Stalled subdivision gets another year while a canal bridge awaits approval

Plans call for 146 single-family homes to be located at land northeast of Monroe Street and Avenue 40.

The Indio Planning Commission on Wednesday extended approval of a planned 146-lot gated subdivision near Monroe Street and Avenue 40 for another year while the landowner seeks permission to build across the All-American Canal.

The 4-0 vote pushes the expiration of the tentative tract map for the Affresco West project to Nov. 15, 2027. Without an extension, the map would have expired Nov. 15 of this year, which would have forced the owner to file a new map and pay fees again.

The City Council first approved the project in May 2019. It divides nearly 44 acres of vacant land into single-family lots of at least 8,000 square feet. The map was originally set to expire in 2021. A 2020 state law added 18 months, and the city has since granted three more extensions totaling four years.

“Is there a reason why we keep extending the project and not being built?” Commissioner Jose Santos asked during the hearing.

The answer lies at the site’s southern edge along the canal. Under its conditions of approval, the project needs an encroachment permit to run utilities and a pedestrian bridge across the canal right of way. The Coachella Valley Water District and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation manage that right of way.

Nicole Criste, a representative of Terra Nova Planning & Research, speaking for the landowner, said getting the approvals is “unfortunately a very lengthy process.”

“We can’t record without the bridge being worked out. It’s one of the conditions of approval,” Criste said.

City staff pointed to the ongoing permit work and a final landscape plan filed Aug. 3 as evidence of “diligent pursuit” of the project, a finding required for an extension. A staff visit on Aug. 13 found the site still undeveloped, with shrubs and dirt trails but no evidence of illegal dumping visible from the street.

Commissioner Michael Slater asked how close the project would be to development once the bridge is approved.

“I don’t know that there’s a development timeline,” Criste said. “The market will guide that.”

Market conditions have come up before. When the council granted the second extension in 2023, it found the site “was impacted by external market forces.”

The latest extension brings the city’s locally granted extensions to five years. That is one year short of the six-year maximum allowed under the state Subdivision Map Act. Any further request must be filed at least 45 days before the new expiration date.