2021-08-06 DemittAugust 06, 2021
The City of La Quinta
78-495 Calle Tampico
La Quinta, CA
92253
Attention: Ms. Nicole Sauviat Criste
Delivered Via Email
Dear Ms. Sauviat Criste:
Re: Response to Draft EIR
Coral Mountain Resort
Following please find my response to the DRAFT EIR (the “DEIR”) for the Coral Mountain
Resort (the “Project’). I anticipate that a number of other concerned residents will prepare
responses commenting upon zoning, aesthetics, noise and lighting so I will focus my response to
two issues where analytic review can provide support to my comments.
In general, my concerns lie in three areas that will be detailed further in my report. A short
summation of these issues follows:
•MSA Consulting Inc. failed to disclose what I believe to be a conflict of interest in their
engagement as prime consultant in the preparation of the DEIR which results in bias in the
conclusions contained within the DEIR.
•The calculated water consumption determined by MSA Consulting Inc. did not take into
consideration the City of La Quinta’s Maximum Applied Water Allowance for this project.
The calculated outdoor water consumption is at 99.98% of the City of La Quinta’s legislated
maximum consumption for this site leaving no additional capacity for emergency or
maintenance use.
of 1 5
•The increased vehicular traffic loads will result in significant reductions in levels of service
necessitating roadway and signalization upgrades for which the Project developer will only
pay a small percentage of the associated costs.
1. MSA Consulting Inc’s Engagements
I would like to commence this response by commenting on the DEIR prepared by MSA
Consulting Inc. (“MSA”). During my reading of the Notice of Proposal in March of 2021, I
reviewed a number of grading and site layout drawings for the project which had MSA’s logo on
them leading me to understand that they had been prepared by MSA. Clearly, MSA had been
retained to act in the role of a civil engineering consultant by the developer several years ago and
was engaged well before the preparation of the DEIR commenced. MSA was subsequently
engaged to act as the prime consultant in the preparation of the EIR. In my view, this is a serious
conflict of interest which results the calling into question the credibility of the entire DEIR and
any of the conclusions presented in the DEIR by MSA.
The National Society of Professional Engineers (“NSPE”) has issued a Code of Ethics that all
practicing Professional Engineers are expected to understand and follow. MSA, in my opinion,
has contravened the Code of Ethics by not addressing their retainer as the design engineer in the
DEIR. Without this disclosure, readers of the report are given the impression that MSA is acting
as a neutral independent party in preparing the DEIR for the lead Agency, The City of La Quinta.
Following is Cannon 5 taken from the NSPE’s Code of Ethics and it states:
5. Engineers shall not be influenced in their professional duties by conflicting interests.
MSA is not a neutral party in the preparation of the DEIR as MSA has and may continue to
receive financial gain as the civil engineering consultant for the Project in the event the Project
receives regulatory approval. Without clear disclosure, the average reader of the DEIR will
assume that MSA, acting in their professional capacity, is entirely neutral and that the
conclusions they present are statements of fact and are not influenced by past or future financial
gain. This undisclosed Conflict of Interest causes any conclusions made in the report to be called
into question. Even the perception of a possible conflict of interest should be sufficient reason
for MSA to include in the DEIR their prior engagement as the design engineer by the developer
to ensure full disclosure is provided to all readers of the DEIR which is a public document issued
through the city of LA Quinta.
of 2 5
2. Water Consumption and the Water Servicing Agreement
Appendix M to the DEIR is the Water Servicing Agreement (the “WSA”) between the Coachella
Valley Water District (“CVWD”) and the developer of the project. The updated water demand
was prepared by MSA and submitted to the CVWD in a letter dated September 28, 2020. The
updated WSA indicates that the Project’s calculated outdoor water demand is 810.47 acre feet.
I have reviewed the City of La Quinta’s Municipal Code with respect to the annual Maximum
Applied Water Allowance (“MAWA”) for new developments. The Municipal Code defines
MAWA as follows:
"Maximum applied water allowance" means for design purposes, the upper limit of
annual applied water for the established landscaped area, as specified in Division 2, Title
23, California Code of Regulations, Chapter 7, Section 492. It is based upon the area's
reference evapotranspiration, the ET adjustment factor, and the size of the landscaped area.
The estimated applied water use shall not exceed the maximum applied water allowance.
In the following comments, I refer to Article 8.13 of the La Quinta Municipal Code and
specifically, section 8.13.030. It is my understanding that MAWA applies to the aggregate
annual amount of water which is available for use by a project outside of the buildings. This
procedure is consistent with the MAWA calculations provided by CVWD in the WSA.
The City of La Quinta’s MAWA calculation equation from section 8.13.030 of the Municipal
Code is reproduced following:
MAWA = ( ETo X 0.45 X LA X 0.62 ) / 748
Inserting an ETo (reference evapotranspiration) of 75 inches per year which is specified by the
City of LA Quinta in section 8.13.030 and an outdoor landscaped area of 12,656,401.56 square
feet (taken from table 2.0-3 of the WSA) into the referenced equation results in a MAWA for this
site of 354,057.76 hundred cubic feet or 812.81 acre feet of water. The estimated outdoor
consumption calculated by MSA of 810.47 acre feet is therefore 810.47/812.81 or 99.8% of
MAWA. The total estimated consumption as determined by CVWD is for evapotranspiration
only and does not include for extraordinary irrigation or for filling or refilling of the wave pool,
swimming pools or the lakes and ponds located within the project.
of 3 5
If the wave pool evaporation calculated by MSA is even marginally greater than what has been
estimated, or, if maintenance requires the emptying and refilling of any of the ponds, pools or the
surf/wave basin, then the project’s water consumption will exceed the legislated MAWA for the
site. It is my understanding that a development cannot consume more water than that
determined using the MAWA equation in the City of La Quinta. The DEIR is silent on this
important issue and, in my view, does not portray an accurate representation of the true impact
the water consumption will have relative to the La Quinta Municipal Code specified MAWA.
The NSPE Code of Ethics addresses the honesty of an engineer’s work as follows:
3. Engineers shall avoid all conduct or practice that deceives the public.
a.Engineers shall avoid the use of statements containing a material misrepresentation of
fact or omitting a material fact.
The important material fact that was not included in the MSA Report was that the estimated
water consumption on this site is essentially already at MAWA without the demand for additional
water in the event that evaporation or maintenance demands are higher than what was allowed
for by MSA in their estimates.
3. Traffic Changes caused by the Project
Once the Tourist Commercial aspect of Project is “up and running” there will be resulting traffic
loads that will significantly impact our day to day lives as we know them. In my opinion, the
traffic study included in the DEIR is flawed as it was conducted during COVID when many
seasonal residents chose not to return to the valley. The base traffic volumes used in the analysis
are therefore likely an underestimation of the actual volumes. The study shows that levels of
service in some of the affected areas will be reduced to level F. The DEIR recommends that
changes be implemented to reduce the impacts on the Level of service. The developer has stated
that they will pay for “their proportional share”. The citizens of LQ Quinta are then stuck with
the remainder of the costs, a very unreasonable expectation for citizens of La Quinta.
Additionally, the study finds that the so called “special events” will further increase the
anticipated traffic loads on the exiting transportation infrastructure. Once again, the burden for
these traffic loads will be borne by the citizens of La Quinta with increased travel times, delays
in commutes resulting in significant green house gas emissions. The report does not address
these environmental impacts on the quality of life for residents in the adjoining neighbourhoods.
of 4 5
In closing, the DEIR for the Project appears to have been prepared by a consultant who is
conflicted in their professional capacity without adequate disclosure of the conflict to readers of
the report. Furthermore, the DEIR contains language that is repetitive, subjective and attempts to
obfuscate that facts. Engineers are to prepare reports based on facts and not to include overly
descriptive language or superlatives in an attempt to sway readers to a proponent’s proposal.
This DEIR is short on objective facts and burdened with opinion and superlatives.
In my view, the DEIR is in need of significant rewriting bearing in mind the obligations that
Professional Engineers are required to adhere to in work that will be relied upon by City
Officials and members of the public. Any conclusions presented in the current DEIR are
therefore called into questions regarding their objectivity given the MSA’s prior engagement with
the Project’s developer on this matter.
I may be contacted at the number below with any questions that you may have.
Yours truly,
Anast Demitt, P.Eng., FEC, FGC (Hon), MASCE
60149 Honeysuckle Street
La Quinta, CA, 92253
403-870-2109
copies to:
La Quinta Planning Commission via Email: cdd@la-quinta.org
Ms. Cheri Flores, Planning Manager, City of La Quinta via Email: clflores@laquintaca.gov
La Quinta City Council
Ms. Linda Evans. Mayor via E-mail: levans@laquintaca.gov
Mr. Robert Radi, Mayor Pro Tem via E-mail: rradi@laquintaca.gov
Ms. Kathleen Fitzpatrick, Council Member via E-mail: kfitzpatrick@laquintaca.gov
Mr. John Pena, Council Member via E-mail: jpena@laquintaca.gov
Mr. Steve Sanchez, Council Member E-mail: ssanchez@laquintaca.gov
of 5 5