Rancho Mirage condo owner complains about noise from tribal well drilling operation
The sound of a drilling operation is in the air at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, as Lynn Lowry watches and listens, just feet away, while standing in front of her condo.
She says the drilling along Dinah Shore Drive, began Monday, with work crews starting their day Tuesday at 6:15 in the morning.
“So this is a huge impact to people who might be vacationing here or living here,” said Lowry.
The retired engineer and her husband have owned the place for more than 20 years, spending half their time at the condo, while also having a place in Los Angeles.
Lowry is upset that residents did not receive advance notification about the drilling project, neither from the country club’s general manager or from the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, which owns the well and the land on which all the homes are built at the club.
“If either Agua Caliente or Mission Hills Country Club had given us a notification, that this was going to go on, we would have been able to adjust, adjust our schedules, adjust our renters,” said Lowry.
Lowry says the drilling project is causing a hit for her financially, preventing her from renting out her place to desert visitors.
After speaking with Lowry, News Channel 3 contacted the tribe, and a representative told us the reconstruction project would last 60 to 90 days and said the contractor will be setting up sound walls to minimize noise impacts to surrounding properties.
“The thing is, this isn’t just impacting me, it’s echoing throughout this courtyard, and again, over here too,” said Lowry.
Also, in the tribe’s response to News Channel Three, the tribal representative wrote, “As this is an existing well site, the tribe was not required to seek approval from mission hills”.
“We were told the sound was going to be no louder than a 60-decibel dishwasher type sound. I’m very happy that my dishwasher does not make that type of noise,” said the retiree.
The General Manager at Mission Hills Country Club has not responded to News Channel 3’s request for comment.
KESQ
