Palm Desert City Council - Study Session, March 26, 2026

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[00:04:46] Mayor: Okay, welcome everybody. Whoa, little loud today. All right. We are calling to order the Palm Desert City Council study session for Thursday, March 26th, 2026. And we will start with item 2A, an update on the dining deck program.
[00:05:06] Staff: Mr. Mayor, I just wanted to note for the record that Council member Kit Miyamoto is not present today.
[00:05:11] Mayor: Very good, thank you.
[00:05:14] Carlos Flores: Thank you, honorable mayor, members of the City Council. Carlos Flores, Development Services, here to present an update on our dining deck program. All right, so this program has had a lot of action, as you guys know, over the past four to five years. And so we want to provide an update today as the program is expiring in June this year. So just this in front of you was in the report, and again, it highlights every action that this council took or time that it was in front of council, but some key moments I wanted to highlight for why we're here today. Back in November 2023, the City Council extended the program through June 30th of 2026. That is the last time this program was extended and is the current expiration date. As you may recall, last summer starting in June, Council asked to put together an ad hoc subcommittee to look at the existing guidelines. At that time, in discussion with staff and the subcommittee, updated guidelines were presented to Council that would remove the decks from the streets and on El Paseo, instead only allow for temporary sidewalks. That update was not approved, and the direction from this Council was that we would continue as existing, but with no guarantee of any extension of the program past the June 30th, 2026 expiration date. So city staff met with the subcommittee in February of this year just to check in, provide a status update, and also check to see if there was, you know, any want or need to update the guidelines, you know, similar to what was proposed last year, and also to talk about the expiration. And it was agreed that the program would expire as is in June of this year. So there's no further action needed, and instead, this provides just more of an update. We also have, with this expiration date coming in June, staff is also working on a multi-division approach to inform not just the operators, but also, you know, the El Paseo business district that this expiration date is coming. So we have, you know, multiple ways of informing those applicants that currently have—those operators, sorry, that currently have decks out there to let them know of the deadline for them to remove their deck. We'll be meeting them individually, also sending out formal letters, and having staff let them know what's coming and, you know, answering any questions they may have. So just wanted to give that update and happy to answer any questions.
[00:08:14] Mayor: Any questions?
[00:08:17] Mayor: Mayor pro tem.
[00:08:19] Mayor Pro Tem: Carlos, when we met, I just want to put on the record that staff is also researching some alternatives to the existing law under which our current program operates that would be more like a district type. Can you elaborate on that just so the public knows and my colleagues know that we're looking for a long-term permanent solution to this?
[00:08:43] Carlos Flores: Yeah, yeah, we're—there's a few options that we have in terms of this being more of a permanent solution. We've also recognized or understood through multiple conversations, not just with this subcommittee but also downtown subcommittee and, I believe, ATP subcommittee, that, you know, anything we want to do on the street, we want to do comprehensively. So if there's any updates that we want to make for outdoor dining, it's also looking at, well, is the sidewalk where it should be to, you know, to have the best dining experience in this area? Is the landscaping? And so it becomes, you know, there's a lot of nuance and a lot of multiple variables there. So we wanted to—we want to and are stepping back to look at what our options—options to comprehensively look at El Paseo and/or 111 for a more permanent solution that's more in line aesthetically and functionally with what we want.
[00:09:40] Mayor Pro Tem: Thank you. I just want to put that on the record because I want the business operators to know that we're looking for a solution that will not require them to update the program on a regular basis and continue to reinvest in changes, that we're looking for a solution that allows them to invest at a high level that meets the expectations of the council.
[00:10:01] Councilmember: the community, and El Paseo, but also gives them a longer run time for return on investment.
[00:10:06] Mr. Flores: Correct. And it's also worth repeating, like you're saying, to the business community that we're talking solely about this in the public right-of-way. It doesn't remove the ability for, not just in El Paseo, but in other areas, for people to propose outdoor dining on private property. So, that still continues. That still has its own process. This is solely for use of public sidewalk and public streets.
[00:10:34] Councilmember: One other question, can you also remind me which restaurateurs would be affected?
[00:10:37] Mr. Flores: The ones who are currently operating. So, right now we have two fully approved, and that is Pizza Vino and Kitchen 86. Pizza Vino has dining on the street, and Kitchen 86, what they did was they have a temporary sidewalk. And then we have two others still under a finalized review that we're working through some final things of Little Bar and Armando's. And those are the four.
[00:11:03] Councilmember: Perfect. Okay, thank you very much. Any questions you have? Sorry.
[00:11:07] Councilmember: So, I think it would affect any restaurateur throughout—are we talking throughout the city?
[00:11:17] Mr. Flores: Correct. This is a city-wide expiration of use of the public right-of-way.
[00:11:21] Councilmember: Are we considering, as we come back to me, because alfresco dining is well received. It's welcome. People like it. This is the beauty of the Coachella Valley, Palm Desert, that there is alfresco dining. Our aesthetic standards were sorely in need of some love. No question about it. So, I know that we wanted—and what I'm hearing Mayor Pro Tem say is that it's not that it's going away, but we're going to explore it further to make sure we have the best program that we can offer. As we go forward with that, there's a subcommittee. Will we be involving perhaps someone from the El Paseo Business and Parking Improvement District, perhaps some restaurateurs? Are we going to involve some people who really have the experience?
[00:12:15] Mr. Flores: We could. I mean, we could explore that. We are planning on going to the El Paseo Business District meeting in May to talk about this. Our economic development team does a great job of always staying in touch. All the applicants that we had during this time, we had a regular communication with and to talk to us about the challenges. But, yes, I think that, especially as we look more towards a more permanent solution, you know, if that comes with—or that would likely come with—updated guidelines, but also making sure that they're realistic and involving more stakeholders in that process.
[00:12:53] Councilmember: Okay. Is this—will the restaurateurs who have the outdoor dining, the dining decks now, are they going to be surprised when they hear about this, or have they been kept somewhat updated in the process?
[00:13:05] Mr. Flores: They have been kept updated. And actually, when, you know, after August, when the decision was made that we're going to keep the existing guidelines, but it was very clear from this council that there was no guarantee that the program extends beyond June on the temporary basis. Staff made it clear to those operators, not just at that time, but also when they reapplied, understanding this is—you're reapplying and this is—it's not going beyond June. There's no guarantee of that.
[00:13:33] Councilmember: Okay. And do we have any feel at the state level what might be happening with this program?
[00:13:39] Mr. Flores: Not necessarily at this time. It seems like, because there's what Mayor Pro Tem was referencing, there's a couple items. It does look like there could be an extension of what was allowed on a temporary basis. But, even outside of the alfresco dining, there's other legislation about doing this on a district-wide basis, like an entertainment zone or something to that effect, that is already existing, that's already available for us to explore.
[00:14:11] Councilmember: Okay, thank you.
[00:14:13] Councilmember: I just had a comment. So, I believe Sweet Basil and there's a handful of other restaurants that have decided not to continue with the outdoor dining decks. Do you happen to, for the record, be able to list those restaurants that are not going to continue then? Because I know you mentioned the ones that are.
[00:14:33] Mr. Flores: So, we had—before this year, we also had Daily Grill, The Fix, and Sweet Basil that were also operating dining decks and chose not to reapply. The Fix did a more permanent solution. Daily Grill completely went away with theirs and actually has—they talked to us that they have an outdoor area already existing that they want to utilize more of. And Sweet Basil actually had a situation where their landlord would not approve of what they were proposing, which, you know, was something we found with multiple other restaurant operators where they came in to apply and the landlord did not agree with what was going on.
[00:15:20] Mayor: All right. Thank you, Mr. Flores. And next, we have item 2B, which is an overview and request for direction on park improvement projects. And who will be presenting?
[00:15:38] Randy Chavez: Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor, City Council. Waiting for the clicker here. I'm Randy Chavez. I'm the director of public works. So, today's objective is to provide clarity on the current process and present recommended enhancements to improve efficiency and decision-making on our park improvement projects.
[00:16:17] Randy Chavez: So, the agenda will begin with a brief overview of current park and trailhead improvement efforts. Then we'll walk through the existing project development process. Then we'll present a proposed updated process.
[00:16:35] Randy Chavez: Just some background information. The city awarded five engineering and design agreements to support improvements at seven parks and trailhead locations. And the reason this project came to fruition was because many of the city's aging playground equipment needed to be replaced, and staff identified—wanted to create a replacement program. While evaluating the playground upgrades, staff identified opportunities for broader park enhancements, including amenities and trail improvements. These opportunities, or what we'll refer to later on as initial improvement considerations, have been developed for each location. And one thing to note, two park design concepts are currently more advanced in development, and public engagement has already been conducted for these two parks to ensure the community priorities are identified.
[00:17:39] Randy Chavez: Next, we'll discuss the current development process. The current process begins with initial input from staff and City Council. This is followed by concept planning, where draft concepts are developed and reviewed. Public engagement is conducted based on the scope and complexity of the project. The project is then presented to an appointed body for feedback. And finally, the item is brought to the City Council for direction and potential revisions prior to finalizing the project. However, one thing to consider that under this current process, detailed cost information and scope alignment may occur later in the process, which can lead to inefficiencies.
[00:18:27] Randy Chavez: So, staff is bringing forth this revised development process to City Council to get some information and feedback. The proposed process introduces an earlier City Council review step. During concept planning, staff will develop schematic designs along with preliminary cost estimates. These concepts and cost estimates will be presented to the City Council earlier for input and alignment. Following Council review, projects will proceed to public engagement and appointed body review. The project will then return to City Council with refined options, cost estimates, and a request for direction. One benefit of adding this extra step is that this approach provides earlier policy direction, improves transparency, and helps align project scope and budget before advancing it further.
[00:19:31] Randy Chavez: So, the next step, staff will assess optional improvements or these a la carte enhancements aside from the playground equipment needs at each location. We'll bring that back along with a preliminary cost estimate to the City Council to review the scope and to consider the budget and receive direction.
[00:20:05] Staff: So, before we conclude, I just want to highlight that the proposed updates are intended to improve project efficiency, enhance transparency, and ensure alignment with council priorities. Um, at this time, the staff is seeking city council feedback and direction on the proposed process. Thank you.
[00:20:28] Mayor: Okay, good.
[00:20:31] Mayor: All right, perfect. Um, any questions from my colleagues?
[00:20:35] Councilmember: Uh, I do have a—
[00:20:36] Mayor: Go ahead.
[00:20:38] Councilmember: Yeah, I've got more of a comment, really. If anybody has questions first, all good? Okay. So, I like this very much because our—one of our main jobs, in my opinion, is of course to be good stewards of public money. And when you start spending millions of dollars potentially on design without knowing what construction costs will be, and then we get to the construction cost estimates after we've already spent millions on design, that, to me, is money wasted. I'd rather, before we even approved going forward with spending on design, to know some potential construction costs. So, I love adding step three. Thank you.
[00:21:12] Mayor: Anybody else?
[00:21:19] Mayor: Sounds like we're all in agreement. And I guess we'll move forward with adopting that process. Thank you.
[00:21:27] Mayor: Okie doke, terrific. We are on to item number two. Oh, beg your pardon. Sorry, here we go. I got all my flight papers here. Okay, sorry. On to—oh, no, I'm not even paying attention. Sorry, thank you. Item number two C, presentation regarding potential updates to the Palm Desert Municipal Code related to use of the city logo and provide direction regarding potential updates to municipal code language and the status of prior city seal redesign discussions. Thank you, Mr. Thomas Soul.
[00:21:58] Thomas Soul: Yes, good afternoon, Mayor and members of the City Council. I'm Thomas Soul, your public affairs manager, and I am indeed here today to sign—
[00:22:07] Staff: I have to—you don't just need to give me one second.
[00:22:13] Thomas Soul: —to talk to you about our logo and the city seal.
[00:22:18] Thomas Soul: Yeah.
[00:22:37] Thomas Soul: There's nothing like working on technical difficulties while everyone's watching and waiting.
[00:23:09] Thomas Soul: Excellent.
[00:23:14] Thomas Soul: Oop.
[00:23:16] Thomas Soul: So, today's objectives are to give you an update about some work that we want to do with the city logo to update the municipal code regarding that logo, and then to request direction from the council about moving forward with the city seal. So, just as a refresher, on the left we have the original city seal, which is the official symbol of the city that's codified in the municipal code. We use that for official documents and official uses. On the right, you see the city logo, which is our brand identity, and that was developed more than ten years ago primarily for tourism purposes, tourism marketing, and kind of building a brand tourism brand for the city. But over the past decade, we've been incorporating it more and more into non-official city uses. A good example is the shirt that I've got on. We use it as our screen saver here. So, the use has been expanding, and that raised some concerns. So, the city seal is protected by our municipal code, which documents how people can use it or cannot use it, and it has protection that way. We don't have any such protection for the city logo, and so we decided that as we're using it more and more, as it's becoming more visible, that it was time to codify this in the municipal code and get some language in there about how it can be used, who can use it, that sort of thing. It seemed like the right time to do that. The section of the municipal code that that would live in also relates to the city seal, which brought up an issue about the seal.
[00:24:56] Thomas Soul: Oop. Can you—are you able to advance it?
[00:25:04] Thomas Soul: There we go. Oop. So, to refresh your memories, in 2023 council asked us to take a look at refreshing the city seal, kind of updating it, and so at that time we engaged a designer to come up with some options for that. It turned out that updating the city seal was a very fine line and quite challenging, and so none of the designs that came from that really met with agreement and were not proposed to city council for any kind of formal action. Following that, in 2025, we pursued a kind of a contest. We got a local group of designers, graphic designers, and artists to act as an advisory committee, and through them and their contacts, we put out the word to all the art schools in Southern California and all the universities that had art programs and requested students to enter this contest to help us redesign the logo. And that was a fairly extensive process, but none of the submissions from that process were forwarded to city council for consideration, either. So, at this point, we've had no concepts promoted to the council. We haven't spent any money on this project, but we're at a point where we could begin another iteration, which would be an RFQ this time for artists through a nationwide and international platform, seeking request for qualifications. We could narrow that down and then choose some finalists, ask them to create selections at that point that we can then present for a public vote. There could be a whole process around that. But the question is, does council want us to continue with that or not? So, the direction that I'm requesting here is either to—and the reason that this comes up is that they're both mentioned in the same part of the municipal code. So, if we're updating the code, it would be easier to do them both at one time if we're going to change the seal. If we're not changing the seal, we'll just move forward with the logo language on that. So, I'd like to—I'm happy to answer any questions you have about the logo or the seal, and then get your direction on how to proceed.
[00:27:19] Mayor: Any questions?
[00:27:21] Councilmember: Okay, so currently, where is the seal used? Where does it—where is it where it has to be used?
[00:27:26] Thomas Soul: Official city documents. So, oaths of office, we use it for proclamations, but typically your official documents. We have an embosser that we use for the certification of resolutions, ordinances, documents like that.
[00:27:47] Councilmember: And from what I understand it, the city seal used to appear on like our city trucks, and it was everywhere. We didn't have a logo.
[00:27:52] Thomas Soul: Correct. And that served essentially as a logo, so—
[00:27:54] Mayor: Okay, well, got it. Any comments?
[00:28:02] Mayor: All right.
[00:28:05] Councilmember: I like the existing seal. So, I'm fine with option A. However, I defer to my colleagues.
[00:28:16] Councilmember: My comment is I have no problem with the existing city seal. I think it's good to pay homage to your origin story. I kind of like that. It feels like 1973 when the city was founded. It has that feel to it. I like it. But I think it is important that we formally codify where and when it's used and what distinguishes the seal from the logo. So, yeah, I would not touch it and just formalize the code to reflect where we're using it.
[00:28:49] Councilmember: We definitely need to codify the use of everything. We can't allow things to go out there and be used, and we wind up in a problem if we allow it to be used, and then it's used in some place we don't like. We have no grounds to pull that back. I'm looking at the seal right now. Paying homage is fine. This is a pretty—not reflective of our community, let me say that. And I had a notable experience, and I was in Sacramento at our assembly district office, so for the 47th district. And what I noted—and it kind of jumped out at me, and I'd never really noticed it before—is that out of all of the seals in the 47th district, there are no people in any of them or clip art sticks, like this is clip art stuff. In any of them, it's all about the natural environment. It creates a very inclusive feel. And what I know is that we are not just—
[00:30:03] Councilmember: Golfers and tennis players in Palm Desert. So, we're excluding all sorts of people. And as soon as you try and put something in there, then you naturally, by putting something in there, exclude the other people. And we understand that we, you know, we had a tagline, 'Palm Desert welcomes you.' And let's welcome everybody. And hanging on, you know, we read—pay homage to what exists. We redid these council chambers. Has anybody ever come in and said, 'Oh my gosh, I wish it was how it used to be'? We constantly, by our colleagues who are elected throughout—well, throughout Riverside County who visit, comment on how great it looks because we updated it. We remained relevant with some good healthy change. We have to change things. We're taking down the park building or the Brothers building, depending on what era you're aware of it, because it's—it's painfully outdated. That's why we're taking it down. Also, because the library wasn't up to date. So, we are updating the library. We have to maintain and—and be stewards of the character of Palm Desert. We've talked about civic identity and civic engagement. And is this our identity? Or should we be more inclusive? There's no bike riders in there. There's no children going to school there. There's no people going to the library there. There's a golfer and a tennis player. We're more inclusive than that. And if what we do is we use the seal, like I noted all the other seals did, showing either an iconic piece or something from their natural environment, it doesn't become an outdated piece of art. It was quite inclusive. This is outdated. And to look at—it's 50 years, it's time. Tell me what else after 50 years doesn't need a little love, a little updating. We want to be inclusive. We don't want to exclude people. And by using the—and we just—a perfect example of how important the natural environment is to us, we just spent a significant amount of time protecting our mountainsides, our hillsides. That's the beauty of Palm Desert. And that we are inclusive and that we welcome all. And the natural environment is the backdrop for that inclusivity. So, I would suggest that yes, of course, we need to codify the use of any image that is associated with our city or seal or logo, but to look at an update on a more inclusive seal. And if I—it would be great if you could all look at the other seals in our area, in our 47th District, and you'd see what I mean. This stands out, and not in a good way. It just doesn't have the class or the elegance that I'd like to think that we are trying to share in our branding efforts and with the region and beyond of Palm Desert. So, those are my thoughts.
[00:33:46] Mayor: Mayor Pro Tem.
[00:33:49] Mayor Pro Tem: I think last time we had this conversation, I was the swing vote to redesign it. We put up some attempts. We haven't had any traction. Our last item, Mr. Mayor, you talked about being good stewards of our finances. And I think at this point, out of practicality of spinning our wheels on another thing that we haven't been able to get a consensus on, I'm in favor of option A.
[00:34:21] Mayor: Do we have direction?
[00:34:23] Councilmember: All good? I have more to say.
[00:34:28] Councilmember: There are times to invest in your investment. We're spending how much on a library because we wanted to update it? This is not a good reflection of our city. Are we only golfers and tennis players with a bighorn sheep looking over us, watching? This is clip art and it looks dated. It doesn't—it doesn't share the character and elegance of Palm Desert. We've spent a lot of money on a lot of things. We—you were ready to take the Historical Society under the wing of the city. We shouldn't be—there are things we should not spend money on. There's no question about it. But this is an investment in the branding, in the character of who this city is. That's my feeling.
[00:35:20] Mayor: All right. Very good. That concludes the study session. Perfect timing. We'll move on to closed session. All right.
[00:35:39] Mayor: Do we need public comment for closed session?
[00:35:44] City Clerk: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. We have no online comments and no comments in the audience.
[00:35:47] Mayor: Okay. We will now recess to closed session. Thank you.