Picture this. The untouched hillside set at the western outskirts of Chapala transformed into a self-contained burgh comprising 3,045 condo apartments – incorporated into five high-rise towers built above a multi-level, full service commercial plaza – plus 426 townhouse villas, all geared to accommodate a rising wave of baby boomer retirees.
That’s the bare bones summary of the controversial pitch for LakeCity Chapala presented to a throng of about 300 local expats on Monday, April 6 at Club Nautico in Ajijic’s La Floresta subdivision.
The 60-minute presentation began with introductory remarks by Joaquin Soria Palacios, vice president of Grupo Naimar, the LakeCity development company, followed by a detailed exposition provided in fluent English by Ingrid Sacre, the outfit’s independent consultant on assisted living.
From the outset it became apparent many in the audience arrived with pre-conceived notions and firm rejection of the project, reflected in jeers, heckling and aggressive questioning that started almost as soon as the speakers opened their mouths. Other more receptive listeners approached Soria and Sacre as the meeting broke up to apologize for the boorish manners of some of their compatriots.
Despite the hostile environment, Sacre maintained her composure as she rattled off facts, figures and other particulars of an astonishingly ambitious venture that appears to be moving forward with the tactic blessing of the municipal government.
–Location: the essentially uninhabited hillside situated just west of the Barrio de Lourdes and across the road from the Hotel Montecarlo on Avenida Hidalgo.
–Project investment: Six billion pesos (close to 400 million dollars at current exchange rates), all coming from private sources.
–Market study: conducted by the University of Guadalajara’s Institute of Development and Technology Innovation for Small and Medium Enterprises (IDIT), CUCEA Economic and Administrative Sciences Campus.
–Development time frame: Construction projected to begin in about six months, proceeding in three stages aimed for completion within three years.
–Condo-apartments: 1 and 2 bedroom units built in each of the 29-story towers. Selling price for larger units, with 75 square meters (M2) of indoor living space and a 25-M2 outdoor terrace: about $US150,000. Townhouses: spread out over upper elevations, priced from $US180,000.
–Ground-level commercial complex: includes a convention center to hold up to 5,000 persons, a 700-room hotel, a 4,000 M2 hospital specializing in geriatric care, a health spa with natural thermal waters, a casino and a massive shopping mall.
–Special amenities: A cable car for getting around the grounds. Horseback riding and ecotourism activities.
Sacre was bombarded with diverse questions on building and legal technicalities. Major concerns centered on the essential infrastructure needed to sustain a complex of such magnitude, such as water supply resources, sewage treatment, and added pressures on congested roadways. Another worry was how well high-rise structures will stand up to earthquakes and geological fault lines that run through the local landscape.
Studies on these issues have been “taken care of” and appropriate solutions will “eventually” be addressed by government authorities, she replied. Skeptics in the audience guffawed at the vague answers.
And on the matter of government permits for the project, Sacre assured the crowd that Chapala has already issued the necessary licensing. 
Following up on these crucial questions, the Guadalajara Reporter paid several visits to city hall’s Urban Planning Department (DDU) this week, running down staff who remained on duty during the Easter holiday. Answers obtained in an interview with department director Manuel Buenrostro did not completely jive with Sacre’s version.
According to Buenrostro, LakeCity promoters have submitted the preliminary project draft, on the basis of which his office issued a favorable technical finding, which was subsequently ratified by Jalisco’s Procuraduria de Desarrollo Urbano (PDU), a legal arm of the state government that deals with urban planning issues and controversies.
Nonetheless, he indicated that these procedures constitute the initial step toward full authorization of the master plan and issuance of all requisite permits involved, some of which may require approvals by the National Water Commission and Semadet, the state environment agency.
Copies of related documentation that Sacre later provided to this newspaper were incomplete, missing all the middle pages that may contain telling specifications and conditions established by either the DDU or PDU.
Bunerostro made it clear that both he and Chapala Mayor Joaquín Huerta have favorable opinions of the LakeCity concept, envisioning major benefits for the community, such as a big boost in employment opportunities and increased revenue for the city coffers. “This is a first-world project that will detonate the local economy and generate needed infrastructure improvements,” he said.
Buenrostro downplayed potential risks of building damages caused by earthquakes and the geological faults mapped out on the zoning plans encompassing the project site. “Technically anything is possible,” he said. “Think of all skyscrapers in Tokyo and other places prone to seismic activity.”
Meanwhile, LakeCity has become the hot button topic on local web boards, with opposing views and unfounded speculation running rampant.