ON THE AGENDA: Twentynine Palms City Council, April 22, 2025
An update on self-build housing, repurposing funds for resource center and showers for the unhoused, a vote on mobile home parks, RV parks, and campgrounds and more
This Tuesday, April 22, 2025 the Twentynine Palms City Council will meet to review a jumbo-sized agenda. The 238-page agenda is linked here.
On the menu is: reallocating funds from a homeless initiative to finance backpacks for youth; changing regulations for mobile home parks, RV parks,and campgrounds; abating a derelict property; and much more!
The meeting kicks off with three closed sessions beginning at 5 pm.
MULTIPLE CLOSED SESSIONS
Closed session, Public Employees Performance Evaluation, City Manager
Closed session, conference with legal counsel, anticipated litigation (4 cases)
Closed session, conference with legal counsel, initiation of litigation (1 case)
Notably, the Council previously evaluated City Manager Stone James’s performance in closed sessions at both its March 11, 2025, and March 25, 2025, meetings, so his performance evaluation is now continuing through three closed sessions. The March 11 session on his performance evaluation lasted nearly two hours.
The public meeting is scheduled to begin at 6 pm. Mayor Steven Bilderain should report the results of the closed sessions after an invocation by Rev. Don Thursby of Little Church of the Desert.
PUBLIC COMMENT
You can comment on agenda items and issues important to you at every City Council meeting. Comments on agenda items take place during discussion of that item, while comments on non-agenda items take place near the end of the meeting. The Brown Act prevents Council from commenting on non-agenda items. To comment, just pick up a green or gold form at the entry desk, fill it out, and hand it to the Clerk, who usually sits just in front of the Council bench toward the right.
Here's the list of Council email addresses to write if you can't get to the meeting — be sure to email them prior to 2 pm on the date of the meeting so they have time to read your email prior to discussion. You can also copy the clerk at cvillescas@29palms.org and ask that your letter be made part of the public record.
AWARDS, PRESENTATIONS, APPOINTMENTS, AND PROCLAMATIONS
Following the invocation, the meeting will kick off with proclamations recognizing April 2025 as Sexual Assault Awareness Month, DMV Donate Life Month and Child Abuse Prevention Awareness Month. The Twentynine Palms High School Graduating Class of 2028 will also be recognized for their work in the Cash for Trash and Recycling Program.
CONSENT CALENDAR
The Consent Calendar consists of routine items usually approved with a single vote. The public is given a chance to make public comment on these items prior to the Council motion. Again, fill out a comment form if you wish to address any of the items on this meeting’s Consent Calendar.
Often the Council Consent Calendar consists of a dozen or more listings, but this meeting's is fairly slim, containing just four substantive items. These are approval of a warrant register totaling $2,372,871.69, including $455,060.00 for the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department and $425,845.73 for Universal Construction and Engineering; updates to remove former Mayor Pro Tem Joel Klink as an authorized signatory on various City accounts and instead authorize new Councilmember April Ramirez; and a short Treasurer's report for fiscal year 2024-25 Q3 tallying gains on the City’s bond investments.
PUBLIC HEARINGS
14. Housing Element Annual Report
Each year, the City must review and submit its affordable housing plan progress report to the State Office of Planning Research and the California Department of Housing and Community Development (report on March 4, 2025, Planning Commission approval here). This Housing Element (HE) annual report documents the City’s progress toward facilitating sufficient new housing to meet anticipated demand.
Like most jurisdictions’ Housing Elements (HE), the City’s runs on a nine-year cycle, in the City’s case 2021 through 2029, so the City is now about halfway through the current HE cycle.
The report shows that the City is falling far short. Just 24 homes were built in Twentynine Palms in 2024, but to meet the HE obligation there remain 965 more new units to be completed by 2029. So far the City has facilitated only 8% of the housing that it committed to help enable by 2029.
Along these lines it is worth asking, whatever happened to the 100-unit affordable housing development the City was planning back in 2022? For example, in our coverage of the May 17, 2022, Planning Commission meeting we reported:
The City is currently looking at a 3-1/2 acre parcel of land located east of City Hall as a potential site. Utilizing funding from the affordable housing allocation from the Project Phoenix plan, and [various] potential subsidies, this housing plot would include approximately 100 total units, all 100% affordable based on market research. This plan includes senior and family housing, with potential for veterans housing.
15. General Plan Status Report
This is a report on the status of the City’s General Plan. Per the staff report, this annual update report is required by both the State and the City Development Code:
This report is meant to outline each element of the General Plan, when each element was adopted, the last time each was amended, and any anticipated upcoming amendments. Additionally, any new policies for implementation of the General Plan need to be identified.
Five of the nine overall General Plan elements haven’t been updated since 2012, and the City lists a self-imposed deadline for updating these elements by 2028. Given that this review process will likely be lengthy and not without controversy, expect to hear more about General Plan reviews over the next few years.1
16. DCA - Chapter 19.02 Authority and Chapter 19.04, the General Plan
Here the Council is being asked to approve a minor change in the term of service for Planning Commissioners to better align with a state Housing Element deadline of April 1.
At its February 18, 2025 meeting the Planning Commission approved an adjustment to member terms of office to enable the City to meet the yearly deadline. With this new schedule, at the first meeting of March, Planning Commission terms would expire and the Commission would select its new Chair and Vice Chair.
17. DCA23-000004 - Mobile Home Parks and Special Occupancy Parks
After 18 months of rumination — including a reversal by the Planning Commission, requesting the item back after previously forwarding it to Council for approval — at its February 18, 2025 meeting the Planning Commission finally approved their revision of City code for development of mobile home parks, RV parks and campgrounds.
For campgrounds this revision would reduce the minimum lot size from 10 to 5 acres, maintain the density at 15 campsites per acre, and leave all other requirements the same as previously.
RV parks would have a minimum lot size of 5 acres, with maximum density at 12 per RVs per acre. They would continue to be allowed in Rural Living (RL) zoning, and the City would continue to require dump stations, restrooms with showers, and trash receptacles.
For mobile home parks, with an eye toward increasing affordable housing options in the City, minimum lot size would be reduced to 2 acres, and maximum mobile home density would increase to 12 per acre.
All these development types would continue to require an approved Conditional Use Permit, which is generally considered to be relatively expensive and challenging to obtain.
DISCUSSION AND POTENTIAL ACTION ITEMS
18. Confirming the Costs of Abating 6045 Adobe Road
This item enables the Council to confirm a $2,527.70 special assessment against a derelict car wash at 6045 Adobe Road. If approved, the property owner, Steven Velasquez of Twentynine Palms, would be given another 10 days to pay this fee for cleanup before the assessment is levied against his property.
Beginning in 2021, City Code Enforcement has served this property's owner with numerous notices demanding abatement of trash, graffiti and use as an illegal dumping site.
19. Contract Amendment for Charles Abbott Associates
This is a 15 to 20% price increase for services the City obtains from Charles Abbott Associates (CAA). Since 1993 the City Building and Safety Division has contracted for roles including Project Manager, City Engineer, Senior Design Engineer, Assistant Engineer, and Construction Inspector. CAA last increased its rates in 2020. Staff report notes that "The City Council could direct Staff to seek other companies to provide [these] services, but it is unlikely that a lower rate could be negotiated with a new company."
20. Update on the Self-Build Housing Project
This item is a bit of a mystery as it lacks any staff report. Since 2023 the City has been analyzing the possibility of producing subsidized housing via a "self-build" program where grantee-owners would build it themselves.
The Council received an optimistic update on this potential initiative just over a year ago, at its March 12, 2024 meeting, when Interim City Manager Larry Bowden identified various sets of City-owned parcels appropriate for this initiative.
However, this was followed by a far gloomier assessment seven months ago, when at its September 10, 2024 meeting, new City Manager Stone James outlined some of the budgetary challenges and other complications such an initiative might face.
Given the City's low housing production in recent years, including falling far short of its state Housing Element mandated quantity of units of new housing, this certainly seems like a timely update.
21. Repurposing Unhoused Shower and Resource Center Funds for Youth Backpacks
Enterprising resident Lynette Ramirez — having noticed the City has $37,010 unspent that was allocated by Council in 2023 to provide homeless services, a portable shower facility and Community Resource Center — is asking Council to reallocate a portion of these funds to a "backpack program for the children of 29 Palms:"
This program would not only provide much-needed backpacks, especially for our older students, but would also have haircut vouchers, utilizing the services of our local barbers; hair care vouchers, utilizing the services of local beauticians; and clothing vouchers, again utilizing some of our local clothing stores. Remaining funds would be donated to a local teacher to help assist her with classroom purchases.
Whatever happened to these City initiatives, the shower and resource center, to help the unhoused? As we noted in our coverage of a March 19, 2024, City Homeless Committee meeting, "the two homeless initiatives brought forward by the public in the last year, showers and a navigation center, have collapsed.”
Since then, as Council approved the engagement at their November 12, 2024, meeting, instead of showers and a service center, the City has reoriented its homeless service efforts around Molding Hearts, a homeless services nonprofit. At this point it’s a bit unclear what’s happening with Molding Hearts as their City-accepted proposal specified an end date of April 15, 2025, and they are still showing as delinquent on their DOJ Charitable registration.2
Council originally voted to approve $15,000 for a portable shower facility for the homeless at its August 22, 2023 meeting.
The service center for the unhoused, funds for which the Council approved at a September 2023 meeting as a “Navigation Center,” was still being discussed as a "Community Resource Center" as recently as Council's January 28, 2025 meeting.
Will 29 yet beat showers into backpacks? Stay tuned.
22. Joshua Tree No Kill Animal Shelter Woof Walk Donation Request
City staff is requesting that Council approve a donation to the Joshua Tree No Kill Animal Shelter's eleventh annual "Woof Walk" event. The various sponsorship levels for this event range from $300 to $1,500 and Council will choose the amount should they vote to support this donation. Woof Walk will be held on May 3, 2025, between 10 am and 3 pm. at Essig Dog Park, 8300 Warren Vista Ave, Yucca Valley.
23. AB 647 (González, M.) Housing Development Approvals: Bill Allowing Demolition of Single-Family Homes and Constructing up to Eight Dwelling Units
This item comes to the Council notionally from staff but really via the League of California Cities. City staff and the League of California Cities propose here that Council vote to oppose California Assembly bill AB 647 and authorize City Manager Stone James to submit a provided form letter stating Council's opposition, which the League suggests the City send to 29’s local legislators.
California Assembly bill AB 647 would alter state housing law to require a proposed housing development containing no more than eight residential units, which is located on a lot with an existing single-family home or is zoned for eight or fewer residential units, to be approved ministerially, without discretionary review or hearing — but only if such a proposed development meets certain requirements. Among these requirements is 1) an inclusionary zoning set-aside of at least one residential unit to deed-restricted affordable housing; 2) that the housing being replaced is not subject to local rent control or deed restricted as low income housing; 3) that the development be served by a public water and sewer system; and 4) that the development be within a US Census Bureau-defined urbanized area or urban cluster.
How would AB 647 impact Twentynine Palms? The odd thing is that owing to 29's lack of sewer system alone, AB 647 wouldn't impact the City at all. Moreover, only a small portion of Twentynine Palms lies within a US Census Bureau-defined urban cluster area.
So, given that AB 647 doesn't even apply to Twentynine Palms, why is the League of California Cities trying to persuade the City to register opposition to this bill?
As this CalMatters article on California’s housing crisis highlights, California's lack of housing production owes to many factors, one of which is opposition from cities themselves:
“Red tape” has a powerful constituency. Its members include... City governments, which generally like having a say in what does and doesn’t get built within their borders. The powerful League of California Cities has opposed several measures to streamline the local housing approval process. It has called such efforts counter to the “the principles of local democracy and public engagement.”
So, apparently — mystery solved!
FUTURE COUNCIL INITIATED ITEMS
1. Discussion on the General Plan Update.
2. Discussion surrounding (i) costs to maintain dirt roads verses paved roads; (ii) what is a City maintained dirt road, a non-maintained dirt road, a road that has been accepted by the City, a road that is private and not accepted by the City; (iii) the City's ability and liability associated with the City periodically maintaining non-maintained roads, and (iv) ways residents can bring non-maintained and non-accepted dirt roads to paved-rural-road standards ready for acceptance into the City's accepted-and-maintained road list.
3. Shade structures around Freedom Plaza and a possible art fixture with "Freedom Plaza" announcing the location.
4. A review and discussion of fees as it relates to Site Plan Reviews for ancillary uses.
5. Discussion on abandoned homes in the community.
6. Discussion on reorganizing the Homeless and Housing Committee.
7. Discussion on partnering with the Boys and Girls Club.
8. Discussion on reviewing policies for non-profits who receive funding from the City.
9. Discussion of a policy regulating the use of City Attorney resources.
10. Revisit allocated funds for the portable showers and Navigation Center.
The City Council meets next on May 13, 2025.
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.
Feel free to share this article!
We have reached our goal of $5,000 in paid subscriptions! We are very grateful for support from our community. We know that many communities in the Morongo Basin are economically disadvantaged, so our coverage will always be free. However, if you have the means to support our work, we always appreciate upgrades to a paid subscription. Your upgrade helps keep subscriptions free for those who cannot afford to donate.
Note: your subscription/donation will be listed as AHA Projects, the name of our fiscal receiver, on your statement.
Per the state’s General Plan Guidelines, 2017 Update- FAQ document, to the question “How often is my (city/county) required to update their general plan?,” it advises:
By statute, the general plan is required to be updated “periodically.” While there is no requirement for how often to update the general plan, the planning period has traditionally been 15-20 years. Some cities and counties update their general plans as often as every 5 years, while others update in portions over time. The housing element is the only portion of the general plan that is on a mandated update schedule- 4,5,or 8 years, as listed by the Housing and Community Development agency (HCD).
Per a March 3 email to the Desert Trumpet from the California Attorney General’s Press Office, “Generally, a charitable organization’s registration must be in good standing to operate; delinquent organizations are not in good standing and may not solicit or disburse charitable funds. (Code Cal. Regs., tit. 11, section 312.).”