The Palm Springs Planning Commission has unanimously approved a 174,891-square-foot last-mile delivery facility on a 38-acre parcel north of Interstate 10, scrapping a far larger warehouse plan that had been fought over for nearly two years. The new project, proposed by PS Canyon Development LLC, will sit at 63700 19th Ave., at the northwest corner of North Indian Canyon Drive and 19th Avenue — the same site where a 739,360-square-foot fulfillment center once cleared city approval.
According to The Palm Springs Post, the planning commission voted to approve the smaller delivery center, which will replace the previously approved large fulfillment center on the same property. Last-mile delivery facilities like this one typically receive and sort packages from larger fulfillment centers before sending them out for direct delivery to customers, the Post notes. The outlet reports that the facility is expected to generate less heavy-duty truck traffic than the fulfillment center it replaces.
A Much Smaller Footprint Than What Came Before
The site's history goes back to December 2024, when the planning commission voted 4-0 to approve an environmental impact report and major development permit for the original 739,360-square-foot fulfillment center, as reported by KESQ. That version of the project included 12,000 square feet of office space, 420 vehicle parking spaces, and 306 truck and trailer parking spaces, per the Palm Springs Post's earlier coverage. The new last-mile facility is a fraction of that size, though it remains centered on the same 38-acre property.
That earlier approval didn't go unchallenged. The Palm Springs City Council voted 4-0 in January 2025 to deny an appeal of the planning commission's decision and uphold it, the Post reported at the time. Opponents had pointed to concerns about greenhouse gas emissions tied to an estimated 102,000 annual truck trips the original warehouse was projected to generate. KESQ reported that residents' most frequently cited worry was the broader environmental impact of such projects, and the fear that approving one warehouse would open the door to more.
Jobs Estimates Diverge Between the Two Versions
City officials and the applicant drew a clear contrast between the two proposals' economic promises. A project applicant presentation estimated the last-mile facility would create 243 permanent jobs, compared with an earlier estimate of 819 jobs tied to the larger warehouse facility, according to the Post's reporting on the commission vote. Planning Commission Vice Chair Lauri Aylaian said the smaller project benefits the community in several ways, telling the Post that it has a less favorable financial impact but serves and blends into the community better while still providing many jobs.
Not everyone framed the shift as the end of industrial development pressure in the area. Glenn Malker said that several warehouses have been approved in this area, and more are expected, according to the same Post account. The area north of Interstate 10 has been zoned for warehouses and similar large-scale industrial uses since 2022, when Palm Springs officials approved zoning changes opening those parcels to such development.
Conditions From the Old Project Carry Forward
When the City Council upheld the original warehouse approval, it added a condition requiring planning staff to conduct an air quality study within five years of the project, intended to assess potential impacts and determine mitigation actions. That condition, along with other requirements attached to the earlier approval, will carry over to the revised last-mile project, the Post reported.
A representative for PS Canyon Development LLC told commissioners that construction on the delivery station is expected to start in January 2027, with completion targeted for early 2028. The Post's reporting on the matter did not specify further construction details beyond that applicant timeline.
Part of a Wider Push Into the Desert
The Coachella Valley has drawn growing developer interest in warehouses and fulfillment centers as e-commerce expands demand for industrial space, according to The Desert Sun, which cited CBRE estimates that the U.S. would need 330 million additional square feet of distribution space by 2025 to keep pace with online ordering. Amazon made its own entry into the valley in 2021 with a last-mile facility in Cathedral City that received products via seven semi-trucks daily before transferring them to roughly 60 delivery vans, the Desert Sun reported.
Not every warehouse proposal in the region has made it to construction. The Desert Sun also reported that a proposed 1.4-million-square-foot Eastern Empire Fulfillment Center near Whitewater was withdrawn by developer Transwestern Development Company just hours before a scheduled Palm Springs Planning Commission review in 2021. Elsewhere in the Inland Empire, cities including Riverside, Colton, and Chino had adopted temporary moratoriums or restrictions on new warehouse development amid concerns over truck traffic and pollution.
Similar fights have played out beyond the Coachella Valley. In Santa Maria, a planning commission narrowly approved a package-delivery warehouse project in May, according to Noozhawk, and an environmental group later appealed that approval over an Amazon package-delivery project, as reported by the Santa Maria Times.
