Everyone expected yesterday’s scheduled meeting of the County Planning Commission to be something novel and it was; only it wasn’t what anyone expected. Assignment reporter Mike Lipsitz explains …
With a planned Joshua Tree housing development the focus, yesterday’s Planning Commission hearing in San Bernardino was to be linked to the public here. While live video link is routine for county supervisor meetings, it was a first for the Planning Commission. Briefly delayed by a crash on the highway at Sunset yesterday, third district supervisor field rep Mark Lundquist still had time to check things at the Teleconferencing Center in Joshua Tree. Lundquist first proposed the two locations be linked for this meeting and wanted all to go smoothly. He didn’t panic at the discovery phone service and Internet were out at the County Government Building, nor did he associate it with the auto accident. Lundquist sent word up the chain of command via cell phone and delaying the hearing’s 9 a.m. start. Nearly three dozen Basin residents waited patiently until 10:12 a.m. when communication was restored and the meeting was called to order. Six minutes later the building lost all power.
Back in San Bernardino, Planning Commissioner Paul Smith, who represents Morongo Basin, motioned that the hearing be continued until March 24; that motion carried.
LIGHTS OUT FOR COUNTY ALTA MIRA PROJECT HEARING, MEETING POSTPONED
