Council approves Forest Lawn specific plan, rezoning and CEQA finding for 10-acre expansion

The Cathedral City Council on May 13 voted unanimously to advance the Forest Lawn Cathedral City Specific Plan, approving a mitigated negative declaration under CEQA, a general-plan amendment and introducing ordinances to rezone and enact a specific plan for roughly 10 acres at Ramon Road and Duval Drive.

Staff planner Sandra Molina summarized the proposal as a long-term, phased expansion of existing cemetery uses, describing a south area conversion of a former mini-storage site into cemetery interment space and ancillary chapels and offices. Molina told the council the plan anticipates about 30,000 square feet of occupied floor area at full build-out, 275,000 square feet of non-occupied structures for interment, and up to 84,000 interment spaces; parking on site would remain at about 92 spaces and staff concluded the operation's staggered service schedule would avoid peak conflicts.

Forest Lawn representative Dennis Madison said the nonprofit operator intends incremental development over roughly two decades and emphasized operational controls to stagger services and avoid overlapping events. "We would never demolish the site and leave it in a state of disrepair," Madison said, adding that Forest Lawn plans phased demolition and will maintain landscaping and fencing while development proceeds.

Council members pressed the applicant and staff on parking, demolition phasing, landscaping and architectural standards. Mayor Pro Tem Gutierrez and others voiced concern that staging demolition without concurrent landscaping could create a nuisance; counsel and Forest Lawn representatives said covenants and conditions of approval would require maintenance and that perimeter landscaping and a drainage easement would remain in place. Forest Lawn's team said most visitation trends are toward cremation; they estimated 70'75% of families opt for cremation and said their cremation permit limits monthly cremations to current levels.

Following the presentation and public hearing (no members of the public spoke on the item), the council adopted the mitigated negative declaration and the general-plan amendment and introduced ordinances to rezone the parcel and enact Specific Plan 25-0001. Each measure passed on a roll-call vote recorded as "all ayes." The ordinances were introduced on first reading; follow-up processing and any required second readings will proceed in subsequent council meetings.

The council also received three letters of support (Sacred Heart Church, Boys & Girls Club and El Comite9 Centro Guadalupano del Valle de Coachella) that were noted for the record.

What happens next: the specific-plan ordinance was introduced (first reading) and will return for any required subsequent readings and implementation steps. Conditions of approval and administrative review processes will govern future phased projects under the specific plan.