ON THE AGENDA: Planning Commission / Homeless Committee, March 19, 2024
ON THE AGENDA: Planning Commission / Homeless Committee, March 19, 2024
Expired 29 Palms Farmers Market CUP Contingent on Commission Approval
The latest City of Twentynine Palms Planning Commission meeting will take place at City Hall this upcoming Tuesday, March 19, at 5 pm. Similar to previous meetings, this month’s agenda is short. The agenda packet can be found on the City’s website, which will also have a livestream link on the day of the meeting for home-based viewing.
The recording will be available for viewing later on the City's YouTube channel.
The Planning Commission will leap into two agenda items at this week's meeting. Included on the agenda is a public hearing on the 29 Palms Farmers Market. The Housing and Homeless Committee will convene following the public hearing. The City has not live-streamed or recorded Committee meetings, leaving little record of these discussions. Therefore, if you are interested in housing and homeless issues, it’s important to attend these meetings in person.
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 sheet for public comments or agenda item comments and hand it to the staff usually sitting at the desk at the front of room on the right side. You have 3 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.
CONSENT CALENDAR
Items 1 and 2 on the consent calendar for this meeting consists of the approval of the minutes from the February 6 and February 20 meetings.
PUBLIC HEARINGS
29 Palms Farmers Market. The 29 Palms Farmers Market is a weekly market that takes place at Freedom Plaza, located at 73551 Twentynine Palms Highway.
Since 2019, Roger Thomas has operated the Market under a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) issued by the City. The permit was updated in 2022 when the Market moved from Bucklin Park to Freedom Plaza. That CUP expired February 1, 2024. Before the Commission is a new CUP with additional conditions that would extend Thomas’ operation until 2028.
The packet for this agenda item includes a Staff Report from the Assistant Planner and an undated letter from the Parks and Recreations Department, which is responsible for renting City-owned spaces like Freedom Plaza.
The report includes language from the Assistant Planner critical of prior conditions for approval, calling them "vague.”
As it stands, the conditions of approval are relatively vague in nature with regards to basic site plan requirements, business / environmental health license records of vendors, and performance / cleanup expectations.
The report goes on to mention complaints about the Market, “including trash disposal, lack of appropriate permits and lack of adequate access” and that cites two sections of the current conditions of approval that have been violated, “condition #6 pertaining to mats/ground covering and condition #7 pertaining to trash receptacles and trash removal.”
The Assistant Planner then lists “enhancements” to the existing conditions intended to address several issues including:
raising the insurance requirement from $1 million to $2 million
submitting a list of current vendors on a quarterly basis and notifying the City of any new vendors
requiring all vendors to obtain a business license but allowing for new vendors to test out the market on a limited basis
requiring all food vendors to obtain required permits from the City, the County, and the State
the submission of “a complete and accurate site plan.”
The Market will also be subject to four inspections per year.
Some of these changes, such as requiring a business license, were in the City Farmers Market ordinance, but not called out explicitly in the prior conditions of approval.
The letter from Parks and Recreation outlined several additional concerns such the need for music licensing to cover the performance of copyrighted music at the park, restricting the walking of dogs in the market, the returning of the Plaza to its original pre-Market condition, and the need for regular health and fire safety inspections. Parks and Recreation also noted that the Market has been using Freedom Plaza free of charge and should begin to pay the daily $132 rental fee.
The Parks and Recreation letter also states that “Numerous Vendors at the 29 Palms Farmers’ Market do not have a valid City of Twentynine Palms Business License” but did not include supporting documentation so The Desert Trumpet sought clarification.
When asked if any members of the Parks and Recreations staff had personally observed any business and health code violations, Parks and Recreations Coordinator Scott Clinkscales was unable to offer specific infractions, but mentioned that he was aware of two vendors who lacked business licenses. Desert Trumpet staff visited the Market and polled two vendors chosen at random about the licenses with opposite results: one shared that a business license was required and that they were in possession of a license, while the other did not possess a license and stated they were unaware that one was required until recently.1
As the current Conditional Use Permit is still in limbo, the upcoming Planning Commission meeting offers an opportunity to iron out details and standardize CUP standards. Facebook, specifically the What’s Going on in 29 Palms Facebook community, offers a sneak peek into what is sure to be a lively and interesting conversation during the public comment session found at the meeting.
STUDY SESSION: Housing and Homeless Committee - Updates. No additional information was available in the agenda.
Solar Farm scoping meeting. On Thursday, March 21, 5 pm, Patriotic Hall, the City of Twentynine Palms is holding a public scoping meeting on the solar project that E-Group PS, LLC, is proposing to build in the City. In addition to the scoping meeting, the public is invited to submit public comment—the deadline is March 29. Comments should be mailed Community Development Director Keith Gardner at City Hall, 6136 Adobe Rd., Twentynine Palms, CA 92277 or emailed to him at kgardner@29palms.org. Details can be viewed on the City website.
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Editors note 3/18/24: The conversation with Scott Clinkscales was updated to include license information on two unnamed vendors, and the Desert Trumpet sentence was updated to indicate that the two vendors spoken to were randomly chosen.
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I'm concerned whether or not there is a problem with people enjoying the open air atmosphere at the twenty nine farmer's market while walking their dogs -- and if so, what sort of problems and what sort of restriction would be put in place?
The market is an enormous financial boom to local businesses because it brings in people in that otherwise would not come to twenty nine.
It is my hope the that the city does not screw-up what people enjoy -- and that is an an outing with their dog while shopping for produce.
I'd take my dog there, walk around, shop, and it's clearly visible that people even without dogs are extremely happy being around "man's (and women's) best friend" and their dog owners.
Can someone be so kind as to explain what the problem might be? To the city I say don't screw this up, please.
The JT Farmers Market doesn't appear to foster concerns about having dogs at the market.