2021 12 07 CC & PC Minutes Sp Joint Mtg
SPECIAL JOINT MEETING Page 1 of 3 DECEMBER 7, 2021
CITY COUNCIL & PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES
SPECIAL JOINT MEETING
OF THE LA QUINTA CITY COUNCIL AND
PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2021
CALL TO ORDER
A special joint meeting of the La Quinta City Council and Planning Commission
was called to order at 6:47 p.m. by Mayor Evans.
This meeting provided teleconferencing accessibility pursuant to Executive
Orders N-60-20 and N-08-21 executed by the Governor of California, and
subsequently Assembly Bill 361 (AB 361, 2021), enacted in response to the
state of emergency relating to novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and
enabling teleconferencing accommodations by suspending or waiving specified
provisions in the Ralph M. Brown Act (Government Code § 54950 et seq.).
PRESENT: Councilmembers Fitzpatrick, Peña, Radi, Sanchez, Mayor Evans
ABSENT: None
PRESENT: Commissioners Caldwell, Currie, Hassett, McCune, Proctor,
Tyerman and Chairperson Nieto
ABSENT: None
STAFF PRESENT: City Manager McMillen, City Attorney Ihrke, City Clerk
Radeva, Design and Development Director Castro, Planning Manager Flores,
Public Works Director/City Engineer McKinney; Director of Business Unit and
Housing Development Villalpando, Community Resources Director Escobedo,
Interim Accounting Manager Analyst Hallick, Management Assistant McGinley
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
Planning Chairperson Nieto led the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance.
PUBLIC COMMENT ON MATTERS NOT ON THE AGENDA
PUBLIC SPEAKER IN-PERSON: Alena Callimanis, La Quinta – complimented
staff on the well-run Ironman event; spoke about water conservation at the
Coral Mountain Resort project, and the effect of the State’s water conservation
mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic.
CONFIRMATION OF AGENDA – Confirmed
STUDY SESSION
SPECIAL JOINT MEETING Page 2 of 3 DECEMBER 7, 2021
CITY COUNCIL & PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES
1. HIGHWAY 111 CORRIDOR PROJECT NO. 2019-05 UPDATE
Planning Manager Flores presented the staff report, which is on file in the
Clerk’s Office.
City Consultant Todd Tregenza, AICP, Senior Transportation Planner with GHD,
Inc. provided a progress report on Phase 2 of the project.
City Council and Planning Commission Members discussed the availability of
NEV (neighborhood electric vehicles/golf carts) purchase data, trends, and use
projections; the need for data on current bicycle traffic; collecting NEV and
bicycle use data on Highway 111 after CV-Link has opened; dropping the earlier
concept of adding street parking along Highway 111; caution to insure the
dangerous segment of Highway 111 through Cathedral City is not replicated;
importance of designing safe cross-overs for pedestrians, bicyclists, and NEVs
on Highway 111 to and from CV-Link; and long range plans to encourage
property owners to include interior pedestrian places.
Mr. Tregenza presented the scope of Phase 4 of the project, to develop a
Specific Plan for the Highway 111 Corridor. City Consultants Jonathan Linkus,
Urban Planner with GHD, Inc. and Roger Eastman, Planner with Lisa Wise
Consulting (LWC) were also available for questions.
City Council and Planning Commission Members discussed projected time to
complete Phase 4 plans; control of Highway 111 passing from CalTrans to the
City around 2009; need for flexibility to accommodate the changes in brick-
and-mortar retail and shopping patterns; critical need to unify Highway 111
multiple specific plans into a new Specific Plan, and form based code into one
document to prevent undesirable development, and to act as a streamlining
incentive to future developers and hopefully bring existing owners into the
process; importance of raising potential developers’ and current landowners’
awareness of these plans; prioritization of Phase 4 components based on costs
and complexity – report on such at the next Council meeting; need to anticipate
the impact and interaction of other economic and cultural centers in the City,
such as SilverRock and the Village, on Highway 111; means to attract mixed-
use development and short-term vacation rental development along the
Highway 111 corridor; inclusion of marketing and vision materials to La Quinta
residents for support, forward movement, and promotion; anticipation that the
market analysis will bring more certainty to the fast-changing retail business
environment; request that the Planning Commission be observers as the
marketing plans are developed; lack of infrastructure and workforce have been
a deterrent to companies such as Amazon, so stakeholder engagement and
economic analysis is critical to success; the need for Phase 4 to have built-in
flexibility to accommodate future market demands, but the human scale,
SPECIAL JOINT MEETING Page 3 of 3 DECEMBER 7, 2021
CITY COUNCIL & PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES
shading, safety and comfort for pedestrians must remain; streamlining the
approval process for developers to greatly improve the project’s potential for
success; imperative to build stakeholder and resident excitement about the
project now; studies of the development successes and failures of other cities’
of similar size and demographics would be useful; mixed-use development
being key to the project’s success; likelihood of the Highway 111 project
stimulating development outside the corridor; importance of articulating the
vision and reasoning of project to residents; ability to trigger immediate
improvements to stimulate interest and excitement in the project; skepticism
about including two roundabouts on Adams St.; meeting with existing
landowners to build excitement and begin discussions on how the City can
assist them; stabilizing and diversifying the City’s economic base by adding
non-tourist related businesses; developer and resident buy-in is driven by trust
and knowledge of the resulting return to them, and promoting the green and
technological aspects of the project will help; and looking at ways that the
project can generate energy, such as solar panels along the roadway to win
public support.
Council directed Staff to:
Go forward with Phase 4 as presented;
Select aspects that can be implemented faster, and find means to
demonstrate aspects of the project so people can experience the vision
and start the conversation;
Work with property owner(s) to create a sample area(s), and;
Include a presentation of the project in the upcoming Community
Workshop.
PUBLIC SPEAKER IN-PERSON: Alena Callimanis, La Quinta – stated her support
for east-west bicycle traffic, but expressed concern about the safety of north-
south bicycle traffic.
COUNCIL AND PLANNING COMMISSION MEMBERS’ ITEMS – None
ADJOURNMENT: CITY COUNCIL AND PLANNING COMMISSION
There being no further business, a motion was made and seconded by
Councilmembers Radi/Fitzpatrick to adjourn at 8:12 p.m. Motion passed
unanimously.
Respectfully submitted,
MONIKA RADEVA, City Clerk
City of La Quinta, California