Coral Mountain Resort Developers Prepare for Final Vote, Address Concerns

The heavily debated and highly controversial Coral Mountain Resort in La Quinta may become a reality.

After hearing concerns from the community, developers of the project made adjustments and even sent out fact sheets to neighbors

All to help clarify information and hopefully gain more support.

“We’ve done everything humanly possible that we could do,” President of CM Wave Development, John Gamlin, shared. “I’ve met with people who said, ‘I didn’t really understand it before and now I understand it.’ I think once they heard more about the project, it definitely had an impact.”

But two big worries remain: the size of the wave basin and overall water use

“The whole thing is smaller,” Gamlin clarified. “It’s not an artificial reduction, it’s a wholesale reduction of the footprint of everything, including the surface area. We’re also offering and funding the removal of 2 million square feet of turf in the city of La Quinta. That’s 65 million gallons of water annually coming out of the aquifer that will never come out again. It’s two and a half times our annual evaporation.”

But that’s not all.

“I’m a big believer in that everybody in this valley should have potable water and sanitary conditions,” he continued. “We basically have established a resale fee that would fund a significant amount of money every year into community service organizations that provide clean water initiatives.”

Another concern they addressed was limiting light pollution.

“Basically, from an environmental perspective, what we’re required to do is look at sightlines from the perimeter of the project,” Gamlin explained. “Our perimeter is Avenue 58, Madison Street and Avenue 60. We model from those locations. We’re confident in the analysis from the perimeter that we’ve effectively reduced the tops of the lights well below the sightlines from the perimeter.”

Gamlin also spoke about another community worry: the glow from particles floating in the desert air.

“It’s the desert, right? The wind blows up, there’s particulates in the air and it could glow,” he said. “So effectively what we did, we reduced all of the lights below the sight line, so depending on where you are, you’re not going to see it. It’s going to be below that.”

Because of all these adjustments and attempts to meet opponents in the middle, Gamlin is confident this project will happen.

“The environmental impact report is really clean,” Gamlin shared. “What I would hope for is that the council will feel like we’ve done meaningful and measurable things that move the needle, and that they feel like they’re in a position to have a favorable view to approve the project.”

A golf course community was approved for the property.. so if this wave park is not approved, a golf course isn’t a guaranteed replacement.

The meeting is scheduled for tomorrow at La Quinta City Hall starting at 5:30 p.m.