RECAP: Twentynine Palms Planning Commission, April 1, 2025
A new Chair and Vice Chair, plus a study session on City-maintained roads and Development Code amendments
Tuesday’s 33-minute Planning Commission meeting was light as Commissioners chose their annual Chair and Vice Chair then went into a 20-minute study session, led by Assistant Planner Diane Olsen filling in for Economic Development Director Keith Gardner, who was absent. Four of five Commissioners were in attendance with Alex Garcia also having an excused absence.
Study session topics included City-maintained roads and Article 5 of the City development code—specifically, bingo licenses, farmers markets, and bed & breakfasts. With little public comment, no discussion items, and no public hearing, these three agenda items only took about ten minutes each.
Our agenda preview of the meeting can be found here, and video of the meeting is available here. Because study sessions are not typically recorded by the City, only the first six minutes of the meeting are available for viewing.
SELECTION OF THE PLANNING COMMISSION CHAIR AND VICE CHAIR
Article 1, Chapter 19 of the City Development Code states the Planning Commission is to choose their Chair and Vice Chair during the first meeting of April each year. Commissioners agreed to bring new faces to the table. Former Chair Jim Krushat nominated Vice Chair Jessica Cure to be bumped up to Chair and Commissioner Alex Garcia as Vice Chair:
Chairman, I would like to make a nomination of Miss Jessica Cure for Chairperson and Mr. Alex Garcia as Vice Chair. I think it would be a good idea we get our younger members into leadership roles.1
The motion was seconded by Commissioner Leslie Paahana and approved 4-0-1.
Cure, who, per her website, advises on land use, design, and real estate investments and Garcia, a tattoo artist and advocate for the unhoused, were selected by City Council and sworn in to the Commission in June 2023 following the resignations of Eileen Leslie and Jason Dixon. There was an initial pool of fifteen Planning Commission applicants leading up to Leslie’s appointment.
COMMISSION COMMENTS AND REPORTS OF MEETINGS ATTENDED
Commissioner Paahana congratulated Cure, stating she is looking forward to working with Cure as the new Chair and Alex as their new Vice Chair. Commissioners did not have any attended meetings to report on since their last meeting on March 4.
“Thank you for selecting me as Chair. I hope I will not skip any sections next time,” joked Cure after accidentally going out of order on the agenda.
PUBLIC COMMENTS
None
CONSENT CALENDAR
The only item on the Consent Calendar was approval of the March 4 meeting minutes, which was approved 4-0-1.
STUDY SESSION
City-Maintained Roads
Olsen started the Study Session with a quick discussion on the list of City-maintained roads. This was presented to the Planning Commission with a recommendation to receive and file the report. It will eventually be approved by City Council.
Commissioner Krushat asked if there was a difference between Water District roads versus City roads, stating the Twentynine Palms Water District had an assigned name to a road when he had a water meter installed that wasn’t on the City list of roads.
City of Twentynine Palms Public Works Superintendent Craig Stacey was present in the audience to clarify:
We have a list that we adopted from the County when we took over, and we have the names that were given by the County to us. So, that list was actually a list that the [Twentynine Palms] Fire Department had and that we had. The Fire Department used to be under the Water District, so they’re probably going by the same list. There is a certain communication between the two, so that road was named that at some point by the County, more than likely.
“There’s going to be a lot of roads that won’t be on this list that are not maintained,” Stacey further clarified. As there was no vote to be taken and no formal recommendation to be decided, Commission then moved on to discussion of
Article 5.
ARTICLE 5
This item is a continuation of the March 4 workshop, where Community Development Director Gardner first introduced Commissioners to Article 5 of the City Development Code and suggested language changes for Commissioners to ponder.
Article 5 covers many topics, so the Planning Department is breaking up these study session discussions accordingly, this time addressing the chapters on Auto Related Uses, Bed and Breakfast Uses, Bingo Licenses, and Farmers Market Uses.
Review of commercial vehicle parking, outdoor dining, outdoor storage, recycling facilities, single room occupancy facilities, special regulated uses and telecommunication facilities will likely be addressed during a future study session. Mobile Home and Special Occupancy Parks are currently under review; amendments to Article 5 chapters on Community Care Facilities, Emergency Shelters, and Accessory Dwelling Units were updated in 2023.2
On Chapter 19.104, Vehicle Related Uses, the Planning Department is making language consistent with other portions of the development code regarding fence heights and landscape requirements, clarifying length of drive-throughs, and getting rid of a cap on drive-through hours. The ordinance on drive-through operation hours currently states:
The operation of the drive-through of any facility located adjacent to a residential district or residential use allowed in the district may only be operational between the hours of 6:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m.3
Proposed amendments to Chapter 19.108, Bingo Licenses, seeks to ensure City ordinance on bingo licensing falls in line with State of California bingo regulations, which are surprisingly well defined—Article 19, Section IV of the California Constitution and California Penal Code 326.5 sets strict boundaries for bingo activities for nonprofit, municipal, and gambling uses and defines bingo licensing laws for counties and cities.
Proposed changes on Chapter 19.106, Bed and Breakfasts, include:
Adding Tourist Commercial designation to the Bed and Breakfast Chapter. Currently it is only designated for rural living, multi-family, and commercial zoning.
Removal of multi-family designation and replacing it with single-family designation.
Removal of language regarding character of the neighborhood and removal of a minimum lot size requirement.
Removal a minimum distance of 1,000 feet between bed and breakfast locations.
Questions for Commissioners to consider:
Should paved roads be required for bed and breakfasts, or is a maintenance plan sufficient?
What should the permitting process be for bed and breakfasts?
Should other, ancillary uses be allowed at these bed and breakfasts, such as Yoga retreats?
Commissioner Krushat asked how many bed and breakfasts there are in town. The Campbell House on Joe Davis Drive has been a designated bed and breakfast since 1994. The Homestead Inn off Two Mile Road ran as a bed and breakfast up until the owner retired in 2020.
Commissioner Cure did not believe there should be a paved road requirement here. Commissioners agreed to keep the permitting process at staff level and that other uses, such as retreats or live events at these B&Bs, should be allowed pending some discretion from the Community Development Director.
Krushat said he agreed with removal of the 1,000-foot density requirement:
I also agree with you removing that density requirement of 1000 feet from a property line, because that's like 330 yards. It’s on both sides? I thought it was more confusing…
For Chapter 19.110, Farmers Markets, Commissioners responded to questions from Planning staff on minimum lot sizes for vendors, percentage requirements of vegetable and fruit vendors present, whether or not food trucks should be allowed, and whether a cap on the amount of vendors should be determined.
Taking the discussion reins, Commissioner Paahana posed each question to her colleagues—Commissioners were in consensus that food trucks should be allowed. Regarding a maximum number of vendors in an area, Paahana asked Olsen:
Would there have to be a safety report of the square footage of Freedom Plaza?
Olsen emphasized that any proposed changes would not just apply to the 29 Palms Farmers Market at Freedom Plaza but any farmers market that takes place within the City:
This obviously is not specific just to the Freedom Plaza. It's anywhere that anyone wants to do a farmers market. Should there be a minimum space size per vendor?
Commissioner Walker said space size should be based on what is being sold. Commissioner Krushat raised a point about accessibility for emergency vehicles, which led to a further discussion on emergency vehicle access and a general safety plan for the existing farmers market.
Commissioners ultimately requested to bring topics on bed and breakfast uses and farmers markets back later for further refining. The next City of Twentynine Palms Planning Commission meeting is scheduled to take place April 15, 2025, at 5 pm, 6136 Adobe Road.
Remember! The City of Twentynine Palms Strategic Planning session begins today, April 5, at 10 am in Freedom Plaza and will run until 3 pm approximately. It will not be live-streamed but Desert Trumpet will be on hand to file a report.
Desert Trumpet also hopes to live stream coverage of today’s Hands Off protest located at the corner of Hwy 62 and Park Blvd., 11 am-1 pm. Look for that on Substack live via the Substack app and/or Instagram live via our account @thedeserttrumpet.
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Because Commissioner Garcia was absent and unable to formally accept the Vice Chair nomination, Krushat noted that if Garcia does not accept the Vice Chair nomination then they will hold another separate election for Vice Chair.