Op-Ed by Patricia Barton
I have called Old Las Palmas home for 54 years. I raised my family here, worked as a nurse, and spent decades giving back to this community: leading fundraising efforts for the Palm Springs Desert Museum and the Western Art Council, serving on the Board of Temple Isaiah, and supporting the Barbara Sinatra Children’s Center since its founding. My husband, Dr. Stuart Barton, was a founding physician of Eisenhower Medical Center and served as president of its medical staff.
I care deeply about this neighborhood’s future, from safe, reliable power to quiet streets, wildlife, and dark mountain skies that make it home. That is why I am concerned about the proposed underground utility assessment and the substantial financial, construction, and environmental implications it would impose.
Recent coverage has described residents as overwhelmingly in favor. That is not what I hear. Some first learned they could owe six figures when the ballot arrived. Some have not seen a ballot at all. We have not been told the full price, how the financing would work, or what it would mean for our homes.
The price is unknown because the design is not done. In Laguna Beach, the city did not ask owners to vote on an undergrounding until the design was finished and the bids were in. Here, one vote would put the neighborhood on the hook before the total cost is known. In our district, assessments of about $92,000 to $139,000 a parcel do not include private construction, new hookups, or overruns once a design exists.
The City has said the lines may be moved. They could shift from the back of a house to the front, or to another side of the property. Wherever they land, that owner pays for trenching and hookups. Until the final design is done and line locations are set, no one can price it.
If the vote passes, owners have 30 days to pay in cash. Anyone who cannot is forced to finance the balance, and a lien goes on the home. The bond will be sold only if this vote passes. The ballot caps interest at 12 percent. It does not give the rate, the cost of issuing the bonds, or any penalty for paying the lien off early.
That lien shows up on a refinance, a new mortgage, or a home equity loan. Our district has 51 parcels and 47 owners, and ballots are weighed by the size of the assessment, not one house, one vote. If the yes ballots win, the City records the lien on your home even if you voted no, unless you pay in cash.
For seniors and longtime residents living on Social Security, pensions and retirement savings, an assessment this large could decide whether we can stay in the homes we have cared for over decades.
Nothing stops owners from paying privately to underground their own lines. Some already have and still face assessments well over $100,000.
My husband served on the Bighorn Institute’s board for almost 40 years. Protecting federally endangered Peninsular bighorn sheep and the habitat surrounding our neighborhood is a responsibility we all share.
As part of this project, the City Council found the undergrounding “categorically exempt from CEQA,” declining to study the environmental impact. The work brings many months of trenching, heavy trucks, and noise where bighorn sheep and other wildlife have a documented presence. That is not a minor disturbance. That disturbance can determine whether they remain on this ground. The exemption sets no surveys, no seasonal limits, no buffers, and no biological monitor. The City must prove how that exemption was justified.
The City should publish the engineer’s worksheets and source data, including the basis for assessment calculations, the plans it is holding “on file,” and its justification for the environmental exemption. It should explain three decisions: why parcels next to lines marked for removal were left outside both districts; why Old Las Palmas was split into two districts; and why multiple lines and poles are not marked for removal and would remain in Old Las Palmas.
Hold a public briefing before October 28, and let residents ask their questions directly. Release the records, give owners time to read them, and then count the ballots.
Patricia Barton has called Old Las Palmas home for more than five decades. A nurse, fundraiser and community leader, she has devoted much of her life to strengthening the Coachella Valley’s cultural, educational and charitable institutions.