District 2 City Council Candidates Respond to the Planning Commission Vote on Campgrounds in Rural Living Zoning
We asked: Do campgrounds and RV parks belong in residential zoning? And if so, how dense should they be?
As we reported on Saturday, the Planning Commission met on October 15, and in a 3-1 vote with one absence, they reversed a decision to exclude commercial campgrounds and RV parks from residential Rural Living (RL) zoning. They set a 10-acre minimum parcel size and increased the density from the 8 spaces in the current regulations spaces to 15 spaces.
The Commission argued that opening up RL zoning was necessary because the zoning they had directed as being appropriate for campgrounds and RV Parks in February — Tourist Commercial (CT) — had an insufficient number of parcels meeting the 10-acre criteria they had outlined.
In a reply to an inquiry confirming details of the October 15 vote, Community Development Director Keith Gardner made it clear the Planning Commission’s decisions went against staff recommendations.
The issue now moves to City Council where, per Gardner’s email, it will be considered after the beginning of the year — landing it squarely in the middle of the current City Council race and leading residents to ask, “Where do the candidates stand?”
Under the current Development Code, campgrounds and RV parks are acceptable uses in rural living zoning with a Conditional Use Permit, meaning that development applications are subject to review by the Planning Commission and can be appealed to City Council. No development applications for campgrounds have been submitted and none exist within the City currently. However, in August 2023, Hipcamp wrote a letter to the Planning Department advocating for easing the regulations. This coincided with an overall clean-up of the Planning Code that Community Development Director Gardner initiated after he was hired in October 2022. Since then, the Commission has struggled with reconciling considerable public comment against allowing campgrounds in the City with rural living landowners seeking to add value to their parcels, also speaking in public comment.
This is a complex issue and we recommend reading the timeline published in August and the recap of the October 15 meeting for context on the candidate answers below.
Unfortunately, we do not have answers from the District 1 candidates to share: Carrie Williams was not able to respond and Steven Bilderain wrote, “As the current Mayor / Councilmember, and given that this topic is currently under discussion and will soon come before the council, I will need to recuse myself from answering the questions.”
It should be noted that District 2 candidate Jim Krushat serves on the Planning Commission where the discussions to date have taken place.
Do you agree or disagree that commercial campgrounds and RV parks belong in rural living (residential) zoning? What do you think of the increase in density to 15 spots per acre?
Paul Razo (District 2): I disagree wholeheartedly. We need to take broader steps to protect our neighborhoods and ensure a greater quality of life for our residents. We cannot continue to sell out our residential areas for commercial endeavors. Residents of Twentynine Palms are very vocal about their opinions on this very subject. We cannot keep turning a blind ear to their voices and voting against their best interests.
In my opinion, 15 is far too much. As someone who attended this Planning Commission meeting, it was surprising to see this number jump so suddenly from 5 to 8 to 10 and eventually 15. Another important note on this is that these parks would require a minimum of 10 acres to move forward, but that 10 acres must also include a 50-foot buffer around the entire perimeter—effectively eating into the overall acreage and opening the door for 15 spots to be built on less than a single acre. I anticipate this being kicked back to Planning for more consideration.
April Ramirez (District 2): When staff gives a recommendation, I believe it is crucial to understand that these are qualified individuals we have hired to do a job. When appointed "commissioners" go against that, it leaves room for mistrust and leaves one to wonder "why?" Mr. Gardner and his team do a phenomenal job when it comes to giving our city direction to keep us moving forward. While I was disappointed to hear that the Planning Commission has decided to reverse their original decision on campgrounds in residential areas, something good came from this. One of the candidates running for City Council District 2 sits on that committee and has "for 9 years." This is a good time for the public to see the irresolute decision-making process that they can expect if they vote for him. We need to be moving forward, not backward.
Jim Krushat (District 2): The present Development Code allows for campgrounds and recreational vehicle (RV) parks in areas zoned Rural Living (RL), as well as Tourism Commercial (CT) and Public Lands (P). To date, no RV parks or campgrounds have been proposed for within the City limits of Twentynine Palms. This may be partially due to the complexity of Development Code for Mobile Home and Special Occupancy Parks (Chapter 19.124). The City Community Planning staff initiated action to make the regulations more clear and understandable.
This effort included a series of study sessions and public hearings to review and discuss proposed changes to the ordinance. In addition to reviewing the Staff Reports prepared by the Planning Department and taking in the comments from the public, individual Planning Commissioners also researched different aspects of RV parks and campgrounds. The quandary is that during each of these sessions more information is obtained, incrementally, which may affect a previous consensus.
As an example, there was an initial consensus that Rural Living zoned districts (which are presently permitted) should be not be permitted for RV parks and campgrounds. However, additional information indicated that the proposed restrictions (densities, lot size, etc.) for districts zoned Tourism Commercial and Public Lands did not allow for any commercially viable RV parks or campgrounds. This led to reconsidering not eliminating RL zoned districts for RV parks and campgrounds. I would like to emphasize that nothing is final until the Planning Commission forwards a recommended amendment to the City Council for approval.
This whole process illustrates the constant dilemma of trying to find solutions that promote tourism and economic development while maintaining the positive aspects of our desert community. The requirements for establishing an RV park or campground are not easy. Any RV park or campground that is proposed (to date, we have none) would still have to go through the Conditional Use Permit process. This process is not an easy hurdle. Depending on what is being proposed, the CUP process allows the City to review the project and may require the developer meet additional requirements with regard to other State and local ordinances. They might have to do a CEQA study.
After the October 15 meeting of the Planning Commission, I was concerned that certain issues were not completely addressed. I wished I had gone with my original intention of recommending not moving forward with the amendment until we had additional time to review the zoning maps (that were only provided that evening) and doing further research on lot sizes versus what is considered commercially viable for RV parks and campgrounds. I appreciated the efforts of fellow Planning Commissioners that brought additional information on existing RV parks and lot densities, but I think we needed more time for consideration with regard to our city’s ordinance. If I am elected to the City Council, I would not vote to approve this amendment until these issues were addressed either at the Council level or returned to the Planning Commission with specific guidance. As stated previously, there are no proposals for a RV park or campground in our city limits. We have the time to do this correctly and have a well-considered ordinance.
Watch for upcoming Desert Trumpet election coverage including State Senate District 19. Previous election coverage included Q&As with candidates for Copper Mountain College Area 3, MUSD Area 1 and reports on the State Assembly race, School Bond Measure C and on our Twentynine Palms City Council Candidate Forum.
See our Elections 2024 tag for complete coverage.
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It should be noted that the Community Development staff's original recommendation was no campgrounds or RV Parks in the City limits. However, this was in contradiction to existing ordinances, General Plan objectives of encouraging high quality development (albeit compatible with our desert environment), and City marketing efforts to promote tourism. Joshua Tree National Park campgrounds are consistently filled and overbooked leading to people illegally camping in unauthorized areas. Dealing with this issue now was the prudent and smart thing to do. Everybody has voiced what they want from the City; new animal shelter, Patriot Park completion, more affordable housing projects, a Resource Center for helping the vulnerable of our society, along with improved roadways and infrastructure. All good projects, and smart development with accompanying economic activity is the way to help fund these needed projects.