City Council OKs 12‑month extension for Lotus Ranch subdivision map

The El Centro City Council on Tuesday voted 5‑0 to grant a 12‑month discretionary time extension for the Lotus Ranch tentative subdivision map, extending the map’s expiration from Aug. 5, 2025, to Aug. 5, 2026.

Planning staffer Angel Hernandez told the council the project was originally approved on Sept. 6, 2016, and covers about 213 acres south of Interstate 8 between Bruce Street Avenue and the Lewis Canal. The subdivision is planned as a phased single‑family development with about 547 lots, a roughly 10‑acre public park, school sites and retention basins. Hernandez said some infrastructure and home construction are already under way: 22 homes completed in one phase and 22 more under construction in a second phase.

The extension requested is discretionary and limited to 12‑month increments under local rules; Hernandez said discretionary extensions can be requested multiple times but may not exceed six years in total. He also described automatic extensions available when individual phases record maps, which add two years per recorded phase.

At the public hearing, Matthew Cowie, broker for Princeton Associates Realtors (the developer’s broker), said the development consists of semi‑custom, higher‑end homes and that sales demand exists. “These are the high end homes of Imperial County,” Cowie told the council, adding that prices for the product type start in the high $600,000s to low $700,000s. Cowie said COVID delays and semi‑custom construction slowed the schedule but that building activity is active and more lots are in the review pipeline.

Planning staff said the site remains zoned R‑1 (single family) with a low‑density residential general plan designation and that prior environmental review and the project’s EIR remain in effect from the 2016 approvals. Notices were published and nearby property owners were notified; staff reported no public comments on the extension hearing.

Councilmember questions focused on pace of development and limits on cumulative extensions. Staff said the owner has recorded maps for earlier phases and is actively pursuing additional phase maps, and explained that recording individual phase maps provides two‑year automatic extensions separate from discretionary 12‑month extensions.

The council adopted the resolution approving the 12‑month time extension by a unanimous 5‑0 vote. The extension gives the applicant until Aug. 5, 2026, to record additional phase maps or to request another 12‑month extension before that date.

Votes at a glance: Motion to adopt resolution approving 12‑month discretionary time extension for the Lotus Ranch tentative subdivision map (new expiration Aug. 5, 2026) — Passed 5‑0.