In our last communication with County Land Use Services on the topic (March 3), Planning Director Heidi Duron again confirmed that LUS is “currently anticipating the [Wonder Inn Hotel/Resort proposal] to be on the  agenda for the March 23 Planning Commission hearing.”

This seems awfully fast, doesn’t it?  That date would be almost exactly four weeks after we and many others submitted many hundreds of pages of substantive comments on the Initial Study.  Is LUS really going to be able to process all those comments, generate a response, and resolve any issues with the developers in that brief time?

Let’s take a moment and compare with another project in the Basin:  Flamingo Heights 640 Glamping Proposal.  FH 640 involves a “Conditional Use Permit to establish a 75-site campground on a portion of a 640-acre parcel, consisting of various structures and accessory buildings associated with the use of the site, including a restaurant and bar that are not open to the public.”

The FH 640 proposal received a Mitigated Negative Declaration, the same as the Wonder Inn proposal did.  That public comment period ended April 21, 2022 – more than ten months ago.  The proposal is only now coming before the Planning Commission this Thursday, March 9.  LUS rejected the requests for an EIR, but some revisions were made in the FH 640 Proposal in view of comments received.  Specifically, according to the Homestead Valley Community Council, “Changes to the original development plan include no public access to the proposed restaurant and bar; the amenities are now only available to patrons of the campground. In addition, the proposed helipad remains a part of the site plan as an emergency-use-only helicopter pad, with no aerial tours being conducted from the site.”

Yes, a helipad. 

We suggest you visit HVCC’s Save Our Deserts page to learn more about just what could be happening to the poor folks over there.  Of course it is a “glamping” proposal, not a hotel, but some aspects of the proposal will sound familiar to Wonder Valley residents – for instance, pool, restaurant, and bar, with special twists including a 5500-sf “Art Barn” and yoga deck.  (And at one point there seems to have been an idea which was dropped for festivals of 25,000 people!)  You can also learn about the many concerns the local residents share about the proposal – concerns that will also sound familiar to us here in Wonder Valley.

Sadly, the many comments submitted by the public on FH 640 did not succeed in triggering a reconsideration of the need for an EIR. LUS has recommended APPROVAL of the project with the changes noted above.  But our neighbors in Homestead Valley are not giving up and will be showing up at the Planning Commission this Thursday, March 9, to testify for their community, and we can show up and comment, as well, to support them. 

We here at SWIP have been watching the progress of the FH 640 proposal closely, both because it shares many concerns with the Wonder Inn project here in Wonder Valley and because we might expect roughly similar treatment with the Wonder Inn proposal.  However, as noted above, it took over 10 months for FH 640 to come before the Planning Commission, and right now the projection from LUS is for Wonder Inn to come before the PC in just over four weeks.  What to make of this?  Not clear.  But we’re doing our best to find out.

In the meantime, join us in supporting our neighbors in the homestead communities of the west Basin by showing up at the hearing on the Flamingo Heights 640 Glamping Proposal this Thursday, or send in a comment.  This and the Wonder Inn are both precedent-setting changes in Rural Living zones and must not be allowed to proceed.