The grounds of the Desert International Horse Park are immaculate. Bushes of bougainvillea and palm trees line well-kept pathways that wind through more than a dozen competition rings and stables for more than 2,000 horses on any given day in-season. 

Riders in helmets and trainers holding lead ropes roamed the property on a recent crisp afternoon, enjoying the opportunity to train and compete before the heat arrives. Seemingly everybody held the leash of a well-behaved dog. 

Desert International Horse Park (DIHP) is an east valley facility responsible for an economic impact of as much as $260 million annually, per the owners’ estimate. But the investors and developers see even more growth potential. That’s why CEO Jeremy Smith and his team are asking Riverside County to approve plans for Thermal Ranch, a development of more than 600 acres located south of Avenue 62 along Harrison Street. 

Smith told the Independent that his team sees the proposal as a way to grow the equestrian community while benefiting the local economy. They took over the park about six years ago and have already invested about $20 million to rehab the facility, which draws as many as 400,000 guests each season. But with a larger footprint, the desert could rival Florida as the home of winter racing and become another recreation-driven attraction for the Coachella Valley. 

“Our goal is to make sure that the West Coast sport is at a high enough level, and we get enough people out here to support this industry,” Smith said.

The proposal includes 862 private homes, workforce housing, a hotel and commercial development centered around a state-of-the-art equestrian center that’s 30% larger than the existing facility. It would also pay for an electricity substation and a 5-million-gallon water tank that could be used by the existing community and support future development. The county alone would see a net fiscal impact of more than $2.7 million annually, according to an estimate shared at a community meeting. 

But the plans highlight an inevitable tension that comes up every time there’s a proposal for a shiny new development: As with the Thermal Club and the Thermal Beach Club before it, many eastern Coachella Valley residents have spoken out against Thermal Ranch, because they’re concerned it will exacerbate the systemic inequities challenging the impoverished region.

Smith wants to break ground this fall, which would happen under the watch of a Riverside County planning process. The proposed site of Thermal Ranch has been farmland for decades and will require a zoning change. A public comment period for the project’s draft environmental impact review closed in January, yielding six letters that raised concerns about social and environmental challenges. Among those was a letter from advocates at Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability, with signatures from more than 70 residents, plus community groups Youth Leadership Institute and Coachella Unincorporated.

“The introduction of high-end residential and recreational spaces would only serve to exacerbate these inequalities, driving up local housing costs and displacing vulnerable populations,” the letter read. “ECV residents strongly oppose the proposed development, not only because it threatens their economic stability, but also because it represents an imposition of outside priorities over the community’s priorities and needs.”

“The introduction of high-end residential and recreational spaces would only serve to exacerbate … inequalities, driving up local housing costs and displacing vulnerable populations.”

Letter from the Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability and others, in opposition to thermal ranch

Now that the public comment period is closed, the county’s Planning Commission will make a recommendation that would then go to the Board of Supervisors for a full vote. Either outcome could represent a problematic fate: a continued pattern of disinvestment in a vulnerable community, or approval of a development that juxtaposes extreme poverty against wealthy recreation.

In the Neighborhood

Thermal Ranch would not be built in a vacuum. It’s close to a dozen polanco parks, clusters of mobile home parks that run on septic systems. It’s just a few miles from Oasis Mobile Home Park, which has faced a crisis of arsenic-contaminated water that led to a Department of Justice consent decree to improve the water system. 

The proposed Thermal Ranch site is just west of the Thermal Club, the luxurious racetrack that opened in 2014. Since its arrival, dozens of multi-million-dollar villas have been built near the track, trimmed with swimming pools, balconies and grassy lawns. One 12,665 square foot villa—with 3,950 square feet of garage space—was built in 2023. It’s going for $8.75 million, per a Zillow listing. 

Advocates at Leadership Counsel say this development was supposed to come with more benefits to the community, like a public park in Thermal that never came to fruition. Stephanie Ambriz, communications manager at Leadership Counsel, said existing residents don’t trust wealthy newcomers to necessarily give back to the community. 

“There is a broken trust as a result of a lot of these broken promises,” Ambriz said. “The racetrack is an excellent example of that. And I think back to Thermal Beach Club, which was also approved despite really strong community opposition.”

Arturo Castellano, a Mecca resident, said the development feels like another example of deals between business owners that disregard the existing communities. “They don’t take into consideration the damage it’s doing, or the damage that has been done,” he said. “It really feels that we get the short end of the stick.”

A development of this size brings also brings environmental concerns. The draft environmental impact proposal (DEIR) included comments from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife that questioned whether enough research has been done on how the proposed reservoir would impact the area, among other topics. 

“CDFW recommends that a revised DEIR, including a complete assessment of biological resources, be recirculated for public comment,” the letter read. 

The project, of course, would mean more people—and therefore, more traffic. “The project has a significant unavoidable impact on (vehicle miles traveled),” said a traffic analysis in the environmental report. 

Still, Thermal Ranch supporters argue the whole community, even low-income neighborhoods, would benefit from the club. Part of the reason more affordable housing hasn’t been developed in the area is because of a lack of built-out infrastructure. Thermal Ranch paying for an electricity substation and a 5-million-gallon water tank could pave the way for affordable-housing developers to make the math work. 

“If I said, ‘OK, I don’t want to sell anything high-end,’ we wouldn’t be able to afford to put in the water tank.”

Thermal Ranch developer Jeremy Smith

“It’s a challenge, because it’s really hard for one person or one group to make an impact out here,” DIHP’s Smith said. “So there are certain ways you can do it—but to build the infrastructure to actually do anything is so expensive.”

Smith said the development at Thermal Ranch would include homes in a range of prices, including condos and townhomes, and about 500 units of workforce housing. But there would be some estates, and Smith said the development needs to include higher-end homes, because they generate the profits that would pay off for infrastructure upgrades. 

“If I said, ‘OK, I don’t want to sell anything high-end,’ we wouldn’t be able to afford to put in the water tank,” Smith said,

Most of the homes built at Thermal Ranch, even at market rates, would be unaffordable for the existing community and could put further price pressure in the general area—and that concerns advocates like Ambriz. She points out that landlords in the area may be supportive, because they’ll see property values rise if the development takes off. 

Not long ago, La Quinta still had date farms and was home to many working-class residents of the Coachella Valley. Now the area is a world-renowned golf destination, and the average home value is around $741,000, according to Zillow. 

“Homes are becoming increasingly unaffordable,” Ambriz said. “So those of us who don’t own land or homes … are left out of the conversation of the benefits.”

Cecilia Lemus, a lifelong Coachella Valley resident who works with nonprofits in the east valley, does not think the area needs yet another project for million-dollar homes. She questioned the narrative that the eastern Coachella Valley is empty land that should be built up, and that private capital from luxury developers is the only way to get clean water and better housing to existing residents. 

“You cannot tell me there’s no other way to find money except through these luxury developments,” she said. “These are people’s jobs. It’s their job to do research. It’s their job to brainstorm, to think big, to think outside of the box of luxury development.”

Juan DeLara, a former Coachella City Council member and a ranch owner in the Thermal area, said he supports the development because of the promise of better infrastructure and more jobs for future generations. The only way the eastern Coachella Valley gets more infrastructure, DeLara said, is with private partners willing to invest.

“I’ve seen the growth, and I’ve seen the tremendous benefit that luxury developments bring to the Coachella Valley,” he said. “It helps support the folks who live in poverty.” 

Smith and his team are also looking to their own future. DIHP is near capacity for the amount of horses and events it can host. He’s confident the number of guests who come each year would increase, and some of them would want to live in a community built around their sport of choice. 

“This is the most impoverished place in California, and unless there’s development, it never gets better,” Smith said. 

This story is made possible in part by a grant from the IE Journalism Innovation Hub + Fund of the Inland Empire Community Foundation. To submit ideas, comments or questions to the Coachella Valley Independent about housing in the desert, head to this Google Form.

Reins of Change: A Proposal to Build Out an Equestrian Community in the Eastern Coachella Valley Promises Badly Needed Infrastructure—but Could Lead to Gentrification is a story from Coachella Valley Independent, the Coachella Valley’s alternative news source.