Thousand Palms Council Okays Housing Project Concept
The Thousand Palms Community Council unanimously approved an affordable housing project proposed by Palm Desert Development Company at the Council's meeting last week.
The decision by the Council comes after the Company had provided a bus tour to two local projects built by Palm Desert Development and maintained by a contract firm. Residents and council members were favorably impressed by what they saw . . . and the ruling, advisory to County planning staff, the Planning Commission and, ultimately, the Board of Supervisors, gives the company a green light to return in the fall with a more specific plan.
The project would comprised 80 apartments in 10 two-story buildings on 40 acres directly north of the community center and Art Samson Memorial Library. One of the primary benefits to the community of Thousand Palms is the provision of approximately 12 acres of open space along the west side of Robert Road. That open space not only buffers the gated development from existing single family homes . . . it offers the community potential space for recreation or other amenities. The specifics of what that open space will eventually be home for--everything from soccer fields to a community museum has been mentioned--will be up to the community, the developer says. Ideas are currently being solicited from the community.
Palm Desert Development Company has developed thousands of units of affordable housing in the Desert and Inland Empire regions since its inception in 1979.