Skip to main content ↑ ↓
Topic: One of the best RV Resorts is closing (Read 612 times) previous topic - next topic
0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

One of the best RV Resorts is closing

Yahoo Message Number: 18980
The long time rumor is becoming a truth. Emerald Desert RV & Golf Resort will remain open through approximately April or May 2006, but then close permanently.

The Palm Desert Planning Commission voted unanimously on 10/18/2005 to approve a recommendation that will allow the 80-acre Emerald Desert RV and Golf Resort Park at 76000 Frank Sinatra Drive to be rezoned and rebuilt as Spanish Walk, with townhouses and single- family homes priced between $300,000 and $400,000.

The Commission vote cleared the way for the proposal to go to the Palm Desert City Council for approval, most likely at its November 10 meeting.
Herb

2002 Allure 30690
Forum Moderator

==================================

The Desert Sun
October 19, 2005
Palm Desert's popular RV park may soon be replaced with a residential development aimed at providing "attainable" housing for people working at and around the University of California Riverside campus.

The Palm Desert Planning Commission voted unanimously last night (10/18/2005) to approve a recommendation that will allow the 80-acre Emerald Desert RV and Golf Park at 76-000 Frank Sinatra Drive to be rezoned and rebuilt as Spanish Walk, with townhouses and single- family homes priced between $300,000 and $400,000.

"There is a trade-off," said David Tschopp, commission chairman, about the vote to close Emerald Desert. "You'd like to have both, but sometimes you can't."

The development will include about about 600 townhouse condos and single-family homes, plus a 150-unit apartment complex specifically targeted at university staff and students. It will have a sports field, but no golf course.

The project developer is Taylor Woodrow of San Diego. Tim Day, the project manager, said construction on what the company terms "attainable" housing should begin spring of 2006, with initial move-ins by mid-2007.

The median home price in the Coachella Valley hovers at about $370,000.

The site is currently classified as commercial hotel-resort, but would be rezoned as medium-high density residential for Spanish Walk.

The commission vote cleared the way for the proposal to go the Palm Desert City Council for approval, most likely at its Nov. 10 meeting.

The impact on the RV park users was not discussed at the meeting.
But Mike Meirs of Lucerne, Calif., a park regular since 2000, was unhappy about its likely closure.

Emerald Desert "is our favorite place," he said yesterday afternoon at the park. "(If it closes) you have to go to Arizona." But the prospect of housing that working families might be able to afford clearly won over the commissioners, some of whom expressed mixed feelings about the impact of a high-density development.

A presentation by Taylor Woodrow emphasized the "intimacy" of the project, with clustered housing and narrow paseos that would encourage "neighbor interaction." The architectural styles would be Spanish-influenced as the project name implies.

"It's a risk," said commissioner Jim Lopez. "Anything built this close to the railroad is going to be a risk in years to come.

But, he said, "there is a huge demand now."

Noise and vibration from the railroad tracks which run along the north end of the site, along with increased traffic, emerged as the commission's main concerns.

Jeremy Louden, a San Diego consultant who performed noise and vibration analysis for Taylor Woodrow, said an existing 8-foot wall on the property would be enough to muffle noise in single-floor units. Other architectural treatments would keep residents in two- story units comfortable.

Initial buyers will be get a disclosure form on the railroad, which will then be on file for subsequent buyers.

Philip Drell, community development head for the city, noted complaints at other communities near the track, like Palm Valley Golf Club, centered on the trains' whistles.

"Even though we have no grade crossings, the engineers blow whistles," he said.

The city is in negotiations with the railroad to have itself declared a quiet zone, he said, so the engineers wouldn't blow the whistles unnecessarily.

And, to manage projected increases in traffic, Taylor Woodrow is installing a traffic light at Frank Sinatra and Eldorado, the current entrance to the RV park. Additional traffic lights are planned for the intersection at Frank Sinatra and Gerald Ford drives and at the entrance to the apartment complex on Gerald Ford, the exact location to be determined.

Careful planning notwithstanding, the question remains whether the "attainable" prices at Spanish Walk will survive market forces by the time the first units are ready for move-in in 2007.
Tschopp said the Planning Commission has no power to require certain prices but was hopeful.

"It's difficult," he said. "You want houses for people to live, work and stay here."