Riverside County planning staff and the planning director approved Tentative Parcel Map (TPM) 38535 on Sept. 15, 2025, a Schedule J subdivision to split a 19.47-gross-acre parcel in the Eastern Coachella Valley into two 9.78-acre parcels for financing and conveyance only.

Associate planner Yesenia Besserel told the hearing the site is in the Fourth Supervisorial District within the Mecca zoning district and the Eastern Coachella Valley area plan. The parcel has a general plan designation of community development–light industrial and is zoned medium manufacturing and industrial park (IP) in places; surrounding uses include light industrial, warehouse cold storage, single-family homes and irrigated farmland.

Besserel said Parcel 1 (the southern parcel) already contains an existing residence, a mobile home, a carport and a barn; these residential uses predate the current zoning. Parcel 2 (the northern parcel) is vacant. No new development is proposed as part of this Schedule J map; the record notes that any future development would require separate entitlement, environmental review and public hearings.

Staff said public notices were mailed to 40 property owners within a 300-foot radius and published in the Press Enterprise and the Desert Sun. Notices were mailed Aug. 14, 2025, and published Sept. 4, 2025. As of the hearing, staff reported no written comments for or against the project.

Besserel recommended the planning director find the project exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act under State CEQA Guidelines section 15061(b)(3) (the “common-sense” exemption) and approve TPM 38535 subject to conditions of approval and advisory notifications.

An on-line engineer for the applicant, Armando Magaña, confirmed agreement with the proposed conditions of approval. The hearing officer opened the public hearing; there were no public speakers on the item. Hearing officer John Hildebrand then moved to approve the tentative parcel map “subject to the conditions of approval and findings in the staff report.”

Because this is a Schedule J subdivision applied for solely for financing and conveyance purposes, staff emphasized at the hearing that no new development is authorized by the parcel split; any later development proposals would trigger the normal entitlement, community outreach and environmental review processes.