AGENDA PREVIEW: Planning Commission, February 3, 2026
A great opportunity to show up and speak up
Desert Trumpet Editor Cindy Bernard summarizes potential public comment issues.
Tonight’s Planning Commission meeting at Twentynine Palms City Hall is not business as usual. The meeting starts at 5 pm, and it will be short—but important.
The Commission will go straight to public comments. Then they will adjourn into a closed session. There will be no Development Director’s report. No study session. No discussion of development code changes.
So why the closed session?
According to the agenda, commissioners will discuss anticipated litigation or possible legal action against the city. The public is allowed to comment on this item—but the city has not disclosed what the litigation is about.
That makes tonight especially important.
With public comment as the main event, this is a real chance for residents to be heard.
To make general public comment, fill out a green comment sheet for public or agenda item comments and hand it to the staff, usually sitting at the desk at the front of the room on the right side. Residents have three minutes to make comments.
You may also email comments to Planning Commission members and Community Development Director Keith Gardner and request that comments be read at the meeting.
Here are a few issues on our radar:
First: the Harmony Acres solar farm. Even though Twentynine Palms banned solar farms within city limits in 2012, this proposed 184-acre industrial solar project appears to be moving quickly. It’s expected to come before the Planning Commission for a conditional use permit on February 17. Solar energy matters—but some question whether this project belongs here.
What about housing and homelessness? Planning commissioners once served on the city’s homeless committee. Now, concerns about the unhoused appear sidelined while zoning tweaks and code changes dominate Planning agendas.
The City is talking about making changes to the General Plan particularly to zoning. When will a resident committee be formed to consult on those potential changes?
Finally, let’s ask what the closed session will be about. The Brown Act requires that the city has to describe the case in the agenda. Does transparency remain an issue in our city government?
Tonight is your chance to speak out about quality of life in Twentynine Palms.
If you care about where this city is headed, show up.
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