The General Plan Advisory Committee (GPAC) recommended initiating a foundation-component general-plan amendment (FCGPA 24032) on June 30, 2025 to change 15 acres in Thousand Palms from rural residential to community development medium-density residential. Committee members heard from the applicant’s representative and one nearby resident before recommending initiation to move the proposal to the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors for further review.

Benjamin Egan of Egan Civil Inc., representing applicant Bill Dean, told the committee the property was previously graded, had permits pulled and utility work completed before the 2008 economic downturn and that the owner now seeks to restore the prior plan to build 26 single-family lots. Egan said the 15-acre site would yield about 26 lots at roughly two units per acre, producing lot sizes of about 20,000 square feet, and that a domestic water line installed and maintained by the Coachella Valley Water District (CVWD) serves the property. He told the committee, “Approval of foundation component change and land use change would allow for a prior development on which much capital was invested into infrastructure to proceed with new entitlements.”

Resident Brianna Perez, who lives north of the proposed parcel on Chuckwalla Road, said she received mailed notice and objected to the change on rural-character grounds, citing concerns about increased traffic, construction impacts, lighting and declines in property values. Perez said she and her husband bought property for a ranch-style, low-traffic lifestyle and asked the committee to consider preserving the area’s rural character.

Staff and the applicant noted that the previously approved tentative map has expired and that a new tentative map would be required after a successful foundation-component amendment; Egan acknowledged that the applicant would need to pursue new entitlements and said the owner was open to neighborhood input on lot sizes and design. GPAC member feedback included preference for maintaining a compatible transition to surrounding lot sizes; one member said the proposed 20,000-square-foot lots were compatible with nearby 10,000-square-foot and one-acre lots and supported recommending initiation with further community outreach before Planning Commission review.

Because this hearing stage is the initiation step, no final entitlements, design approvals or environmental decisions were made; GPAC’s action advances the application to Planning Commission and then the Board of Supervisors for a formal decision.