Is This Giant Baja Resort Sustainable? Depends Who You Ask.

All anyone needs to do is study the history of the development of The Villages of Loreto Bay. The original developer started out with ALL the same dreams of desal plant, windfarm etc etc. THAT developer flew the coop and us as homeowners were left holding the bag to finish out the development the best we could. It took over 5 years just to get sidewalks, lighting and landscaping everywhere. None of us would trade our little piece of paradise but unless the Tres Santos developers find lots buyers this development will be years in the making and only if the buyers monies don't end up in the pockets of the developers instead of the development. And the developer disappears.

John Moreno has manipulated the fishermen into believing that Tres Santos is taking over their beach, which is not true at all. The fishermen are using the same space they always have, Tres Santos is building the fishermen work stations and parking, and the majority of fishermen support the project. This article mentions nothing about Moreno’s motives to oppose the development. He and his family own a real estate company in town and clearly don’t want the competition from Tres Santos. They are feared by many in town who have been taken advantage of – the latest incidence of which can be seen in a documentary that will soon be released exposing Moreno’s involvement in defrauding a woman named Cara Singleton on her home purchase in Todos Santos. Watch for yourself: http://www.kingsofcabo.com/video.

I lived in T.S. for twelve winters. I think the author of the article wanted to give a balanced picture. However, you should be aware that the hotel is built on the beach, which is against Mexican law. Also, water is being taken from the public water supply resulting in locals not having water or having insufficient water. The local people won't benefit from this development but prices of food and other supplies will go up while salaries will not. The sea wall and the concrete pad on which the hotel is built is already changing the ecology of the area. And yes, an estuary was destroyed.

The reality is that many locals support development - one of the fisherman even says it in this article. These developers are coming to the table with a unique concept that is health-centric, walkable, offers educational programs with Colorado State, and is building facilities for the local fishermen. Many developers come to coastal towns with all-inclusive mega resorts with no character. Is that what we want in Todos Santos? NO! This beautiful town will not stay a secret forever, as others on this comment board have mentioned, but if we are going to see more development here, I'm happy it's this one. Keep Hyatt and HolidayInn in Cabo.

I've visited Todos Santos with my husband every winter for over a decade, and we've seen the town begin to change as the new highway was completed to connect Todos and Cabo, and now there's a new bypass that makes Todos reachable in about an hour from the airport. When we first heard about a new development, we were skeptical, but I actually think that Tres Santos will end up benefiting the town - coupled with its designation as a pueblo magico, Todos will receive greater investment from the government and from this development and the new business it brings.
Also, citing Peter Buck's comments in this article is a complete oversight - he's become a burnout and this year's music festival was an unpleasant showcase of his drunken antics.

In years to come you'll see the same people that issued the development permits owning beautiful (unaffordable) homes in this development. From Governors to local building inspectors...

I have been to Baja Sur every year since 1979 and have seen the changes. Todos Santos is lucky to have avoided the developers for so long. The Mexican and US developers have destroyed most of the southern tip of the peninsula and its sea/desert beauty. The developer's resorts are always to a grand ugly unsustainable scale. The desalination plants of the region have created an insect problem with lush hotel gardens and watered golf courses (too much watering in a desert climate). Mosquitos are now a year round pest problem. Access to more beaches will be lost to everyone except the owners of the Santos Tres million dollar homes. Todos Santos was a paradise, but their future and culture will be mostly lost.

Correction: the developers didn't RECEIVE government permission, they BOUGHT government permission. Don't expect any of the permit or licensing "fees" to benefit the local populace!

I have relatives in Todos Santos and I visit frequently and it is clear that no one in this small town is interested in this development. The scale of the project is massive and the strain on the very limited resources is immense. Tres Santos has been disingenuous at best in it's negotiations with the town and the fishermen. It is unwanted and unsustainable, but hey...someone with deep pockets funded it...so it steamrolls on.

In warm places all over the world small little beach towns that were once awesome out of the mainstream retreats have been developed to facilitate more people. Touri will come money will be made and the watering down of culture to the generic will occur. It will be the same as everywhere else. For one company to buy 1000+ acres is a travesty and they are going to do whatever they chose. There will always be ones that want to make money and more money, the ones with a vested interest and that will come with a cost.

Tres Santos has been building for over a year and the town remains the sleepy surfer town it’s always been. I’m all for preserving Todos Santos too, but I don’t think these developers are threatening the town’s history as this article makes it seem. It’s unfortunate that the expats and Americans have taken it upon themselves to speak for the people of Todos Santos.

Has anybody addressed the effects of the desalination plant on local fishing? I would suspect that the influx of hyper saline water would drive off the native fish. Also the intake valves are known for dredging up plankton, fish eggs and other key components of the marine food chain.

I have been there ~ walked the land ~ enjoyed it's beauty and the majesty of the Pacific. The village of Totos Santos is evolving and tourism is as important as fishing and farming. Tres Santos would be a stimulus ~ but such a project demands water! Kirk Semple mentions the developer's promise of a desalination plant ~ but he failed to ask when? Or, why has construction not begun? Two questions that demand honest answers! Desalination? When? Why not now?

I’m excited about this development. As a local business owner, I think Todos Santos has so many amazing things to offer but the local businesses need more traffic. My worst fear is Todos Santos becoming overrun with tourists and mega hotels like Cabo, but that’s a far cry from what Tres Santos is doing. I think it will end up helping the local economy immensely. This article completely overblows the conflict – the project’s opponents are only a small minority of people in Todos.

The people who oppose the development are a family who owns a property management company in Todos Santos. Of course they don’t want another development to come in and compete with them. They’ve conned the fishermen cooperative with broken leadership into thinking that Tres Santos is threatening their rights to work on the beach, when in fact Tres Santos and the fishermen signed agreements for them to keep their land and to have the company build them work stations. Most of the fishermen are just fine with the development coming in. They are still on the same beach they’ve always used and fishing without any interruptions from the company. The Moreno family has managed to manipulate the fishermen to do their bidding and rallied a group of expats with nothing better to do than complain about someone else discovering the little slice of heaven they want to keep all to themselves.

What this article doesn’t mention is how many of the locals want this development to happen. The fishing cooperative that has spoken out was manipulated to do so by a crooked family in Todos Santos who is scared Tres Santos will take their business away. The majority of the fishermen and locals are excited for the hotel to open and for more visitors to come. More visitors, more business, more opportunities.

Like parking multiple cruise ships in the middle of the desert. Who's going to constantly supply them all with whatever is necessary to keep these homes afloat? And on top of it most of these homes are visited only weeks out of the entire year, if even that. Cue Joni Mitchell.

Unfortunately these sleepy little beach towns can't stay sleepy forever...the inevitable developments and their money always come....Hawaii, Tahiti, Boracay, Cabo, Koh Sumui, Phuket, Koh Phi Phi, Tulum...they've all fallen like dominoes...

I am hoping that any potential buyers into this unsustainable development take the time to thoroughly research into the tactics used by this developer. There is a huge amount of information available in the form, of videos, articles, social media sites, and blogs showing the devastating effects this development has already inflicted on the environment, the culture and the lives of the local fishermen...do your research!

http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/2987621/brutal_opaque_ill...

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/09/18/when-mindfulness-goes-wrong-a-meg...

In my opinion, an area with beautiful attractions, open land, and untold stories should definitely be open to more development. Not only does tourism help expand their village’s culture, but will also provide more job opportunities and benefit the area economically. I understand why the fishermen's aren’t happy with the fact that their workplace will be taken away, but I also agree to Ernie Glesner where he makes the comment, “People in the hotel are going to love it”. As Todos Santos is surrounded by water, activities like fishing could not only make money for the investor of the project, but also the fishermen. However it is important for the people who work in this project to keep in mind that it’s crucial to still keep Todos Santos as what it is. By overly developing will impact the area environmentally as not all people are careful about what they throw on the ground. In addition, too much building could make the beauty of Todos Santos unseen.

As the title indicates, it does depend on who you ask. None of the people who have commented on this article are from Mexico. Our small municipality of La Paz (which Todos Santos is part of) has struggled for years to grow our tourism economy in the shadow of Los Cabos. I, too, would hate to see this beautiful pueblo magico turn into another resort town of that scale. But, our municipality sorely needs the increased commerce from travelers. There is a happy medium and it seems that these developers are trying to find it. They've clearly made some mistakes (if you're trying to be considerate of the fishermen, it's probably a good idea to build their parking and work stations before building your hotel on the beach) but it seems they're taking steps in the right direction (creating their own water supply, etc). Many locals will tell you they'd like to see more job opportunities.

Green washing. Have you hear of it? I am stunned with the headline and then the complete failure to try and discern the reality of this situation. What is sustainable or 'artisanal' about 1000 homes made of imported materials? Where will the power come for these homes? Much of Baja depends on electricity generated by fossil fuel powered power plants. The fuels are imported from the mainland. How about the dealination? You need energy and a lot of it to desalinate water. Where is that electricity coming from? Where will the desalination wastes be sent? What about sewage and solid waste? Meanwhile municiple water was secretly used despite earlier promise to the contrary. I have repeatedly asked Tres Santos to provide me with basic hydrologic data regarding their proposed desalination plant and they ignore me. How are we to know what is sustainable or how the aquifers are connected if Tres Santos cannot share the most fundamental knowledge? I am very disappointed that you reduced this particular situation to a he says she says type of scenario rather than get to the root of deceptive marketing practices, feel-goodism of the entitled 1%, and the inherent racism of separating from a pre-exisiting community. These types of developments are merely hidey holes for the rich to make themselves feel authentic.

Is it true that they drained an estuary to make room for the beachfront development?

Glad to hear that Tres Santos feels that the fisherman will be an attraction for the hotel guests. Maybe you should tell them that you would really appreciate more traditional garb, like colrful sarapes and sombreros. That would be awesome! After all, they are here to amuse you. Tres Santos, you have showed us what you are, and we believe you.

This article on the Tres Santos mega-development is an important step in giving the widespread problem of land speculation in Baja the visibility it deserves. It does a good job of capturing the town and the social and cultural changes it has lived over the past 30 years. But it falls short on many essential aspects. The insurmountable problem of water scarcity is but a side note, the exacerbation of inequality that accompanies mega resorts is not mentioned, nor is the blatant corruption and intimidation that Tres Santos/Mira Companies/Black Creek (the developers) have displayed every step of the way. No mention of the riot police destroying the fishermen's protest camp on February 2nd, no mention of how the project's opponents have been intimidates, including the local celebrity Peter Buck, who is quoted in the piece.

A beautiful peninsula and a beautiful people. I drove around Baja in the 80's, it was serene and for the most part undeveloped. Meals were simple, a few tortillas, beans and when we were lucky fresh fish from the ocean and a cold beer. Yes it is sickeningly nostalgic, nothing stays the same and I do not have the right to judge others' wealth and intentions. If those intentions mean that the people of this peninsula will become strangers in their own land then maybe I do.

for years we visited this precise beach as one of several in the Todos Santos area. It was a great spot and you had to walk a few hundred yards to the beach. Now it looks like it will be another of the area's beaches to be overrun by development. Just to the south another wonderful beach which stretched for miles (Cerritos beach) was developed with a hotel and condos, completely destroying what was a wonderful spot to camp, swim, and in the evening watch passing whales and dancing rays. Water supply is clearly an issue as there is a lot of organic farming in the area.

You can hide, but the spoilers will eventually find you if you have something nice. It was only a matter of time before they found Todos.

I am so glad I got to see this beautiful area and all the other beautiful communities,scenery and landscape back when the main road from San Felipe to Cabo San Lucas was just a rough dirt road.When the pavement went in in the 80's so came the development.Now,you can't see the beauty for the high rise hotels.You can't walk on the clean,white,warm sands of the beaches,because they are private property,you can't visit the beautiful,old churches because the are closed to the public,for fear of stealing the artifacts inside.Unfortunately,Todos Santos is heading in this direction and total destruction of a quiet,prestine area.

This size development in a town where people are already going without water is hardly sustainable. Desal plant may be coming, but until then, Tres Santos is responsible for taking water from locals. Given the environmental sensitivity they have demonstrated to date (hello seawall and beach erosion) I can't imagine that the brine from the desalination plant won't have a negative impact on local ecosystems.

The fisherman are not a spectacle. This isn't Disney world. They are respectable people doing the trade that they were taught from their grand fathers and great grand fathers. Maybe those on the team should think more about where they came from and where they are going. Todos Santos as shown only has at max 9000 people. With the 4000 homes they want to build they want to artificially double the size of the town!!!!! Why. Who needs that much money. Who needs that on their conscience? Who cares that much about making a buck? You are ruining people's home land. This isn't the American Dream!!! This is Mexico!! If you want America, stay there. I say we need all or Todos Santos. Tres Santos can go home!!!

MIRA's own hydrology survey showed the aquifer's supply deficient, even at current demand, without added develop. The town's opposition to the development is deep and serious, as previously reported:
http://capitalandmain.com/latest-news/issues/labor-and-economy/ambassado...

Anything being built by a large U.S. development firm in a foreign country and claiming to be "mindful" and sustainable should immediately be suspect. Maybe it isn't impossible, but it's highly unlikely any such development actually embraces those types of principles. If it did, it likely wouldn't be built in the first place.

As a visitor and property owner in Todos Santos for decades, I always knew large development would some day come to this beautiful, sleepy Baja town.
The major concern is lack of fresh water to sustain a development the size of Tres Santos. In my opinion, Tres Santos should implement the responsible concept of building their proposed desalination plant prior to going forward with their development plans.

Just what the world needs: another "eco-resort" that ruins a pristine area and where people fly to.

This vignette of baja sur reminds me of the beauty this area still offers. We flew into " the cape" (ca 1972) in a venerable DC-3 from la paz. Our pilot was dressed commensurate with the location, culture and era: Ray Bands, blue jeans, Aloha shirt, shower shoes and a lit cigar - cuban I suppose. We landed on a dirt uphill runway at "the Cape "(not the now trendy " LOS CABOS"). Our next day mission was to deliver a yacht to Acapulco.

Aviation buffs would have given their eye teeth to ride on that venerable ,but reliable Douglas built plane. But key to that experience was the raw and sublime beauty of baja sur which still exists.

The article has downplayed the serious water problems in Todos Santos, where studies have shown the aquifer is severely challenged if not depleted, and many sections of Todos Santos go without water while Tres Santos taps the municipal system. Nor does the article really address the cultural impact of this huge development

At one time, the wet coast of Costa Rica was ethnic, alittle primitive retaining the historical cuture of the area. Now, some years later, most of the towns are littered with US style fast food restaurants, strip bars, homes built without operational sanitary infrastructure (so when it rains, the cesspools flood into the ocean)..and endless bars with people acting much different than they would back in their home towns. Progress you say...so it goes!

A desalination plant for all their potable water needs? Well, that should cover about 1% of the resort's overall water consumption, the rest of which will presumably come from the public water supply, which, this being Mexico, we can assume is already overstretched. Or maybe they'll drill for water and lower everybody else's water table. And what will power this vestigial desalination plant, and what will be its carbon footprint? Sustainable, eh?