Residents in a small California town are upset over Disney’s plans to construct a community of 2,000 homes in their area of the desert.
The Walt Disney Company announced it would design neighborhoods across the United States, capitalizing on fans’ enthusiasm beyond the brand’s theme park and entertainment businesses.
However, its first development—a 618-acre residential community with 1,900 housing units that include single-family homes and condominiums in Racho Mirage, close to Palms Springs—has been met with resistance.
Local Carol Tiffin expressed concerns that the development would see the Coachella Valley area turned into “another Las Vegas.”
“Living off Gerald Ford, I’m concerned about traffic, especially during the winter months when all the snowbirds are in town,” Tiffin wrote online.
Disney plans to create a Cotino Bay lagoon beside a promenade with “striking views of the oasis and the mountains beyond.”
Tiffin said she is concerned that “using so much water with the lake” in the middle of the desert may hurt surrounding residents. “On the brighter side, it should increase the value of Rancho Mirage homes, bring more business and additional tax money to the city,” Tiffin said.
“Time will tell, but I’d hate to see the Coachella Valley turn into another Las Vegas.”
The issue is further compounded by residents being hit with water use limits in recent years among dry spells.
Local Mark Wolpa pointed out that when the lagoon emerged in 2022, the region was under “tight restrictions.”
He told the Los Angeles Times, “Everyone was ripping out their yard and replacing it with artificial grass. And meanwhile, I start seeing signs for a massive lagoon.”
While restrictions have since been lifted due to heavy rainfall within the last year, Wolpa has added that the lagoon, which will be the size of 18 football fields, “feels wasteful.”
Juliette Vos has also raised concerns about the destruction of local wildlife.
“Destroying native plants with 20-foot root systems with your deadly green mulch and replacing them with thirsty three-foot root systems is how to recreate the Sahara,” Vos wrote online. “Down with Disney.”
Deborah Hager added that the development is “not needed” and would involve “tearing down this beautiful desert.”
Other locals have pointed out that Rancho Mirage residents have not been offered a vote on development plans and that the housing will not be particularly affordable. Figures from Zillow show that Ranch Mirage is the second-priciest city in the Coachella Valley, with the median home costing around $878,659. The Disney condos are expected to run anywhere from $1 million to over $2 million.
Disney has said that Cotino will feature shops and a beachfront hotel encircling a 24-acre lagoon. Neighborhoods will be reserved for residents 55 and older.
In residential communities, the company aims to create “similar magic” that it says will expand storytelling to “storyliving.”
Park designers will develop creative concepts for the communities and draw inspiration from each region, where employees will run a community association offering entertainment, activities, beach access, and Disney programming. The community will be designed by the same “imagineers” who designed the theme parks but will not have any theme park connection.
The Cotino project is in conjunction with DMB Development.
Prices and other details have not yet been announced, but development will include a variety of property types, including condos and single-family homes and estates.
This new effort marks the latest chapter in Disney’s residential efforts, which began in the ‘60s when Walt Disney announced his palms for the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (EPCOT) that were shelved after his death in 1966.
“Walt was trying to build a connected, integrated, story-based community,” Disney Parks Chairman Josh D’Amaro has said previously. “While these [Storyliving] communities are not Epcot, they share that same spirit. This is something that Walt would have been all over.”
