The Disney company is embarking on the creation of a residential district in the United States, called Cotino. On paper, the future Disney-style homes that will be built in the town of Rancho Mirage, in the Coachella Valley, in California, sell dreams. Especially since a turquoise blue lagoon of more than 9 hectares, or 90,000 square meters, with fine sandy beaches and swimming pools will be dug… in the middle of the desert. That’s the equivalent of 18 football fields. This new adventureallows us tobring the magic of Disney to places where you wouldn’t expect it “, comments Josh D’Amaro, President of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products. In fact, living in the enchanted world of Disney is not to the taste of the inhabitants of Rancho Mirage, already established in the desert. “Rancho Mirage is a quiet, peaceful and friendly place but Cotino brings pollution, hustle and bustle and chaos to an area that didn’t want it», laments Mark Wolpa, a resident of Rancho Mirage since 2008, to the Los Angeles Times .
An environmental aberration?
The valley is experiencing severe drought and the construction of an artificial oasis in the middle of this space worries the residents. They fear a worsening of the drought. The company in charge of building the lagoon, Crystal Lagoons, claims to use rainwater. However, it only rains 150 millimeters of water per year in Rancho Mirage. “Lagoons powered by Crystal Lagoons technology use 33 times less water than an 18-hole golf course and 40% less than a park of the same size», justifies the company on its site. Rancho Mirage Mayor Ted Weill countered that Coachella has 54,000 pools, so the lagoon wouldn’t make much of a difference to the city’s landscape. But Mark Wolpa does not budge: “At the time we had strict restrictions on water use. Everyone was ripping out their garden and replacing it with artificial grass. And in the meantime, I started seeing signs announcing the construction of a huge lagoon», he regrets.
There are still two years before the lagoon rises from the ground. As for houses, sales began this year and the first batch of 300 houses is under construction. The first residents will move in at the beginning of 2025. Another fear of residents: soaring prices because of this new luxurious neighborhood. Rancho Mirage is already a very upscale city and prices are likely to soar because of the new Cotino district. These 1,932 houses will be sold for more than a million dollars, or 920,000 euros. Walt Disney himself owned a second home in the Coachella Valley and spent time there with his family. To see if this residential project will become a waking dream or a real nightmare.