ON THE AGENDA: Twentynine Palms City Council, August 26, 2025
Nonprofit grant recommendations, a Strategic Planning draft, affordable housing updates, and more...
Following a month-long summer hiatus, the Twentynine Palms City Council meets at City Hall this Tuesday, August 26, at 6 pm to discuss an array of agenda items. The August lull is typical for City meetings, and this is the first council meeting since July’s controversial July 22 Ofland Resort development vote, which received 5-0 Councilmember approval.
There is no closed legal session for this meeting. A press release last week from the Center for Biological Diversity and a Los Angeles Times article reported that a lawsuit has been filed against the City of Twentynine Palms regarding the Ofland decision.
The 132-page agenda packet is available here, and our coverage of the previous City Council meeting is linked here.
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 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
Council will commend Kathy Dubar for contributions to the Alex Roth Memorial Food Pantry, which operates out of Oasis Community Church.
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. Fill out a comment form specifying the item you wish to address and submit it in person or send an email in advance regarding any of the items on this meeting’s Consent Calendar.
Items on the Consent Calendar include approval of last meeting’s minutes, approval of a Warrant Register totaling $1,263,133.61, a Treasurer’s Report for the last quarter of the ’24-’25 Fiscal Year, approval of fee increases for an executive lobbyist firm, some municipal and development code changes, and a new policy for the City’s California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) consultant selection.
Notable expenses on the consent calendar include $107,388.91 to Rutan & Tucker LLP, the City’s legal representative, $404,199.31 to California Intergovernmental Risk Authority (CIRA), a joint insurance pool that specializes in municipal liability funding and risk management, and $105,133.89 to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.
The City Treasurer’s report for the final quarter of FY24-25 reflects a responsible investment portfolio, despite economic uncertainty at the national level, with the City having $21,204,785 in total funds distributed among local agency investment funds, U.S. Treasury bills, trusts, and Certificates of Deposit.
Item 7 pertains to the Ofland Resort development—specifically, the zoning change from rural to tourist commercial, and the new open space conservation land use type. Council must re-approve these zoning changes as a new reading due to changes in formatting made by city staff and legalities.
The report does not name the exact changes made between the initially approved rezoning on July 22 with this proposed amended version, but the Community Development Director’s staff report labels them as “various non-substantive, formatting changes.”
Because this is technically considered a “first reading” of the ordinances, Council will then hold a second reading and formally approve the rezoning changes at a future meeting.
Finally, concluding the consent calendar is a recommended CEQA consultant policy update, which contains statements of qualifications from five consultant firms that the City may choose to contract with— Eyestone Environmental of El Segundo, MSA Consulting of Rancho Mirage, PGN of Menifee, RCH Group of Rancho Murieta, and Terra Nova Planning and Research based in Palm Desert. The updated policy does not include a formal conflict-of-interest clause, despite recent public criticism over the City and the private Ofland developer both contracting with the same CEQA consultant for the Ofland project.
DISCUSSION AND POTENTIAL ACTION ITEMS
Item 10. Subcommittee Recommendations for Contributions to Nonprofit Organizations.
At the May 27 City Council meeting, City Finance Director Hernandez-Conde outlined a new grant distribution policy that the City would adhere to when awarding monies. The policy involves a grant agreement contract between nonprofits and the City with strict guidelines on how grant monies can be used, reimbursement of unused funds, three-year record keeping requirements, and an option for the City to audit nonprofits on how funds are used.
The City’s nonprofit subcommittee1 was formed in May 2025 after increased financial scrutiny on how the City determines which types of nonprofits can receive City funds. The subcommittee’s job was to determine which local nonprofits met the legal, financial, and accountability criteria to receive City funds from an approved pool of $75,000. Desert Trumpet took a deep-dive into the applicant pool back in May.
In total, eleven nonprofits submitted applications and presented their projects to Council during a workshop on May 27. Out of those, five applicants received committee recommendations for funding:
29-PSP: $3,800
The 29 Palms Community Food Pantry & Outreach Ministries, Inc.: $32,500
Morongo Basin Unity Home, Inc: $10,000
Reach Out Morongo Basin: $22,500
Theatre 29 (Youth Programs): $1,200
A sixth nonprofit (Joshua Tree National Park Council for the Arts) that was not among the list of the initial eleven applicants also received a recommendation of $5,000 in funding for their upcoming arts exhibition.
The subcommittee did not recommend funding for the following applicants:
29 Palms 29ers Inc.
Girls on the Run Riverside County
High Desert Community Foundation / Ready4ReadingBookClub
The Hope Center (Community Learning Equipping Project, Inc.)
Inspiration's Edge
Molding Hearts
The grant application asked nonprofits whether or not their nonprofit status has ever been revoked, suspended or withheld by an array of government entities, whether their fiscal agents had any open or pending litigation, or whether any unresolved issues with funding sources exist, and to list three years of accomplishments.
Item 11. Approach to Updating the General Plan
In many ways, a City’s general plan can be interpreted as its own constitutional document—it outlines City strategies, goals, objectives, delineates department heads, and sets term limits for various elected and appointed city positions. Similarly, the County of San Bernardino has a County Charter that outlines county goals, objectives, zoning, and land use policies. The City of Twentynine Palms General Plan was last revised in 2012, with five core principles outlined below:
Now, over a decade later, Twentynine Palms has brought in new faces and changed some hats — at a past meeting, Councilmember Octavious Scott asked that the City reopen its General Plan as a future agenda item. City leadership wants to take another look at the City’s general plan, beginning with the City’s zoning and land use ordinances.
The Community Development Director’s staff report cites previously-imposed County zoning as justification:
the City inherited its land use plan from San Bernardino County when it incorporated in 1987. As a result, much of the City has "legacy" zoning that may or may not be appropriate in the locations that have been established.
The staff report gives an example of a neighborhood between Kern Blvd and Lee Road as one neighborhood with what some may deem inappropriate zoning. Examples of other nonconforming zoning types exist throughout town. In March, Council considered rezoning a mixed-use section of land off Valle Vista road from General Commercial to Service Commercial.
The Staff will be recommending a process that includes research into ownership of public and private parcels. They will draft recommendations for land use and present them to each Councilmember for review of land use in their district. Outside consultants will be brought in to do the work necessary to update the General Plan.
Item 12. Draft 5-Year Strategic Plan
This agenda item marks the first draft of the City’s proposed five-year strategic plan. Per the agenda for Strategic Planning Workshop held last April:
The Five-Year Strategic Plan process includes a set of facilitated discussions with the city leadership to identify a shared vision, values, objectives, and strategic directions for what the City will look like in twenty years.
In a long process that has unfolded in stages, the City opted to hire the consulting firm MIG to assist and held its two-day workshop in April that sought to outline long-term objectives and citywide department goals.
An online community survey was made available for residents, business owners, and property owners in which they were asked questions on their views and visions for Twentynine Palms, where they saw the City in 2030, and what priorities mattered to them over others. Community feedback based on survey results emphasized resident desire to preserve the community’s small town feel and the surrounding desert environment. Residents critiqued the survey rollout, noting low response rates, saying the City’s formal survey outreach was scarce, dependent on internet access and social media (notice of the survey was first announced via the City’s Facebook page on May 6 with no submission deadline listed).
A two-year strategic plan was last discussed in March 2023 under then City Manager Frank Luckino. Those priorities are outlined below:
The current strategic planning initiative takes a much different shape then past strategic planning sessions, with outside consultants providing guidance on a five-year vision for the city with long-term goals in mind— think twenty years down the line. Those long-term goals are outlined in the 37-page draft as follows:
Item 13. Longevity Pay One-time Bonus
This agenda item is more of a financial formality—the City Manager is asking Council to authorize a one-time catch-up payment that will provide a bonus to long-time City employees who did not meet the technical criteria of a previously-approved longevity bonus. This bonus will apply to current City employees “who have passed a 15, 20, or 25-year anniversary milestone within the last 54 months and have not received a milestone payment as outlined in the July 1, 2025, Benefits policy.”2
Item 14. Affordable Housing Update
Access to affordable housing continues to be a hot-button topic for Morongo Basin residents. In Twentynine Palms, talks continue on making housing available but firm plans have yet to unfold. This agenda item provides an update on a few potential affordable housing programs the City is considering.
On July 12, the Coachella Valley Housing Coalition, via advocacy by Councilmember Octavious Scott, held a well-attended information workshop on their affordable housing initiative. This program entails a self-build housing program in which residents can put in their own sweat equity into a home that they build and live in.
Seeking to provide the community with other affordable housing alternatives, Councilmember April Ramirez has been conducting affordable housing outreach, with the City securing an Expression of Interest letter from Neighborhood Partnership Housing Services to assist with development of a City-owned parcel (APN 0618-262-05) immediately west of City Hall.
Council previously awarded the development contract to Milestone Housing LLC in October 2022, who then proposed a 90-unit project site plan back in June 2023. Those conditions for approval, however, expired in October 2024.
The Housing & Homeless subcommittee also met, and City Manager H. Stone James and Councilmember Ramirez continue to serve on the East Desert Regional Steering Committee in conjunction with the San Bernardino County Homeless Partnership, keeping informed on initiatives for the unhoused and local funding programs.
The City Council meeting will take place at 6136 Adobe Road.
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. Read our policy for covering Ofland here.
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The staff report does not name the three City grant subcommittee members.