Palm Desert launches unified development code update; consultants outline timeline, streamlining and view protections

Nick Maloney, of the City of Palm Desert planning division, introduced consultants from Clarion Associates on a joint study session on the city’s unified development code (UDC) update and said the packet includes “the development, assessment report, which outlines some of the key issues and values in the code.”

Matt Goble, a Clarion Associates consultant, told the council the project’s main goals are “predictability and efficiency of the development review process,” preservation of Palm Desert’s character and creating a user-friendly code that ties to the general plan. He said the team aims to complete the work before the end of next year and will return with an annotated consolidated ordinance in a few months, followed by iterative public review drafts and test applications.

Why it matters: the city’s current zoning, subdivision and grading ordinances were updated piecemeal over decades, producing inconsistent language and unclear procedures that, staff and consultants say, can lengthen review times and produce results that do not always align with the general plan. The consultants emphasized reducing redundancy, clarifying who decides which applications and making common procedures apply consistently across the code.

Key takeaways from the assessment report include:

- Streamlining review: Goble proposed recalibrating thresholds so smaller projects have a faster, more direct path, establishing explicit objective review criteria and documenting day‑to‑day procedures in supplemental materials (administrative manuals or user guides) so staff and the public know what to expect.

- Development standards and design: the team recommended strengthening standards tied to Palm Desert’s setting, including landscaping, lighting (to protect night skies), building design and how accessory features (for example, solar panels or public art) are considered early in design review.

- View protection and hillside work: consultants flagged that “view protection” is widely raised but rarely defined precisely. Goble said the team will coordinate with John Kalisky and architects on hillside objective design standards (ODS) and consider tools such as designated scenic corridors or vantage points to make view protections clearer.

- Zoning districts and overlays: Maggie Squire of Clarion noted Palm Desert has 17 base zoning districts and 13 overlay districts and said about 65% of the city is in planned districts. The assessment recommends cleaning up overlay mapping (several overlays are not visible on the city’s online map), consolidating overly granular land-use categories and producing a single land-use matrix for clarity.

Council feedback and next steps: council members pressed consultants to surface existing roadblocks—even those created by prior council decisions—so the body can address them. One council member requested, “I wanna see all the roadblocks, good, bad, and ugly so that we can address it.” Multiple members argued for keeping high objective design standards while improving clarity so both staff and applicants can navigate the system more easily.

Public engagement and deliverables: the consultants said they will post materials to the Engage Palm Desert site, seek feedback on discrete issues (for example short-term rentals or hillside development) before drafting the consolidated code, and return with an annotated ordinance outline in the next few months. The team plans sample tests of the draft code on representative development sites to evaluate effects on quality and review timelines.

The council paused the session for a scheduled closed session at 3:30 p.m.; consultants and staff said they will return to continue action items after the closed session.