On October 27th, 2010, Bob Lacoss of PDS West presented the Temecula Valley Wine Country Design Guidelines to the Riverside County Planning Commission, where it received a positive reception. The Guidelines will be adopted as a part of the Temecula Valley Wine Country Community Plan by the County Board of Supervisors, December 14, 2010. The adoption will culminate a nine-month planning and design process by PDS West working with County Planning and Transportation staff, winery owners, the Temecula Valley Winegrowers Association and the equestrian community in the Valley. The Guidelines are actually the first phase of the work, focusing on Rancho California Road, and to a lessor degree De Portola Road. Work included Streetscape Design, Landscape Design, Roadside Trails and a Signage & Wayfinding Program. Full Design Guideline with architectural and development guidelines and streetscape design for all the roads will be completed during the next year or so. Temecula Valley Wine Country currently has 34 wineries, 4 resorts with 114 rooms, and 8 restaurants. An additional 30 wineries are anticipated within the next 1-5 years, ultimately totaling as many as 125 wineries in the Valley. Included with the next 30 wineries are an additional 6 resorts with over 600 rooms and an additional 12 restaurants. Temecula Valley is evolving into a premier wine region, THE wine country in Southern California, and a rich tourism destination.

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Under Mike’s direction, Landscape Architectural projects range from streetscapes and plazas to parks and athletic facilites.  We work on commercial, industrial, residential, resort and multi-use projects. We provide exceptional design, sustainable landscape planning, construction documents and specifications, bid docurments and accurate cost estimating.   For more information about our projects click here to visit our Web Site.

The purpose of these design guidelines is to capture and strengthen Thermal’s sense of place within the rapidly growing eastern Coachella Valley.  Unlike the resort-oriented communities such as Palm Springs, Palm Desert and Rancho Mirage to the northwest, Thermal grew from agricultural roots and the railroad.  It represents the low-scale, expansive rural ambience of the eastern Coachella Valley.  Its most distinctive design icons – packing houses, date palm groves, table and citrus croplands, and the single-engine plane of famed aviatrix Jacqueline Cochran, evoke an earlier time. 

Celebrating its agricultural bounty, improving its streetscape landscaping, strengthening its community core and developing attractive public space are the major goals of these guidelines.  This document crystallizes Thermal’s best qualities and creates an attractive, low-key design vocabulary, including industrial and packing house architecture.  But these guidelines are also forward-thinking and adopt principles of environmental sustainability, energy conservation and green building design.  With its abundant resources, growing population and employment needs, Thermal is looking to the future to become a catalyst in creating buildings, industry and opportunities in green building and alternative energy.

Click here for complete guidelines on the County Web Site

The Riverside County Planning Commission unanimously gave a positive review of these design guidelines prepared by PDS West for the County.  They will now go before the Board of Supervisors for adoption. 

This small farmworker community near the Salton Sea is 99+% Latino, most originating from rural Mexico. The guidelines capture the ambiance of a traditional Mexican small town in a beautiful desert and agricultural setting. They build on its existing identity displayed in small personalized homes with ornamental wrought-iron fences and gates and moulded arcades.  In addition to guidence for streetscapes, entrance monuments and signage, architecture, parks, landscape design, walls and fences, the  booklet provides a conceptual plan and guidelines for a town plaza.

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Click here for complete guidelines on the County Web Site