LETTER FROM LOS ANGELES
The mirage will remain a mirage. Those who dreamed of surfing in the middle of the desert will have to settle for the rollers of the Pacific Ocean, 190 km away. The city council of La Quinta, a city of 41,000 people located in the Coachella Valley, California, ended in September a controversial “surf park” project, the concept of which had been imagined by the famous American surfer Kelly Slate.
In a state hit by a historic drought, the refusal to create an artificial basin with a capacity of 68 million liters in the middle of the desert, very close to the famous Joshua Tree National Park, seemed to go without saying. The chosen site, a vast stony expanse at the foot of the mountains, in a city where the temperature flirts four months of the year with 40°C, did not seem conducive to seaside pleasures.
However, when CM Wave Development LLC presented its project to the municipality in 2020, it was not considered foolish. Not in this Coachella Valley which has more than 120 golf courses – around fifty for the city of Palm Springs alone – and thousands of swimming pools. And which prides itself on having a giant aquifer, fed by the waters of Colorado.
“Until the last moment we thought we were going to lose,” admits today Alena Callimanis, who founded in 2021 with other residents an association to fight against the creation of the surf park, La Quinta Residents for Responsible Development. Because the Coral Mountain Resort, supposed to house the surf park, was far from unanimous against him.
Outrageously green lawns
On the evening of the municipal council, on September 21, the president of the chamber of commerce came to express his enthusiasm for this project, which will provide activity and taxes for the city. Several local entrepreneurs also lent their support while residents were delighted with the attractiveness that the site would offer their city. In the public, many people, not only the promoters of the future site, wore caps and T-shirts in the colors of the Coral Mountain Resort.
At the time of the deliberations, after more than five hours of debate, the mayor of the city, Linda Evans, even launched: “I think it’s a really great project. » Before adding, to justify his refusal: “But I don’t think this is the right place to do that. And the timing is probably not ideal with the ongoing drought. » An understatement that perhaps says the beginning of awareness in this Coachella Valley where, in the middle of lunar expanses, cities with outrageously green lawns have grown for decades.
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