Business owners at ‘The River’ frustrated over solar panel project

The River in Rancho Mirage is home to a variety of businesses and it is also the site of an ongoing solar porch project in a section of their parking lot.

The completion of that project is leaving some business owners frustrated and leading to confusion when it comes to parking. About 220 parking spots have been blocked off since early April.

Kurt Gardner, owner of the Fox and the Fiddle is one of the owners affected by the solar installation. The blocked off parking area is creating a hassle for some of his customers.

“One of the spots of this location was the abundant parking and as you can see it’s gated off, it’s closed, all of our guests are very concerned and many have told us they’re challenged as Rancho Mirage guests, that they just can’t park at the river,” said Gardner.

Tony Chu, the owner of River Nails and Spa who has been located at The River for a decade, says he has seen about a 60 percent drop in sales compared to previous summer months.

“Business is horrible for all the businesses in this center, because there’s no one to do business.”

Chu is asking managers at The River to reduce his rent because of the hit he’s taking.

We spoke with the CEO of Renova Solar, Vincent Battaglia who says his company is responsible for the project, which was supposed to be completed by September.

“We ran into a hiccup about 3 months ago with the utility, Southern California Edison, it looks like by November we will have all of the panels operating,” said Battaglia. “What we will do meanwhile, we will remove most of the fencing.”

Renova Solar says about 170 covered parking will be available and the green fencing will be taken down by Tuesday.

During the construction period, The River is offering shuttle services to customers who need rides from the parking lot.