Planning Commission approves new industrial building for Premium Packing with revised frontage and lighting conditions

The City of Indio Planning Commission on Dec. 11 conditionally approved a planning review application for a new 6,000-square-foot industrial building and outdoor storage yard for a packing operation known in the record as the Premium/Premier Packing project.

Staff presented the application as case file PLAN PRD240013 and recommended approval. The project covers three parcels totaling about 1.5 acres at the southwest corner of Enterprise Way and Van Buren Street, in an area zoned Heavy Industrial with a General Plan designation of Workplace Employment District.

The commission’s approval (Resolution No. 2100) includes modified conditions requested during the hearing. City engineering staff agreed to limit required off‑site street improvements to the project frontages on Van Buren Street and Enterprise Way, and to require grinding and overlay of Enterprise Way only if construction activity damaged that roadway or if its condition is found to be worse than at present. The city engineer also recommended maintaining existing street light poles until electrical infrastructure is energized and accepted by the city.

Nicolas Withron, assistant planner in the Community Development Department, told commissioners the site plan included perimeter block walls, landscaping, access from Enterprise Way and Van Buren Street, and building elevations with a maximum height of 29.6 feet (under the 55-foot limit). Withron also said the project is categorically exempt from review under the California Environmental Quality Act with application of the stated conditions of approval.

Catherine Avila of Avila Construction, the applicant’s representative, said the applicant sought minor edits to reduce specificity in several conditions that originated from Imperial Irrigation District (IID) preliminary routing comments. Avila said IID had not yet received a final electrical load application and that some IID conditions may change following a final study.

Ronnie (spelled in the record as Ronnie Eldadette when speaking) identified himself as the owner and said the new site would allow the company to centralize vehicle and equipment storage and maintenance next to its administrative office rather than renting space in other cities: “We want to be able to bring our equipment, our buses, our vans and be able to maintain and maintain them and park them right next to the building.” That statement was entered into the hearing record during public testimony.

City Engineer Juan Diaz told the commission he had discussed the frontage limits with the applicant and was receptive to focusing improvements at the project frontages and to the conditional grinding/overlay language for Enterprise Way. Diaz also advised keeping lighting conditions that require a lighting plan and specify orientation/shielding until IID infrastructure is energized.

Several participants and staff noted that IID’s formal requirements could change after the applicant submits final engineering and loading calculations to IID. Staff read IID’s condition of approval language into the record explaining that IID will develop a final study and its conditions of service could change based on that analysis.

After clarifying the revised conditions on the record, a commissioner moved to approve Resolution No. 2100 with the modifications discussed. The motion carried on roll call. The minutes record affirmative votes in roll call (commissioners recorded as voting yes were Commissioner Rodriguez Seja, Commissioner Fajardo, Vice Chairperson Lopez and Chairperson Frantz). The recorded outcome was approval; staff will implement the approved conditions during permit review and prior to issuance of a certificate of occupancy.

Why this matters: the project expands industrial capacity at a location designated for employment uses and clarifies the extent of required off-site street work and lighting improvements, while leaving final IID service requirements subject to that agency’s technical study.

Items to watch: the applicant must complete any final engineering and IID coordination required by the conditions of approval; if IID’s final study changes its requirements substantially, staff said the matter could return to the commission.