2021-03-15 SmithMonday, March 15, 2021 at 12:42:40 Pacific Daylight Time
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Subject:Objec&on to Coral Mountain Wave Park Development
Date:Monday, March 15, 2021 at 12:21:51 PM Pacific Daylight Time
From:Dave Smith
To:consul&ngplanner@laquintaca.gov
CC:levans@laquintaca.gov
Ms. Nicole Sauviat Criste,
I live in the Trilogy La Quinta community and have become aware of the Coral Mountain
Wave Park Resort development in La Quinta that, I understand, may be discussed at the
March 16th, 2021 La Quinta City Council Meeting.
One of my fellow residents has summarized the characteristics of this development as
presented by Meriwether Development, published press releases, and local newspaper
articles. These characteristics are included in the following comments:
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.
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.
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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.
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.
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).
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.
Please note that I oppose any Council action to change the zoning of the area involved from
its current zoning as a Residential Neighborhood for the purpose of accommodating the
development characterized above.
I have resided in this lovely city for over ten years and I would re-consider La Quinta as my
permanent residence should a development like the above move forward.
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.
Sincerely,
Dave Smith
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81522 Castlerock Ct
La Quinta, CA 92253
Phone: 562-279-4603