Two North Sunrise Way housing plans hit different fates before Palm Springs planners

The Palm Springs Planning Commission voted 5-0 at its last regular meeting to continue a proposed 16-unit condominium project at Amado Road and Sunrise Way, then voted 5-0 again to grant a two-year construction extension for a long-approved 15-unit apartment complex at 211 North Sunrise Way.

The condo project would replace a long-vacant parking lot with 16 attached, two-story townhomes, each with a two-car garage and a small backyard pool. The plan requires a change to the city’s general plan to allow homes on the site.

Commissioners raised concerns about how pool cleaners and landscapers would reach the backyards of units on the west side of the property without walking through residents’ homes, along with where landscaping trucks could park without blocking garages.

Rather than approve the project, the commission continued it to its Sept. 8 meeting, asking the applicant to study those issues along with shading on the upper-floor balconies.

Down the street, the commission approved a two-year extension, to July 2028, for owner Shaul Mezrahi to begin construction on a 15-unit apartment complex first approved in 2024.

Mezrahi told commissioners the project was delayed by two rounds of architectural review and an estimated 18-month wait for Southern California Edison to underground nearby utility poles.

He said he is also working to redevelop the adjacent, historic Gas Company building and hopes to find one buyer for both properties.

“It would be a shame that one project goes up with one owner and then the other project goes up with another owner,” Mezrahi said. “I’m not here to say where and who and what will happen, but I’m really trying to give the project to the right person.”

A neighboring property owner urged the commission to deny the extension, telling commissioners the vacant site has drawn repeated police calls over homeless encampments and trash.

Chair Kathleen Weremiuk acknowledged the difficulty of the decision but moved to approve the extension, citing the site’s ties to the Gas Company building restoration.

“We all want to see the gas building restored desperately. We love it, and it creates a wrinkle,” Weremiuk said. “I’m going to make a motion to allow the extension. It’s hard — if the working drawings were done on this building, it would be a lot easier, but it’s very hard for me to turn this extension down.”

Before voting, commissioners amended the findings supporting the extension to remove references to financing and marketing, which city code does not allow as grounds for granting more time, limiting the justification to the utility delay.

---