2021-07-19 StropCAROL L. STROP CPA
A PROFESSIONAL CORPORATION
60499 JUNIPER LANE • LA QUINTA, CALIFORNIA 92253 • (760) 445-9911 • FAX (760) 619-3372
July 10, 2021
To the City of La Quinta
Attn: Nicole Sauviat Criste, Consulting Planner
78-495 Calle Tampico
La Quinta, CA 92253
Re: Coral Mountain Resort DEIR
Let me start by saying my husband, Richard, and I love everything about La Quinta, how it was designed
and how it is managed. Of course we know that additional growth leading to increased revenue is
important for any city. When the builder first introduced this Coral Mountain project to the homeowners
at Trilogy La Quinta last February I thought, as presented, that it sounded reasonable. The La Quinta city
planners obviously thought so, too. Videos were shown to the residents of the Wave in Lemoore, CA and
each was conveniently orchestrated with music overlays as are all videos on the Surf Ranch website.
There are various resident complaints and concerns on many fronts in all the surrounding communities. I
would like to focus mine on the Wave, its level of noise, water usage and proposed popularity. I think the
most important things I learned in my internet research are these:
l . Kelly Slater's Wave in Lemoore (now owned by WLS Holdings) is in the middle of nowhere, set
in wide open farmland of cows and agricultural fields in Central California. And that is where is
belongs, not in an upscale residential community where the residents who moved to this end of
the Coachella valley came for a quiet, peaceful lifestyle. Many are retired and home all day, with
no escape from the sounds of the wave.
2. The wave is pulled by a locomotive engine. This will not be the sound of an occasional train
passing through, but a constant sound throughout the day and evening. My husband and I have
lived in the mountains and know firsthand how the sound bounces off them. Months ago I read
reviews by surfers related to the noise of the Wave but those reviews have magically disappeared
from the Internet.
3. The Wave Pools require an enormous amount of water to pump out artificial waves. According to
Wired, the Surf Ranch in Lemoore is filled with 15 million gallons of UV -and -chlorine -treated
water — 250,000 of which can evaporate from the lagoon on an extremely hot day. Really, here
in the desert? And on June 21, 2021 a major water tank exploded in Lemoore -just mentioning
it...
4. Last year the quarantine' prevented me finding many surfer reviews but just today I found that
there had been a Jeep Surf Ranch contest in Lemoore in June, 2021. The Wave may not be the
economic boom the city hopes for. Here is an excerpt regarding that contest-
https://beachgrit.com/2021/06/why-did-surf-ranch-fail-as-wave-pool-tech-and-as-a-contest-so-
The gap between the rhetoric, that tubs were going to loose a tsunami of radical
innovative surfing, and the reality, conservative surfing, is becoming clearer every
day. It's become what Orwell termed the "inadmissible fact." It's put us in upside down
world, where Chris Cote, when he hears the train says, "This never gets old" means
"there's something deeply wrong here but I can't dare acknowledge it".spectacularly-a-
dull-ache-of-unrealised-desire-at-the-deathless-sight-of-that-impossibly-perfect-wave/
On a recent post featuring the seven -time world champion Stephanie Gilmore at the
tank, World Surf League fans wrote,
Snooze. Throw in the air section.
Most uninteresting event on tour. Every time I see this wave I keep scrolling.
Good for training, horrible for contest. RIP WSL.
S00000000 b0000ring.
Same commentary on every wave... stick to mother ocean.
And so on.
5. Attendance at the Wave is costly. Who is really the market for it and how large can it be to
support this? From htts://wave oolma .com/kell -slater-wave- ool-versus-bsr-surf resort/
December 27, 2018
This autumn Big Dog got an invite from a group of friends pitching in to buy a day at the Kelly
Slater Surf Ranch. For $32,000 off-season rate (peak season is $50K), surfers get 15 waves per
hour during an 8-hour day to share. This means the glorious locomotive wave -maker will run
along the tracks 120 times during your session. So for example, if you bring 16 surfers for an off-
season day, that works out to $2,000 a surfer. Each one will get 7-to-8 priority waves.
The La Quinta draft Environmental Impact Report for the Coral Mountain Resort considered noise to be
"less than significant with mitigation measures". Below is an excerpt from the operational noise impact
report prepared by Urban Crossroads.
Quoted from section recreational pool (wave basin) EIR Urban crossroads
OPERATIONAL NOISE ANALYSIS Using reference noise levels to represent the expected noise sources
from the Coral Mountain Specific Plan site, this analysis estimates the Project -related stationary -source
noise levels at nearby sensitive receiver locations. The normal activities associated with the proposed
Coral Mountain Specific Plan are anticipated to include wave basin/wave machine activity, outdoor
pool/spa activity, outdoor activity, and neighborhood commercial land use activity. The operational
noise analysis shows that the Project -related stationary -source noise levels at the nearby sensitive
receiver locations will satisfy the City of La Quinta daytime exterior noise level standards, with no
planned nighttime activities. Therefore, the operational noise impacts are considered less than
significant at all existing off -site receiver locations. Further, this analysis demonstrates that the Project
will contribute a less than significant long-term unmitigated operational noise level increase to the
existing daytime ambient noise environment at all existing off -site receiver locations.
What are the mitigation procedures to which you refer in the EIR? And what about nighttime noise? The
advertising includes evening hours. Has someone from the City of La Quinta actually visited Lemoore to
assess the level of noise? Maybe this is a big deal about nothing! But the utilization of energy and water
resources needed to run this Wave is not.
We hope you and the builder will consider one of the other scenarios that exclude the Wave as shown in
the Urban Crossroads appendix SCH# 20210203 10 for trip generation comparison. I have to say, the
traffic analysis report, in itself, is mind -boggling. Hotel revenues are great for the City, but there two
exclusive hotels already being built just up the road across from PGA West.
Please take care of your year round residents; there are more and more of us. And in an economic
downturn, we are your revenue base. The builder will be long gone, along with the hotel guests.
Thank you,
Carol Strop
Richard Strop