After five hours of debate stretching late into the evening of Sept. 21, the La Quinta City Council unanimously rejected the proposal for the Coral Mountain Resort project.
The project would have included a hotel, hundreds of houses and what was touted as the largest artificial wave basin in the world. Such a development would have required a switch in zoning, from “low-density residential” to “tourist commercial.” However, it will not come to be—thanks largely to a grassroots group, La Quinta Residents for Responsible Development (LQRRD).
The rejection came as a welcome surprise to at least one core member of the group, Alena Callimanis.
“I was shocked, and didn’t believe it when the City Council voted against it,” she said. “I was ecstatic and relieved that it was finally over, after a year and a half fighting against it.”
The group formed in response to the city planning staff’s first Zoom meeting regarding the project in March 2021. Since then, LQRRD has grown to 2,500 members, with eight core members who facilitate decision-making. At times, the fight has dominated the lives of the core group members.
“We would wake up in the morning, deciding our next step, researching other wave parks and contacting expert organizations,” Callimanis said. “We were on our computers day and night, putting together our presentations.”
LQRRD members built a website and collected signatures opposing the project on a SurveyMonkey online petition. They raised more than $80,000 in donations, and sent hundreds of letters to the city in opposition to the project based on a variety of issues—traffic, lighting, noise and the fact that an estimated 18 million gallons would be used to fill the wave pool, at a time of drought and residential water restrictions.
They also contacted hundreds of experts, including members of California water boards, wildlife groups, newspapers and environmental organizations to gather facts and build their case against the developer’s 1,400-page draft environmental impact report. As one example of a fact-finding mission, the group visited the Palm Springs Aquatic Center to understand how management handled the pool during the summer heat, algae growth, and what to do when sand got in the pool.
“This type of stuff went on all the time … to counter what the developer was saying,” Callimanis said.
The project eventually would earn media coverage by The Associated Press, the Los Angeles Times and The Guardian. John Oliver even mentioned the folly of surf lagoons in the desert on Last Week Tonight. But it all started when Derek Wong—a core member of LQRRD who lives across from the site—spotted a KESQ News Channel 3 van.
“I just came out of the gym after working out. I was just about to get in my golf cart and take off, when I saw the TV van,” Wong said. “I walked up to the reporter and asked him if he’d heard about the Coral Mountain project. He said no, then started filming and interviewing me.”
Despite the media attention, the research, and the letters to the City Council and the Planning Commission, Wong said it didn’t seem like city employees were being swayed.
“It fell on death ears,” he said. “They thought we were just NIMBYs.”
Philip Novak, a LQRRD member, agreed.
“In the summer of 2021, the vast majority of the 100 letters written by residents to the city about the draft environmental impact report opposed the methods and/or conclusions of the report,” he says. “It was the job of the consulting planner and her staff to write responses to those letters. … Many of us believed that the criticisms and arguments offered in our letters were unjustifiably waved off by La Quinta’s consulting planner and her staff (CPS) and dismissed as errant or irrelevant. That was my first indication, and I was not alone, that the CPS was deeply in favor of the project and was willing to overlook what, in our opinion, were the DEIR’s serious defects in order to keep the project moving forward toward approval.”
As one example of a fact-finding mission, LQRRD members visited the Palm Springs Aquatic Center to understand how management handled the pool during the summer heat, algae growth, and what to do when sand got in the pool.
LQRRD members felt they were fighting an uphill battle—a feeling which was confirmed last April, when the La Quinta Planning Commission voted 4-3 to recommend a zoning change from low-density residential to tourist commercial, and 5-2 to certify the environmental impact report to the City Council. However, LQRRD members said public support helped them keep the battle going.
“People would stop us and say, ‘Thank you for fighting for us,’” Callamanis said. “It would re-energize us, and remind us what good we were doing. (The support) was way beyond our group.”
In recent months, the La Quinta City Council held several multi-hour hearings on the proposal, inside packed rooms. In July, the council delayed making a decision, to give the developer more time to respond to residential concerns.
The developer used this time to send postcards containing “the facts” to La Quinta residents, and an article appeared in the September issue The La Quinta Gem magazine, a publication by the Greater Coachella Valley Chamber of Commerce, titled “Coral Mountain Addresses Community Concerns.”
The developer also tweaked the plans to reduce the lighting, so that the dark skies above the area would not be as affected. The developer also offered to add a .25% transfer tax on the resale of all homes within the project, to be used for local health and social programs. At least 1,000 surf hours annually would be donated for charitable uses, and a contribution of $1.5 million would be made to a turf-reduction program in the La Quinta area.
James Vaughn, an attorney representing the Coral Mountain developers, listed these benefits at the Sept. 21 City Council meeting. “The project protects the environment and enhances water conservation (through the turf rebate program),” he said. “… The project has no impact on the quality of life or the surrounding residents. … When you balance the project’s benefits against any negative effects, it’s not even close. This project is a clear winner for the city and for its residents.”
His arguments failed to convince the council.
“We’ve gotten emails from all over the country,” Councilmember John Pena said at the meeting. “There’ve been articles in the L.A. Times; there’ve been shows on HBO; it’s all over the place. It’s tough to deal with that sometimes. We do it, and we try to make the best decisions based on the facts presented to us.”
Mayor Linda Evans said: “As I stated Wednesday night (Sept. 21), I agreed with my fellow council members that there were certain things that are sacred. We have not done zoning changes as significant as this. The project is done. Anything else the landowner may want to develop requires him to start over from the beginning and go through the entire process.”
John Gamlin, president of CM Wave Development LLC, wrote in an email message to The Desert Sun: “We’re disappointed with (the) outcome and will evaluate our options in the near future.”
It wasn’t only the developers who disliked the decision. Online surfing publication Beach Grit headlined a story on the project: “Palm Springs Cements Reputation as Place for Old People to Go and Die as ‘Fountain Of Youth’ Coral Mountain Surf Park Concept Killed By City Council!”
Meanwhile, LQRRD members are relieved that their battle is over, at least for now.
“We built our home in La Quinta 17 years ago. We moved from Los Angeles because of the traffic and congestion,” said Carolyn Winnor, a core LQRRD member. “I love it here. It’s beautiful, quiet and peaceful, away from the hustle and bustle. It’s my home, and it was worth fighting for.”
Thanks to Cat Makino for getting all the facts together from the beginning.