Ofland Resort Takes Another Shot at Winning Over Indian Cove Residents
The company fielded questions and took feedback in Wednesday's sometimes contentious meeting
Ofland, recently rebranded from Yonder, once again faced residents of the Twentynine Palms neighborhood of Indian Cove on February 28 to pitch their 130-cabin resort as a win for the community.
Director of Acquisitions Luke Searcy said he was there to hear from the community in hopes of finding a way forward, but over a nearly two hour meeting, the 45 community members asked pointed questions and conveyed distress over the development and what it will mean for their remote and quiet neighborhood.
Responding to pushback from participants at November’s community meeting, all Ofland staff and consultants sat at the front, and community members were able to address the whole room. Community members objected to what Searcy had called “divide and conquer” tactics at the last meeting when he directed people to individual stations to ask questions.
The land is currently in escrow but Ofland is moving full steam ahead with planning the resort. Searcy said Ofland will request the rezoning to comply with the city’s requirements in two areas; Tourist Commercial for the resort and Open Space Residential for the boundary area.
The company’s plans are essentially what they were in November: the resort will consist of 130 cabins, 320 sq. feet each, a main lodge with a lobby and grab-and-go market, an open to the public fast-casual restaurant, a secondary lodge, a back-of-house building, star gazing areas and employee housing. The scale of both lodges, the back of house building, the food and beverage “concept” and the employee housing have been reduced by 10% to 25%. Ofland plans to build on about 50 acres of their 152-acre property, allowing them to leave a 500 ft. buffer between the resort and the closest neighbor.
“We have around 100 acres of excess land,” Searcy said, ”and all of that will be conserved through deed restrictions and conservation easements to make sure that it's never developed in perpetuity.”
Searcy said they are still planning on playing “soft background music” throughout the resort from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. but they are willing to lower the volume or end at 8 p.m. to be “a good neighbor.”
Ofland is also sticking with its plan to have a 16 ft movie screen, but shielding has been added to be more dark-sky friendly. Guests will listen to the movie over small FM transmitters instead of speakers but residents pointed out that even at low volume 100 radios and the light from the screen could interfere with the dark skies and quiet desert nights they moved here for.
Searcy tried to make the case for the benefits for the city: the creation of 40-50 jobs, a $5 per guest fee that would be earmarked for local nonprofits, an average of $209 spent in town per visitor each day, an estimate drawn from their guests at their Escalante, UT, resort. The company is also reaching out to local businesses to figure out how to best support them.
Indian Cove resident Dana Longuevan pointed out that a lot of those tourist dollars may not wind up in Twentynine Palms:
“This resort is in between two towns. And everybody knows that the Joshua Tree entrance is the more popular entrance. So how are you going to, like how is this location helping the actual city of Twentynine Palms? It's still 10 miles from the city.”
Several residents asked if Ofland had considered moving east, away from residential neighborhoods to abundant commercial space near town, where tourists could walk to amenities while being closer to the less congested eastern entrance to the national park.
Nicole Criste, a consultant from Terra Nova Engineering, was asked to clarify her report of 269 additional trips by car per day for the resort over residential use. The Terra Nova number estimated an increase over the number of trips generated if 60 homes were built on the land the resort will occupy, the maximum allowed on that parcel. The number of trips with the Ofland resort up and running is estimated to be an increase of 840 per day from current traffic levels.
“Eleven feet from my home where my grandchildren sleep!” John Vigar, a neighborhood resident, said.
A number of people pointed out that moving the resort’s main access road to the east would mean far less traffic flowing by their homes.
In one of the few moments of agreement at the meeting, Searcy acknowledged this might be a better solution:
“Y’all are right. That’s something we’ll definitely consider.”
Ofland would still be required by the city to pave Lear to Sullivan, Searcy said, even if the entrance and exits were altered. Road improvements are required by the city's general plan for larger developments in certain areas.
Worries about protection for endangered species like the desert tortoise and burrowing owls were brought up by several speakers. Searcy said a biological study was done and found no evidence of these species, but another study is required prior to any construction. When asked for details about the study, Criste said WSP Environmental surveyed around October or November.
Indian Cove resident Cindy Bernard pointed out that tortoises hibernate during colder months, and many in the crowd raised their hands when Bernard asked who had recent pictures of the tortoise around their land.
“I have three active burrows on my property,” Bernard said, “and their range is over a mile.”
When asked about an Environment Impact Report (EIR) or California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) analysis, Criste said the pre-application did not require one, but the required CEQA document will be included with the application, adding, "We expect that will result in a mitigated negative declaration."
A mitigated negative declaration would allow Ofland to avoid a costly EIR report.
Several speakers brought up the planned onsite package wastewater treatment plant and the possibility of the smell of waste generated by the resort. Similar treatment plants in Twentynine Palms are notorious for noxious odors.
Vickie Bridenstine, an associate with NV5 civil engineering, said she is aware of the issues with those treatment plants, saying the Turtle Rock plant was not built by a professional and doesn’t work properly. The Hi Desert Medical Center uses also uses a package plant, Bridenstine pointed out, but it was engineered properly and odors aren’t an issue.
The water will be treated to a high level, Bridenstine said, “(This package plant will be) engineered to the point where the water quality control board is content with the quality of the water that goes back into the groundwater.”
Whether Ofland representatives are able to quell the concerns of Indian Cove residents remains to be seen.
Editor’s note 3/5/24: We replaced the phrase “Except for trimming the size of several buildings” with a list of the buildings that were adjusted and the percentage range of the scale change.
Desert Trumpet staff members Cindy Bernard, Heidi Heard and Kat Talley-Jones are residents of Indian Cove.
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The last line of defense for the opposition of this project is the 5 city counsel members who are SUPPOSED to represent the tax paying full time residents of 29 palms.
We can only hope they will NOT allow the change of zoning and prevent OFLAND to seek other alternatives. Sometime in the past, the governing body of 29 palms zoned all the land within the city boundaries. NOW is not the time to change the RESIDENTIAL zoned land to allow a COMMERCIAL business to disrupt this neighborhood in the name of the almighty dollar that the city council seems to chase so fervently !
REPRESENT the residents of the city and not carpet bagging enterprises that seek PROFIT when it is detrimental to the full time tax paying residents !
Wow. This is terrible. Soft background music?? 16 foot screens? In tortoise habitat? Who is allowing this??