Opposition to remodel called out as ‘disingenuous’ as Planning Commission approves expansion of blighted property

The Palm Springs Planning Commission on Tuesday approved plans to remodel and rebrand the former Days Inn on North Palm Canyon Drive, potentially paving the way for the shuttered building to see new life as a resort hotel. 

The development permit application approved Tuesday will allow the property owner to remodel existing buildings and construct a new two-story building, expanding the hotel from 107 to 179 rooms. The applicant also plans on relocating and expanding the hotel’s on-site restaurant. 

The Planning Commission received about 70 written public comments regarding the project, with many of the comments opposing the project’s CEQA analysis and expressing concerns over potential noise, traffic, and dust impacts to nearby residences. A few nearby residents and members of Unite Here Local also spoke in opposition to the project’s CEQA exemption with similar comments. 

The staff report found that the project is exempt from any further CEQA review, and met the several conditions required for this exemption. These conditions include the project’s consistency with the General Plan, being smaller than five acres in size, and having no known value as habitat for rare, threatened, or endangered species. The project must also “not result in any significant effects relating to traffic, noise, air or water quality,” according to the city’s staff report. 

“There were a few things that were brought up regarding traffic, air quality, the neighbors that live around the area, the miles per hour, what is it going to impact as far as the noise, the dust, the renovation,” said one nearby resident. 

Palm Springs Planning Director Chris Hadwin said city staff found the project met all the criteria for the CEQA exemption. He also separately noted that the use of the site remains similar to what previously existed there. 

“We are in a mixed-use area on a major corridor, we do have commercial uses. . . In this instance, we’re seeing the overall number of hotel rooms increase, in no instance are the buildings being located closer to the property lines than have existed historically on the site,” said Hadwin. 

Planning Commission Vice Chair Lauri Aylaian called the 70 letters sent to the commission “two hours before” the meeting “disingenuous.” Another commissioner similarly called the letters “fear-mongering.”

“The renovation of the project is not going to be a threat to the water, to the air quality, to the greenhouse gasses, to the traffic, anything else that is claimed in the summary letters that we received. And furthermore, this project is a good thing. This is what we want to see happen.”

Planning Commission Vice Chair Lauri Aylaian

“It is a long blighted site. It is a detriment to the neighborhood, it was developed many decades ago and has been used for essentially the same use until it went out of business and all environmental impact has occurred,” said Aylaian. 

“The renovation of the project is not going to be a threat to the water, to the air quality, to the greenhouse gasses, to the traffic, anything else that is claimed in the summary letters that we received. And furthermore, this project is a good thing. This is what we want to see happen.”

Aylaian added that if people who wrote those letters were “sincere” about wanting to address traffic, air quality, and other concerns in Palm Springs, they could get involved with the Sustainability Commission or the Active Transportation. 

“Please come forward, get involved in those organizations that will be much more productive towards improving the environment of Palm Springs than objecting to a project that is removing blight.”

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