Kristie Ramos, CMC
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Rick and Wendy Sherwood
Tuesday, June 27, 2023 11 :13 AM
Kr istie Ramos, CMC
Environmental Assessment Case EA22-0020 Preliminary Development Plan Case No PDP22-005 Catino Residential Design Guidelines
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CAUTION Th is emai l origin ated from outside Th e City of Rancho Mirage. DO NOT CLICK links or open attachments unless you recog niz e the sen der an d know the co ntent is safe.
We have re ce ived Notice of Public Hea ring for the above development. We are unabl e to attend th e h ea r ing, so are se nding our co nce rn s.
We are writing to strongly OPPOSE the modification of the deve lopme nt review process for the above named project from disc r etion ary to minist eri al.
We were r es id ents of Rancho Mirage for 27 years, and have lived in the Coachella Vall ey since 1976. We are familiar with desert weather and blowing sa nd . We live in Pa lm Dese rt Greens Country Club, very n ear the intersection of Monterey and Frank Sinatra Drive. We have lived at PDGCC since 2015.
Prior to the inception of this project, when we had strong winds (over 25-30 mph) there would be some blow sa nd on ) our property, and it was minimal. With winds lighter than 20 mph we did not ge t blow sand. Only after severe wind storms (ov e r 40-45 mph) did we have accumulated blow sa nd , and this was rare.
Since the beg inning of grading work on the Catino property we have bee n seve rely impacted by excess ive blowing dirt.
Now when w e have breezes with gusts around 15 mph we ge t dust and dirt -not sa nd -blown onto our property in large amounts. W e h ave noticed that this blown dirt also ha s increased our allergy sensitivities. Their dust mitigation -if ind eed there is any -h as bee n co mplete ly in effective.
We h ave spo ken with our neighbors, an d we all ag ree th at the dirt situ ation d id not exi st before the Catino co nstruction be ga n. Our HOA informed u s that they had contacted Rancho Mirage about the horrible du st and dirt and were told that it wa s not coming from the Catin o project. T hey tried to bl am e so mebody else . Any reasonable person would co nclude that if th e proble m did not exist until this spec ifi c project bega n and immediately after the project began we sta rted expe ri encing excessive blown dirt, that this project is the so urce of the problem.
Our und ersta nding is that if the des ignatio n of the development r eview process is changed to "ministerial", the project will not be subject to the Ca lifornia Environmental Quality Act, v ersus "disc retionary," in which case CEQA appli es .
Based on o ur experience and that of our neighbors, th e past history of this developmen t and th e current situatio n with th eir e nvironm enta l impact on u s, we b eli eve more stringe nt environme ntal co ntrols should be app li ed and monitored for compliance. Th e deve lopers should be held acco un ta bl e for the impact they already have on us. If the dust problem does not diminish we intend to file a complaint with th e California EPA.
Rick an d W e ndy She rwood
73285 Haystack Mountain Drive
Palm Desert CA 92260
)
Phone : 760-408-7322
Rick and Wendy Sherwood
[email protected]
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