Palm Desert City Council - Regular Meeting, January 8, 2026

Transcript text

AI transcript text.

[00:02:35] Mayor Trippy: Okay, welcome everyone. Thank you for coming. I now call to order the regular meeting of the Palm Desert City Council, successor agency to the Palm Desert Redevelopment Agency, Palm Desert Housing Authority, and the Palm Desert Board of Library Trustees for a little bit of a breezy Thursday, January 8th, 2026. And, City Clerk, I believe we have an announcement that we need to put forward here.
[00:02:58] City Clerk: For item public hearing 11D, consideration of an appeal of a decision of the planning commission adopting a mitigated negative declaration and approving a precise plan for the Katavina residential project, will be continued to February 12th. Both the applicant and the appellant have agreed.
[00:03:19] Mayor Trippy: Terrific. Thank you very much. And I guess if we can get a roll call, please.
[00:03:24] City Clerk: Councilmember Harnik?
[00:03:25] Councilmember Harnik: Here.
[00:03:26] City Clerk: Councilmember Nandi?
[00:03:27] Councilmember Nandi: Here.
[00:03:27] City Clerk: Councilmember Quintanilla?
[00:03:29] Councilmember Quintanilla: Present.
[00:03:29] City Clerk: Mayor Pro Tem Praetto?
[00:03:30] Mayor Pro Tem Praetto: Here.
[00:03:31] City Clerk: And Mayor Trippy?
[00:03:32] Mayor Trippy: Here.
[00:03:33] City Clerk: Thank you.
[00:03:33] Mayor Trippy: Thank you. And we now go with item number—well, the Pledge of Allegiance from Councilmember Quintanilla.
[00:03:48] Councilmember Quintanilla: ...flag of America... to republic... for all.
[00:04:04] Mayor Trippy: Okay, thank you very much. I will now give you a few words of inspiration. And this actually comes from Barbara Jordan, a congresswoman from Texas. And this goes back to 1974 when she was giving opening remarks at the Nixon impeachment hearings, believe it or not. But I think these are wise words for any public policy decision-making. Quote, 'It is reason and not passion which must guide our deliberation, guide our debate, and guide our decision.' There we have it. Thank you. Okay, now we go on to item number five: awards, presentations, and appointments. And we're going to have our first presenter. We have, I believe, Southern California Edison. And I believe Mr. Aaron Thomas is here to give us a presentation.
[00:05:00] Aaron Thomas: Good afternoon, Council, and thank you so much for inviting me in to share just a few minutes of your time here. If we can get to the next slide. My name is Aaron Thomas. I'm the government relations manager and tribal liaison for Southern California Edison. I am your point of contact for Southern California Edison. Real quickly, I just want to remind the general public about the scams. Please remember that we do not disconnect—we don't have a disconnection department. We do not accept prepaid cash cards or Bitcoins, and Edison employees will not demand to collect or accept payment in the field. So if somebody approaches you saying that, please make sure that you—if you want some more information, take a look at our website, sce.com/scamalert. Next slide, please.
[00:05:49] Aaron Thomas: Safety is our number one business culture at Edison. And so just remember to please stay safe around downed wires, or if you're trimming trees, please call us first. Look up and look out. We have a lot of other great safety tips on sce.com/staysafe. Next slide, please.
[00:06:09] Aaron Thomas: Working together. Next slide, please. Very, very grateful to the city staff and Chris, City Manager, and his team working really well the last 12 months, I would say, to work on all the great projects that are happening in the city. We want to remind the city, as well as any public, especially community developers, of our new process project submittals. We have a website, sce.com/projectportal, that allows for folks to not only take a look at the load growth forecast in the area in which they are going to be putting a project in, but also be able to actually put in an actual project. So we wanted to make sure that folks knew that we do have a new process and to look at our website for more information. Next slide, please.
[00:07:01] Aaron Thomas: So we do have a monthly communication and dialogue with the city staff. Very grateful to the past council as well as the past city manager for asking us to dialogue more with the planners here. We understand that the city is growing significantly. One of the most amounts of energy load growth in our service area is right here and just a little bit west of us at San Jacinto. And so, with that takes a lot more dialogue to make sure that we're in lockstep with each other to be able to better understand Edison's processes because we know that the city is a developer city. We recognize that and we want to be in partnership with you. And it's been a pleasure to meet with everybody here. It's been a great journey to get to this point. So we're very thankful to the city and the team. Next slide, please.
[00:07:59] Aaron Thomas: So real quickly, I'm going to go through these next slides really fast because we want to get to your question about affordability. We've got several outage types. Again, there's maintenance outages, repair outages, emergency operational outages, public safety power shutoff, which is new to the city. The new grid came out, the new mapping of high-fire risk areas, and actually up in the Bighorn area is now considered a public safety power shutoff community. And so, already working with Daniel Hurtado, we've got a really good plan in place if the lines get shut down because of PSPS, including a community resource center. And so we'll talk about that hopefully and more at the power talk that we've got set up for Tuesday, February 10th, right here in the city council chamber. Public agency outages—these are all when you guys say, 'Hey, Aaron, we need to shut off for some reason there's something going on.' We can actually help you with that as well. Next slide, please.
[00:09:00] Aaron Thomas: So we do have a consolidated outage map that's on our website. You notice that I'm really referring to our website quite a bit. We really encourage city council members and residents to really take a look at sce.com. But here you can search when there's an outage. Now, we're really working harder on trying to make sure that the updates that you receive are better, that they're more up-to-date, that they're more fast and timely. But you can see here the scheduled maintenances are coming up and then any community support that might be in your area. Next slide, please.
[00:09:39] Aaron Thomas: We talked about the community crew vehicles in case the Bighorn community needs our assistance. We can request a van to go up there with resources. If it's really, really hot, we can try to do what we can to make sure that they know about the community resource center that we have planned here. And also if the power's out and it's late at night, you...
[00:10:01] Erin Thomas: You can actually charge your cell phones and make sure that folks know that you're okay. Next slide, please. And again, this is a real big part. This is the My Account, and this allows you to again take a look at your bill. You can take a look at your usage, but this is a great leading into the affordability, how your bill is, and what ways you can reduce your bill knowing that summertime's coming up. We all dread the 100-plus degree weather out here in the desert. So please make sure you go to sce.com/myaccount or just Google search myaccount.com and it comes right to the website. Next slide, please.
[00:10:40] Erin Thomas: You can take a look at some of the ways you can save money. We've got income-qualified programs. We've got other saving programs. We've got how to keep your bills manageable, and rebates and residential rates and financing. Next slide, please. We've got CARE and FERA. These are rate discount programs for income-qualified families.
[00:11:01] Erin Thomas: Folks that qualify can have their bills reduced by up to 32.5% and then also 18% for Family Electric Rate Assistance. Next slide, please.
[00:11:17] Erin Thomas: And so you can go right to our website and you can apply for those two programs very, very simply. It's pretty easy, actually. And we don't ask you for your income statements or any bills or any checks or anything to see if you qualify, but make sure that you please follow all the different process steps there. Next slide, please.
[00:11:42] Erin Thomas: This is the Energy Savings Assistance Program, or ESA. It's a statewide utility program that helps income-qualified households. So again, there's more information on our website there. Next slide, please. One more.
[00:11:58] Erin Thomas: For folks that for some reason maybe they were working, their jobs got ended, and they really haven't been able to pay for their bill, we have an arrearage management plan, which most people don't know about. It forgives up to one-twelfth of eligible utility debt after each on-time and in-full payment of a current bill. So again, we really encourage folks. We don't like to just shut people off. We will do whatever we can to work with you to get your bills paid as much as we can. Next slide, please.
[00:12:31] Erin Thomas: We have the Energy Assistance Fund. This helps income-qualified residential households pay their electric bill. A maximum of $300 is available once per 12 months. And so we've got more information on our website as well. Next slide, please.
[00:12:44] Erin Thomas: We have the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP. Another great way to try to get some eligibility for that. It's also on our website. Next slide, please.
[00:12:55] Erin Thomas: This is one that helps even folks who are not income-qualified. Medical Baseline Allowance allows for residential customers who rely on power to operate medical devices, equipment for certain conditions, who have mobility needs. It could be diabetics that need power for their refrigerator. Make sure you have a doctor's note that says that you are needing electricity for your medical, and you can qualify for this. Customers enrolled in the Medical Baseline program receive an additional 16.5 kilowatt-hours per day at the lowest rate. Some of my elders or my family actually have this, and it really works. Next slide, please.
[00:13:39] Erin Thomas: Residential Direct Install. This is for all of us. If you want, you can actually have a smart thermostat, a fan controller, or duct test and seal. You must have a central AC unit, but we can help you with that. Next slide.
[00:13:55] Erin Thomas: And the smart thermostat program, which I have in my house, it really helps with being able to decrease my energy usage when I'm not even at my home. There's an actual app that I can use to reduce or increase my temperature in my house. This could actually help you with saving up to $40 annually in bill credits. Next slide.
[00:14:18] Erin Thomas: We have the Summer Discount Plan. Again, we're getting ready for summer. We want to make sure that folks understand that we do have up to $160 in credits on your energy bill. There's no cost to enroll, and the device is added to your AC unit to control when it's off. So sometimes like I'll get home and I'm like, 'Oh crap, I forgot that I'm on this plan and it's kind of warm in my house, right?' And then so, but they control it just to try to reduce the demand on the grid, but you get savings on your energy bill. Next slide, please.
[00:14:50] Erin Thomas: And then the Power Saver Rewards. To participate, you must be an Edison service customer, have that SmartConnect, and be on the Time-of-Use, but it's up to a dollar a kilowatt reduced during the summertime. Next slide.
[00:15:09] Erin Thomas: We have portable power stations, generator rebates. We have a whole marketplace that Edison customers can receive discounts on backup generation in case the power goes out. Please go to our website for that. Next slide, please. And we have all these links here that we can send to you. I think the staff already has that. So I believe that's it. I went through a lot of information.
[00:15:35] Speaker: Mr. Thomas, I appreciate that. Any questions for my colleagues? Councilmember Kitania.
[00:15:41] Councilmember Kitania: At what temperature approximately does that magic shut-off button kick in?
[00:15:47] Erin Thomas: Right about 78 degrees.
[00:15:49] Councilmember Kitania: Okay. Yeah, because I had a family member where that happened, and it was significantly hotter in her home because it cut off before that, and we had high temperatures, and there was no way to reset it until it got cleared up and removed. But I was, you know, wondering, so as soon as it hit 78 degrees external or inside your home weather-base, can you elaborate on how that restriction works?
[00:16:14] Erin Thomas: Only when there's a CAISO alert. So when the CAISO comes out saying, 'Hey, the grid is being overworked because everybody and their mother's got their AC on,' then that's when that program kicks in. And it is for internal to your home, wherever your thermostat is at.
[00:16:31] Councilmember Kitania: Okay. Thank you so much.
[00:16:32] Erin Thomas: You're welcome.
[00:16:33] Speaker: Okay. Anybody else?
[00:16:36] Mayor Pro Tem Petta: I do.
[00:16:37] Speaker: Mayor Pro Tem Petta.
[00:16:40] Mayor Pro Tem Petta: Erin, the summer discount program, the savings, is that monthly or is that—
[00:16:44] Erin Thomas: That was annually.
[00:16:45] Mayor Pro Tem Petta: Okay.
[00:16:45] Erin Thomas: Yeah. Oh, the dollar per kilowatt is throughout the summer months only. Yeah.
[00:16:50] Mayor Pro Tem Petta: Councilmember Standi said you can't get her to turn off her AC for savings.
[00:16:55] Councilmember Standi: Actually, I like between 78 and 80 degrees. That's my comfort zone. I wish more businesses kept it at 78.
[00:17:04] Mayor Pro Tem Petta: And then one other question. Um, later on we'll be discussing an item to build a substation for IID. And for years, IID has the reputation of lower rates, yet Edison rates just went up significantly. Why?
[00:17:19] Erin Thomas: So our rates are determined basically on the general rate case that we've through the State of California, the PUC. So we tell the State of California how much money we need to operate the grid and maintain the grid. And, you know, that was like two years ago when we put that in, and depending on what they approved and just didn't approve is what then is left over for what we need again to operate the grid and for operations costs, etc. And so that's why you see bills, a lot of the power going up for generation costs, transmission costs, distribution costs. Unfortunately, all Edison customers pay for the wildfire mitigation, protecting the grid and for sparking wildfires. And so, I know that we just had a reduction this month of electricity bills. So take a look at your bill this month and you'll see a little bit of a drop.
[00:18:19] Mayor Pro Tem Petta: So part of the reason is you guys are building in the cost of building the distribution and—
[00:18:25] Erin Thomas: Sorry. Yeah. Okay.
[00:18:26] Erin Thomas: That's correct. We build that in. The bills that we pay for does not pay for how much people put their temperature up or down in their home, their usage. We don't make money off of that at all. Where Edison has their profit is all on every power pole that's outside or utility that's underneath the ground, also for building in infrastructure maintenance. And so where some utilities—I'm not going to mention any names, but some of them haven't done that reinvestment over the years and then all of a sudden they ask their customers to do it for kind of one lump sum. So, we've been doing it over time.
[00:19:05] Speaker: Terrific. Councilmember Hornik, any questions? All right. Well, thank you, Mr. Thomas. I appreciate it.
[00:19:11] Erin Thomas: Thank you. Bye.
[00:19:11] Speaker: Next up, we have item 5B, a presentation about the California State University Student Success Center.
[00:19:28] Speaker: Hello. I don't know how I bring that. Oh, there we go. Magic. There we go. Oops. There we go. I feel like I'm talking to the family because many of you come to our events. We have been working on the Student Success Center for many years. This was funded in 2022 with the advocacy for many in this room today as well as our former assembly members Eduardo Garcia and Chad Maize.
[00:20:01] Jenny Sorenson: This building is really designed to be the living room for our campus or for our students. So, if you recollect back to your college days, you probably were on campus a lot, not just in class or meeting with professors, but studying with your study groups and eating and hanging out and doing all the things that college students do. And we won't get into all of them, but this building is really the first time that we're going to have that space that students can call their own. So, it will have advising and a tutoring center, as well as a career center, the expanded campus library, group study space, the bookstore is going to be expanded, food service for the first time at our Palm Desert campus, and a health and wellness center. So, we're really excited to be able to serve our current students, but also this project was designed to serve up to 4,000 students. So that would allow for a large growth in our student enrollment and population. And there's some—oh, sorry, let me not get ahead of myself, I guess. And those are the renderings for the building, which is going to be our first foray into the land across Burger Circle. So, if you're familiar with the campus, most of our buildings, or all of our buildings right now, are along Cook Street, and this will be across Burger. And there it is. I—this wasn't working earlier today. So let's see. We do have a live webcam, but this is not working. So, it looks a lot better because on December 2nd, we had a topping out ceremony, which means we did the final structural steel for the building. Many of you got to sign a beam if you were there. And so this week, we are actually pouring the deck for the second-floor concrete. So, this project is really moving right along. We're really excited about the progress our partners, CW Driver and LPA, the architect on the project, have done so far. So, I apologize our live cam is not working today, but it definitely is not a hole in the ground anymore. So, please do drive by because we're getting there, and we're on a race with the fire department, right? So, we're both growing in that section of town. On December 9th, we really think we crossed a big hurdle with Coachella Valley Water District. The board approved a special agreement with the CSU, which is a huge milestone for us and this project, and so we're hoping to have water to the project on March 2nd. And so, you know, we are moving that forward. So, this project is scheduled to be completed in fall of 2027, if not before. I'm hoping before. I'm sure our students are hoping before, too. So, and then just another project to touch on, and I didn't know Edison was going to be here today, but we're glad to be partnering with them on a feasibility study to bring renewable energy to the Palm Desert campus. We do not have any solar or renewable energy on this campus. And so, we have engaged with them on that. In the past, grid capacity was a limiting factor for us, but we are working to try and do this through a power purchase agreement that would allow the campus to invest in solar without having that capital upfront investment. And so, the intention is covered solar parking. But this would make us the first net-zero campus. So, if you know what net-zero energy means, that we would be generating as much power as we're using, and we would be the first in the CSU. So, the San Bernardino campus cannot make that claim, nor can any of the other 22 campuses. So, we're excited about this goal. This is a sustainability goal for all of our campuses across the CSU system, and we're hoping that we start here in Palm Desert. So, that's an exciting project that's underway, and I think that's it. So, thank you.
[00:24:14] Speaker: Terrific. Thank you very much. And actually, if you don't mind, I don't think we caught an introduction from you.
[00:24:19] Jenny Sorenson: I'm sorry.
[00:24:19] Speaker: For the benefit of the audience here at large today. Sorry.
[00:24:22] Jenny Sorenson: I'm sorry. I'm Jenny Sorenson. I'm the chief administrative officer for Cal State San Bernardino.
[00:24:27] Speaker: Terrific. Thank you. Any questions for my colleagues? All right. Well, great work. We're excited. Thank you so much. And next up, we have item 5C, a presentation by the Coachella Valley Preparedness Network. I think we've got some—I see some red shirts out there. All right, terrific.
[00:25:00] Carla Sullivan Dilly: Well, good afternoon. And like our usual presentations where we work from a PowerPoint, we train for up to two hours. We're just going to share a little bit of information with you, and I won't be doing the cueing of it. So, thank you. I don't usually read from a script as well, but we have a lot to say, and I want to stay on task. Good afternoon, Mayor and Council, staff, attendees, and some of my team members. Everybody has a story, and I'm going to share with you my story and why I'm passionate about preparedness, and why what I'm talking about impacts you and you and every resident and your pets in Coachella Valley. Preparedness saves lives. There is no question we live in a region facing great potential for natural and human-made disasters. We all know it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when. I am Carla Sullivan Dilly, the past president of CVDPN, a 28-year resident of Palm Desert, and prior to that, I loved my parents' first retirement home at Shadow Mountain that they bought in 1970. Briefly, my story. Why disaster preparedness? Like many, my life changed on January 17th, 1994, almost 32 years ago. 4:30 a.m., 6.7 Northridge earthquake hit. Besides my own three children and a two-story home, we were hosting a slumber party for 11 11-year-old boys. It occurred to me then, I had no plan for my family, let alone these children that were entrusted in my care. From that day forward, I vowed to make a difference in my family, my friends, as well as the city of Leverne where I worked for 18 years. CVDPN is a 10-year-old 501(c)(3) nonprofit, all-volunteer. None of us get paid, and it educates Valley residents toward personal preparedness, resiliency to face major emergencies and disasters before they occur. We are not first responders, but we have trained over 15,000 Valley residents to be their own first responders. Our disaster preparedness training is all-inclusive from large HOAs or small HOAs, mobile home parks, service clubs, vulnerable populations, senior centers, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts. We're there for everybody, English and Spanish. In Palm Desert, we are fortunate to work closely with Daniel Herado, your emergency services coordinator, but he has a big job to do, and he wears many hats, and he is one person, and his main hat is overseeing the city's plan. Note the political fallout following every tragic disaster in recent history. The past few days, the 2025 LA fires have been a tragic reminder. Beginning at the local level, authorities have been consistently criticized for failing to properly prepare and inform their public and infrastructures. It is important for local governments to prepare communities for worst-case scenarios by being proactive. How comfortable are you with efforts to date? Do your 50,000 Palm Desert residents all have a plan to take care of themselves for several weeks until the help can help and arrive and services possibly be restored? Are the businesses ready to respond, recover, and reopen? Whose responsibility is it to organize this with the least amount of injury and loss of life? Well, it takes personal preparedness. And on your web page, it says, 'We're a team. We need the residents to help with this.' Your community has the required and an excellent disaster plan, and your staff have been trained to execute this plan. Thank you very much. The greater task is to get all of our residents to become personally prepared so they can survive any disaster. Under normal circumstances, your first responder personnel are spread thin at a natural or human-caused disaster, and your emergency services will be further overwhelmed. How can you reduce the strain on these services?
[00:30:00] Public Speaker: CVDPN can help educate the public to prepare for disasters ahead of time. Oh, and free of charge. We bring expertise, trained volunteers, and ready-made programs at no cost to your community. Wouldn't it be nice if we knew that all of our residents and our neighbors were prepared in the event of a disaster? So, this is where CVDPN can assist you. The mission statements of all nine cities and county areas all agree that public safety and quality of life issues are paramount. We thank you again for providing CVDPN on your web page. In fact, we're your first resource. So, thank you for that. But maybe add us to the wonderful bright side that I look forward to getting every other month as well as maybe social media. We presented at your library a couple of times, but expand the space to larger council or maybe community centers so we can train more people for you. Think about our more than 14 and a half million visitors to Coachella Valley, staying in hotels, short-term rentals, and other venues. Who is planning for them? I know when I pack, I don't bring all of my disaster supplies, but I do bring a number. CVDPN provides consistent messaging and can be a force multiplier. For instance, with the trainings we do, if it's an HOA and they say, 'Oh, we have 5,000 homes,' and they take that message back and they implement in their disaster plan, that's a big help. Please partner with us. We volunteer to help you in front of a disaster. Your residents benefit physically, mentally, emotionally, financially, and being prepared helps you gain the advantage by directing its focus to restoring order in the infrastructure. CVDPN relies 100% on grants and gifts to fund our all-volunteer free services, but we need your support to reach more residents in Palm Desert. We would like to schedule a meeting with appropriate staff and council to discuss and look at a mutually useful partnership. And we thank you for your time and we look forward to working with you even more. And I personally applaud all council and staff because I sat there for 18 years. Thank you.
[00:32:50] Mayor: Right. Thank you very much. Any questions for my colleagues? All good. Okay. I thought Palm Desert did host one or two CERT training.
[00:32:59] Public Speaker: Oh, that's a great point. Community Emergency Response Team is something that now Daniel has been coordinating, and on average we were having about two CERT trainings per city per season. Because of some funding issues and things like that just across the state, it's sometimes down to just one. The class attendance can vary from 10 students to maybe 30 students. So maybe it's 20 to 60 people that get trained. Whereas as I've said, just this last year we've trained over 5,000 people, and cumulatively the 10 years about 15,000 people. We do it for free because we're passionate about preparedness, and I know we have some prepared people that have been to our presentations and they have their red ready-to-go bags. And thank you, Edison. We've worked—they've been another community partner. The Sheriff's Department have done some wonderful programs for us, sadly, but they're needed these days. So we already have quite a few partners. We just want to partner a little bit more with you.
[00:34:23] Mayor: Thank you so much, and thank you for bringing the team today. Appreciate the time.
[00:34:26] Public Speaker: Thank you.
[00:34:28] Mayor: All right, we move on to item number six, City Manager comments.
[00:34:32] City Manager: Nothing from my end, Mayor.
[00:34:34] Mayor: Terrific. Okay, item seven, Mayor, Council Member reports and requests for action. I think we'll start on this end. Council Member?
[00:34:43] Council Member: Nothing.
[00:34:44] Mayor: Council Member Harik, Council Member Kinttonia.
[00:34:49] Council Member Kinttonia: Bring out my paper. I usually have a lot. Um, we have—I don't know. Oh, I've got it here. I hope everyone has received or has access to the Coachella Valley Water District calendar. It's a great resource of pollinators that love our city. In addition to those that you can plant with limited water, it gives you the colors and the info of how much sunlight and all of that guidance for those of us that don't have a green thumb. And let's see, the Blue Envelope program. You're probably tired of hearing about it, but I want to thank our community and our staff for being such an active part of getting that autism certification, making the news, and getting more cities on board. And I saw that Congress has now introduced a bill. That's Congresswoman Norma Torres. I think she's in Southern California with bipartisan legislation with the congressman from Florida to have a supporting the Blue Envelope Act program. And again, a lot of that started here as we continued the ripple effect. So thank you. Sometimes when you feel one person can't make a difference, you truly have made an impact that will go beyond us. Mayor Tubby and I, we were at the exclusive sneak peek for Papa Dan's reopening, and that was exciting. They've increased capacity. Now they have two kitchens. They have a new pizza oven, and excited to see where they're coming on board. The Living Desert is having World Desert Day on Saturday, the Saturday the 10th. And it's from 9:00 to 1:00. They're including garden tours and cooking demonstrations. And what else do I have? I think that's it for the report. And as far as a request, I would like to request that when we redo our parking and we get our reserved spaces, that we add another one for our City Manager. He has a busy schedule, too, and I've seen him hauling and trying to get quickly back to his office for meetings and whatnot. So I hope that we see that's an investment of a little bit of effort that can help support all that he does.
[00:37:06] Mayor: Sure.
[00:37:08] Council Member Kinttonia: Seems like a small thing to show.
[00:37:10] Mayor: I think he's blushing though right now.
[00:37:13] City Manager: It's kind of awkward. Yeah.
[00:37:16] Council Member Kinttonia: You know, we want to be sure that you can just come right on in because you get delayed. Your meetings run late just the way that ours do, and we want to be sure that we can support you in doing a great job. And I have an inquiry from the community. Since the sustainability or the environmental resource committee, some of those were now set to meet as needed and there isn't quite a time set for the next meeting. They have asked if we know when it will meet and what Earth Day activities we will have through the city. I guess other cities are already planning and have their engagement. So what are we doing and when are we having the next meeting? Do we know when that would be or have info?
[00:38:06] City Manager: We can follow up.
[00:38:06] Council Member Kinttonia: Okay. Thank you so much.
[00:38:09] Mayor: Perfect. Council Member Nandi.
[00:38:10] Council Member Nandi: No, thank you this evening.
[00:38:11] Mayor: All right. Mayor Pro Tem Pto, nothing. Okay. Well, I know it's been a quiet little bit of a lull in city business here with the holidays. So, happy new year, everybody. And again, thank you for coming on out today. Just a real quick note, I attended my first Coffee with the Mayor yesterday morning at the Entrepreneurial Resource Center on Cook Street run by CSUSB PD, and it was a great experience. I really enjoyed it, and I can say that it's a bit of a misnomer. It should be Coffee with the Mayor and Staff because there were about 20 staff members there. I want to let residents know what a great resource that is to have access to all the knowledge and know-how and get all your answers right there in one place, one time. And it's fun as heck for me. I love the open nature of it, the open-ended nature of it, and it just really kind of sparks a conversation. Anything you're curious about, you're welcome to ask. There's really no constraints like you have in a typical sort of a public meeting. So, I encourage everybody to come out if you're at least a bit interested. Next one will be February 4th at the Craven Student Center on the COD campus, 8:30 a.m., and hope you can make it. And that's all I have for now. So, we will move on to item number eight, non-agenda public comments. And we have a couple of blue cards, actually two blue cards here. First, I would like to call up Miss Debbie Green.
[00:39:42] Debbie Green: Does it go down that far? Okay. Happy new year, Mayor and City Council members. As Mayor Tubby said, my name is Debbie Green, and I'm a proud Palm Desert resident for a little over four years now. And I'm really excited to share this with you all that my goal for Earth Day, April 22nd, is...
[00:40:01] Public Speaker: To organize volunteers to participate in an Earth Day project in conjunction with Rancho Mirage. The Rancho Mirage volunteer group has been doing this for the past several years with full support from their city council. I attended their event last spring to study how it is organized and what makes it successful. I will be requesting time to meet with city personnel and council to coordinate this event. I do know that Burrtec will support this by supplying the vests, gloves, and trash bags and will collect the trash bags from the designated pickup areas. Brinda Blackburn is working on this with me and we will make sure that it is publicized as well as covering all legalities. If the city has an event on the 22nd, I would choose to have our event the next day so that it doesn't interfere with whatever the city wants to do. Hopefully in the future, my bigger goal would be for all the Coachella Valley cities to join on Earth Day. And so I thought if Rancho Mirage does it and we do it, we can kind of start getting other cities involved. It's just something really positive to kick off the year. Also, October 12th is Indigenous People's Day. From what I understand, Palm Desert is the only Coachella Valley city to list it and Columbus Day on the calendar. It's not both. With a population of indigenous people here, I would like to see the recognition of Columbus Day permanently removed. History has shown us that Columbus did not discover America and was not a person to be admired. Lastly, in the past, I have requested the city to participate in the Harvey Milk breakfast in Palm Springs. Thank you for last year for sponsoring a table, but to my dismay, only one city council representative attended. If Palm Desert is to show their support for the LGBTQ Palm Desert residents, as stated previously, let's show residents and visitors how welcome they are here. I'm really proud of our city and want to share that with everyone. I would hope that you would continue to sponsor a table and that the table would be filled with city representatives. The date for that is May 14th and I hope to see you all there. Thank you.
[00:42:04] Mayor: Thank you very much. The next speaker card I have is from Celeste Flores.
[00:42:24] Celeste Flores: Hi, good evening Mayor, Council members, staff, and attendees. My name is Celeste Flores and I'm joined tonight by my colleague Ian Gabriel. We're here on behalf of Lift to Rise, the regional backbone organization that convenes over 70 partners to bring affordable housing to the valley. And as an organization based in Palm Desert, we value our partnership with the city in advancing housing solutions for the community and the region. The City of Palm Desert has made deliberate, intentional choices to advance housing solutions, and I want to begin by recognizing your leadership, hard work, and commitment to that progress. I'd like to share a brief update on our work and extend an invitation for the City of Palm Desert to continue shaping what comes next. Lift supports coordination across the valley by aligning housing production, unlocking financing through the We Lift Catalyst Fund, and creating space for cities, developers, and residents to work toward shared goals. Due to this alignment, there are now more than 9,700 affordable housing units underway in the valley. That progress reflects steady leadership from cities, including here in Palm Desert. Palm Desert has taken meaningful steps to expand affordable housing by actively supporting apartment development. Palm Desert is one of the most active cities in the region. The city currently has 23 housing projects underway, totaling 1,500 housing units across multifamily apartments, family housing, and single-family detached homes. Lift to Rise is proud to have supported two projects in Palm Desert through our We Lift Catalyst Fund: Palm Villas at Millennium, developed by Palm Communities, and Palm Desert Family Apartments, developed by Affirmed Housing Group. Combined, both projects will deliver 534 affordable housing units and over $7 million deployed from the fund to help advance these projects. What we've seen is that when cities bring their experience into shared planning, the work gets stronger. Palm Desert is well-positioned to help inform what comes next. We are preparing for our 2026-2028 action planning retreat on January 28th and 29th, where partners from across the valley come together to shape the next phase of work toward our shared goal of 10,000 affordable housing units. This is a moment for cities to highlight their priority housing challenges, whether related to infrastructure, permitting, financing, or land use, and to collaborate with partners and residents to identify practical, aligned solutions. We sincerely hope Palm Desert will participate, and we want to recognize the city's ongoing engagement in this effort, including ongoing engagement with City Manager Todd Sheehan, Director of Development Services Rosie Lua, and Deputy Director of Development Services Carlos Flores, as well as engaged members of the City Council. Thank you for your leadership and for your continued partnership with us. We look forward to supporting your affordable housing goals and working together in 2026.
[00:45:24] Mayor: Very good. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. Any comments from online contributors, Mr. City Clerk?
[00:45:31] City Clerk: No online comments.
[00:45:32] Mayor: Terrific. Thank you.
[00:45:33] City Clerk: I'm sorry, Mr. Mayor. If I could read the housekeeping comments. For those on Zoom, if you want to participate in public comment, please click the raise hand button on your computer or smartphone. And if you're joining in by calling on your phone, please dial star 9 to raise your hand. And when called upon, press star 6 to unmute yourself. And there are still no raised hands. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
[00:45:52] Mayor: Terrific. Thank you very much. We move on now to item number nine, the consent calendar. All matters listed on the consent calendar are considered routine and may be approved by one motion. The public may comment on any item on the consent calendar for up to three minutes. And I don't see any blue cards on consent calendar items.
[00:46:12] City Clerk: And none online, Mr. Mayor, but I did want to note that on item 9E related to the city council appointments, there was a revised roster provided to the city council.
[00:46:21] Mayor: Terrific. Thank you very much. Does anybody, any of my colleagues, care to remove any items from the consent calendar for further consideration?
[00:46:31] Council Member: Okay.
[00:46:32] Council Member: I simply want to register a recusal on 9L due to a conflict with my spouse's business.
[00:46:41] Mayor: Okay. That is 9...
[00:46:45] Council Member: 9L.
[00:46:46] Mayor: 9L. Very good. Okay.
[00:46:49] Council Member: The balance...
[00:46:49] Council Member: And I'll second the motion. I need to recuse myself, beg your pardon, from 9D due to proximity of ownership of real estate. So, we can handle that. All right. Terrific. So anyway, we have a motion and a second.
[00:47:14] City Clerk: Motion passes 5 to 0.
[00:47:16] Mayor: Terrific. Okay, now we move on to the action calendar. We are looking at item 10A: Approve funding and reservation agreement for the Cook Street Energy substation with the Imperial Irrigation District. Let's see. I guess we're first off looking for a staff report, please.
[00:47:38] Staff Member: That's me.
[00:47:40] Mayor: Well, you can go to the lectern or you can do it right there.
[00:47:43] Staff Member: Maybe both.
[00:47:44] Mayor: All right. Sounds good.
[00:47:44] Staff Member: Change it up.
[00:47:45] Staff Member: Thank you, sir. Mayor and City Council, this item comes before you as a partnership opportunity to fund the construction of a substation that would service undeveloped parcels in the IID portion of the city's north sphere. When we began this effort in 2022, this partnership did not exist. It evolved to come to this point. Originally, IID had taken the position that any new development would have to fund the construction of a whole substation, and depending on the size, one substation costs anywhere from 30 to 40 plus million, which made new development cost-prohibitive. So with partnerships like this, it helps bring down the cost of that infrastructure cost to be able to provide a pathway for development. A couple of key items here: IID does have a limited portion inside the city's boundaries. The vast majority of the city is serviced by SCE, as we heard earlier. We do know that the infrastructure challenges have been impacting IID throughout the entire Coachella Valley service territory area. One thing that's unique is IID is not regulated by the PUC, so they don't have the cost of their infrastructure built into the rates as PUC requires. They have their own regulatory system and fee structure that they set since they're self-governed. Next slide.
[00:49:13] Staff Member: Here briefly is a map north of the 10. So everything in the yellow is the service territory area of IID. So north of the 10, it's essentially the entire county area, and Burger Foundation is there, two of the parties to this agreement. And to the south of the 10 freeway is both Rancho Mirage and Palm Desert, and so those areas undeveloped are joint areas. Next slide.
[00:49:38] Staff Member: So when we began this effort in '22, we started with a question, which is: at buildout, how much power will we need to energize the undeveloped portions of the north sphere? So we looked at the land use projections and gave conservative estimates to see, with the commercial, industrial, and hotel uses planned for those parcels, what that...
[00:50:00] Staff: And for the two zones, both one and two, the combined energy demand was 10 megawatts of power, which is the amount, and that's in the agreement before you today. I'll note that for zone one and zone two, zone one is about 70 acres just west of Costco. So that parcel is going to bear the bulk of the cost, and also will need the bulk of this power. And then on zone two, it's a series of smaller parcels along Gerald Ford and Cook Street where we know that property owners have had requests for development, for hotel development and other commercial uses in that area, and they haven't been able to move forward because in our process we require that they have to have energy or a will-serve letter before they can begin the city's entitlement process.
[00:50:54] Staff: One thing to note, and kind of how this—go back, please. Originally, when we began the conversation with IID, they had first started with zone one needs its own substation, zone two the same, and everybody else would have to have their own substation. So, you know, a costly—all those substations were not interconnected. But as this has evolved, it morphed into the creation of one large substation that could feed all service parties as well as tap into new customers. Next slide.
[00:51:29] Staff: So here I'm going to show the next two, kind of the overall framework. I do have representatives of IID here who can field any questions specific to them. But on the left-hand side is roughly the transmission network there, and then on the right side you'll see, on both, the location of the Cook Street substation. It's just northwest of Xavier Academy, just north of, right off Cook Street, north of the 10 Freeway. Next slide.
[00:52:04] Staff: And this is further kind of, you know, from kind of an independent substation originally to now one location that feeds and can serve and distribute into the county area, which is a party, Rancho Mirage, ourselves, and others. Next slide.
[00:52:24] Staff: So for this substation, the all-in cost is 42.66 million. On the left-hand side, you'll see all the different parties and their respective allocations and cost amounts. Ours is 5.6 million for the 10 megawatts. Prior to the Council visiting this item last year, IID was not contributing anything to the cost of the substation. They have since had a policy change where they are contributing up to 20% per substation, and their percentage contribution here is 18%.
[00:53:00] Staff: So part of the funding mechanism for this is the city would be advancing 5.66 million in former RDA bond proceeds to fund the city's obligation for it, as well as putting a CFD in place on all those undeveloped vacant parcels so that we can recoup that investment in the cost of the substation. That CFD allows the parcel owner to either pay upfront or to be able to finance it over the 20 or 30-year lifetime of the CFD. So in any event, we would be recapturing that 5.66 million in hard cost, and then what that allows for is development to be able to progress in the north sphere in that area. And in the staff report, we have estimations from Kaiser Marston, who ran an analysis on what would be the property tax, sales tax, and TOT revenue generated from new development, and the ranges they gave us were conservatively 1.3 million to 2 million in new general fund revenue because of the new development coming in.
[00:54:12] Council Member: And that figure is annually, correct?
[00:54:14] Staff: Correct.
[00:54:15] Council Member: Gotcha.
[00:54:18] Staff: So part of this, part of this here is, you know, working with IID, as well as we've been in concert with each of the parcel owners. Because since they're going to be obligated to pay, we wanted to make sure that they knew upfront those amounts and the overall arrangement of how this works. And so they've been supportive all along for two reasons. Number one, 50 mil—$5.6 billion is much less than $50 million from the onset, as well as they know that currently they can't do anything with their parcels unless they have the juice. Next slide.
[00:55:00] Staff: So just briefly, here's a couple key points in the agreement in the CFD. Through this approval today, the city would commit to funding the share, that 5.66 million, in a payment schedule to IID for its share of the substation, with the parcel owners beginning to repay the city back through the CFD. We would begin simultaneously setting up the actual district, and the parcel owners know and have the documents so that we can begin that effort. The property owners would then be guaranteed that they would get their will-serve letter, which would allow them to begin the city's entitlement process so that they could be able to build by the time this substation comes online. Again, IID will be contributing 18%. The agreement says up to 20%. They'll be serving as lead on CEQA. The agreement also provides that in the event a private party leaves the agreement or doesn't make their contribution, or there's available capacity, one of the other partners in the agreement can purchase their available capacity. And what we know today is that one of the other public entities here has a desire to purchase 5 megawatts additionally if it becomes available from one—if one of these parties falls out for some reason or doesn't use the entire allocation. At the same time, since this partnership has come together, there have been new developers or applicants who have expressed a need for power. They're currently not going to be served by this substation, but through this mechanism, power could also be sold to them if we needed to offload some of the capacity in that allocation chart. Next slide.
[00:56:42] Staff: So this is just—last year we came to you with the overall letter of understanding, and since that time, we had been working through what's the location going to be, what's the site preparation looking like, as well as getting this agreement formed, as well as beginning the ordering for the long-lead items like the transformers that are needed for the substation. IID, the county, and the City of Rancho Mirage have approved this agreement. We would begin the CFD process this month, and the substation would be under construction in '27, with it coming online in summer of '28.
[00:57:24] Staff: So with that, that concludes my presentation. I'm happy to answer any questions, as well as IID staff is here, so depending upon the question, I may invite them up to field that question.
[00:57:35] Mayor: All right. Any questions for my colleagues?
[00:57:37] Council Member: More comment.
[00:57:39] Mayor: Go ahead. Open with questions.
[00:57:44] Council Member: Well, you know, okay, go ahead.
[00:57:48] Council Member: I have a question in terms of the reselling of energy. Do we have the ability to sell the energy that we have from our cut to other agencies at a different price? For example, if we want to help Cal State, can we give them a different cost than our than residential or commercial?
[00:58:14] Staff: So, Cal State specifically, they don't need—they believe they have the pathway, as I mentioned before, through SCE to get their own power. So, they wouldn't be needing power through this substation. But to sell it to another party, we would want to make sure that we're recouping city cost. And then if they come down the line in the future, there should be some add-on for the cost in the future of acquiring that power.
[00:58:41] Council Member: So if in the future, when we've met that deadline, we've recovered all of our costs through the funding district, is that a possibility? Because I'm trying to compartmentalize and plug it into my brain, and still not getting that part. Would we have the ability to charge a differential?
[00:59:01] Staff: So, in theory, if of the 10 megawatts, say at the end of the day, we didn't use two megawatts and we would hold it. Right now, it's all obligated to each of those parcel owners, and so they would likely want to recoup their investment. And so, you don't have the discretion right now to lower the cost because it's all connected with those parcel owners wanting to recoup their investment.
[00:59:26] Council Member: Gotcha. Is there the possibility of having a dedicated meter that we can check at any time, or our staff can make evaluations as they're planning for different growth, as we're looking for economic development? When this number has been allocated, but we can check our meter to see it's actually not as much or it's more than we anticipated, can we have our independent meter?
[00:59:52] Staff: We can. So the numbers there are kind of worst-case scenario because we didn't want to shortchange ourselves with these projects coming online and getting...
[01:00:01] Speaker: ...to the point where it's like, 'Oh, well, we need more power and didn't forecast it correctly.' But there will be a process, and through this agreement, we'll be continuing to meet with IID on a regular basis, but also verifying the actual usage because everybody will want to know, 'Was their number correct? Do they need more or less?' And if so, that's when kind of the negotiations begin with all the other parties.
[01:00:26] Speaker: And I had one other question. Where did I have it? In the report, it was talking about—oh god, what was it called? I think it was called like our own allocation or reserve. Can we bank that energy? Is there a way? Is the city exploring ways to keep that for ourselves? Are we going to invest in our own batteries for the city or other facilities?
[01:00:58] Speaker: So, what we're seeing is all these projects are looking at some type of grid mitigation, whether it be solar or batteries, just because it's a good practice. And number two, it would result in that. So, we'll know more once we know if these allocations true up with each parcel owner because they're all currently committed to projects. But that true up will take place, and then we can then explore that conversation.
[01:01:23] Speaker: Perfect. Thank you so much.
[01:01:25] Speaker: Okay, any other questions?
[01:01:28] Council Member Neandi: Yes, I was going to say I am open to have discussion with my council members, but I believe it's imperative that we approve funding and approve the reservation agreement for the Cook Street Energy substation with IID. Without power, economic development is going to come to a halt, and I compliment staff for being ahead of the curve so we're not in the position of having developers wanting to build homes and they have no energy. And that has happened in other places in our valley. And I am very supportive of approving this agreement. We need power, and without it, again, economic development will come to an end. And I believe this is a fair funding structure, and I'm ready to approve it.
[01:02:26] Speaker: Understood. Got it. Okay. Anybody else, questions from council? Okay. I'm going to open up now for public comment. I do have one speaker card on this item. We have a Brett Green.
[01:02:50] Brett Green: Good afternoon, mayor, city council members. My name is Brett Green and I am a resident of Palm Desert. I have an extensive career with over 33 years of experience as an engineer in the energy industry. So, I was very interested in the public funding of the Cook Street substation. My first statement is an opinion and will not change anything, but I do believe it is poor policy to force economic growth and infrastructure funding to the individual cities and developers. CCE presentation previously, I believe the utility ultimately gets the benefit of the expansion and should use their own funding to pay for it and get reimbursed through rates. Anything else tends to be in contrast with economic growth and support of the region. Even at the end of this process, there is no doubt the users will pay of these places and it will be the equivalent of a large rate increase. So, they should have done it to begin with. My first question is why is IID only paying 18%? They said they would pay up to 20. That 2%, which is $852,410, is falling to the participants. Participants are paying for what they get, so why isn't IID? In addition to that, the 18% shown in the tables there, if you take 0.18 times the number shown, that isn't the correct number for IID's participation, by the way. Even using the percentages for Palm Desert out to five decimal places doesn't give the right number. So, I do think the numbers need to be corrected. Note, there's still distribution that has to be funded by Palm Desert at some point, roughly $4 million. These are just questions. Who within the city will be tasked with managing all the agreements with subdevelopers and ensuring their monies are appropriately distributed and recovered? Seems like an effort that will take some time. Operating cost, I'm glad to hear that there may be people who are willing to pay excess capacity because right at the moment, any participant who falls out, that obligation goes to the others. My last comment is really about the estimates of power. They're based on connected load. Generally speaking, that is how IID does it and that is what's written in the contract about their version. In my experience, the actual demand the developments use, relative to Council Member Quintanilla's comment, is usually between 30 and 70% less than that. So, if that's actually the case, at the end of the day, we're only going to probably use somewhere in the 7 MVA or less. And it would be imperative that we either be able to claw back some of that monies for that or sell it to others, to your point, to get some of that. It should be fair to only pay for what you use. I ask this because once it's all said and done and everybody's built their piece out, IID will ultimately measure the actual peak use of this and then sell the difference in capacity to other developers. Anyway, thank you.
[01:05:46] Speaker: Thank you, Mr. Green. Are there any... I don't have any more blue cards, Mr. City Clerk? And no online comments. All right. Terrific. So, we now close the...
[01:06:02] Speaker: Uh, yeah, I guess just can we accept it that way? Sure.
[01:06:05] Speaker: Oh, actually, you can.
[01:06:08] Speaker: There we go. Mr. City Clerk, no problem. If you want to just introduce yourself and...
[01:06:12] Mike Grover: Sure. Mike Grover with Burger Foundation. I just wanted to make the point that Burger Foundation owns the land that the substation is proposed to be built on. It's already unencumbered, ready to go, teed up. And Burger Foundation has been working on this project for probably about five years. Not the particular substation project, but we've looked into co-generation, you know, gas-fired generation, solar, battery storage. We've looked at major international companies like Engie, NextEra Energy, that kind of thing, all the way down to very small players. We've thoroughly vetted this whole process, and getting to the point where we are today is extremely exciting because this thing's right on the threshold of getting going. IID has been really great to work with in recent years, and I'm really looking forward to getting this thing going. So, I would encourage you to support this agreement. Thanks.
[01:07:02] Speaker: Thank you very much. Well, no further public comments. All right, I'm going to close the public comments section of this and see if there's any more questions or discussion among my colleagues.
[01:07:13] Speaker: I just want to make a quick comment. I did meet with Mr. Green yesterday, and thanks for working me up on this, and you bring up great points. And I want to just bring up the point: Edison has been painted as a bad guy because their rates are so high relative to IID. Just want to make the point that the bill always comes due. They look like the bad guy now, until now we have to front some money to help the development community just because of a different way of doing infrastructure. And it's not uncommon; CVWD does it the same way. And, you know, it's just a point that the bill comes due at some point, and I think this is a pragmatic solution and something we got to do.
[01:07:54] Speaker: Is anybody else...
[01:07:56] Speaker: May I?
[01:07:57] Speaker: Absolutely.
[01:07:57] Speaker: Thank you. This has been a long time in the coming, and I know that the Burger Foundation has been working so hard for so many years to find the energy to build that area and get the development going on that north side of the 10 and around the Cook area, and of course around the Acrisure and those areas. This is needed for homes, and we have been working so hard to build homes for people, and we have come up with a formula with a lot of creativity, a lot of people leaning in and recognizing the need for energy. We've found ourselves in a lousy position. I know Edison's been tough with—they haven't had enough energy. IID has not enough. We're going to have to all work together if we're going to get this done. And this effort is showing the best of everyone leaning in, getting it done. I'm sure we can find flaws in it. We're going to find the pluses in it. But what we are going to do is we're going to build homes with power for people who need homes to live in. So those are my comments.
[01:09:17] Speaker: Terrific. Yeah, I just... Go ahead, Joe.
[01:09:21] Speaker: I was just going to second the motion, or was that a motion?
[01:09:24] Speaker: I thought... Yeah, I'll second it.
[01:09:26] Speaker: I still have a comment on that.
[01:09:28] Speaker: I have a comment, too. But...
[01:09:30] Speaker: I also met with Mr. Green and got to see his perspective. And having his expansive experience, he showed us how this is a great opportunity with all that he's done. He said he hasn't ever seen anything like this. So, I want to again commend our staff and our partners that have been engaged in finding a way to divvy the need so that we can all benefit from it. And I think it's exciting, and because IID does have a...
[01:10:02] Councilmember: ...different timeline for doing things, different factors that they're not regulated by the California Public Utilities Commission, which creates whole entire other layers. I think that we have a great opportunity. We can't grow if we don't have the power for our businesses, for our homes, and it's going to light the way, if I may throw a pun in there.
[01:10:25] Councilmember: Perfect. Well, I just want to make one quick comment if I may. Hats off to staff and in particular, our city manager, Chris Escobedo. I think he did a great job. You know, I know power delivery and generation, or power delivery in this case, is a huge roadblock to development, and this seemed like the last piece that kind of stood in the way. To get a nonprofit, a utility, municipal governments, county government, and private parties all together and work out this deal is really remarkable in my opinion. So kudos, great job. I know there's probably pros and cons that could be talked about, but for me, it's all about economic growth. So, thank you. And I guess we have a motion, a second, so we'll take a vote.
[01:11:14] City Clerk: Motion passes 5 to zero.
[01:11:16] Mayor: Terrific. Thank you so much. We're on to item 11, public hearings. And first off, we have item 11A, a public hearing regarding adoption of ordinance number 1439 amending title 15 of the Palm Desert Municipal Code to adopt the 2025 California Building Standards Code. And we have a staff report, please.
[01:11:40] Jason Finley: Good evening, honorable mayor, city council. Jason Finley, City of Palm Desert's Chief Building Official. Excuse me for the voice. My throat and voice decided to rebel tonight. So, we'll do the best we can. Before you tonight is the public hearing on the continuation of the December 11th model code adoption meeting. Staff report is with you and is unchanged. I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have.
[01:12:06] Mayor: Terrific. Any questions from council?
[01:12:10] Councilmember: Quick one. Somebody asked me just last night about earthquakes and building preparedness. And as a layman, I said, 'Well, we're approving the new building codes. And a building built under the most recent codes is likely the safest place to be relative to any other kind of structure.' Did I lie?
[01:12:34] Jason Finley: Yeah, I mean there's a lot of truth to that. We have a lot of existing old structures that are still here that have survived many an earthquake, but yes, today's standards are very conservative, especially in our area, which is the San Andreas fault area. I mean, we're living right on top of it. And so, a lot of design professionals always design their projects in a most conservative way and can withstand a significant earthquake.
[01:13:02] Mayor: Terrific. Anybody else? My colleagues? No. Okay. And at this time, I will open the public hearing. I don't have any blue speaker cards. Mr. City Clerk, are there any online comments?
[01:13:13] City Clerk: No online comments, Mr. Mayor.
[01:13:16] Mayor: Terrific. Okay. Well, no further speakers, or no speakers at all. I will now close the public hearing and any additional questions, comments, anybody? Or we make a motion?
[01:13:27] Councilmember: Move.
[01:13:28] Councilmember: Second.
[01:13:29] Mayor: Terrific.
[01:13:35] City Clerk: Motion passes five to zero.
[01:13:37] Mayor: Excellent. Okay. Next up, we have item 11B, a public hearing regarding a proposed bond issuance by the California Municipal Finance Authority for the Palm Desert Family Housing Project.
[01:13:51] Ivanario: Good afternoon, mayor, city council. Ivanario, Development Services. The item before you is a request for a TEFRA approval for the California Municipal Finance Authority, CMFA, to issue tax-exempt revenue bonds not to exceed $50 million to support the Palm Desert Family Housing Project at Cook Street and Frank Sinatra Drive. The bonds will be issued by CMFA, not the city, and are the borrower's responsibility with no city financial or legal obligation. And with that, I have Jared Suzuki from CMFA to walk you through the requests and answer any questions you may have.
[01:14:28] Jared Suzuki: Good evening, honorable mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, and city council members. My name is Jared Suzuki, again, with the California Municipal Finance Authority. To summarize briefly, we are here this evening to conduct a public hearing pursuant to the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act, or TEFRA. TEFRA requires that a public hearing be held by the governing body of the jurisdiction where a proposed tax-exempt financing is to take place and that the governing body approves the proposed financing. To reiterate what Ivan already shared, the city bears no financial responsibility or obligation with the repayment of the debt, as well as no responsibilities with the cost of issuance as well. And I'm available to answer any questions. And I'm also joined by Shonda Herold from the developer.
[01:15:14] Mayor: Terrific. Do we have any questions from my colleagues? Okay. Well, at this time, I will open the public hearing. I don't have any blue cards. Are there any online comments?
[01:15:24] City Clerk: No online comments.
[01:15:25] Mayor: Terrific. Okay. Well, then therefore, I will close the public hearing and would anybody care to make a motion?
[01:15:34] Councilmember: Moved.
[01:15:35] Councilmember: I will second.
[01:15:42] City Clerk: Motion passes 5 to zero.
[01:15:44] Mayor: All right. And next up, we have item, excuse me, 11C. It is consideration to adopt Hillside residential design standards and a corresponding zoning ordinance amendment. And we're looking for a staff report, please.
[01:16:05] Ce Fernandez: Good evening, mayor and members of the city council. My name is Ce Fernandez with Development Services, here to present on our Hillside Planned residential standards zoning text amendment. So this has been going on since 2024. We've been working with our consultant, John Kaliski Architects, to put together these guidelines, and then also too, we've been working with our ARC, Planning Commission, and also with Council. So with that, I'll go ahead and turn it over to John.
[01:16:44] John Kaliski: Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, and staff. It's nice to be here. We have a very short presentation and I will go ahead and make it. So as was just mentioned, we're here to consider hillside planned residential design standards. If we go to the next slide, we were basically tasked with trying to understand and define the built form and character of hillside development in Palm Desert, specifically the West Hills, the areas to the west of Highway 74, which we focused on more and more. We tried to optimize engagement with city staff and decision makers to understand the expectations of hillside development. In that regard, while it was mentioned 2024, we actually began our work in '25. We had staff-led tours of the hillside in February. There were several public events. There was a city council study session in late March of this past year. There was a hillside community meeting on June 18th, 2025, where we presented work to date and discussion amongst the community members who attended that meeting. There was an ARC, or Architectural Review Committee, and Planning Commission joint study session in late September where we presented a summary of the draft hillside design standards. We received feedback from the commissioners that we did implement in the revised document that is before you, and I'll talk about just a couple of the points that they made. And then there was a Planning Commission meeting on December 16th of this past year where we presented the revised hillside design standard document to the Planning Commission, who recommended it to your body. So our goal throughout has been to translate community values into design, or you could call them aesthetic, standards that foster the natural identity of the hillside and acknowledge a balance between the nature that is an iconic backdrop for Palm Desert and development potential or development opportunities that exist there. Do you want to go to the next slide? So in this regard, we really, you could say, started with your general plan, which does acknowledge the hills as being iconic to your city. We, in the development of these design standards, were trying to conserve views to and from the hillsides. We are trying to protect major ridges, public lands, public pathways, environmentally sensitive areas specifically within the hillside planned residential zone. We were trying to create a fit of new construction or additions to existing construction that better blends the design and placement of buildings and structures and access roads and drives within the context of the hillsides. We
[01:20:01] Presenter: ...were trying to better define the maximum amount of cut and fill or grading that could be associated with these projects and provide a few more standards as to how natural landforms could work. We wanted to try to minimize visual intrusion caused by exterior lighting so that at night people aren't looking at lights on the hillside but are looking at the hillsides. And the one other thing I'd say that I would add to this is we wanted to introduce a more rigorous definition of what type of landscape could be built that might be associated with new hillside development so that if development did occur, the landscape that occurred with that development would not look out of place with the natural setting. Do you want to go to the next slide?
[01:20:50] Presenter: The areas, after a lot of discussion, where this is applicable is in the hillside planned residential zone and the HPD zone. There are a couple of those areas—Bighorn, Stone Eagle—which fall within that area, but they have covenants and they have their own separate process. So those areas were removed from the considerations. So, it's basically that kind of khaki-colored area mostly to the—well, almost completely to the west of Highway 74. Do you want to go to the next slide?
[01:21:30] Presenter: So, we thought it might—I mean, we can obviously go into any standard that you'd like us to, but we are presenting what is a typical design standard. In this case, your code already basically says you can't build across ridgelines, but it doesn't really define it much more beyond that. So, we worked with the city's existing map of ridgelines and we tried to understand what were the major ridgelines versus the minor ridgelines. And we basically developed a standard, if you will, about not only not being able to build across those major ridgelines, but how a new structure would have to relate to those major ridgelines. If you go into this in detail, it will say things like the highest point of a building can't be higher than a major ridgeline, the building has to be set back a certain amount from it, the base of the building has to be 30 feet below it—things of that nature to ensure that the natural setting is what takes precedence as you view it, as I'm viewing it right now looking behind you, rather than the individual building. Do you want to go to the next one?
[01:22:39] Presenter: So what has evolved over the course of this? We did have, as I said, a study session with the ARC and the PC in September of this past year. At that point, there were comments that we got. We did incorporate those comments into the document. They had to do with things like the approval process, trying to clarify the approval process. The major ridgeline map, there were questions about how it worked, the clarity of it, so we sharpened it up a bit, though, as I said, it is based upon a map that the city keeps. We added some additional items about rooftop equipment. We added some additional—which was really an errata—about how building wall shading occurs; it was incorrectly stated at that time. We revised the color and materials section for organization and clarity. At the time that they saw it, we did not have the compliance checklist in the document, so we developed the compliance checklist. This is a checklist that is used both by the applicant themselves to fill out as part of their application—'Yes, I'm in compliance'—and then staff to check it. And finally, we added a more robust glossary to try to deal with what is always some of the plannerese and architectural that exists in these types of documents. Want to go to the next slide? So with that, there may be questions. I'm perfectly happy to answer those, and I look forward to your comments and suggestions.
[01:24:21] Mayor: Terrific. Do we have any questions from the colleagues?
[01:24:26] Councilmember: All good. Okay. Well...
[01:24:27] Councilmember: I'll ask. One of the things that is in the report is the applicability, and the applicability of these standards to existing pads. Now, the existing pads, there's not many, but there are some that the pad itself would not comply, but the new buildings would have to comply with the size requirements in here and the design guidelines, right? So, the pad is existing, but any new buildings would still comply with the architectural guidelines of this plan.
[01:25:05] Presenter: That's correct. There are already in your existing code certain limitations on existing building pads, though they are acknowledged. And what this would basically do is still allow those to be used. But if you wanted to go through what in essence is the left-hand or the right-hand column to just go right to go and not have the City Council comment upon it, you'd have to be in compliance with the building standard portions of this or the landscape.
[01:25:33] Councilmember: So, this may be a kind of a generalization, but any future, if this, of course, is adopted, any future home or structure that's built will not be visible from the highway?
[01:25:46] Presenter: No, I wouldn't say it would not be visible. What I would say is it would better blend in.
[01:25:50] Councilmember: All right. All right. Maybe more muted.
[01:25:52] Presenter: I mean, or another way is there have been homes built in Palm Desert which sit on top of major ridgelines. Those homes would basically have to be offset from the major ridgeline.
[01:26:04] Councilmember: That's the distinction. Yeah. Gotcha. Understood. Okay.
[01:26:10] Mayor: All right. Well, I will now open up the public hearing, and I don't have any blue cards. Mr. City Clerk, are there any online comments?
[01:26:18] City Clerk: No online comments.
[01:26:20] Mayor: All right. Seeing no comments, I will close the public hearing. Boom. Anybody have any further comments before we make a motion?
[01:26:27] Councilmember: I kind of have a question, and I tried to get to, but...
[01:26:31] Mayor: Absolutely, go ahead.
[01:26:32] Councilmember: When we talk about—and you know, landscaping was something we spent some time, well, we spent a lot of time on a lot of things—but we talk about in 2.3.9, turf grass, forget it. 2.3.10 is about synthetic turf. Now, I don't know, you know, we have to be so careful with design standards and how we set them forth. And I'm just wondering if we could add on the synthetic turf, though not encouraged, the total area of synthetic, or though the use not encouraged, or is that stepping outside of our bounds?
[01:27:17] Presenter: I don't think it's stepping outside of anyone's bounds. When you write the literal language of these things, we were trying to write them objectively in the sense that we didn't want—we typically don't put adjectives or qualifiers in things, but I don't think it changes the intent in any way by putting that in. So I would, of course, defer to staff and the City Attorney, but based on my experience with this, there's no...
[01:27:46] Councilmember: So I would wonder if we could write something, though: 'synthetic turf, though, you know, this product is not encouraged, total area of synthetic...' and then etc. It is plastic on our hillside, and I look at that as maybe, you know, we're not going to stop it, but that's...
[01:28:11] Presenter: Well, the reason we put it in there was that if somebody wanted to have a putting green.
[01:28:17] Councilmember: I know. I knew why we put it in there. I knew exactly why, but it's a suggestion and maybe worth discussing. Thank you. And as long as I'm going to segue right into discussion, is that okay?
[01:28:34] Councilmember: Thank you. Thank you for all this work. I mean, it has been so painstaking and interesting, and it's been a great process. And thank you for your guidance on this.
[01:28:49] Mayor: Terrific. Anybody else? All right. Anybody care to make a motion?
[01:28:51] Councilmember: Well, if my colleagues would like to follow up on Councilman Hearnick's suggestion, I would be supportive of that, and I think it could be as easy as 'synthetic turf, period. Synthetic turf is discouraged. And if used, then...' continue on, 'the total area shall be...' That's fine. I mean, we want to have the appropriate wording, but as you said, perhaps it's something we—if we do have to check with legal, I'm not sure, but it is—I would like us to consider it. And if it could be done, that would be great.
[01:29:31] Councilmember: Or could we say synthetic grass for putting greens is allowed?
[01:29:36] Councilmember: Let's not get—let's just say we don't encourage it, but here's what you can do if you use it.
[01:29:42] Councilmember: I think that's safe.
[01:29:43] Mayor: Are we deferring to legal right now then, or to be determined? We can take—well, in my estimation, we can take the time to do it right.
[01:29:52] Councilmember: So in other words, then, we would just delay a decision on this until we address the...
[01:30:00] Speaker 1: ...or can we address it now? And Council might address it now by directing, articulating the desired change, and staff can work on wordsmithing it. Um, it's probably going to go back to the Planning Commission because it's a substantive change, and then come back to you all for another reading.
[01:30:17] Speaker 2: Okay. I would make a motion to approve with the change in verbiage regarding artificial turf considered. Is that what we would do?
[01:30:28] Speaker 3: I think if Council could provide direction on the general sense that they're trying to convey, and then staff could work on wording it.
[01:30:36] Speaker 2: How long would it take to bring back through Planning Commission and back to us?
[01:30:41] Speaker 3: Next meeting?
[01:30:43] Speaker 4: Uh, this is a public hearing. So, yeah, we would have to notice it and then bring it back.
[01:30:48] Speaker 2: I'd like to approve it tonight if we could, to get things moving.
[01:30:55] Speaker 5: If I may, I'm questioning why that's—it's a suggestion, why it would be substantive.
[01:31:01] Speaker 4: It's a—I think it's right on the line, but a substantive change in the zoning ordinance does need to go back to the Planning Commission before you have your second reading. I know it's articulated as a suggestion, but I think what I'm hearing is that, you know, we discourage artificial turf or something to that effect, but if you're going to do it, XYZ. I think it's right on the line. If you want a clean ordinance, you would send it back. Um, my thoughts.
[01:31:25] Speaker 5: Is there a way we can bring it back on the other side of the line? While—and if not, okay, I do think it's worthy of stating our feeling on that, and...
[01:31:43] Speaker 6: I echo the comment that if it's worth doing right, we have to make sure we get it right. And in case anybody that's been following this, since it is a public hearing, they've had the opportunity to give their input before, and we're making a change that they may have a significant opinion. I don't think that there is anything urgent that's pending right now that needs us to make a decision tonight. And if we can have it as soon as the next meeting, I think a two-week delay to make a decision that our residents are going to know that they had a time to weigh in—it may not be a big deal, but we know that we've had it passed through a legal review and do the due diligence to make sure we follow the process.
[01:32:30] Speaker 4: And if it assists the Council, perhaps we could take maybe a 5 to 10-minute recess, and I could kind of look at it and think about it rather than just on the fly, and we can...
[01:32:38] Speaker 2: Yeah, figure that out.
[01:32:39] Speaker 5: I'm open to that. Absolutely. This is an important topic to me, and I'm absolutely fine with taking a 10-minute break and coming back. Sounds good.
[01:43:47] Mayor: Okay, 10-minute break over. Let's resume the public hearing if we may. And we're looking for an opinion from our City Attorney.
[01:43:59] City Attorney: Thank you, Mayor. I had a chance to look at the full text of 2.3.10 while we were on break. I understand the Council's general sentiment. I think if we—here's some proposed language, and I think if we do something like this or something similar, we can make clear that it's not a substantive edit that needs to go back to the Planning Commission. So, one suggestion would be to add a clause at the beginning of 2.3.10, just simply stating: 'The use of synthetic turf is highly discouraged. However, if used, the total area of synthetic turf within the boundaries of the building pad would not exceed 500 feet.' And I believe that encapsulates the conversation without adding a new mandate.
[01:44:49] Mayor: Terrific. So, does anybody care to make a motion?
[01:44:55] Councilmember: So moved. Second.
[01:45:03] Mayor: Motion passes five to zero. All right, terrific. And as stated earlier, just to reiterate, Item 11D, consideration of appeal, Katavina residential project, has been postponed to a further date—
[01:45:13] Staff: —to February 12th.
[01:45:16] Mayor: That's official?
[01:45:17] Staff: Yes, sir.
[01:45:17] Mayor: February 12th.
[01:45:18] City Attorney: Why don't you take a motion and a second?
[01:45:20] Mayor: Oh, to postpone. I got you. Okay. Anybody care to make a motion?
[01:45:24] Councilmember: So moved. Second.
[01:45:31] Mayor: Motion passes 5 to zero to continue to February 12th. Great. And on to Item 12, informational items. Any informational items?
[01:45:39] Councilmember: I do have an informational item. There have been a lot of concerns expressed in the community that is impacting our workforce and our population, and that has been interactions with ICE. And a reminder to folks that you do need to have—you have the ability to record something that's going on. You have the ability to request identification because even US citizens are being taken. And that's part of what I have heard from people in the community that have even said, "I'm afraid to go to work." And if we have less people coming to work in our city, that's going to make a trickle effect. I mean, we just recently saw nationally that there was somebody that has been killed by ICE agents, and in 2025, 32 people died in ICE custody. That's not that that's what's going to happen, but we need to understand why there is that fear. And I would like to just take a quick moment to recognize Renee Good, that's the woman who recently lost her life. But again, this is happening to US citizens, and we need to be cognizant to let people know you have the right to due process, and you have the right to ask somebody for their identification if they're claiming that they are ICE agents, and you have the right to record. That's your constitutional right. Thank you.
[01:47:08] Mayor: Terrific. Anybody else? All right. Well, it is 5:46 p.m. I move to adjourn. Thank you very much.