2021-08-03 Weiss CC Kathy Weiss comments to LQ City Council Meeting Aug 3,2021
Honorable Mayor Evans, Members of the Council, staff. Thank you for the
opportunity to speak on the Coral Mountain project. My name is Kathy Weiss .
I am a homeowner /resident at the Quarry.
#1. Location
Many of you might think The Quarry won’t be impacted because the DIR said
there was nothing to The West of the project.
For the record, The Quarry is to The West of the proposed Wave Basin at Coral
Mountain.
#2. Noise
Everyone who lives near Coral Mountain knows that sound reverberates
throughout this area. I can hear the murmur of simple conversations
between the hikers in Coral Mountain Park, and at Lake Cahuilla Camper Park.
From my home at The Quarry, I can hear the music, the bass beat, and the roar
of the crowds during Coachella and StageCoach. In fact, from inside my home, I
can tell you if the vehicle rumbling down west of 58th & Madison has a gasoline
or diesel engine.
Just like my neighbors, I hear the sounds of coyotes and hoot owls every
evening.
I ask any sound engineer, that has NOT been hired by the Developer, to
demonstrate sound trajectory to La Quinta Mayor & City Council members. The
finding of “no significant” noise impact in the DIR illustrates what a one-sided
publication this is.
#3 Side effects of Tourist/Commercial Zoning
Louder noise allowances, longer business hours, overnight stays, special
events, bigger and taller buildings, and public safety commercial lighting are
permitted, and sometimes required under Tourist/Commercial zoning.
Here is just one example- the Wave Basin requires an audible (not visual) 30-
second alarm if there is an emergency, followed by another 30-second audible
alarm to signal the emergency has ended. California State mandated Alarm can
be as loud as it needs to be in order to be heard over “The Tub and The Train,”
(nickname given to the Wave Basin by Kelly Slater’s peers), the screaming and
cheering crowds, the crashing of waves onto concrete flooring, and the jet skis
zipping up and down the Basin. As the Tub is geared for the Novice Surfer
Tourist, the alarms could be going off several times a day.
If I had wanted to live in a noisy, tourist/commercial neighborhood, I certainly
wouldn’t have built a home at The Quarry.
#4 STVR’s
As La Quinta City Council and its residents know, STVR’s are a big nuisance,
not only here in La Quinta, but elsewhere in Coachella Valley, and wherever
people want to Vacation. The vast majority of people who propose short term
vacation rentals do not live in this town. Most are out of towners or Commercial
investors.
If City Council choses 750 more STVRs over our tranquil South La Quinta
Community, you are voting against your own Community. Are we a community
or a Commodity to you?
To remind everyone, the Development Agreement proposes:
“Short term vacation rentals will be an allowable use in all planning areas
within the Project “.
In “Developer Speak”- That means 100% of the 600 “Dwelling Units” (per the
Developer’s words) built on this property can be STVR’s. In essence an
overnight Hotel Room with a shared kitchen. The developer states “Dwelling
Unit” prices will start at $2.5 million and go to $5 million. That tells me the
Dwelling Units are going to be McMansions w/ 3 to 10 bedrooms each. Add the
massive 150 room key hotel and we have “Surf City Party- land” with (a potential
overnight) population of 4-5,000 lodgers at our doorsteps. Simply put, 750
STVR dwellings and 4-5,000 lodgers will be throbbing in the middle of
Andalusia, Trilogy, The Quarry, Santerra, Puerta Azul and PGA West (which has
a section on 58th), plus the other resident communities lining 58th Street West of
Madison. This Meriwether project goes against every single zoning statement in
the La Quinta General Plan 2035.
The developer, when asked about the noise and light pollution, has been very
careful to always reply, “we don’t want the noise to impact our residents.” From
reading the DIR and the DA, this project is not catering to have many residents.
I want to emphasize the developer plans to build the Wave Basin, Hotel and
Casitas first. After completion in 2-5 years down the road, only then will
developer construct dwelling units on the sold Lots. A “Dwelling Unit “- per the
developer’s own words, in the DIR, has an Owner(s), but not necessarily a
Resident. A Rental has an “Owner”, a Home has a “Resident.” Keep in mind,
The “Dwelling Unit” owners that chose to buy and build at Coral Mountain
Wave Park, plus the tourists booking a stay, do so knowing that the “Tub
and Train”, announcer, jet skis, crowds, entertainment venues, etc. will be
going non-stop 15 hours daily with 1,000’s of tourist/lodgers milling
around outside all over the place.
It’s easy for the Wave Park lodgers to leave and go back home when tired of the
noise, crowds, and commotion. For the neighboring homeowners, it is not so
easy. WE will have to soundproof our lives, unable to hear the birds, bees and
other native wildlife. We will be stuck in a nightmare that never ends.
The surrounding neighborhood property owners and I bought &/or built homes in
South La Quinta because we wanted a peaceful, low-key residential
atmosphere. We enjoy the light traffic, no hustle-bustle, being outside listening to
the sounds of nature. Our homes and daily life will be impacted negatively in
which way.
Before I chose the location of where I live in La Quinta, I asked my realtor what
the West Andalusia parcel was zoned for. The realtor told me “Low -Density
Residential w/18 -hole golf course. It is planned to be Andalusia’s higher-end
homes with their own golf-course.” I did more due diligence by visiting the
Andalusia Sales site, looked at their Master Plan 3-D model and confirmed the
zoning with the Developer’s representative. Finally, after studying the LQ City
zoning map, I felt confident to purchase my lot and commence building a home
at The Quarry.
If any of us wanted to live next door to a “Surf City Mega- Event Complex” we
would have done so. The majority of the homeowners in South La Quinta moved
here by choice, (as we were not born and raised in La Quinta.)
Permitting this Zone change is slap in the Face to every single person that
chose to live, buy, and/or build in South La Quinta.
LQ City Council would be showing us that we, your South La Quinta residents,
just don’t matter.
I thought City Governments were designed to protect its residents and their
properties, and make its Residents pleased to be living there.
You can call me naive, because I never thought our local government would
cater to an out of state rookie-developer, that has only been in business for 8
years. For the record- This developer has already pulled the plug on one La
Quinta based, City owned development: SilverRock.
La Quinta Government should stand by their thousands of residents. Not the
Out-of-Town developer that has a dubious history w/ La Quinta.
#5. Developer Agreement
For the record, the developer’s proposed time frame, as proposed in the DA, is 40 years.
That is 4 – 0. F O R T Y.
I quote this 6- year old article from the Desert Sun dated
October 21, 2015, regarding the SilverRock project.
“Robert Green Jr., of Robert Green Co., and John Gamlin,
of Sofia Investments, will keep SilverRock moving forward after Meriwether Co.
withdrew to pursue other interests, city Economist McMillen said.”
(For the record, this is the same John Gamlin we heard speak on Meriwether’s
behalf at the last open City Council Meeting)
In other words, Meriwether, the same developer that dropped Silver Rock to
pursue “Other interests”, wants a 40- year time frame in the Development
Agreement.
That is alarming. What if Meriwether drops this one too?
Yes, I am well aware that Developers, City, State & Public entities, Planning
Business, Consultants, Realtors, etc. have interacted, networked & fraternized
with each other on a daily basis for many, many years. In fact, most of LQ City
Council members are involved in these types of pursuits. When it comes to
assembling DIRs for City Review, it is definitely a stacked deck in favor of the
Developer. The “no significant impact” stated over and over in the DIR clearly
illustrated this bias. LQ Government’s easy acceptance of the more than 1,000-
page DIR cemented the fact. The repetitive “No significant Effect” would be
laughable if the thousand pages+ plus DIR wasn’t so blatant in its lack of
transparency, readability, and comprehension.
Having personally met and known many Developers, a good, responsible,
and successful Developer looks to invest and “develop” where there is a
real need, the timing is right, and there is an overwhelming neighborhood
desire for the “Development” to happen. That is certainly not the case
here. All which makes me ask why the Developer and their financial
backers bought a parcel that did not have the desired Zoning already in
place for their Project?
Who, in LQ government, gave them the “greenlight”?
Why would La Quinta government even think this is “in character” of the existing
neighborhood zoning?
In summation, I beg of you, Mayor Evans, and La Quinta City Council Members
to vote NO on granting the Property Commercial/Tourist zoning. A zone change
permit would be absolute disaster in the making for the many thousands of
residents close to this proposed Tourist/Commercial Mega-development.
Sincerely,
Kathy Weiss