Palm Desert Adopts General Plan and 111 Corridor Plan

At their regular meeting of December 8, the Palm Desert City Council unanimously adopted the new General Plan and 111 Corridor/City Center Plan and Code.  Beginning in early 2014, a consultant team led by Raimi + Associates with Sargent Town Planning leading the urban design work worked closely with City staff and General Plan Working Group to update their general plan based on the Envision Palm Desert strategic plan prepared the year before.  The new Plan anticipates conserving the existing suburban character and unique desert quality of most of the City, whlle transforming the old Highway 111 Corridor and surrounding City Center area to a more valuable, walkable, mixed-use district, and developing new walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods adjacent to the growing Palm Desert branch campus of Cal State San Bernardino to the north.  STP led the planning work for the 111 Corridor/City Center chapter of the General Plan and prepared new form-based zoning for that area.  The City has retained the firm to develop the final design for the San Pablo Corridor and expects to be underway with Phase 1 streetscape improvements within a year.