HomeMy WebLinkAboutRE_ PS COUNTRY CLUB, LLC REQUEST FOR AN AMENDFrom:Steve Braff
To:Planning; christopherhadwin@palmspringsca.gov; David Newell
Subject:RE: PS COUNTRY CLUB, LLC REQUEST FOR AN AMENDMENT OF THE DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT FOR SERENA
PARK
Date:Wednesday, May 22, 2024 4:33:42 PM
Attachments:Oswit Land Trust Supplemental Comment Letter regarding PS COUNTRY CLUB, LLC REQUEST FOR AN
AMENDMENT OF THE DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT FOR SERENA PARK .pdf
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Gentlemen:
Attached please find Oswit Land Trust's Supplemental Comment Letter regarding PS
COUNTRY CLUB, LLC REQUEST FOR AN AMENDMENT OF THE DEVELOPMENT
AGREEMENT FOR SERENA PARK.
I will be reading from the letter at this evening's Planning Commission Meeting. Please feel
free to contact me with any questions or concerns and thank you for your consideration.
Steve Braff
1757 S Palm Canyon Dr, Palm Springs, CA 92264
STEVE BRAFF | Board Member
Email: steve@OswitLandTrust.Org
Cell: (951) 757-6206
OswitLandTrust.org | 760.385.8255
Oswit Land Trust, PO Box 4020, Palm Springs, CA 92263
May 22, 2024
To the City of Palm Springs:
The Planning Department and Planning Commission
ATTN: planning@palmspringsca.gov
Christopher Hadwin, Director of Planning at christopherhadwin@palmspringsca.gov
David Newell, Planner at david.newell@palmspringsca.gov
RE: PNG 1, LLC ON BEHALF OF PS COUNTRY CLUB, LLC FOR AN AMENDMENT OF THE
DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT FOR SERENA PARK – A RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT CONSISTING
OF 386 ATTACHED AND DETACHED RESIDENTIAL UNITS, STREETS, PRIVATE OPEN SPACE AND
PUBLIC PARK ON 126 ACRES OF LAND LOCATED EAST OF SUNRISE WAY, NORTH OF VERONA
ROAD AND SOUTHWEST OF THE WHITEWATER RIVER FLOODPLAIN WITHIN SECTION 1 AND 36
(CASE DA-2024-0002).
To Whom It May Concern:
SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENT LETTER
OSWIT LAND TRUST
Oswit Land Trust is a 501C3 non-profit land conservancy dedicated to preserving criCcal habitat for wildlife
corridors and sensiCve species. We achieve our goals through the acquisiCon of land and advocacy. We
are a proud member of the Land Trust Alliance and have over 3,000 acCve members who are residents
within the Coachella Valley and beyond.
Oswit Land Trust is asking the City of Palm Springs to deny the applicant’s request for an extension of Cme
to pay the extensive fee arrangements under the Development Agreement. The applicant has had at least
eight years to comply with the terms of the Agreement. A Development Agreement is a bargain between
developer and a city to “freeze its planning progress in Cme” and hold a landowner outside of the very
progress and changes all other developers must comply with. The considerable advantage granted to the
developer is in exchange for payment of fees, which were to be paid “in lieu” and create other open space
opportuniCes. None of that has ever occurred. The Developer received the advantages over Cme and
remained insulated from progress the City has made in open space planning. There are no equiCes that
OswitLandTrust.org | 760.385.8255
Oswit Land Trust, PO Box 4020, Palm Springs, CA 92263
give the Applicant the right to stand higher than other developers at this point. Because of these
consideraCons and because so much has changed in the thinking and planning of the City, we ask the
Developer request be denied because the equiCes are simply not with the landowner in this instance.
Oswit Land Trust would like to emphasize several points that were not specifically targeted in its original
comment leVer of yesterday, May 21, 2024, as follows:
(1) The First Amended and Restated Development Agreement (AVachment #7 to the Staff Report
herein) reflects that it was approved by the Palm Springs City Council on September 30, 2021. The
signatories to the Agreement notarized and signed their names on May 1, 2024, and the First
Amended and Restated Development Agreement was recorded in the County of Riverside on May
6, 2024; two years and eight months acer its approval.
Please note the delay in recordaCon is a violaCon of the following terms of the Palm Springs
Municipal Ordinance as follows. The PSMO does not indicate the consequences of violaCng the
ordinance terms, but this is one more addiConal item of noncompliance:
94.08.00 (15) RecordaJon of Development Agreement, Amendment or CancellaJon.
(a) Within 10 days acer the city council enters into the development agreement, the city clerk
shall have the agreement recorded with the county recorder.
(2) The First Amended and Restated Development Agreement appears by its terms to transfer
density from Chino Canyon to Serena Park into an area that was iniCally designated under the land
use of Open Space / RecreaCon and Parks. The purpose of the Transfer of Density Rights is a
mechanism in the general plan and the zoning ordinance that is intended to transfer density rights
to areas that are appropriate for higher densiCes, which is not true of Serena Park. This Agreement
occurred in 2016 and 2017 when the City of Palm Springs made prolific use of the Planned
Development District (PDD) permit to bypass General Plan requirements and zoning
requirements. The City felt free to do so because it was a Charter City. Since that Cme period, the
State Courts have now clarified that Charter CiCes must adhere to General Plan policies in the
same manner as general law ciCes.
(3) A conCnuing theme in the concerns of Oswit Land Trust is how this project fails to conform to
current open space requirements by general plan and ordinance, including the Golf Course
Conversion Ordinance. One aspect the Golf Course Conversion Ordinance opened was the need
for major aVenCon to community meeCngs, neighborhood chareVes, and scoping sessions. We
OswitLandTrust.org | 760.385.8255
Oswit Land Trust, PO Box 4020, Palm Springs, CA 92263
do not feel these requirements should be bypassed. The Developer was protected from changes
in policies and regulaCons from the Development Agreement only insofar as it complied with the
terms. There has been a failure to do so.
(4) The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) should be assessed for significant changes since
date of cerCficaCon of the EIR from the change in the Development Agreement because of the
profound changes in law, policy, and environmental thresholds from the Golf Course Conversion
Ordinance.
We thank you once again for your kind aVenCon to these issues.
With regard,
Jane Garrison,
ExecuMve Director Oswit Land Trust