RECAP: Twentynine Palms Planning Commission, May 7, 2024
RECAP: Twentynine Palms Planning Commission, May 7, 2024
And a surprise "meeting" of the Housing and Homeless Committee missing both public members of the committee that may be the last meeting for a while
One of the attendees of the May 7 meeting of the Twentynine Palms Planning Commission characterized the meeting as “weird”; items were considered by four of five Planning Commissioners as Commissioner Jim Krushat was absent; staff tried and failed to wrench guidance on Temporary Use Permits (TUPs) from Commissioners; a review of Homeless resources on the agenda was actually a Housing and Homeless Committee (HHC) meeting that proceeded despite the absence of both public members, and a resident went on a three-minute screed stereotyping all homeless people. All of this took place in 66 minutes.
The agenda packet can be found on the City’s website and our agenda summary can be reviewed here. The 35-minute recording is on YouTube. As usual, the camera was shut off for the HHC portion of the meeting.
Public Comment During Study Sessions
After approval of the April 2 and April 16 meeting minutes and an acknowledgment that no public comments on non-agenda items were submitted, the Planning Commission moved to consideration of the three study session items (also referred to as “workshops” in the agenda).
It should be noted that after the staff report on the first study session, each Commissioner was asked to comment by Chair Max Walker, and each said they would comment after public comment. At that point, Walker asserted that “It is a study session. So generally we don't open up for public comment. But since the consensus is people want to hear from the public, if they have a comment. We're going to open public comment really quick.”
However, per Open & Public IV: A Guide to the Ralph M. Brown Act, study sessions are subject to the Brown Act:
There is consensus among local agency attorneys that gatherings by a majority of legislative body members at the legislative body’s retreats, study sessions, or workshops are covered under the Brown Act. This is the case whether the retreat, study session, or workshop focuses on long-range agency planning, discussion of critical local issues, or on team building and group dynamics.
If “study sessions” are subject to the Brown Act, they are also subject to public comment in the same manner as any other agenda item.
Workshop on Temporary Use Permits (TUPs) in Residential Areas
Community Development Director Keith Gardner’s summary indicated that TUPs were being addressed due to inquiries from residents wanting to hold events, especially weddings, on their residential properties, but were unclear about City requirements.
In public comment, Resident Mary Kay Sherry wondered whether TUPs might be applied to First Class Miner meetings, and Anna Stump expressed concerns about TUPs being required of artists participating in the annual Hwy 62 Open Studio Art Tours.
Staff Seeks Guidance on TUPs
Currently, the necessity of TUPs is determined through a long list of event types that encompass everything from circuses to sidewalk sales, with staff having latitude to decide permit issuance or not. The question was whether the public would be better served by a series of thresholds based on potential neighborhood impact. Examples provided included the size of an event, the need for traffic control, or the selling of alcohol.
As Community Development Staff member Shelly Green pointed out:
Chairman, if I might say that I think the only thing that is not clear in the code is at what level how many people would a TUP trigger. So for instance, if you're just having a UFC party at your house, and you're having 15 people over, I don't think a TUP is appropriate. But if you're having people over and you're selling tickets or you're selling alcohol, that obviously triggers it no matter how many people you’re having. But the code is sort of silent on the number of attendees to your party. When this would trigger [a TUP].
However, Commissioners resisted the idea of adding scale or any other type of threshold that might provide staff and public guidance, pointing out that some instances, such as the selling of alcohol, already require other permits.
Commissioner Alex Garcia talked about how impact could differ due to neighborhood density or lot sizes, which vary considerably:
So I think the biggest issue is just the amount of space the area has because it's like Sullivan and there's not much on Sullivan for a good portion of it…. If it were in Sunnyslope near a bunch of houses and trying to accommodate 100 people, it disrupts the entire community. So we do take that into consideration….it's pretty much at the end of the day, at your discretion.
After further discussion other potential thresholds such as events being public or private or ticketed, Commissioner Jessica Cure summarized the Commission’s position:
I would say keep doing what you're doing. If anything, have a guideline, so that way if someone is going to have large event and they come and inquire, they have a guideline so that they don't end up with 300 people in their house and then have code enforcement at their wedding. Because then it becomes a problem. But I don't see the need to change anything.
Workshop on the Planning Process
This consisted of two items, the “authority of the Planning Commission” and “hierarchy of the road system in the Circulation Element of the General Plan.” Commissioners deferred these items to a future meeting due to the absence of Commissioner Krushat.
Workshop on Housing and Homeless Committee Resources
Was meeting notice given?
Although "Housing and Homeless Committee Resources" was the topic on the agenda, the item was transformed into a Housing and Homeless Committee (HHC) meeting. The word "meeting" was not on the agenda item or in the staff report. The Desert Trumpet did not report this as a meeting in our agenda preview.
Noting the absence of public members Veno Nathraj and Andrea Keller, Community Development Director Keith Gardner said, "Our two remaining members were made, to my knowledge, they were made aware of the meeting, but you're not seeing them here tonight."
Generally, committees adjourn to a next meeting date — and this was announced as May 21 at the last HHC meeting on March 19. We confirmed this announcement on our recording of the meeting, and by contacting Veno Nathraj, one of the two public members. Nathraj understood the next meeting as taking place on May 21, not May 7.
Why does this matter? Important discussions are happening in the HHC Committee that are hard to follow if meeting dates are unclear.
The Homeless Resource list nears completion
Community Development Director Gardner presented the current version of the Homeless Resource List, which has been in development for several months. He commented that the list will be updated, that more work could be done on understanding resources in the faith community, and that there are likely more people doing work “that we just aren’t aware of at the moment.” Gardner also presented his discovery of a County-run mobile shower unit and will work to schedule mobile shower visits to Twentynine Palms.
He also noted that $20,000 is available in discretionary funds, “Which sounds like a lot on a personal level, which it is, but as far as constructing anything, it’s not a lot of money.”
Commissioners discussed options for making the resource list available and for soliciting additions to the list.
Homeless or Vagrant?
In public comment, resident Alice Lawson complained in explicit language about private activities taking place in public, and characterized the unhoused as “spending on drugs and alcohol or whatever else they get their hands on.”
Lieutenant Al Huff pointed out the distinction between vagrants and the unhoused:
The big topic of discussion is the difference between homelessness and vagrancy…those that are truly homeless, we really don't see them on the streets. Those that are more of the vagrants are the ones that are impacting public safety, community members, such as yourself, and those are the difficult ones.
Huff went on to point out that they have four officers in the H.O.P.E. program for all of San Bernardino and “the biggest issue that that the County is facing is actually not shelters, but actually homes.” He said the H.O.P.E. team was in the area for a week in 2023. At that time they were in contact with 58 homeless and were able to provide assistance to 42 of them, in some cases that meant providing food vouchers.
Jen DeFalco also disputed Lawson’s stereotyping of the homeless:
I've been making meals for our homeless community, make 90 meals every other day, every week, for the past couple of years. One of the problems that we have is the lack of resources. Now I've listened to what Miss Alice has said and the officer said — most of the people that I help are families with children, we have 46 families in Twentynine Palms that are homeless. Okay, they're not going to be out in the middle of the street or in the middle of town. You're not going to see where they're at, because they're scattered on the outskirts. And these are the families that I help.
We have a small fraction of homeless in Four Corners that do have issues like drug addiction, mental challenges. They don't want resources as far as getting help for those types of issues. But they’ll take a sleeping bag, they'll take food, but they don't want to continue with anything else.
Code Enforcement Officer Chris Giunta added that resident patience with the issue is running short:
…the temperature out there among our residents with regard to vagrants, which they are referring to as homeless, is heating up. I'm hearing more violent language toward homeless people in this past several months. We had a fire on Friday in the homeless encampment and people are getting fed up and I think they're directing their anger to those experiencing homelessness who are not part of the vagrancy problem that we have pretty much in the downtown area.
DeFalco also discussed changes at Morongo Basin ARCH, mentioning they are not going to be doing outreach as frequently and reiterated they are backing out of the heating and cooling center as previously reported. She expressed the need for water to be easily available and outlined her own efforts to supply water and sleeping bags to those in need.
Commissioners picked up on the need for basic resources and wondered whether a system could be put in place connecting those with specific resources (such as sleeping bags) with those in need of those resources.
Further Housing and Homeless Committee Meetings Deferred?
Gardner acknowledged that the Commission is “very much in favor of supplementary resources.” He then suggested deferring further Housing and Homeless Committee meetings “until we have anything more solid to discuss.” Although Chair Walker concurred with Gardner, it’s unclear if that decision can be made without a vote of Committee members, the Planning Commission, or City Council.
New City Manager Stone James had slipped into the audience during the course of the discussion. He mentioned his own service in planning as Director of Economic Development in Cathedral City and concluded the meeting by inviting Commission members to meet with him:
I know what it's like to be in your role and to volunteer your time and doing work for the City, the good of the City and putting their needs before your needs. I just appreciate the time that you've done this.
Obviously, supporting those experiencing homelessness is an important priority for the City. And also dealing with, as I think that somebody pointed out, the criminal vagrancy that's an issue, right? Because we have to address that issue. Because we do not want to forsake all of the good citizens who are working hard to build their lives and to support our colleagues, our economy and support our community. So thank you for that delicate job of trying to navigate those two issues.
The next Planning Commission meeting is Tuesday, May 21, at 5 pm.
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