Developers looking across I-10 for growth
http://www.mydesert.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080330/NEWS05/803300330/1011/news05
Indio officials expect the desert tract to sprout thousands of homes, shops, schools and public safety buildings. A master plan that would provide a blueprint on how that could happen is in the works.
"This whole area is just vacant. It's so massive. It's (like) a whole new city," said Sean Moore, a senior planner leading the city's expansion efforts.
Already, 24 square miles - or 15,360 acres - of the 34-square-mile tract along Dillon Road fall under the city's sphere of influence. The move was approved in September by the Riverside County Local Agency Formation Commission, which handles annexations.
A sphere of influence is an unincorporated area next to or near an incorporated city that the city may want to annex in the future.
The master plan would consider land-use guidelines, and possibly incorporate trail systems, parks and roads.
A fiscal impact study and strategy for services also would be part of an annexation study.
"This whole area is just vacant. We'll have to plan everything - sewer, water," Moore said.
Much of the 24 square miles recently added to the city's sphere is not suitable for development - hilly and covered in desert brush - and will remain open space for recreation. The 10 square miles directly north of the city limits are part of the Coachella Valley Multi-Species Habitat Conservation Plan and would not be available for development.
But about seven square miles is a clean slate that would allow for planned growth and proper molding, Moore said.
The four projects proposed for that area eventually could add thousands more residents to the already-burgeoning city of 77,146.
The projects are:
Dillon Trails on 207 acres (846 homes, condos or apartments are planned so far)
Stonewater on 800 acres
Inner Beauty on 1,000 acres
Indio Trails on 900 acres
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