2021-03-19 RousMs. Nicole Sauviat Criste
Consulting Planner
City of La Quinta
78-495 Calle Tampico
La Quinta, CA 92253
March 14, 2021
RECEIVED
MAR 19 2021
CITY OF LA QUINTA
DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT
I am writing today as a Trilogy La Quinta resident to voice my opposition to the
proposed Coral Mountain Wave Park Resort development in La Quinta. Below is
the summary of the development as presented by Meriwether Development,
published press releases, and local newspaper articles:
Coral Mountain Wave Park Resort will be a mega resort for over 4,800 overnight
tourists, with a 17- Acre Wave Pool as the main attraction.
1. The Coral Mountain Resort will not be a residential neighborhood as it is
currently zoned. It instead will be a high energy Resort containing a 600+
person occupancy hotel complete with restaurants, bars, and entertainment all
available on a per night basis.
2. The 600 "Dwelling Units" with unlimited number of bedrooms & bathrooms
available for overnight rental, could easily have 4 bedrooms, allowing 8 guests
per unit. 600 Units x 8 people= 4,800 people potentially staying in the Units. All
units are available on an overnight Basis the same as the Hotel. The people
coming to Coral Mountain are Vacationers, not Residents.
3. The Wave Park Coral Mountain will not be a Residential Neighborhood. This
will be a commercial Resort with The Wave Park as the main feature.
4. The Wave Pool will cover 17 acres, a length of 2,600 feet, needing 18 million
gallons of water to work. The Wave Pool water evaporation rate is 30,000 to
180,000 gallons of water daily. Plans include stadium bleacher seating on each
long side, and many 80' tall stadium- style lighting towers for Night Surfing. Land
subsidence from depletion of our water table is a significant issue. Taking
water from Lake Mead and the Colorado River is an ethically and
environmentally reprehensible and unacceptable solution that we have
already implemented to refill our water table. Now we want to plan to take
more harmful measures by implementing the Wave Park?
5. Plans have the Wave Pool running 365 days a year from 7 am to 7 pm (some
newspaper articles have stated it will run nightly until 10 pm) for the 4,800
tourists staying at the hotel or in a dwelling unit.
6. Loudspeakers projecting above The Wave Pool in all directions are needed for
the Wave Pool Announcer to call the 30 second countdown for every single wave
with up to 12 waves per hour. The surfer needs to be alerted for the coming
Wave, as there is no Ocean to watch or feel until "the big one" comes. A Wave is
manufactured every 5 to 6 minutes. The noise level of the Wave crashing has
been measured at 75 decibels at Kelly Slater Surf Ranch. This noise level is
comparable to the sound of cars traveling on a busy interstate highway. The
generators creating the waves will be running non-stop, every day.
7. Plans include Music Stages for Entertainment at each end of The Wave Pool,
and other locations in the Resort.
8. In addition to the Wave Pool, there will be more artificial lagoons and lakes for
E-Foiling (a motorized hydrofoil paddle board that you stand on, not lie on) and
Stand -Up paddle boarding.
9. Concrete sports parks for the Bike park with pump tracks for skateboarding,
BMX, and mountain bikes — all with stadium style light towers. So much for La
Quinta's magical views and atmosphere.
10. Coral Mountain Resort has requested 16 days and nights for Special Events.
16 days is more days than Coachella Fest and Stagecoach combined! To make
matters worse, the 16 days are spread out over four 4- day long weekends. Set
up and take down for each Special Event Weekend will easily add another 32
days of high traffic conditions.
11. The 80' tall stadium style light towers illuminating The Wave Pool, swimming
pools, Skateboard Park, BMX Track, other Sports Courts, acres of parking lots,
streets, and 117,000 square feet of Commercial Buildings will be lit inside and
out. The spill lighting will affect the surrounding community. No more dark
skies....What has happened to La Quinta's anti -light pollution stance?
12. The approval of this project will permanently bring light pollution, noise, and
traffic. There will be permanent and on -going noise from the wave generators,
breaking waves, the lodgers, guests, loudspeakers and entertainment venues
on -site every day until late in the evening.
13. Heavy Construction equipment will be working at 85 decibels or more, non-
stop all day long, for the next 10-20 years- (according to Coral Mountain
developers own projection). Property values cannot be sustained with the long
term pollution, noise, and traffic of the Wave Park. Lower property values will
lower property taxes and La Quinta's financial health.
14. The project will scrape away every inch of" biocrust", creating the need for
even more Water Trucks to keep the dust down. "Biocrust "is to the Desert what
"Tundra"
is to the high elevations. Both tundra and biocrust take many hundreds of years
to replace once damaged. Think of the impact on the Deserts already
questionable water supply as just 2 years ago we were asked to dramatically cut
back on water usage. Demands for water will only increase in future years.
15. This project will forever mar the stunning natural topography of the area,
forever erasing the absolute silent evenings and dark skies enjoyed currently by
all residents of the area.
This Coral Mountain Resort project does not have any of the characteristics of
the surrounding low- density up -scale residential neighborhoods. This is a Mega
Resort, not a residential neighborhood. This type of development is
completely not compatible with any of the surrounding neighborhoods for
miles in every direction.
City Planners and City Counsel Members, ask yourself, would you want to live
next door to a Water Sports-Themed Amusement Park with 80 foot high stadium
lighting, noise from concert venues, BMX motor bike racing, and wave machines
and traffic 24/7?
The approval of the proposed Coral Mountain Wave Park Amusement Park style
Resort will permanently cause the irreplaceable loss of the peaceful, quiet,
serene atmosphere that this part of La Quinta is renowned for. Allowing this
extremely large Tourist/Commercial Resort into our quiet low -density residential,
golf -oriented neighborhoods, will negatively affect every Homeowner for miles
around. There will be no coming back. The value of our homes and the quality of
life of living and being in the "Quite Zone" of La Quinta will be forever degraded.
I urge the City of La Quinta NOT to change the zoning from the current
designation Low -Density Residential w/ 18-hole golf course to TOURIST/
COMMERCIAL. I urge you not to allow Short Term Vacation Rentals (STVR) and
the problems that accompany them.
This proposed Coral Mountain Wave Park Resort is exactly the WRONG type of
develop for this location. You are literally planning to drop a tourist amusement
park resort in the middle of a quiet residential zone. Please do not allow this
project to move forward.
Sincerely,
Trilogy Resident
Richard Rous
60562 White Sage Dr
La Quinta, CA 92253
rrous221 2yahoo.com