16 new hotels are slated to open over the next five years across the Coachella Valley Palm Springs Desert Sun
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A proposed surf lagoon and resort at Desert Willow is headed to the Palm Desert City Council for final approval as recommended by the planning commissioners who saw the project as unique and something families can do together, while also driving the local economy.
“A lot of people wouldn’t have access to this kind of water environment,” Commissioner Nancy DeLuna said. “In a healthy way they’ll learn water sports; they’ll learn water safety; they’ll learn a sport skill surfing. It allows families to do something as a family regardless of their skill level.”
DeLuna added, “I think it is an economic driver for the city and I think it’s a unique opportunity.”
Eight people spoke during the public hearing – six for and two against. Opponents cited traffic, lighting, noise and water usage as primary concerns.
“I believe some of the issues raised tonight are being addressed and are continuing to be addressed,” she said.
A main concern voiced by opponents, including resident David Middleton, is water usage.
“We live in the desert and we always have a drought here,” he said. “If suddenly, there is this much extra water here to make this project feasible, I really have to question if this is the wisest use of that water.”
DSRT Surf by Solano Beach-based Desert Wave Ventures LLC would include a 5.5-acre surf lagoon along with up to 350 hotel rooms, 88 residential villas and other amenities to be built on a 17.69-acre vacant lot southwest of the Desert Willow clubhouse and parking lot.
The plans also call for restaurants, bars, sand beach area, stage/amphitheater, sports courts for volleyball and other activities, as well as a boardwalk/pier, pools, cabanas and associated amenities around the surf lagoon area – which would be open to the public.
The property would be subdivided into five parcels and is proposed to be built in two phases, starting with the surf lagoon and center and all infrastructure and support facilities necessary for full project build-out.
“Desert Willow was designed as an economic development driver for the city,” said Eric Ceja, principal planner for the city, adding that DSRT Surf fits with that plan.
The commission voted 3-0 to recommend approval by the City Council with Commissioner John Greenwood and Chairman Ron Gregory recusing themselves due to employment conflicts.
Commissioner Joseph Pradetto initially asked that the project be continued two weeks to address his concerns for lighting and building height – which staff was recommending not exceed 50 feet on the one to two hotels, each of which is proposed at four to five stories – and reduced height in the light poles.
Doug Sheres, a partner in Desert Wave Ventures LLC, said having to redo plans, reducing buildings to 40 feet maximum height would “unravel” the project, which has been three years in the making.
Reducing the height would mean spreading out the buildings to still accommodate up to 350 hotel rooms and changes the plans drastically.
“It’s a complete redo,” Sheres said. “We are well bellow what is allowed on that site.”
Pradetto voted in favor of moving DSRT Surf forward to the City Council, saying “There is more that I favor in the project than not.”
Anticipated water usage and sources:
- DSRT Surf’s lagoon would use 23.8 million gallons, or 73.04 acre-feet of water per year.
- Total, the surf lagoon, hotels, surf center, restaurants, bars and villas will use an estimated 53.8 million gallons, or 165.2 acre-feet, of water per year.
- Turf for Surf program: The developer will convert non-play golf turf to desert landscaping at Desert Willow’s golf courses. That will permanently reduce water use at the golf course by 34.8 million gallons a year, or 106.8 acre-feet – 40% more water than the lagoon is estimated to use in a year.
- The Turf for Surf program will mitigate more than all of the surf lagoon water use.
- The total project’s net water use when the Turf for Surf program is deducted will be 19.1 million gallons, or 58.5 acre-feet of water per year.
- In addition, the lagoon will drain into golf course lakes about one-third of its water every year.
- Daily backwash from the surf lagoon and resort pools will go into subsurface dry wells that recharge back into the aquifer.
- Annual draining of the lagoon for maintenance will be to golf course detention basins and/or lakes.
As a mitigating factor for water, Desert Wave will be reducing the amount of turf at Desert Willow by about 1 million square feet.
“I believe the offset of waterings at the golf course for the lagoon, roughly cancels out 100 acre-feet of water a year for the project,” Ceja said.
The Coachella Valley Water District approved the project, Ceja added.
Not a water park
The resort is unique in that it will put “an upscale hotel, spa, fitness center, villas and restaurants and numerous activities – pickleball, volleyball, bocce ball – all of which will be built around this five-and-a-half-acre surfing lagoon and the iconic Desert Willow golf courses,” Sheres said.
“This project is not a water park,” Sheres said, which is a common misconception. “The primary difference is that at a water park, you want to pack as many people as you can into a small body of water. … This project is the opposite. We’re creating a fairly large body of water and the goal is to limit the number of people in it to provide a premium experience,” Sheres said.
Surf lagoon specifics
- The surf lagoon would be open to the public 330 days per year.
- Surfers would pay an hourly fee or sign up for various packages or passes.
- Surf sessions will run one hour at a time.
- On an average, there will be about 50 to 60 surfers in the water at any given time.
- On a weekend day, there will be about 75 surfers in the water at any given time.
- For a special event, such as surf competitions, there could be as many as 95 surfers in the water at any given time.
- Proposed hours for the lagoon are 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. weeknights; to midnight on weekends and holidays.
- The surf center, open 6 a.m. to 2 a.m., would include restaurants, bars and shops that will be open to the public. Non-surfers who want to use the beach, pools and enjoy other activities like bocce ball and pickleball, can buy a day pass.
Dennis Brealey, president of the Montecito HOA, said he supports the project, but he and fellow residents are concerned about noise from the lagoon and nightclub area as well as traffic and noise.
Ceja said to help with traffic a signal will be installed at Cook Street and Market Street and Desert Wave will contribute to that cost.
Nicole Criste, with Terra Nova, which did the draft EIR, said all the concerns voice by opponents were adequately addressed in the environmental impact report.
She said the project is designed so that noise from the nightclub and lagoon center is pointed away from the Montecito community, which is about one-third of a mile away at its closest point.
About traffic
DSRT Surf is one of at least three planned surf or wave parks/resorts in the Coachella Valley.
The largest is Thermal Beach Club, which would include a 21-acre surf lagoon with wave-making technology. The project is planned for vacant land between Avenues 64 and 66 by Polk Street in the unincorporated community of Thermal. The project is likely to go before the Riverside County Board of Supervisors this fall.
DSRT Surf is a much smaller scale project than one proposed by Quiksilver that would have spanned 79 acres. Access to DSRT Surf will be from the existing Desert Willow Drive off of Country Club and is not expected to have a significant impact on traffic.
Overall, DSRT Surf fits in with the city’s plan for Desert Willow, said Ceja.
The plan also calls for 130 parking spaces to be created for the surf lagoon, to be shared with Desert Willow, for a 1.5-acre parking space ratio per anticipated surf user, which staff supports.
Parking for special events can be accommodated off-site at a city-controlled parcel adjacent to Ralphs shopping center, about a half-mile south of the DSRT Surf site, Ceja said.
The project could go to the City Council in November.
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Desert Sun reporter Sherry Barkas covers the cities of La Quinta, Indian Wells, Rancho Mirage and Palm Desert. She can be reached at sherry.barkas@thedesertsun.com or (760) 778-4694. Follow her on Twitter @TDSsherry
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