Palm Desert Wrestles with its General Plan

The proposed expansion of the California State University San Bernardino, Palm Desert Campus, has left community leaders at odds. The controversy has to do with a proposed amendment to the city’s General Plan. A General Plan advisory committee has produced a conceptual map of the northern end of Palm Desert – the area surrounding the college campus. In creating the conceptual map, committee members are trying to anticipate the needs of future faculty and students.

Although the map includes two golf courses, some city officials and committee members are opposed to amending the General Plan, specifically where it concerns a university village and student housing. Palm Desert has become financially successful as a resort community and some city officials and committee members are of the “if it’s not broke don’t fix it” mindset.

The college community of Palm Desert is made up of CSUSB and the College of the Desert, a two-year community college. The city has donated 200 acres of land and, so far, turned over 57 of those acres for campus development. The Heckmann Center for Entrepreneurial Management, a satellite of UC Riverside, borders the CSU campus. CSUSB has a current enrollment of approximately 800 students – the college only accepts students of junior, senior or graduate levels. According to the Desert Sun, it could be another 25 years before the Palm Desert campus of CSUSB is granted four-year university status by the state legislature.

Those in favor of the proposed amendment to the General Plan feel that developing a university community would be a nice change of pace. Richard Heckmann, who donated $6 million to build the satellite branch of UC Riverside, told the Desert Sun, “We are not short of golf courses or hotels or condominiums. What we are short of is an alternative to the resort business.”

Heckmann’s views are shared by many in the in the community, who envision a slower pace of life with coffee shops, bookstores and affordable housing.

Due to the low enrollment at CSUSB, the more conservative element of the city is hesitant to depart from Palm Desert’s successful resort-oriented formula for development. Mayor Dick Kelly, a committee member, said, “A university is a wonderful thing, but it creates a need for extra services and it does not bring in revenue to provide services. We need to continue with the plan we have always followed.” Kelly also asked, “Why would we want to take one of the most successful cities in California and change it?” In addition, some believe that adding university housing will lower the property values of the surrounding area.

Some are confident that a compromise can be reached and point to other university communities, such as Westwood Village (Los Angeles), that have had a positive effect on both the community and the tax-base. The city plans to evaluate the golf course proposals as they are presented in the future.