Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Development Agreements topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Council reviews unresolved Millennium Specific Plan obligations and options for maintenance
Summary
Staff presented a list of unmet development agreement obligations for the Millennium Specific Plan and asked council direction on resolutions — including reimbursement for a missed tree line, completion of a sidewalk, deed of a drainage channel, amendment of maintenance cost shares, and whether to dissolve the master association.
City staff detailed outstanding obligations tied to the Millennium Specific Plan and development agreement and sought direction from the council on proposed resolutions and whether to dissolve the master association that currently handles median and drainage maintenance.
Senior staff (Mr. Cannone) reviewed the specific-plan history (adopted 2015), the nine-parcel tentative map, and current development around Dave Irwin Park and nearby hotels. He said the master developer (Palm Desert University Gateway) requested dissolution of the master association in 2023 and the city subsequently catalogued fulfilled and unfulfilled conditions through repeated meetings with the developer and Genesis HOA representatives.
Key unresolved items staff flagged included: (1) a railroad-edge tree line that approved plans required but was not installed (staff estimated city installation at just over $300,000 and said the developer would reimburse roughly $155,000 when Parcel 3 develops and match enhanced screening on Parcels 3 and 4), (2) missing perimeter landscaping along Dinah Shore that the developer agreed to match when adjacent development occurs, and (3) an incomplete sidewalk at Portola and Gerald Ford that staff said the developer agreed to install per the approved plans. Staff also described earlier Mid Valley Bike Path payment language (about $773,000) that remains in the agreement despite the city abandoning that project in 2017; staff called that a housekeeping item.
On drainage and maintenance, staff reported two retention basins were anticipated in the original agreements but an eastern basin was eliminated; the westerly basin and a parallel channel (formerly part of the Mid Valley Channel) raised questions about maintenance responsibility. Staff proposed two paths: amend the DA and retain a cost‑sharing agreement where affected owners reimburse their proportionate share (staff estimated Genesis’s share at ~37%, or roughly $22,000/year), or dissolve the master association and have the city assume maintenance of medians and drainage (staff estimated city median maintenance at approximately $42,000/year but noted administrative billing would be additional).
Council members pressed staff on several points: who drafted the proposed resolutions (staff drafted them in coordination with the developer), whether accepting staff proposals would effectively “forgive” roughly $1.7 million of conditional obligations tied to canceled projects, and what enforcement tools remain (performance bonds had been released so staff said leverage is limited and negotiations are largely in good faith). Several councilmembers emphasized resident impacts from unmet promises and asked for the terms to be memorialized in an amended development agreement before the city assumes obligations.
Staff asked for direction to proceed with memorializing agreed resolutions in an amended DA and to return with options to dissolve the master association or implement a cost-sharing scheme. No formal vote was taken during the study session.
Next steps: staff will draft an amended development agreement to memorialize the resolved and negotiated items, prepare a purchase-and-sale item for approximately 2,200 square feet of right-of-way for Dave Irwin Park, and return with an itemization of costs, recommended funding sources and proposed enforcement language.
