
[00:46:40] Presenter: So, we've broken those down into three tiers. Tier one being a, uh, a densely planted and designed, tier three being the less dense, um, densely designed, and then tier two being somewhere in between. We have a, uh, unique plant selections and hybrids, um, that we'd like to propose that's going to help you break away from the desert norms, um, that Coachella Valley seems to be doing where, for example, it's the same bougainvillea used, um, city by city, which is the Barbara Karst. So, we'd like to bring in a hybrid version that's going to give you some different color, um, still going to provide you year-round color, um, but a different foliage type and a different flower type. We have the use of gabion, uh, columns, um, that we'd like to propose as an accent and as a, uh, wayfinding. Then we're using a crushed rock and decomposed granite patterns that are going to be based off of a raised planter designs.
[00:47:40] Presenter: So here is a map of the overall master plan. You'll see on the right the, uh, tier one, um, examples and then the legend on the bottom. So tier one is our, uh, color green that is our most densely planted and, um, most use of the raised planters. Um, we have retaining boulders used in there, and then we are using gabion columns at entry, uh, portions—so, Monterey, portions of maybe Country Club, and then, um, in downtown settings near 111 and, uh, El Paseo.
[00:48:16] Presenter: In the tier two, this is the color blue. This is where we're going to pull back on some of the, uh, raised planters, some of the, uh, retaining boulders. Um, but we still be using, um, highly, uh, dense clusters of colorful plants, but we'll pull back some of the plant spacing a little bit. And then at tier three, um, we're pulling a lot of the hardscape elements out. We won't have any gabion columns. We won't have any of the raised planters, uh, no retaining boulders. And we'll rely a little bit, uh, more on the accent planting in the existing, uh, material that's already matured.
[00:48:58] Presenter: So the gabion basket monument columns, we, we have this idea for the gabion basket, uh, design to be used as a column, um, and then used, um, as a wayfinding or as a city, uh, monument sign. You can put the city logo on it, have wayfinding for, um, certain places of business or downtown or Acrisure Arena. Um, and then for the accent portions, we have a design with just a palm frond on it so that it's got a little bit of flare. Um, with, with these columns, we have several different, uh, lighting options. Um, I'll show you those in the renderings. The raised planter is based on a Kite, uh, design which is, um, a product, um, provided by Tournesol, which is a landscape planter company. Um, our proposal is to use them as a one-sided retaining, uh, raised planter. So, instead of a fully, um, enclosed three-sided or four-sided raised planter, it would be retaining on one...
[00:50:01] Presenter: ...side and then sloped to the other. So, if you're seeing it from the north side of the street, you will see the raised corten steel u-panel, and on the opposite side of the street, you would see the sloped landscape going up to it. And you can see the retaining portion just peeking over the top.
[00:50:22] Presenter: So this is the gabion column renderings. As you see on the top, there are lighting options for being uplit from a variety of different angles. And then you have an interior light option where we can put in like an LED strip to give it more of a glow. On the bottom, you can see the concept for the accent column that has the palm fronds and then the city logo on the left.
[00:50:54] Presenter: This is the raised planters. This is the key-step design. Several different color options. Our proposal right now is this corten steel color. And instead of being fully enclosed and raised on three or four sides, like I said, it would just be on one side and it would be sloping down on the other. And then this design would alternate. So, as you're traveling down the street, you would get to see both sides as they are alternating.
[00:51:24] Presenter: So, this is a blowup of our tier one design. We're proposing a lot of different color and a lot of different year-round and then different blooming seasons so that you're going to have a lot of colorful flowers, year-round color, but you'll see it bloom at different seasons so you won't end up with a time of the season where nothing is blooming. As you see what we're calling out for the rock blanket at the nodes and then the different crushed gravel areas, the gabion columns towards the front of the medians. And then as you see with the heights indicated, that is our raised planter system. As it's raising up, it's bouncing in height. It'll start at six and go up to 18, then back down to 12 and up to 18 again, and then back down to six. And then as it comes in contact with the second round, it's going to alternate and be retaining on the opposite side. The rock layout is then all based off of the lines that we are creating with the raised planters. And that's not trying to break away from the desert norm of using an accent rock in a river-washed cobble look.
[00:52:50] Presenter: Here's our rendering. You can see the columns and then the way the crushed gravel comes in and the variety of heights that we have on the raised planters, and then the kind of mass groupings of the colorful plant material that we have.
[00:53:12] Presenter: Our tier two design. Sorry, this is where we're going to kind of back away from some of the hardscape elements in terms of the raised planters, using a little bit more of the retaining boulders, and then we'll back off of some of the highly dense and clustered planters or plants. We'll still use the same material, but we'll pull away on the on-center planting and a little bit more of a sparse design. No gabions used in tier two.
[00:53:52] Presenter: So this is our rendering for tier two. You see in the lower left how you would get a sloped approach on the retaining. Rather than seeing the panel, you're going to see the landscape slope up and then drastically fall off. And then further in the middle, you can see the retaining boulders picking up that same similar design of the raised planters, but done with boulders instead.
[00:54:21] Presenter: Tier three design. Tier three, we're pulling away from all the hardscape elements that we had in tier one and tier two. We're going to have no gabion, no raised planters, no retaining boulders. We'll have groupings of boulders, and we still will have the rock layout based on geometric forms as to where these raised planters would have been creating these force lines, and a much more sparse design on the landscape where we're pulling well away from the heavily dense clusters.
[00:55:00] Presenter: So here's a rendering of that design. You can see some of the groupings of boulders, still the same type of gravel layouts and still the colorful plant material.
[00:55:18] Presenter: New entry median designs. Medians will be added to the on and off ramps at Monterey, Cook Street, and Washington Street. We have no plants or irrigation proposed in these medians.
[00:55:33] Presenter: We want to use these raised planters as a fully retained system where it will be retaining on three sides and then fading down back to finish grade.
[00:55:47] Presenter: We'll use a crushed rock in the same patterns based on the raised pattern planter force lines and then gabion columns for signage and as accents.
[00:55:58] Presenter: We also are proposing the metal plant sculpture designs and an art node for future use for future sculpture locations.
[00:56:10] Presenter: The entry median and gabion columns will have the same style of design, but we want to create a variety of height options, and then you have the opportunity of welcoming or leaving Palm Desert depending on the flow of traffic.
[00:56:28] Presenter: So, here's those new entry medians. Monterey currently has a median that is covered by concrete pads right now. We're proposing extending that down to the turn lane and removing the concrete. Cook Street, you have a small one. We're proposing extending that just about to the turn, if not even farther.
[00:56:51] Presenter: And then Washington has nothing. So, it would be a new curb and gutter system coming straight from the bridge and going down to the turn lane.
[00:57:03] Presenter: Here are the gabion column designs. Similar design, a little bit more flare added to them: 6-foot, 5-foot, 4-foot, and 3-foot options.
[00:57:18] Presenter: Here's an overall blowup plan of the Monterey design. So you see again with the height indicators on the raised planters going from a zero where the art node is going to happen and sloping up, and then bouncing in height options going from a 12 to 18, back down to a six, up continuing over to a six. But it's also a different height from the other side, so you're going to get more of a weaving pattern that's happening rather than a flat retaining system.
[00:57:57] Presenter: Here is a rendering of that design. Gravel still pulling off of the four signs of the retaining walls and then your metal plant sculptures.
[00:58:15] Presenter: Cook Street, very similar design. Same style, same aspects of the metal plant sculptures, and then the retaining walls doing the same thing, having an art node in the middle and acting as a point of reference for the start and stop of the retaining walls.
[00:58:41] Presenter: So, here's a rendering of that where you can more clearly see where the art node and the sculptures are happening.
[00:58:54] Presenter: Washington Street, a much smaller design, but still giving us an opportunity to create an art sculpture node, and then the same design theme as the other two.
[00:59:11] Presenter: And here is a rendering of that one.
[00:59:20] Presenter: So, city asked us to put together this budget for a five-year plan.
[00:59:26] Speaker 1: This is considering the tier one and tier two.
[00:59:30] Speaker 2: Yeah. So, I just wanted to jump in here because this is a preliminary presentation that we've put together for you today, and this is one option. So, we said we were going to put together a five-year median landscape master plan, and this is what that would look like in a five-year snapshot. The total is approximately $30 million. So, this is not included in the current capital budget, and that's something that we're going to be working on and presenting in the future with some alternatives. Some of those...
[01:00:00] Presenter: Include there's, um, a reserve study that finance is doing, um, that will potentially identify some funding opportunities there. Um, some capital projects that have been deferred or going to be delayed, um, where we can utilize funding there. So, um, we'll put together a separate presentation and come back once we've, uh, heard your input on the landscape designs and come back with some, uh, funding mechanisms and then the, uh, final draft designs, uh, before we move forward with the plan. And I think we have one more slide, but I can actually speak to that too. And it's just to, um, to say that the public works department does have, um, several landscape, um, companies on call for, uh, task orders to complete these smaller projects that can be done as just kind of rehabilitation projects. They're not complete overhauls. So in these smaller portions of the city where we can attack, um, and get this, uh, plant pallet up to speed quickly, um, we'll be utilizing the task orders and the operations budget to accomplish that. Okay.
[01:01:04] Mayor: Are you ready for questions and comments?
[01:01:06] Presenter: Absolutely.
[01:01:11] Councilmember 1: Did that ringing in my ear bother anyone?
[01:01:14] Mayor: Um, okay. Does you have any questions or comments?
[01:01:18] Councilmember 2: I have comments.
[01:01:20] Mayor: Okay, let's go with questions first and then we'll get to comments.
[01:01:24] Councilmember 3: I have a question. I presume you visited El Paseo and looked at the existing medians there. And the design proposal is to have the same quality or type of medians on El Paseo as Highway 111. Can you explain the thought process that went into making them the same type of median design on both areas?
[01:01:59] Presenter: No, we can exclude Ela. The design process, um, to bring everything together was really, um, creating a cohesive design. So, we started fresh. We didn't pull from anything that you had existing, trying to mimic that design. Um, we wanted to go with something, um, completely new but still pulling off of, um, the existing trees, accents that you were using, um, but adding more color and, um, trying to add a new flare that hasn't been done, um, in your city or in neighboring cities.
[01:02:33] Councilmember 3: Okay. So, one of the primary design objectives then was cohesion as one of the very primary objectives of the work then?
[01:02:42] Presenter: Correct.
[01:02:48] Councilmember 3: Okay. Thank you. Um, two tiers, I understand the reasoning of having the three tiers, you answered. I understand the reasoning behind tier three, rather rehabilitating existing, but why two different tiers for the other medians? Why not just have one design that's uniform or...
[01:03:07] Presenter: So, the tier system between, um, tier one and two is really based on the speed. Um, so for example, coming in off Monterey, uh, you're generally going between 30 and 45 miles an hour, and then after you've passed maybe Gerald Ford where the traffic is going to bump up between 55 and maybe 65 in most cases. Um, we're trying not to spend as much money in an area where it's more of a flyby. So, we still have some of those design elements at the nodes and at the beginning and entry portions. And then, um, as you can see on the map that we provided, we're kind of bouncing from a one to a two to a three and then back to a two and a three as you're starting to slow down. So, it's really based on traffic and speed.
[01:03:48] Councilmember 3: Okay. And, um, it seems like on some of the renderings I saw, Monterey, Cook, and Washington, hardly any landscaping at all. So, this is a fat price tag of about $30 million. I would imagine over time we'll save on landscaping costs. Has that been taken into account or is that even a consideration?
[01:04:08] Presenter: The renderings that were on Monterey, Cook, and Washington are based off of no plants because we don't have any water available. So, trying to cut the cost of providing power, water, um, new water meters in an area that probably doesn't have a water main running up that street. That was the thought process for those.
[01:04:26] Councilmember 3: Got it. And tier two uses still less. That's right, because you're installing medians where there are none now, so rather than try to pipe in water. Okay, gotcha. Okay, that makes sense. And last but not least, the, um, gabons. I know part of the presentation was saying, well, we had dated monument signs, but I thought we'd already sort of addressed that, uh, in a previous... So, the gabons as they're designed, that was all taken into account to sort of have some cohesion with the new monument signs. They'll work well together?
[01:04:57] Presenter: Yes, and we recognize that there is a monument sign initiative that's also...
[01:05:01] Staff: being undertaken by staff. So, we'll be coordinating with the teams that are working on that project and make sure that the gabions and the new monument signs and wayfinding signs are all part of one cohesive design. We're also pulling in public art, Erica Pal, our public art management analyst, to make sure that any art placement that we have available, we have art planned there as well. So, just collaborating with other staff to make sure that this all ends up to work together.
[01:05:30] Mayor: Thank you.
[01:05:31] Staff: Yeah.
[01:05:31] Mayor: Uh, Council Member Kintania, did you have any questions?
[01:05:34] Council Member Kintania: Yes. Thank you, Madame Mayor. Um, I'm wondering with the elevated planters, which I think are beautiful, by the way, and you're right, it's something that other cities don't have. Do you anticipate any impact when we happen to have a lot of heavy rains? Will that reduce or have any impact on the runoff and any impact on street flooding?
[01:05:55] Staff: I don't foresee that because we're not stopping any of these areas. We're only limited to an 18-inch height per city traffic engineer. So, we're not going that high and we're not taking away a lot of the already available drainage areas. We're not putting on a lot of concrete or hardscape where the water is not going to be able to drain. So, we're only coming up 18 inches.
[01:06:20] Council Member Kintania: Okay. And my other question is in terms of the monuments, right? As we evaluate how to integrate it, I think it's also beneficial to look at a potential public safety component. How can they withstand a car going into it and plowing through it? Is it solid rock all the way through or is it hollow in the middle decorated with rocks on the outside?
[01:06:47] Staff: So a gabion system is solid all the way through, similar to what a palm tree or any of these mature trees are. So that can definitely be looked at and considered. Your city engineers would be looking at that, telling us in certain situations where we can have palm trees, these type of gabions, or mature trees that need to come out due to safety concerns.
[01:07:12] Council Member Kintania: Thank you very much.
[01:07:16] Council Member: Yeah. And I had two questions and I think Mayor Pro Tem Trouy took care of it. First of all, I had to go look up what's gabion. Is it a person's name? Is that how it got named that?
[01:07:26] Staff: I'm not sure.
[01:07:27] Council Member: We're going to have to find out. But they look so pretty when they're lighted. It's really attractive. And I was just concerned about—we've gone through extensive efforts with designing the other monument signs, and I want to make sure that it's complimentary. And, you know, maybe we'll see how that all works, but we do need to consider that.
[01:07:47] Staff: Absolutely. We do have to coordinate with them and in terms of their placement and our placement in the design.
[01:07:52] Council Member: Okay. Great.
[01:07:53] Mayor: Okay. And do we have any quick comments?
[01:07:57] Council Member: Thank you. This was a great report and I really like just about everything that you presented. I have one exception and it is to the on and off-ramps. I, for one, and it's probably subjective, but believe we need some lushness and color because I'm going to use Cook Street as an example. Once you get off the off-ramp and you cross Gerald Ford, you're either going to be, you know, caught by the traffic light and you can look up and see the beauty of going into Palm Desert. But even for me, if I'm going 40 miles an hour or 50 miles an hour, I'm looking ahead and I can still see the beauty of the medians. And so I'm wondering if we could have a cost estimate of having a little lushness on the on and off-ramps. And if it's exorbitant, I'm very mindful of the taxpayer dollar. But if we're already going to go through all this expense of beautifying our medians, I really think we need a little color however we get there.
[01:09:03] Staff: That's a valid question, or a comment rather. So going down Country Club off of—once you've passed Dinosaur, you will have the lush planting as you're looking and heading upwards, right? So we can reach out to CVWD. Under the Public Information Act, they've recently have a website where I can look for where the existing water lines are and see if it's feasible to add water lines to get water up to the off-ramp node.
[01:09:35] Council Member: Okay. And what about Cook Street once you're south of Gerald Ford?
[01:09:40] Staff: Yeah, Cook Street is as well. That will be a Tier 2, I believe, for—it is Tier 2.
[01:09:44] Council Member: Okay. I thought from the drawing once you were south of Gerald Ford, it was going to still be just the lack of landscaping.
[01:09:53] Staff: No. So Tier 2 will still have quite a bit of landscape and
[01:10:00] Speaker: Are there any other comments?
[01:10:01] Speaker: I have a couple. I agree with Councilwoman Estandi. I've seen metal art plants and I have yet to see one that match the beauty of a natural tree. So, if there's some way to add some natural plants and landscaping, I would like to see us potentially do that. And secondly, as we move through our planning, Councilwoman Quintanilla and I are working on the subcommittee for the Highway 111 downtown El Paseo corridor and we're talking about getting more dining on sidewalks. The median on El Paseo, one, I think I like the lushness as a distinction for that area as a district. And secondly, I think that as we look at ways to enhance the sidewalk dining, there is a potential there to look at a 16-foot existing median, reducing it a few feet on either side, potentially reducing lanes from 12 to 11 feet and getting our five feet on each side. It's a long-term plan, but if we're planning a master plan, I'd like to make sure that we're coordinating the thinking in terms of what we want to do on El Paseo, both on the dining and the landscaping and traffic.
[01:11:27] Speaker: Do you have any comments? Uh, Council Member Quintanilla, do you have any additional comments?
[01:11:31] Speaker: Um, the only other comment that I had was in terms of the lighting for the panels. And I think that one showed the internal lighting from the LED and it highlighted one more than the other, and others, depending on the design, was better from the bottom up. I'm trying to see if actually, can you go back to that slide where they show them lit up?
[01:12:01] Speaker: Give me one moment. Thank you.
[01:12:13] Speaker: While it gets pulled up, for example, in one of the designs, the City of Palm Desert logo, which we're very proud of and makes us distinct, it doesn't shine through very well when you're driving through at night. And if that's part of the intent to have it be a welcoming sign, I think that we need to look at the possibility of combining both of the internal LED and the uplighting to have as much of it come from all sides because some of the areas where there will be the entry, there isn't a lot of other—it's kind of vacant in the area and there isn't a lot to keep shining light. So, I'm wondering if we can look at having the combination of the LED and the uplighting to maximize the lighting. So, that's my question or my last thought on that.
[01:13:09] Speaker: Okay. Okay. Thank you. I know we're—oh, did you have something?
[01:13:13] Speaker: One comment.
[01:13:13] Speaker: Yeah. Sorry.
[01:13:14] Speaker: Please go.
[01:13:15] Speaker: I want to let you have the last say. So, um, yeah, I do have one comment. It's actually, I'm going to go in contrast to Gina and my colleague Joe's comments. I actually prefer less landscaping. I see landscaping as just upkeep in the future and kind of more expense, more headaches, more problems. And if you can—I thought the designs were pretty that didn't include any greener landscaping. So, that's my opinion and two cents. Thank you.
[01:13:42] Speaker: Thank you. And I think we're well aware that this is a study session and we're just providing general guidance. I think your designs are wonderful. Everything I've seen is really attractive. Knowing the cost of working with CVWD to move water, that sometimes becomes prohibitive and then the ongoing cost keeps it there. So, we need to look at it, and I do agree with Mayor Pro Tem. Those were beautiful and architecturally very clean and striking. And when we think about it, and I would encourage my colleagues next time you get off of the freeway to note what you're—you're elevated. So, what you're looking at is the entirety of Palm Desert, you look to the other mountains. So, you see an awful lot. So, I don't know that we are so dependent on greenery right there, as we see the beauty of the mountains, we see the beauty of the entire valley. So, I'm not sure that our return is so great if we put the greenery right when we're...
[01:15:00] Speaker: ...coming off the freeway. So, we've given you lots of mixed messages, lots of mixed direction, and I know you'll find a way to power through. So, thank you so much for all your work on this. Thank you so much for your time.
[01:15:18] Mayor: Okay, we have one more item and we are going to start a little late, but we have one more item and let's do that update.
[01:15:27] Staff: Mayor and City Council, this is a brief update from staff on the work that staff is doing to advance City Council goals. We will be conducting these updates quarterly, and I'll ask Martin Alvarez to give us the update on the first one.
[01:15:42] Martin Alvarez: Good evening, Mayor, members of the City Council. Martin Alvarez, Director of Economic Development. We'll touch upon briefly the first couple of goals here. Number one, the Council gave us direction to continue to focus at Cal State San Bernardino University Palm Desert campus, and we have done that. We've been working with the entrepreneurial school on the campus. We currently lease the building across from the university. Our Entrepreneurial Resource Center is housed out of that location, and they're doing a great job in advancing, promoting, and trying to diversify our economy, not just for Palm Desert but for the entire Coachella Valley. One of the initiatives that we are striving for is to provide additional training in the realm of artificial intelligence, and we have started those discussions with the Entrepreneurial Resource Center. We've also been working with UCR; they also have a certificate program that they're launching, and we will have them come in in October to provide some more information on that particular topic. But you'll also be hearing from Dr. Bonas this afternoon to give us another update on the ERC. And the other coordination issues that we're working through is staying in constant contact with the water district, Coachella Valley Water District, Cal State San Bernardino, as they advance their student resource center, their student center. And we're also trying to plan for the future, not just for the student center, but also for the expansion of the campus when it comes to infrastructure. So that generally kind of recaps where we're at with this goal, and happy to answer any questions you may have.
[01:17:26] Mayor: Are there any questions on this?
[01:17:29] Council Member: You did a great job. We have no questions.
[01:17:32] Mayor: Okay. Anything else?
[01:17:36] Staff: We have a couple quick more updates if you'd like, or we could...
[01:17:40] Mayor: Okay. We still have the mall fire. Should we go through kind of quickly?
[01:17:46] Staff: Okay. If I may just alert, we are having technical difficulties with the PowerPoint itself. That's why it's not up on the screen.
[01:17:53] Mayor: Okay.
[01:17:54] Staff: So, just alerting you all.
[01:17:56] Mayor: I think we can do it verbally. I think we're going to be okay.
[01:18:00] Martin Alvarez: All right. So, I will go very quickly. This next initiative is the north sphere. As you all know, this north sphere is areas north of Frank Sinatra, south of the I-10. On the west, it is Monterey, and on the east, it is Cook Street, including the Cal State San Bernardino campus as well as the properties to the north. We still see lots of development activity in this area, as well as construction activity, lots of permits and certificate of occupancies that have been completed, and that is for single-family and multi-family. We also see commercial interests in these areas along the I-10 and Monterey, and the I-10 and Cook Street. In these areas, we see more challenges with infrastructure deficiencies, and so we are working with Coachella Valley Water District, Imperial Irrigation District, and Southern California Edison to find some solutions for these areas. In terms of deliverables for this initiative, it will be a unified development code, and that is changes to our municipal code to streamline processes. It is the university neighborhood specific plan, and that is to provide land uses and development standards for 170 acres that the city controls, as well as providing allowances for a regional park. And then the third initiative that we're bringing forward for City Council consideration would be the circulation element that we just heard earlier today. Part of these initiatives as well is to bring forward to you our discussions with the utility companies and our possible solutions, and we'll bring that forward through a study session. And that concludes this report.
[01:19:41] Mayor: Okay. Thank you. Any questions on that? Perfect. Let's go to the next one.
[01:19:49] Martin Alvarez: I believe—good evening again. I believe the next topic is the mall redevelopment, and one of the goals of the City Council and the city is for us to revitalize that entire location. Just as a brief update, we have...
[01:20:01] Staff: We've been working closely with the ownership of the shops in Palm Desert, also known as the mall site. And as you know, the City Council and City purchased the Sears building. So that is also another asset that we have available once we collectively get everybody to move forward on a master plan for the entire site. We have been reaching out to a lot of people that are interested in bringing new family-friendly activities, new entertainment, housing, and other retail opportunities along that entire corridor. So we're continuing that effort. We did request an exemption from the Surplus Land Act. We're still waiting to hear back from the State of whether we qualify for that exemption for us to move forward with the sale and redevelopment of the Sears site. I believe we're continuing to have discussions next week. We're attending the ICSC Western Conference, and we're continuing to move forward some of these opportunities to revitalize the entire mall. Happy to answer any questions you may have.
[01:21:09] Mayor: Thank you. Any questions?
[01:21:10] Councilmember: I have one quick question, Madame Mayor. How old is the mall? As we look at everything that's in flux, how old is it?
[01:21:19] Staff: I believe, and I could be wrong, but I believe it was built in the '80s, mid to late '80s.
[01:21:26] Speaker: It was.
[01:21:27] Councilmember: All right. Thank you. Just for context in my brain.
[01:21:31] Mayor: Okay. Thank you. We'll go to the next item, which is the fire prevention by design.
[01:21:37] Staff: Yes. And this also includes an initiative for the municipal code update. The municipal code update as it relates to development is a direct response to our development community, our residents, stakeholders, as well as staff that looked at our bottlenecks, the lack of clarity in our language in our municipal code. And so we've contracted with Global Partners to bring forth an update to the municipal code that is making its way through the subcommittee in October and then to study session in November. As far as the fire prevention by design, we have adopted—or City Council has adopted—the fire hazard severity zone maps, and that has been implemented to allow our designers as well as our landscape architects to be able to address the mitigation measures within that plan, as well as bringing in-house the Fire Marshal, which will allow us to have more policies with that fire prevention by design. And that concludes that report.
[01:22:36] Mayor: Okay, any questions? Okay, we'll go to crime prevention technology.
[01:22:43] Staff: Just briefly, I have some great news, I think, to report. As you saw earlier in the week with the report, our cameras have been faring very well in catching criminals that decide to come to our city. We will be deploying, of the 44 cameras that were approved, we will be deploying 12 of the live stream cameras along El Paseo. Seven of those will be hardwired in, so we did go through the permitting process for that, and they are gearing up to start the installation within the next two or three weeks for those cameras along El Paseo. Once those are done, then they'll continue to install the 32 other cameras throughout the city. Of those 32, another item to hit on, three of those will be the high-speed cameras, which means they'll be able to capture license plates of vehicles. Hopefully it doesn't happen, but if they are speeding or there is a chase, they'll be able to capture those images on vehicles up to a speed of 118 miles per hour. And so, those 44 cameras are in the works now, and hopefully at the next quarter, we'll have a better report. That's all.
[01:23:55] Mayor: Right. Well, there's been lots of good news that's come out from those cameras, the ALPRs. Okay. Next, I guess we kind of already covered this in a sense, but let's go. Assessment of city medians and rights of way.
[01:24:08] Staff: Afternoon. So, you just had the presentation in the study session on the status of the median landscape master plan. We believe that this new design does bring ease of maintenance to the city by having a cohesive planting palette. We're also looking at opportunities where we can add power and water in the medians where necessary or where they don't already exist. And then also providing an improved aesthetic citywide and creating a sense of place when you're in the city of Palm Desert. Some of the presentation that you saw today was created by drone imagery that was flown throughout the city to identify the plant material that's there and identify what needed to be upgraded. That did go through the ARC, and in the future, when we incorporate the comments from today, we'll bring them also to the ATP subcommittee and then back to City Council for final approval, which will...
[01:25:02] Speaker: Also identify some funding mechanisms to accomplish the buildout of the master plan.
[01:25:07] Speaker: Okay, are there any questions? Okay, I am so impressed at how quickly everybody went through that. That was impressive. Um, thank you very much. Now this concludes our study session and I would ask you to indulge us if we can all take five to seven minutes. Can we take a comfort break and race right back here? Okay, we will be right back. Thank you so much.