Lawsuit Filed Against the City of Twentynine Palms to Challenge the Approval of the Ofland Resort

Center for Biological Diversity and Indian Cove Neighbors allege City violated CEQA procedures in allowing Ofland to move ahead.

Aug 21, 2025

The Ofland parcel in Twentynine Palms, looking towards Indian Cove Campground. Photo by Cindy Bernard

Today the Center for Biological Diversity and Indian Cove Neighbors filed a lawsuit in the San Bernardino County Superior Court against the City of Twentynine Palms over the City Council’s approval of the proposed Ofland resort project without a full environmental review. The luxury resort project would build multiple new structures including 100 freestanding guest cabins, 25 staff housing units, a restaurant, event space, and wastewater treatment facility on an undeveloped 152 acre parcel in the Indian Cove neighborhood in Twentynine Palms. While proponents for the project argue it will bring needed jobs and tourism infrastructure to the City, the project has drawn scrutiny due to its potential impact on critical wildlife habitat and open space, its aim change a residentially zoned area to commercial, and its location outside of Twentynine Palms’ downtown business district.

The suit contends that the city violated the California Environmental Quality Act by approving the project without considering how it would harm habitat that may be home to desert tortoises, burrowing owls, bobcats, American badgers, and other important desert plants and animals. The project site is adjacent to Joshua Tree National Park and located in a critical wildlife corridor that links the national park to undeveloped and protected land, a linkage some argue is especially important as the desert urbanizes. The lawsuit also says the city failed to adequately consider how traffic from hundreds of resort guests would increase greenhouse gas emissions and harm air quality.

“If we want people to enjoy the great outdoors, we have to support responsible development that doesn’t desecrate it. Unfortunately, Ofland Hotel isn’t a responsible development,” said Meredith Stevenson, an attorney at the Center said in the center’s press release. “The law is clear in requiring projects to identify and reduce wildlife harms, air pollution and other irreversible consequences. The future of this unique desert community relies on leaders following the law.” The Center is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.8 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places that has worked throughout the American West.

The project was first proposed as the Yonder resort in 2023, before being scaled back slightly and re-branded as Ofland. In May of 2025 the Twentynine Palms Planning Commission enabled the project to move forward with a Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND), which contains mitigation measures that must be met before development starts to curtail significant environmental, traffic, noise pollution, light pollution, and archaeological impacts, as opposed to the more costly and time consuming Environmental Impact Report (EIR). The Twentynine Palms Planning Commission approved the project at their meeting on June 25, 2025 and advanced the project to the City Council for approval. At their meeting on July 22, 2025 the Twentynine Palms City Council heard 42 public comments and voted 5-0 to approve the often controversial Ofland project. Their approval vote included:

Approval of the MND, which contains mitigation measures that must be met before development starts to curtail significant environmental, traffic, noise pollution, light pollution, and archaeological impacts.
Approval of an amendment to the City General Plan Amendment to create a new zoning type for City land use, Open Space Conservation (OS-C), create that zone and development standards at the Ofland parcel.
The conversion of the 152-acre parcel from Single Family Residential - Estate (RS-E) to Commercial Tourist (CT) and the new OS-C zoning.
A Conditional Use Permit to grant Ofland permission for the project in accordance with CEQA.

Twentynine Palms Mayor Pro Tem Daniel Mintz summed up his take on the project at the July 22 meeting by stating,

I just feel like just seeing what the folks on Ofland have done on this, listening to some concerns, I see we're not going to please everybody up here. Sometimes I feel like this job is like a referee. Only 50% of the people are ever going to like what we do. So that's kind of where I’m at, and I do support this project.

The environmental impact of the Ofland proposal, and the City’s willingness to move forward despite a lack of a full environmental review, has been at the center of residents' concerns about the project. “This is about more than opposing a single development. It is about honoring the natural harmony of this desert community, where people and the environment are deeply connected,” remarked Tonya Jones, a Twentynine Palms resident, in the Center’s press release. At Council and Planning Commission meetings, as well as public forums such as the Finding Balance Town Hall hosted by the Desert Trumpet in May, residents regularly stressed that they are not anti-growth, but want sustainable development which focuses on revitalizing existing structures while protecting and preserving open space.

With the filing of this lawsuit, the debate around Ofland will remain in the public eye and is far from settled. Whatever the outcome, it will send a signal and potentially set a precedent for the direction that development and tourism infrastructure will take in Twentynine Palms, and the Morongo Basin as a whole. Will we see more zoning changes, building on open land, or redevelopment of existing structures? And how will community feedback, economic and environmental impact be weighed when considering this type of project?

You can read the Desert Trumpet’s previous coverage of the project here.

NOTE: Desert Trumpet staff members Cindy Bernard, Kat Talley-Jones, and Heidi Heard live in the Indian Cove neighborhood, adjacent to this proposed development project, and are on the organizing committees of Indian Cove Neighbors and Say No to Ofland.

Leave your thoughts in the comments below. Please note that we do not allow anonymous comments. Please be sure your first and last name is on your profile prior to commenting. Anonymous comments will be deleted.

The Desert Trumpet

Discussion about this post