Our Open Space is Under Threat!

In 2018 this developer proposed building a huge 1500 room hotel project in rural Sand Canyon. The City denied this project in July of 2021. The applicant has not yet re-submitted a new project.

You can view the previous documents at
NC18-021 Sand Canyon Hotel Project

We urged the City to keep its promises and follow its own zoning regulations. We oppose any approval that does not preserve the 300 acres of previously approved open space. A high density multistory hotel should not be built in a very high fire hazard zone on a two lane rural road. It will impede evacuation of existing residents and hotel visitors. Two people and many horses already lost their lives in the last big fire in this area. For more information look under the Sand Canyon Resort tab above. 

Why is this important? The billionaire Los Angeles developer is proposing that the City ignore dedicated open space and allow development upon it. If such a thing is permitted, why would the City not allow development in other areas that they have promised to preserve? Is this even legal?

Here’s the background (see the Sand Canyon Resort Tab above for more info) – In the late 1990s the City Council approved a golf course and clustered homes in the rural Sand Canyon area with the compromise that 300 acres would be dedicated to permanent open space. Now a developer is asking to build a resort on the open space. The Sand Canyon Resort project EIR has been released, and can be viewed here.

Promises to the community must be kept. Here are Our Concerns with the Sand Canyon Resort Hotel:

Open Space:

The City promised open space in perpetuity when they approved the Robinson Ranch Golf Course in 1996.

Final Condition 83  of the 1996 approval says “The applicant [meaning, the developer] shall record golf course/open space easements on all golf course/open space lots, restricting their use to those activities, prior to recordation of the first residential lot.”  

Water Monitoring:

The City required water monitoring on this golf course for ten years. But that monitoring was never completed. The City must provide an up to date water monitoring report to ensure that water levels in this area have not dropped and that local ground water has not been polluted from pesticides and fertilizers used on the golf course.

Zoning:

The City must abide by the zoning and community standards that are in effect for this area and other places in our valley. Community standards are developed by neighborhoods and voted into effect by residents in that community. The City cannot arbitrarily ignore them.

Fire Risk:

This project is in a Very High Fire Hazard Zone. Adding such a large facility and additional employees would make evacuation difficult if not impossible for the existing community and possibly put new visitors in danger. We must stop building in these high fire hazard zones in the face of increased mega wildfires such as that recently faced in Sand Canyon.

Illegal Grading

The owner/developer has already done illegal grading on his property and filled ponds used by wildlife and fire personnel without getting permits. We cannot support a developer who has already moved forward in violation of his exiting permits and without obtaining necessary work permits.