The Riverside County Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 to initiate a foundation general-plan amendment (item 22.1) for 14 parcels where Olivet University operates, clearing the path for the institution to submit an implementing application that would allow continued operation past the upcoming expiry of a public-use permit.

Counsel for the applicant said the university has operated on the property under a public-use permit issued in 1975 and reissued most recently in 2015; the current permit expires in December 2025. The initiation request changes affected parcels from an Open Space-Rural designation to Rural Residential to permit the submittal of a project application. Counsel said the immediate implementing application will be a plot plan that reflects existing campus uses and does not propose new construction at this time.

Conservation and environmental groups opposed initiation without a simultaneously approved specific plan. Dan Silver of the Endangered Habitats League told the board he was "extremely concerned" about redesignating nearly 1,000 acres of open space to rural residential absent detailed project analysis and potential conservation commitments. Silver said that, in his view, the request could permit speculative redesignation unless an implementing project with specific conservation measures is completed at the same time.

Applicant representatives emphasized that initiation does not permit new grading or construction and that subsequent project applications would be subject to full CEQA review, technical studies and public hearings. Planning staff reiterated the initiation's limited legal effect: it allows the applicant to file an application within six months; any development would still require environmental review and approvals from planning commission and the board.

After hearing both proponents and opponents, supervisors initiated the amendment and required the applicant to file an implementing application within six months. Planning staff said the matter will return for site-specific review if and when an application is submitted.

The board's initiation does not change the county's current rural policy for other lands in the area; any final general-plan amendment or specific plan must be adopted separately.