Diverse Coachella Valley On-Call Consulting Supports Regional Growth

Challenge: The Coachella Valley in Riverside County is home to roughly 370,000 residents and 3.5 million visitors annually within nine cities (Cathedral City, Coachella, Desert Hot Springs, Indian Wells, Indio, La Quinta, Palm Desert, Palm Springs, and Rancho Mirage) and various Tribal Nations. The large swings in seasonal population and temperatures pose unique challenges in providing quality public services and resilient infrastructure for these desert communities.

The area is noted for various resort cities and popular destination areas due to award-winning golf courses and internationally recognized events. With extensive areas of developable land, supporting infrastructure needs complying with air quality and environmental requirements, and limited consultants with a breadth of capabilities and local knowledge, the region’s cities have diverse consulting needs.

Solution: Since forming HR Green Pacific in 2010 and more recently opening a local office in Palm Desert in 2021, our staff members have provided a wide variety of consulting services to eight of the nine cities as well as the Coachella Valley Association of Governments (CVAG), including the expansion of services to agencies aligned with new development, grant funding, special initiatives, and CIP programs.

Our Coachella Valley area services include:

• Cathedral City – CIP Project/Program Management, Design/Engineering, Land Development Support
• Coachella – Design/Engineering
• Desert Hot Springs –  Civil Plan Check
• Indian Wells – On-Call Design/Engineering
• La Quinta – Building Plan Check, Civil Plan Check, Construction Inspection
• Palm Desert – Building Plan Check, Comprehensive Engineering, Design, Construction Management, Inspection, Broadband Master Plan, Traffic Operations
• Palm Springs – Broadband Master Plan
• Rancho Mirage – Civil Plan Check
• Coachella Valley Association of Governments – Broadband Master Plan, Traffic Engineering Support

In 2023, the Coachella Valley Association of Governments (CVAG) was awarded a grant by the California Public Utilities Commission to leverage its middle-mile project to facilitate last-mile connections to achieve true high-speed broadband (100 Mbps symmetrical upload and download speeds) to address the unserved and underserved areas of the Coachella Valley including all residents, public institutions, and businesses.

HR Green was selected to prepare a Coachella Valley Broadband Strategic Plan in 2024 to complete the middle mile project and work with local telecoms agencies and tribes to develop last-mile broadband service to the community. The pandemic has drawn an even sharper focus on the impact that lack of internet access has on communities and will be a crucial part of how our residents of the Coachella Valley work, access medical treatment, education, and employment opportunities, and serve as a determining factor for businesses considering relocation. Effective broadband solutions are now critical to all phases of our life.