Palm Springs Surf Club Gets Go-Ahead
- Rita Zurcher
- Oct 30, 2019
- 2 min read
Updated: Dec 4, 2020
The Palm Springs Planning Commission gave their unanimous approval for the conversion of the old Wet'n'Wild water park into a real surf park: The Palm Springs Surf Club.
Located at 1500 Gene Autry Way, the excavation of the existing pool is already underway. And, Dave Hilts, the founder of the Coachella Valley Surf Club, posted a club flyer on the fence. It was subsequently photographed and published in The Desert Sun.
Now we have a better idea of what the completed facility will look like. Unlike other Coachella Valley surf wave pools in the approval pipeline -- DSRT Surf in Palm Desert, Thermal Beach Club and La Quinta -- which include hotels, villas and residential units around their wave pools, the Palm Springs Surf Club is dedicated to surfing wholly with the addition of a lazy river, a swimming pool and a restaurant. Indeed, the developers promise a "surf park designed for surfers, by surfers."
What remains under wraps is exactly what type of wave technology will power the surfing. It promises to be an entirely new technology being developed by surfers Cheyne Magnusson and Kalani Robb. According to Wave Pool Magazine, "The pool is a tad smaller than the BSR Surf Ranch and will use the existing outline of the previous Riptide Reef pool at Wet’n’Wild."
Palm Springs Surf Club will be open to public surfing year-round from 8:00am to 10:00pm (yes night surfing). The restaurant/bar will be open until 2:00am. Cost and wave breakdown not yet available. But the developers acknowledged that they want to make the surf park accessible to both locals and tourists and parking would be free.
In addition, the Palm Springs Surf Park anticipates a staff of at least 200 people, including surf instructors, lifeguards and restaurant staff.
Developers also addressed some of the citizen concerns such as the height of the lights, noise from speakers and water usage. They noted that the neighbors were too far away to be impacted by lights and noise. Moreover, the new surf park will use less water than the Wet'n'Wild park it replaces. And new technologies allow for more efficient recycling and replenishment. The landscape will also be drought-tolerant.
For more news about the coming wave pool checkout Channel 3 KESQ for the story and video [Sorry, this video is no longer available on KESQ].
Comments