ON THE AGENDA: Twentynine Palms Planning Commission, October 15, 2024
Allowing private commercial campsites moves from a study session to a public hearing
The discussion of allowing private commercial campsites in the City of Twentynine Palms that started in September 2023 has evolved to proposed development code. The first formal public hearing on camping is also the sole item on this agenda other than the approval of minutes. Residents opposed to the idea have consistently outnumbered camping proponents. Will those opposed be placated by limiting camping to tourist commercial zoning and imposition of requirements that would make Hipcamp-style renting of parcels costly?1
The meeting takes place at City Hall, 6136 Adobe Road at 5 pm. The agenda packet can be found here.
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 comment sheet for public 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 three minutes to make your comments.
Regarding public comment during the study session, come prepared to only be allowed to speak once for three minutes.
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
The only item on the Consent Calendar is approval of last meeting’s minutes.
PUBLIC HEARING
2. Development Code Amendment Chapter 19.124 Mobile Home Parks and Special Occupancy Parks
When this topic was last discussed at the August 20 study session, we published a timeline of the prior discussions. In part, the conversation was a continuance of the development code adjustments that have been on-going in Planning since Community Development Director Keith Gardner embarked on his mission to clean up inconsistencies in the existing code and align it with State guidelines.
The wrinkle in this section was introduced a year earlier when in August 2023 Hipcamp began lobbying Planning to allow AirBnb style rentals of vacant parcels for camping, a practice not currently legal in City limits. The topic was introduced in a September 19, 2023 meeting, then continued to November 7, 2023 to allow time for further research. At the November meeting several residents spoke out against allowing Hipcamp-style camping in City limits, prompting then Planning Commission Chair and current District 2 City Council Candidate Jim Krushat to admonish them, equating their resistance to the idea with being against tourism:
I hear this constantly. It's like, oh, we don't want to choose tourism over the neighborhoods. Speaking as somebody who's third generation, I've known since before this town was a city, we've always looked at ways to promote tourism. That was one of our aims.
By the time of the February meeting, research had led staff to recommend against commercial campgrounds being allowed in the City. They also suggested that if the Commission did allow commercial campgrounds, that they be restricted to Commercial Tourist and Public zones and then only with a conditional use permit — and this appears to be where the Commission has also landed as of their August 20 study session, albeit with some concerns about sufficient setbacks should tourist commercial zones abut residential neighborhoods.
The proposals are mostly unchanged from the August 20 staff report for the study session:
Mobile Home Parks (MHP):
1. Defining the density of a MHP to eight (8) spaces per acre.
2. Increasing the minimum lot size to ten (10) acres.
3. Defining the minimum dimension of each space at 40' x 100' (4,000 square feet).
4. Reducing the parking requirement to one stall per unit and guest parking to one stall per five units.
5. Requiring common laundry facilities.
6. Reducing the landscape buffer to ten (10) feet along street frontages.
Recreational Vehicle Parks:
1. Limiting RV parks to Commercial Tourist and Public zones. RV Parks are not permitted in the Rural Living zones
2. Increasing the minimum lot size to ten (10) acres.
3. Decreasing the density to five (5) spaces per acre.
4. Implementing a fifty-foot setback from all property lines.
5. Requiring trash enclosures.
6. Requiring a sewage disposal system (dump station).
Private Commercial Campgrounds:
1. Limiting campgrounds to Commercial Tourist (CT) and Public (P) zones. Campgrounds would not be permitted in the Rural Living zones
2. Increasing the minimum lot size to ten (10) acres.
3. Decreasing the density to five (5) spaces per acre.
4. Implementing a fifty-foot setback from all property lines.
5. Requiring trash enclosures.
We encourage interested residents to read the staff report PDF, which contains further information on what will be required for camping sites, including public street access, screening via walls or vegetation, and restroom facilities.
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Per a recent Hipcamp search there appear to be 4-5 campsites operating illegally within City limits.