Coachella highlights growth at State of the City address
The city of Coachella shared new opportunities for growth in areas including transportation, public buildings, housing, and more.
"We're making huge investments that our residents will be very proud and very happy to see," said Mayor Steven Hernandez.
About 200 people representing different businesses and organizations throughout the valley gathered at Veterans Memorial Park to learn more about the city’s future plans.
One of the biggest focuses was a "Housing for All Initiative," allowing the city to build about 600 new units ranging from affordable housing, family homes, and the city’s first senior housing.
"While we have a lot of market-rate housing coming through, we also know that there's a lot of families that cannot afford mortgages, they cannot afford these high rents. So we have multiple developments coming into the city of Coachella," said Councilmember Denise Delgado.
Coachella residents will soon have more options for public transportation.
"Sunline will be building a new transit facility off of Fourth Street, as well as Cesar Chavez. And so that will be breaking ground within the next few months. And then Tesla, we have a partnership with Tesla, and it's a ride-share program," Hernandez said.
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Delgado credits much of Coachella’s growth to city staff members who have been able to secure different grants to provide affordable housing and countless resources.
"One grant we got from the state is about a $4.6 million grant where we're going to be expanding our library, we're going to be building a new city annex. And in addition, we secured an $8.4 million grant to expand our park at Rancho Las Flores and so we're going to be seeing new parks come into the city of Coachella," Hernandez said.
With a median age of 26, city leaders like Delgado and Hernandez hope these changes will continue to attract and retain the next generation.
"They're really tied to the social fabric of this community. And so we're seeing a bit of both, you know, folks that do go off and start, you know, their lives and other communities. But we're seeing a great trend where people are coming back and really being part of the change that's happening here within the city of Coachella," Hernandez said.
