AGENDA PREVIEW: Twentynine Palms Planning Commission, January 21, 2025
A laundromat project asks for more time, and a planned recycling center is reconsidered.
This Tuesday, the Planning Commission has a light agenda for their 5 pm meeting at City Hall. The agenda is linked here.
PUBLIC COMMENTS
After Planning Commission announcements, you can comment on items not on the agenda. Public comments on agenda items will be requested when the item is discussed. 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. You have three minutes to make your comments.
You may also email comments to Planning Commission members and Keith Gardner, the Community Development Director, and request that comments be read at the meeting. However, the City has a new policy on written public comments, and they are not always read into the record at the meetings.
CONSENT CALENDAR
Ordinarily, minutes of the previous meeting—in this case, December 17, 2024—are included in the Consent Calendar, but they aren’t in this case. In the past, we’ve seen amended agendas when the minutes have been omitted.
PUBLIC HEARINGS
Cholla Laundromat Extension Request
DePierro Development has asked for two more years to complete building a 3,748 square foot laundromat at 6543 Cholla Avenue, located just west of Adobe Road. On July 19, 2022, the Planning Commission approved the Site Plan Review for the laundromat, and we reported on it here.
At the time we noted:
1. The laundromat will use a recycled water system. 2. Although the laundromat has been granted a CEQA exemption, it will be subject to the same monitoring and mitigation measures for cultural artifacts that were used for Project Phoenix and agreed upon by the City and Tribal representatives.
These measures are included in the site plan review included in the staff report. At the time the laundromat was due to be completed in March 2023, but DePierro, which has developed fuel stations in Yucca Valley and Twentynine Palms, hasn’t been able to bring it to completion. No reason for the extension was given.
Staff has made a few small changes to the conditions for approval. They removed a condition about traffic impact fees from the engineering requirements and added a new condition about development impact fees under Planning. They also removed a duplicate condition about burying utilities.
Per the staff report, the project site is flat and previously contained a structure, which has been demolished. There are several palm trees on the site, along with asphalt and concrete from the previous development. The planned laundromat, according to City staff, is appropriate for the site and “meets all general plan requirements.“
Let’s hope the finished business is not called “Cholla Laundry,” which to desert dwellers sounds very…uncomfortable.
CUP Recycling Buyback Center/Small Collection Facility
As we reported in December, an Administrative Use Permit was requested for the CRV Only Store, a recycling buyback center in the Stater Brothers complex by Maria Khachiyan of 29 Palms Plaza LLC. At that meeting, the Commission directed the applicant to submit a CUP (Conditional Use Permit) and resubmit the application.
During last month’s hearing, the Commissioners admitted their unfamiliarity with the recycling industry, especially amid conflicting information from Antranik Saiyan, the recycling center applicant, and Maria Khachiyan of CRV Only Stores—both of Glendale—and local Johnnie Ward, owner of Pros Recycling, a competitor. Adding to the confusion, the Commissioners received last-minute information not included in the agenda packet, likely distributed by Mr. Saiyan, who was informed by a Planning staff member about a letter regarding recycling center convenience zones.
Under CalRecycle guidelines, a convenience zone is a one-mile radius around a supermarket, requiring a certified center to redeem all CRV containers. The closed rePlanet center previously met this requirement. In rural areas, centers can petition for expanded zones and may receive handling fees if they are the sole center in the zone.
Ward suggested Pros Recycling may have petitioned for an expanded zone and mentioned receiving an $800,000 handling fee. Saiyan, however, argued that Stater Brothers invited him and that CalRecycle supported the location.
The existing space is 1,178 sq feet. A CUP is needed because the permit allows only the use of 500 square feet of the space. In the staff report, it is noted that any encroachment into the remaining unused space is subject to citation and/or loss of the permit.
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