Settlement Allows City, PD Developer To Move Forward

Indio Mayor Lupe Ramos Watson said the settlement of a lawsuit between the city and a Palm Desert developer allows the city to keep its status as “a thriving vibrant community.”

Council members on Wednesday a $2.58 million settlement with KEB Enterprises, which had originally sought more than $13 million.

“We are thrilled to put this chapter of our city's past behind us and devote our resources to moving forward,” Ramos Watson said. “This settlement will help Indio continue to be a thriving, vibrant community.”

Tom Emmett, a partner with KEB Enterprises, said the settlement was a reasonable resolution.

“A settlement of this nature achieves a spirit of cooperation,’’ he said.

The money for the settlement will come out of Indio’s Redevelopment Agency.

Attorneys they were near a settlement April 25 on the day a trail was set to begin.

KEB Enterprises filed the lawsuit in 2009, accusing the city of improper conduct during planning for an Indio Transportation Center, which has yet to be built, on Indio Boulevard.

The suit alleged the city broke a 2007 contract under which 6.5 acres of land was to be leased to KEB Enterprises for $1 a year if the company developed and operated the transportation hub.

The planned 17,000-square-foot transportation center would offer bus and train service as well as shuttle service to local casinos and include a restaurant and several other businesses.

City News Service contributed to this report.