NEW COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR HIRED
Keith Gardner returns after acting as Community Development Director in 2016-2017
Desert Trumpet has confirmed that Twentynine Palms has a new Community Development Director (CDD), Keith Gardner.
This is the second time around in Twentynine Palms for Gardner, who in 2017 managed rescinding and replacing the Twentynine Palms Downtown Economic Revitalization Specific Plan. Per a z107.7 report, the revision was necessary as the 2012 plan conflicted with the “walkable, pedestrian friendly” goal for downtown and was needed to accommodate the Project Phoenix development. At the time, Gardener was working for Charles Abbott Associates and serving as CDD for Calimesa as well Twentynine Palms.
In 2017, Gardner left Abbott to become Administrative Service Manager for the Riverside County Planning Department. Gardner discusses the Riverside County Planning Process for Public Works Day in 2019: https://fb.watch/fLchjK342m/
Gardner has worked a wide variety of planning / permitting projects and brings public and private sector experience to vacation home rentals, subdivisions, specific plans (master planned communities), general plan updates and everything in between. He'll be retiring his consulting firm, Keefer, now that he's working in City Hall full time. He has a Masters in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Kansas and is currently a resident of Riverside.
Gardner replaces outgoing CDD Travis Clark, who continues to work part-time during the transition period.