Groups sue over golf community
Environmentalists say Classic project will impact milk vetch
By Benjamin Spillman
The Desert Sun
August 16th, 2003
A proposal to build a golf community on about 460 acres of vacant desert in Palm Springs has sprouted an environmental lawsuit against the city.
On Friday, attorneys for the Sierra Club and the Center for Biological Diversity delivered court papers seeking to overturn the city’s approval of the Palm Springs Classic development.
The city, according to the environmental groups, approved the proposed 1,450-home development even though the builder didn’t fully consider how it would affect the endangered Coachella Valley milk vetch plant.
"We think the city’s approval is very clearly illegal," said Kassie Siegel, an attorney in the Idyllwild office of the Center for Biological Diversity.
The conservationists’ petition, delivered to Riverside County Superior Court in Indio, says the city should prepare an Environmental Impact Report that details how the Palm Springs Classic would impact not only milk vetch living on the site but habitat suitable for protected birds, rodents and reptiles.
Both the builder and city officials who approved the Classic said they’ve already considered the impact of the project and accused the environmental groups of selectively targeting Palm Springs projects for scrutiny.
"This has never been an environmentally important site for anybody until all of a sudden this was going to be approved," said Palm Springs Classic developer Pat Blew.
Court papers cite a 9-year-old Environmental Impact Report on a similar project on the same land. The report was done before the milk vetch was listed as a federal endangered species and needs to be updated, the environmentalists argue.
The Coachella Valley milk vetch is a native, desert plant that only grows in sand dune-type habitat in the region. Its survival, Siegel said, is important in part because it represents hope for other native valley species.
"The American people have long supported the notion that human activity should not cause species to go extinct," she said.
Representatives of both sides in the lawsuit predicted they could reach a settlement. But the environmentalists’ announcement Friday frustrated city officials.
Palm Springs Councilwoman Jeanne Reller-Spurgin said the Sierra Club targets Palm Springs projects while developers in other valley cities build elaborate golf courses and gated communities with less environmental scrutiny.
She said development of the Palm Springs Classic site, like other major projects in the city, has sputtered along for a decade.
"We have been denied projects like this because of the Sierra Club for years," Reller-Spurgin said. "I think the community of Palm Springs deserves to have a resort, golf course project."
Palm Springs Mayor Will Kleindienst criticized a local representative of the Sierra Club for dropping, "an 11th hour bombshell" on city officials in the form of environmental objections on July 16, the day the the city council voted to approve development plans. The mayor described the material as being as thick as a phone book.
"Why even start typing, why not a phone call," Kleindienst said. "Communication requires two people to discuss."
The Sierra Club disagreed with city officials’ characterizations of the dispute.
Terry Kilpatrick, an attorney for the environmental groups, said the Sierra Club suggested a more thorough environmental review in a letter city planning officials acknowledged receiving on July 8, eight days before the council approved the Classic.
Joan Taylor, chairwoman of the local branch of the Sierra Club, also denied the group gave additional scrutiny to projects in Palm Springs. Taylor said the city is regularly "pushing the limits," with proposals for hillside developments and projects in sensitive habitat.
She also cited her group’s objections to projects in Rancho Mirage and Palm Desert.
"Sierra Club is going to see to it environmental laws are enforced," Taylor said.
The dispute comes just months before a regional plan to balance species protection with development is slated for public review.
The Coachella Valley Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan is essentially a map that identifies which valley land should be conserved and where development is to occur. It is designed to avert disputes like the one in Palm Springs. However, the plan will only apply in valley cities that agree to its terms.
Kleindienst said current versions of the plan, "prevent some of the development we want to have.
"We are trying, without much success, to get our concerns into the plan," he said.