REPORT: 29 PALMS PLANNING COMMISSION HEARING, APRIL 5, 2022

Planning Commission fails to come to agreement on STVHR Ordinance

On April 5, 2022 the 29 Palms Planning Commission held a Public Hearing to consider approving their own recommendations on STVHRs to be referred to City Council. The meeting was advertised two weeks in advance and thus when it turned up that only Commissioners Gilbert Mendoza, Jim Krushat and Max Walker could be present, the meeting had to be held anyway. The upshot of that few Commissioners being present was a final split vote 2-1. The hold out was Jim Krushat who insisted that if a 12% cap were imposed on single family homes receiving a STVHR permit, it followed that there should be a corresponding cap on the number of homes one entity could permit as STVHRS (he said 2). Krushat said otherwise the corporate real estate investors would show up and snap up the permits until they ran out.

After the split vote, the City Attorney immediately announced that without a majority 3-0 vote, no recommendations could be passed on to the Council for a vote at their May 10 meeting.

Subsequent communication with City Manager Frank Luckino indicates he has instructed the material voted upon to be given to the City Council anyway. He claims the vote constitutes a “no action”…similar to, according to him, a 2-2 vote. When queried, he says the final ordinance documents voted upon by the STVHR Ad Hoc Committee, which recommend the 2 permit per entity cap, would also be included in the packets given to the Council for May 10.

The personal opinion of this author is that a 2-1 vote is a rejection, not a “no action”. I believe there will be discussions with the City Attorney before the May 10 meeting to clear up these definitions.