A lawsuit has been filed against the City of Twentynine Palms related to their approval of the Ofland hotel development. The lawsuit was filed by a group called the Indian Cove Neighbors and the Center for Biological Diversity. On July 22, the Twentynine Palms City Council voted to rezone the 150-acre site in the Indian Cove neighborhood, adopt the Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND) and approve the Conditional Use Permit (CUP).
The lawsuit alleges that the City violated the California Environmental Quality Act by approving the project without considering how it would harm wildlife in the area. It also alleges that the City did not account for the traffic that would be brought to the neighborhood.
In a statement, the Center for Biological Diversity’s attorney Meredith Stevenson said “Ofland Hotel isn’t a responsible development. The future of this unique desert community relies on leaders following the law.”
The Indian Cove Neighbors group issued a statement, saying “We would welcome the Ofland development in commercial zoning, but spot zoning sets a dangerous precedent for residential rural living zoning, and particularly one that is also already developed, also the home to endangered species and adjacent to Joshua Tree National Park. If the City can, with little discussion and consideration of impacts, convert a rural residential parcel located near the Park border in a crucial wildlife corridor to commercial use, they will not hesitate to convert any residential parcel in the City to commercial use.”
The City of Twentynine Palms told Z107.7 that they do not comment on ongoing litigation.
Twentynine Palms City Councilmember Octavious Scott discussed the development on social media, addressing why an Environmental Impact Report was not required. He said, “While researching this project, I learned that a full Environmental Impact Report (EIR) wasn’t required because a Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND) was used instead. That means the environmental impacts were reviewed and could be mitigated to a less-than-significant level, which meets the legal threshold under state law.”
Ofland’s Head of Development Luke Searcy made clear that council approval does not translate to immediate shovels in the ground.
“There are still various designs to be created, reviewed, and approved by an array of local, county, and state agencies—part of those are biological surveys that are to be completed immediately prior to starting construction,” said Searcy. Erring on the side of caution, Searcy estimated construction might begin anywhere from 9 to 18 months from now.
