A Walmart is coming to Desert Hot Springs

After years of debate a Walmart will be built in Desert Hot Springs.

The City Council voted 4 to 1 to approve the store’s plans to build at Palm Drive and Camino Aventura.

Mayor Scott Matas said while he’s glad the store is coming to town he doesn’t like how Walmart got there.

Since Walmart circulated a petition on its proposed store, the council had three choices: accept the plan as is, send it for environmental review or put an initiative to voters in November.

They chose to accept the plans as is, a process the mayor said isn’t ideal.

“You can’t ask for a transit stations, you can’t ask for one of the restaurant pads to be a fast-food restaurant instead of a sit down. But Walmart did say they’re willing to listen to what the City Council,” Matas said.

The city said you might start to see some building taking place as soon as next summer.

“Once they finish planning and they put the first shovel in the ground it takes approximately 342 days to build a Walmart. So we could see a Walmart next summer if we get them to move fast enough,” Matas said.

One of the arguments against Walmart, small businesses will suffer.

But some small business owners disagree.

“Every city has Walmart, Food for Less, Stater Bros. and these kinds of these coming over here means the city is on the right track to grow,” said Melkiat Sing who owns Desert Market.

But others don’t like the choice of store the city plans to grow with.

“I think it takes away from local commerce the, local business owners and the entrepreneurs inside the community,” said Jason Miknuk who lives in Desert Hot Springs.

No matter your stance, the mayor said there’s no denying the benefits to the city.

“Walmart with the retail up front could bring in half a million dollars in tax revenue,” Matas said.

This is money the city said it needs in order to move Desert Hot Springs forward.