Agua Caliente purchase of half the Bel Air Greens site stalls the city's housing review
The tribe bought about half of the closed 35-acre golf course in April, The Desert Sun reported, placing it in tribal trust and outside city review. The Planning Commission dropped the 74-home proposal from its September 22 agenda.
PALM SPRINGS: A proposal to build 74 homes on the closed Tommy Jacobs Bel Air Greens golf course is in limbo after the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians bought roughly half of the 35-acre site, placing it in tribal trust and outside the city's development review process.
The Palm Springs Planning Commission dropped the item from its September 22 meeting agenda after the city learned of the tribe's purchase earlier that week. Planning Director Chris Hadwin called it "a weird hybrid scenario," a split jurisdiction in which two different governments control different halves of one former golf course.
Two owners, two sets of rules
"They are able to do what they like on their property without going through the city's process," Hadwin told the commission, according to The Desert Sun. Land the tribe holds in trust is not subject to city approval, so the city's normal land-use review simply does not apply to the half the tribe now owns.
They are able to do what they like on their property without going through the city's process.
Given that a portion of the proposed Bel Air Greens project is now Tribal Trust Land that is not subject to City approval, additional coordination with the Tribe and leaseholders is required to determine how to advance the proposed project. It is unclear how long those conversations will take or when the item might return to Planning Commission.City of Palm Springs, in a statement to The Desert Sun
The remaining roughly 19.7 acres, still held by individual tribal trustees, remains subject to city review, The Desert Sun reported. The commission had been scheduled to consider changing the site's land-use designation from open space to very low density residential, a shift that would have allowed between 2.1 and 4 homes per acre on the roughly 35-acre course along El Cielo Road, according to the Greater Palm Springs Business Insider's review of the staff report.
A blocked preservation bid
The tribe's move also blocked a competing plan by philanthropist Brad Prescott, whose foundation had signed an agreement to buy about 15.5 acres for $3 million and preserve it as open space, The Desert Sun reported. A federal provision allows tribes to match purchase offers on property controlled by tribal trustees, and the tribe exercised that right in April, according to The Desert Sun's account.
Prescott previously bought the nearby Mesquite Golf Course and donated it to the Oswit Land Trust, which named it the Prescott Preserve. Representatives for the philanthropist told The Desert Sun the foundation will keep advocating for preservation of the Bel Air Greens land even if it requires litigation.
There will be zero homes built on this property. We're going to do everything we can to make sure nothing gets built.Michael Williams, attorney for the Prescott Foundation, to The Desert Sun
What happens next
Tommy Jacobs Bel Air Greens LP has pursued the 74-home conversion since 2021, The Desert Sun reported. Its leading member, Albert Howell, sold his stake in 2025 to Desert Springs Inc., a religious nonprofit headed by Desert Chapel pastor Fred Donaldson, and Donaldson has since told city planners that an earlier idea of a pastor's retirement community on the site is no longer under consideration.
A spokesperson for the Agua Caliente tribe did not respond to multiple requests for comment from The Desert Sun. The city says it is unclear when the item might return to the Planning Commission, and if it returns, a new public hearing would be limited to the portion of the site still subject to city approval, The Post's daily briefing noted. The Post will cover the next hearing when it is scheduled.
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