BIRD WATCHING PLATFORMS:
P4 aims to host a handful of amenities which, collectively, would simultaneously act as a bird sanctuary. Bird watching platforms, complete with information about local species bird species, could easily be established throughout the project grounds. These platforms would have a very small footprint but would have a big impact on educating people about local desert wildlife.
BURIAL GROUNDS:
These traditional cemetery grounds will be Western themed and will include cemetery plots, urn gardens and columbaria. While plenty of traditional burial plots will be made available, P4's goal for the cemetery is to focus mainly on cremated remains.
CARETAKER’S CORNER:
Located at the northwest corner of the cemetery, this private and heavily fortified area will compose only one acre of land for the caretaker's house. This area will be accessible from a gated entry point next to the main parking lot. The caretaker's corner will provide a source of 24/7 on-site security.
CHAPEL:
P4 aims to build a non-denomination chapel directly in the center of the cemetery for funeral services. This location allows for a good view of both the cemetery and Pioneertown.
While the clubhouse will house office space for the day-to-day operations of this organization, all of the cemetery’s business activities should be conducted inside the chapel to keep member's cemetery and clubhouse needs separate.
CLUBHOUSE:
A large building which can house both corporate office space as well as space for private parties and events. This clubhouse will contain the vast majority of indoor entertainment that P4 is able to offer its members.
"CLUB 51" could be the name of a small bar within the clubhouse. "51" being the number for the California ABC license type that P4 would seek. This type of licensing would allow P4 to sell beer, wine and distilled spirits to members and guests without requiring us to provide food services while still allowing minors on the premises.
This building could also potentially house a Museum, a Library, an Art Gallery, an Arcade (old fashioned or new,) Vending Machines, etc.
COLUMBARIA:
As P4 aims to focus on entombing mainly cremated remains, multiple forms of columbaria will be located around the cemetery grounds, including pet columbaria, private/public columbaria and monument/statue style columbaria.
CURTIS COURTYARD & WISHING WELL:
A small shady little courtyard, complete with an old fashioned wishing well, nestled between the chapel and the horse corrals. This courtyard, which will include the only grass in the entire cemetery, will be dedicated to Dick Curtis, the founder of Pioneertown.
DOG PARK:
A fenced in area with plenty of open space, some shade, maybe some smaller water features and seating with separate areas for big and small dogs. This area will host some extra-fancy fencing and landscaping to help achieve minimal noise interference with the rest of the cemetery.
Dog-poop-stations will be available at the dog park and throughout the cemetery offering guests both bags to pick up dog poop & trash cans for its disposal.
ENTERTAINMENT OPTIONS:
P4 would like to offer a handful of different entertainment options for members to enjoy while visiting the country club. Further time and research is needed to determine what entertainment options will be feasible to offer our members.
Depending on the response to our IPO, we might even consider some grand options, like a pair of professionally installed Brunswick Bowling Lanes or in indoor gun range simulator.
Listed below are a handful of different ideas for both indoor and outdoor entertainment options:
OUTDOOR ENTERTAINMENT: Batting Cages, Outdoor Bowling lanes, Cornhole Courts, Horse Shoes Boxes, Miniature Golf, Marble Racing,Shuffleboard Courts, Vending Machines, Etc.
INDOOR ENTERTAINMENT: Air Hockey Tables, Arcade/Pinball Games, Dart Boards, Food/Drink Options, Foosball Tables, Indoor Golfing Simulator, Marble Racing, Pool Tables, Indoor Shooting Range Simulator, Vending Machines. . . and possibly 2 Brunswick Bowling Lanes (Only $5oo,ooo+/-)
HIKING AND RIDING TRAIL:
"Preservation Path" is the current working title for a path that would connect the cemetery to Mane Street without crossing any paved roads. Establishing this path for equestrian and hiking will only be possible if Wildlands is willing to work with us.
The current path starts around the corner of Monterry Road and Cimarron Road and trails across the north side of Stud Valley before turning south through the wash and following Curtis Road to the east end of Mane Street.
If you were to walk a figure-eight over the current layout of the roads through Pioneertown Preservation Park, you'd cover 1/3 of a mile. This covers an equal share of uphill, flat and downhill sections. As the roads will all include a walking/riding trail, guests will always have the option of walking, hiking or riding their horses within the cemetery.
HORSE CORRALS FOR RIDERS:
A handful of smaller sized horse corrals for equestrian visitors to board their horses while visiting Pioneertown Preservation Park.
These corrals will be located next to Curtis Courtyard and the chapel in the center of the cemetery. Riders will enter the cemetery from the same entry gate as vehicles and will only need to follow a trail paralleling the cemetery road for about 5oo' before they can board their horses and enjoy the park.
OUTDOOR THEATER:
P4 will offer private clubhouse events for its members, including movie screenings. The north side of the clubhouse will house a frame for a projection screen and the main parking lot will double as the gathering grounds for both cars of guests and those wishing to watch from chairs or blankets.
A short, decorative stone wall will divide the clubhouse from the parking lot. This wall will also house a secured location for housing a digital projector wired directly to the clubhouse to allow for easy projecting from a medial source from inside. Additionally, we could stream the same feed to multiple screens inside the clubhouse and the shaded picnic area beside the pond.
PARKING LOTS/SPACES: (+/- 5o Parking Spaces)
Main Parking Lot: A large parking lot that will allow easy access to the clubhouse, the pond and other park features. This will be designed in a circular fashion to allow easy access and exiting for larger vehicles. This parking lot will likely contain around 14 parking spaces.
Central Parking Lot: A small parking lot centrally located to allow easy access to the chapel for funeral services. This parking lot will likely contain around 8 parking spaces.
Lower Parking Lot: A small parking lot directly next to the main entry. This parking lot will come in handy for anyone wishing to visit the lower levels of the cemetery. Security is also likely to utilize this area. This lot will likely only offer around 8 parking spaces.
Lower-level/Cemetery Road: The road on the lower level running parallel with Monterry Road will have road-side parking, offering around 2o parking spaces.
PET CEMETERY:
Ideally, P4 would like to offer the burial and entombing of both humans and animals in a co-mingled fashion. Current California laws make that rather difficult for cemeteries. In the event that we are not permitted to mix humans and their pets together, then separate pet cemetery grounds will be established in the southeast corner of the cemetery.
PUMPING/BAMBI-BUCKET STATION:
This pumping station located next to the pond will help get water across the cemetery. But this station (and possibly others) will also be equipped with roof-mounted water guns and a Bambi Bucket station to help fight off potential wildfires.
Bambi Buckets are what helicopters use to carry water to wildfires. If there is ever another major wildfire in the area, having a steady supply of water ready for helicopters to use would make for a great defense!
POND & STREAMS:
In addition to being one of the most beautiful park features P4 hopes to offer, this pond will actually serve many different purposes. Not only will the pond work in conjunction with the Bambi Bucket system, but the streams that will branch off from this pond will help distribute water to the few areas that will be landscaped.
While the idea sounds grand, the majority of this water system would actually be gravity fed, providing a very low energy cost. The pond will be stocked with fish and vending machines with fish food will be available nearby allowing guests to feed the fish for us. The Joshua Tree Lakes and the Hawk’s Landing Golf Club both have great examples of what this pond could look like. Though P4's plans for a pond are only a small fraction of the size of both those examples.
These features will provide an option currently unavailable anywhere in the Morongo Basin: an area where one may be buried next to running water.
Other random but notable perks: having a large body of easily accessible water in the center of the cemetery could come in handy if another wildfire tries to burn through the area. Another perk would be the great deal of wildlife that would thrive from the introduction of water to the area.
Very Rough Estimate Of The Water Required For A Big Pond:
It is hard to say how big the pond will be. But for this example, say that the pond is roughly a foot and a half deep, twenty-five feet wide and a hundred feet long. That's 1.5' TALL x 25' WIDE x 1oo' LONG = 3,75o Square Feet x 7.48 Gallons per Square Foot = 28,o5o Gallons. So we’d need roughly 25,o5o gallons to fill it up and an estimated 35o-7oo gallons of water a day to keep it up. But we wouldn’t ever need any landscaping water.
That sounds like a lot of water to use! But it'd actually take less water to fill this pond than it would take to fill a large swimming pool. And the daily maintenance would require the equivalent of about the same amount of water used daily by 4-8 people indoors within the USA. The USGS estimates each person uses about 8o-1oo gallons of water per day, for indoor home uses.
So think of it this way: the pond might use a lot of water, but it will benefit any resident of Pioneertown that wants to take advantage of it. There are easily 4-8 tourists staying in town every day and the water they use, the same amount we'd need for a pond, doesn't benefit Pioneertown in the least. Similarly, the next two houses that are built or become occupied in Pioneertown will easily consume more water daily than P4 will need to supply this pond.
RIDES TO & FROM MANE STREET:
Offering a ride option to/from Pioneertown Preservation Park would help to ensure that members would have easy access to the cemetery in addition to potentially cutting back on the number of cars parked in our parking lots. Members wishing to visit the park without driving up the hill could arrange to be picked up and dropped off at Mane Street, or possibly even anywhere else in the 92268 zip code.
ROADS:
The majority of the roads throughout the park will be designated one-direction and will be only one lane. All roads will host a walking/riding trail on one side.
The road on the far east end of the property will host two lanes as well as parking along the side of the road for easy access to the cemetery grounds. There will likely be room for about 2o parking spaces along this stretch of the road.
On the upper level, the road connecting the clubhouse to the lower levels will host two lanes, but no road-side parking.
If the county won't allow dirt or gravel roads throughout the cemetery, then P4 aims to find the best suited rustic pavement possible.
SHADED/PICNIC AREAS:
A large shaded area will be available directly next to the pond for members to enjoy things like picnics, bird watching and possibly barbecuing.
A handful of smaller similar shaded areas with seating will be made available throughout the cemetery.
STAGED OLD-TIMEY WESTERN CEMETERY:
This very small area would likely be staged directly south of the lower parking lot. It would simply be a staged old ghost town type of cemetery which would provide a fun spot for members to see and visit.
STORAGE AREA:
Located between the caretaker's corner and the main parking lot, this area will be used to store the cemetery's heavy machinery, landscaping equipment, physical property, etc.
Mane Street themed decorating will keep this area from becoming an eyesore while keeping it inaccessible to non-staff members.
This would likely be the best place to install solar panels for powering the cemetery as it won't be viewable from the cemetery or Pioneertown.
WELLNESS STATIONS:
Health and fitness zones spread out around the picnic area and the dog park would offer guests a place to learn about health and fitness while exercising or stretching.
A similar example can be seen at the Ruth Hardy Park in Palm Springs.
XTRA LARGE X-MAS TREE:
A large pine tree will stand tall between the clubhouse and the pond. Aside from offering shade in the summertime, this tree will be decorated and illuminated each Christmas season.
This annually decorated Christmas tree will be viewable from all of Pioneertown each holiday night. It would be fun to incorporate special decorations for P4 members in addition to traditional holiday lights.
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.. Happy Trails!