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1. VISION & GUIDING PRINCIPLES
Palm Desert is the heart of California’s Coachella Valley. Our intent is to create a town
with great neighborhoods, anchored by a true downtown and a vibrant, walkable
university center, connected by safe, comfortable streets for all users.
Today, Palm Desert serves as a landmark city for residents and visitors alike. From
recreation to arts to educational opportunities, our city offers a safe and stable
community, while benefiting from the tourism industry and all the diversity and
culture it brings to Palm Desert. Tomorrow, Palm Desert will embrace our love for the
arts, our unique culture, the environment we inhabit, and the industries that allow us
to progress as a happy and healthy community.
Palm Desert’s outstanding quality of life offers residents and visitors of all ages a wide
array of recreational, educational, shopping, housing and entertainment opportunities
as well as arts and cultural activities and world-class events in a uniquely beautiful
desert environment. This premier resort destination is a thriving, safe and sustainable
community that attracts innovative employers by virtue of its diverse, highly qualified
workforce and synergistic business, civic and educational partnerships.
We will be the leading educational hub in the region. We will provide excellent
educational opportunities and serve as an invaluable research and development
resource for innovation in the region. Through improved training, education, and
Inspirational pedestrian walkway
Inspirational downtown buildings
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innovation opportunities, our educational institutions will help to keep our economy
diverse and resilient.
Our tourism market will remain a valuable core of our local economy. The retail,
recreation, and hospitality sectors of our economy will strengthen as we diversify
other industries to ensure a diverse and resilient local economy. The City Center will
develop into a world class downtown, providing residents and visitors with an
experience that is rich and highly accessible with walkable destinations.
We will continue to protect and enhance the striking and unique natural setting that
makes Palm Desert special, and we will continue to be leading environmental
stewards in the Coachella Valley. We will foster an environment that protects our
residents and visitors. We will continue to protect the scenic desert environment that
surrounds us as we adapt to climate pressures, and to protect our sensitive resources.
Through the implementation of this General Plan, the city will develop so as to be
more welcoming and accessible to both its residents and its visitors. The city’s
important centers, such as the downtown and the university area, will develop into
attractive, walkable hubs of social and economic activity. We will continue to
celebrate our strengths and explore our opportunities to establish new industries, and
enhance our community and improve quality of life for residents and visitors.
The 2013-2033 Strategic Plan, Envision Palm Desert - Forward Together identifies nine
Strategic Results Areas ranging from arts and culture to transportation. Each sets out
mini-visions, priorities, strategies, action plans, and measures of success. Below are
highlights from all nine. These mini vision statements have helped guide this General
Plan Update and will continue to serve to guide City decision making.
The plan envisions Palm Desert as the cultural core of the
Coachella Valley. Priorities are to assess the current arts and cultural landscape,
explore the viability of creating an arts and culture district, and develop secure and
sustainable funding for arts and culture.
The vision builds on Palm Desert’s strengths in
business, education, arts, and tourism to provide an inviting economic climate offering
lifestyle, education, and investment opportunities. Priorities are to increase job and
business opportunities, expand quality education to ensure that residents are
prepared to serve in a workforce of the future, to create and attract entertainment
and events that grow the economy and improve the quality of life, and enhance and
raise awareness of business-friendly services to retain and attract business.
: The Strategic Plan envisions an education destination offering world-
class programs providing lifelong learning opportunities and an engaged and informed
community. Priorities are to create and support a community-based education
coalition that will focus on graduation rates, attract and retain students of all ages by
providing outstanding academic and cultural programs, and create community
awareness of, and support for, the building blocks of student and career success.
Cultural Influences in Palm Desert
Community activities in Palm Desert
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The vision is to be a responsible steward of the city’s
natural resources. Priorities are to reduce per-capita consumption of energy and
water, promote greater use of sustainable materials with an eye upon the needs of
future generations, encourage all new construction to be net zero energy in design
and exceed the Coachella Valley Water District’s efficiency standards, and encourage
property owners to reduce energy and water consumption.
The vision is a well-planned and
developed city with a vibrant city core; natural open space; and housing, business, and
community revitalization opportunities. Priorities are to enhance Palm Desert as a
first-class destination for premier shopping and national, regional, and neighborhood
retail businesses, to expand Palm Desert as an educational hub, to facilitate
development of high-quality housing for people of all income levels, and to develop
creative and innovative zoning and incentives that promote education and high-quality
residences and encourage a balance between housing and jobs.
The Strategic Plan envisions parks, open spaces, and
recreational opportunities as drivers of innovation and a high quality of life. Priorities
are to fund park maintenance and plan for future replacement and growth, assure a
continuing flow of innovative ideas through creative partnerships, and provide
adequate staffing. Other priorities include encouraging resident input, promoting
healthy community principles by incorporating recreational and exercise opportunities
in all public spaces, planning and developing the North Sphere Regional Park, and
evaluating the need for expansion of the Palm Desert Aquatic Center.
The vision is for a high quality of life
for Palm Desert as a result of its comprehensive public safety services. Priorities are to
continually enhance the delivery of public safety services, increase methods of crime
prevention through expanded community participation, and help the community be
more prepared for disasters and public safety emergencies.
The plan envisions a year-round international resort
destination offering a wellness lifestyle, exemplary hotels, arts, entertainment,
shopping, recreational, and education opportunities for all ages. Priorities are to
improve access to the city and its attractions, to grow existing events and develop new
events to enhance the desirability of Palm Desert year-round, to attract new and
developing markets (culinary, medical, cultural tourism, business, sports, film industry,
emerging international markets and those for younger demographics), and to support
Palm Desert tourism through enhanced marketing.
The vision is of a community with safe, convenient, and efficient
transportation options for residents and visitors. Priorities are to create walkable
neighborhoods in residential, retail, and open space areas to reduce the use of low
occupancy vehicles; revitalize the Highway 111 corridor through land use and other
improvements; and emphasize multiple modes of travel including carpooling, bus
riding, cycling and walking.
Inspirational downtown mixed-use
Downtown activities and tourism
Separated bicycle and walk way
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The successful realization of the Vision and effective implementation of the Envision
Palm Desert Strategic Plan rely on the city’s ability to strengthen its sense of
community identity and unique character for residents and Palm Desert visitors. To do
this, we will focus on people and creating a human-oriented and human-scaled town.
This is a cross-cutting topic that is pivotal to the achievement of so many of the
Strategic Plan objectives, including expanded and diversified economic development
opportunities, a successful university area, expanded tourism opportunities, improved
energy and sustainability, diverse and high-quality neighborhoods, improved
community health, improved transportation options, and community safety
enhancements. To achieve Palm Desert’s Vision for the future, the City will focus on
the following principles:
First and foremost, our city is a place for people. It is a
place for people to live, to work, to learn, to shop, and to play. By planning and
designing Palm Desert with people as the primary focus, the city will continue to serve
as a destination that entices visitors, and to endure as a community with a high quality
of life that attracts the best and the brightest residents, students, and businesses. To
ensure we are designing for the human scale, we must do several things. We must
maintain a moderate density and scale: just enough to create interest and activity, but
not so much as to overwhelm people and not so little as to dilute the sense of place or
inhibit walking and bicycling. Buildings should be unique and interesting to appeal to
people experiencing them in person and improve their experience of Palm Desert and
improve walk appeal. The public realm, comprised of our buildings, open spaces, and
roadways, must be designed to create safe and comfortable places for pedestrians
with convenient, safe, and easy street crossings; and convenient, close access to
buildings. Our alternative is to continue the 50-year trend in Southern California of
designing for the automobile first. Cars are an important part of our transportation
system, but too great an emphasis on accommodating the automobile has made
walking and bicycling as part of daily life difficult, leading to increased air pollution and
a variety of public health issues.
We want places for our residents and visitors to
congregate, especially for commerce and socializing. Lively city centers are the
physical forum for gathering, business, shopping, and the exchange of ideas. To create
lively centers, we need to provide for a mix of uses, sufficient scale and density to
make the places interesting and attractive, and to include housing within and near the
centers. Establishing vibrant, active nodes around the 111 corridor and the University
is critical to implementing the Strategic Plan Vision. Smaller centers throughout the
city are also necessary in order to serve our various neighborhoods.
We ask a lot of our streets. We want safe, convenient, and easy
automobile travel. We want efficient goods movement. We also need to provide our
residents and visitors with legitimate choices as to how they get around our town.
Everyone should have the option of meeting some, if not all, of their daily needs by
means other than automobiles. To accomplish this, this General Plan provides for a
layered transportation network that will expand choice by providing new
opportunities for walking, bicycling, and transit. We recognize the importance of the
Lively outdoor centers
Human scale mixed use
Separated bicycle path
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automobile, we will continue to accommodate its valuable role in our community, and
we will expand our transportation infrastructure by improving our pedestrian network
and expanding our bicycle network.
As we think about our new buildings,
districts, neighborhoods, and corridors and making sure they are designed for people
first, we also need to ensure that we are working towards the creation of a town with
great accessibility and great connectivity. To date, Palm Desert has been very
successful at capitalizing on the value created by separated uses. Now we are going to
capitalize on the value potential of creating connected places. Research shows that
more connected and compact street networks with fewer lanes on major roads are
highly correlated with reduced rates of obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, and
heart disease among residents. Research also shows innumerable economic benefits
of walkable places. With this General Plan, we will seek accessibility and connectivity
in our new neighborhoods and our centers so as to capitalize on the health and
economic benefits of walkable places.
Our residents are people with great affection and
appreciation for the outdoors. The city’s setting is unique and strikingly beautiful. Our
residents are also active and health minded. As such, we need a city with an extensive
supply and variety of quality open spaces. These open spaces will be comprised of
small neighborhood parks, plazas, sports fields, and natural areas. They will serve to
provide places to gather, places to play, and visual and emotional relief from the built
areas of town. In part, new development will help provide for these open space
resources. Our community will reap the benefits. Increasing the quantity and quality
of parks increases the amount of time children exercise, decreases their risk of chronic
diseases, and even reduces juvenile delinquency. Adults who live closer to open
spaces report reduced stress and fatigue, improved mental health, and higher self-
rated health. Children diagnosed with ADHD receive as much benefit from walking in a
park as they do from leading medication therapies. Living closer to green space is also
associated with decreased cardiovascular and respiratory disease mortality in men.
Considering the human and economic costs of these diseases, parks begin to look like
a particularly attractive investment.
This General Plan is a long-term strategy that will be implemented over the course of
decades. If we are to be successful at achieving the realization of our vision, we must
keep our efforts focused and work to achieve early successes. Only then should we
consider broadening our list of efforts or strategies. The following are the most
important General Plan opportunity areas. Figure 1.1 shows how these areas of town
reflect the various degrees of change envisioned by this General Plan. These areas are
broadly categorized as preserve, enhance, and transform, and describe areas of the
city that have the greatest opportunities or likelihood for change. It should be noted
that change is meant in a very general sense and is not meant to be limited to changes
in density, intensity, or land uses. These changes might also include reinvestment and
reconstruction of existing uses, roadway improvements, or infrastructure investment.
Palm Desert public transit stop
Open Space in Palm Desert
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The Strategic Plan made a very strong case for both the desire for a
true city center as well as the economic and community benefits of having a true
city center. A city center, or downtown, is compact and moderate in scale, has a mix
of uses, has a range of housing types, and is easy and comfortable to navigate on
foot. The city center is the heart of the town and the center of social, civic, and
commercial activity. Few cities in southern California have authentic downtowns
and the creation of one in Palm Desert will be a distinguishing milestone on the path
towards creating a stronger sense of place and a more competitive city. Because this
strategy is such an important component of the Envision Palm Desert Strategic Plan,
it will be critical for the City to focus efforts and resources on the successful
implementation of the plan. Similarly, the City will focus on creating a spark of
excitement by starting the evolution of the City Center with the transformation of
the San Pablo center.
The creation of both a California State University and a
University of California campus within Palm Desert is an enormous economic
opportunity for both the city and the entire Coachella Valley. The campuses provide
the City with new opportunities for educating residents, attracting new talent to the
valley in the way of both faculty and students, and attracting investment related to
university operations. The first step towards these opportunities was completed with
the City donating the land for the campus. Into the future, the City will need to
continue to work with and support the development of the campus. More
importantly, the City will need to ensure that the lands around the universities are
developed in a way that maximizes connectivity and accessibility. Through a strategy
of connectivity and accessibility, the City will capitalize on the greatest possible value
of creating a university area. To help achieve this outcome, the City will also prepare a
University Neighborhood Specific Plan, which will provide detailed design guidance
for the neighborhoods near the universities and the roads that connect the area
internally and with the rest of the city. This area of Palm Desert would also be an
ideal location for a future Metrolink station, when that service reaches the Valley.
Similarly, this area of the city would be ideal for mass transit such as Bus Rapid
Transit (BRT) or Light Rail. In each case, such infrastructure would help connect the
University Area and Palm Desert, improving inter-valley and regional connectivity.
The Cook Street Corridor will serve an important function
into the future as the center of the University Area, connecting the university campus
with the neighborhoods and centers to the west. Cook Street will also become a very
important connector across the city, connecting the University Area, the various
resorts along Cook Street, and the City Center via Fred Waring and 111. With the I-
10/Portola interchange set to come online within the next few years, the city will have
increased regional access, providing new opportunities to enhance Cook Street as a
multi-modal corridor that connects the city’s two most important centers.
Figure 1.2, Vision Diagram, presents a conceptual map that illustrates how the City’s
vision, guiding principles, and strategy of prioritization can come together in the form
of a land use and transportation plan. This diagram served as the basis of the land use
and transportation plans presented in the following elements.
Inspirational downtown festivals
Inspirational streetscape and public realm
Inspirational streetscape furniture and shade
trees
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The General Plan will be implemented over an extended period of time that will likely
span several decades. During this time, long-range planning efforts will continue using
the General Plan goals and polices as a guide. However, the General Plan is a living
document. State law allows it to be updated and refined over the coming decades. In
fact, State law encourages annual reviews of implementation actions and
recommends that the entire General Plan be thoroughly reviewed every five years to
ensure that it is still consistent with the community’s goals.
Part of this ongoing annual review of the General Plan should include objective
monitoring of progress towards success. A table of indicators can be found in Chapter
12, the Work Plan.
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