The San Bernardino County board of supervisors approved a plan that would allow the redevelopment of the long-abandoned Lake Dolores waterpark north of Newberry Springs, California.
The Victor Valley News reported:
According to a newsletter from Robert Lovingood’s office, “the Board on Tuesday unanimously approved a general plan amendment and conditional use permit to establish a waterpark, recreational vehicle park, lake, and development of approximately 100,281 square feet of office and commercial buildings.”
The project is to be developed in five phases over five years at the 267-acre property.
The waterpark has been closed since 2004. It opened in 1962 along Interstate 15 about 20 miles north of Newberry Springs, an original Route 66 town most famous for its Bagdad Cafe.
The Desert Way website detailed some of the ways the waterpark’s owners tried to keep it going during the 1990s:
Millions of dollars were spent in 1998 to renovate the park with a stylized 1950s / Route 66 theme. New rides and futurist buildings were added. Thousands of shrubs and trees were planted. The site exploded with color and activity.
Why did it close you may ask? In 1999 an employee of the park used one of the slides when the park was closed, and the catch pool didn’t have enough water in it. He became a paraplegic in the accident and was awarded a $4.4 million payoff. It was a contributing factor in the demise of the waterpark.
This video from 1998 shows how Lake Dolores tried to capitalize on Route 66:
Based on fairly recent photos I’ve seen of the Lake Dolores site, the developers had better have deep pockets. It’s going to take a large pile of money to bring the site back to code and working order.
(Hat tip to Michael Ross; images of the abandoned Lake Dolores waterpark in Newberry Springs, California, in 2018 by Ryan Hallock via Flickr)
Agree with your assessment on rehab cost Ron. Looking at satellite images, the place looks pretty wiped out. Big slides have all been removed. This will be interesting.
The owner is a kookie old guy who has no real concept of what would work at the park and no money to do it .He is fishing for investors but he’s not willing to give up any ownership ,he also does not understand that the water rights in the Mojave desert have been reduced to 30% which is not enough to sustain any part of what he wants to do .Mojave water agency made a midnight ,behind closed doors deal To buy up most of the available roll over water rights using taxpayers money.That move effectively shut down anything they want to do at Lake Dolores without spending a huge amount of money to buy more permanent water rights.