Riverside County planning staff on Sept. 15 held a Notice of Preparation (NOP) scoping session to begin environmental review for the Ranch at The Madison specific plan, a proposed development on about 175 acres in the Vista Santa Rosa area of the Eastern Coachella Valley.

Elizabeth Mora Rodríguez, a county planner, said the project applications include Specific Plan No. 408, General Plan Amendment No. 2400010, Change of Zone No. 2500012, tentative tract map 39179 and Development Agreement 25000001. The county opened a 30-day NOP comment period that began Aug. 18 and runs through Sept. 17, 2025, and outlined the topics to be evaluated in the environmental impact report, including aesthetics, cultural and tribal resources, air quality and traffic.

Mora Rodríguez said the project is in unincorporated Vista Santa Rosa within the sphere of influence of the city of La Quinta and described regional access via Highway 111 and Interstate 10. The project site includes six properties totaling approximately 175.08 gross acres and has been the subject of prior Development Advisory Committee (DAC) review on Dec. 19, 2024.

According to the staff presentation, the Ranch at The Madison proposes to convert the six properties into 13 planning areas for a single-family residential community with approximately 85 residential units (35 estate lots, 30 golf cottages and 30 mixed-use residential units), a private nine-hole golf course with a golf academy and associated operations, a community clubhouse, parks and other amenities. The general plan amendment components described in staff materials would change about 49.3 acres to low-density residential, 11.2 acres to medium-density residential, 20.5 acres to mixed use and 97.8 acres to open space–recreation.

Staff noted that the tentative tract map submitted is a Schedule B subdivision proposing 65 numbered lots and 17 letter lots across roughly 175.8 acres. Mora Rodríguez said the EIR process provides opportunities for public and agency review, mitigation identification and analysis of alternatives.

John Gamlin, senior vice president of development for Discovery Land Company, identified himself at the hearing and described ongoing outreach, saying the project team had conducted numerous meetings with stakeholders, community members and NGOs over the prior 18 months and planned additional community presentations, including to the Vista Santa Rosa Community Council later in September.

Mora Rodríguez said written comments on the NOP must be submitted by 5 p.m. on Sept. 17, 2025, to the principal project planner, Jose Merlan, at the Riverside County Planning Department (480 Lehi St., 12th Floor, Riverside) or via the email address published in the NOP. Staff recorded receipt of two written agency comments from the Department of Toxic Substances Control and the California Department of Conservation, Division of Land Resource Protection. No public speakers addressed the scoping session at the hearing.

Because this hearing was a scoping session for the EIR, no project decision was made; staff said the scoping session was the first in a sequence of outreach and review steps and that the EIR and related documents will be available through the county’s public noticing process and the project team’s public landing page as they are prepared.