ON THE AGENDA: Twentynine Palms Planning Commission, April 16, 2024
ON THE AGENDA: Twentynine Palms Planning Commission, April 16, 2024
Consequential development code amendments and a General Plan status report
The next City of Twentynine Palms Planning Commission meeting will be at City Hall this Tuesday, April 16, at 5:00 p.m.
The focus of this meeting’s agenda is a status report on the general plan and suggested amendments to the City’s development code. Note - there were no Consent Calendar items on this meeting’s agenda.
The agenda packet can be found on the City’s website, which will also have a livestream link for watching at home on the day of the meeting. The recording will be available for viewing later on YouTube.
PUBLIC COMMENT
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 comment sheet for public comments or agenda item comments and hand it to the staff, usually sitting at the desk at the front of the 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.
PUBLIC HEARINGS
1. General Plan Status Report
This is the first step in a State mandated annual review of the City’s General Plan. The last review was finalized at the April 25, 2023 Council meeting.
The General Plan consists of a vision statement, guiding principals and a series of “elements” which outline details supporting the vision:
The City of Twentynine Palms seeks to create and promote the economic and social well being of its residents while maintaining a relaxed atmosphere and clean air quality, as well as simultaneously creating a stronger and more diversified economy through attracting arts and tourism development, health/retirement, recreational and clean, nonpolluting industries.These goals should be guided by two principles: (1) sustainability and (2) adaptability.
This requires that existing needs be met without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs, and that, to the degree reasonably possible as determined by the appropriate approval authority, community activities should adapt to the natural environment, rather than the natural environment being changed or adopted to these activities. In addition, the City will encourage high quality development compatible with the missions of the Joshua Tree National Park and Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center.
The elements cover Land Use, Circulation, Housing, Safety, Conservation and Open Space, Recreation, Equity and Social Justice and Noise.
As with the 2023 report, the top planning priority for the City of Twentynine Palms is listed as affordable housing. However no affordable housing projects are listed on the engineering spreadsheet of current projects (page 102) and little progress has been made in the last year except in the area of self build housing.
Most of the Plan dates from 2012, and there have been recent calls to update it, most notably by Councilmember Octavious Scott who requested a discussion be added to the Council future agenda items list at the February 13 meeting. The last major plan update was the addition of the Social Justice and Equity Element approved by Council on October 23, 2023.
The 102 page report is extensive but residents who desire a better understanding of current City goals may want to read the Summary of Goals for each element. We’ve excerpted them from the rest of the report for your convenience and added the Goals from the Social Justice and Equity Element at the end of the document.
2. Development Code Amendment- Chapter 19.90 Dedications and Improvements-implementing a process for establishing legal access and adopting Development Impact Fees
This item tackles two related issues - the establishment of “legal access for lots located on streets where no dedicated right-of-way exists” and the replacing of “Street impact fees” with “Development Impact Fees (DIFs).” Both were discussed at the October 3 Planning Commission meeting but staff has since determined that “a few other changes were required.”
When developers embark on projects on unimproved lots, they sometimes trigger examination of right of way issues as well as infrastructure improvements. The infrastructure improvements are outlined in the City’s General Plan and are underwritten through charging the developer a fee.
The potential Ofland resort development in Indian Cove provides two relevant examples of how this affects developers and residents. Neighbors of the resort are unhappy about the potential paving of Lear Avenue between Highway 62 and Sullivan and have wondered why the developer needs to do it. But the developer does not have discretion on the decision as it’s an infrastructure improvement outlined in the City’s General Plan, which is triggered by any construction on the parcel.
Similarly, there is a road on the east end of the parcel that has never been dedicated on the assessor maps — instead two property lines abut without any indication of an existing road. Development on the parcel triggers the resolution of this right of way issue. Ofland would be charged a fee that would underwrite the costs of improving Lear and resolving any right of way issues or road dedications.
The City has been working toward replacing “Street Improvement Impact Fees” assessed at $87.22 per linear foot with “Development Impact Fees” since July 2020 but has been delayed by changes in State regulations requiring new studies. The calculation of the Street Improvement Impact Fees is based on length of street frontage while the new DIFs are based on “square footage of the proposed construction”, meaning “square footage of proposed structures.”
The current proposal for restructured fees is as follows:
Single Family residential dwelling units: $2.94 / square foot
Multifamily residential dwelling units: $3.16 / square foot
Commercial development: $8.52 / square foot
Office development: $8.94 / square foot
Industrial development: $5.17 / square foot
The proposed fees collected are to be allocated for improvements on Adobe Road, Lear Avenue, Encelia Avenue, Mesquite Springs Road, Amboy Road, Two Mile Road, Hatch Road, Sullivan Road, and Twentynine Palms Highway.
The staff report on development impact fees was published prior to Friday’s Supreme Court ruling that developers can challenge impact fees imposed on them by cities and counties. It’s unclear how the Supreme Court ruling will affect discussion of the development fee portion of this item or whether the fees will be tabled while the implications of the ruling are evaluated.
3. Development Code Amendment - Article 4 Part 1
This item proposes a series of modifications to the development code. The staff report does not provide a reason for why these modifications are being suggested at this time.
Among the suggestions is the elimination of requirements for design guidelines for residential, industrial and commercial structures and limiting the number of guest houses to one per residential parcel. The proposal strikes this provision “New multi-family development shall be designed as publicly accessible open communities, unless a Use Permit is obtained authorizing fencing and/or gating of the development” and allows the creation of gated multi-family developments in Twentynine Palms.
On the afternoon of Saturday, June 8, The Desert Trumpet is hosting a town hall on envisioning the future of Twentynine Palms at the Community Center / Gym. Save the date!
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