Rural living is what brought so many people from big cities into our hi-desert community. But according to one county official, the rural living designation is going to be a major factor for the future of the Morongo Basin, and that the designation itself may need to be revised.
San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors and local representative Dawn Rowe was the guest on last week’s Z107.7 Up Close Show, and host Gary Daingeault asked her about the biggest challenges facing our community. She said,
“I would say one of the biggest ones is happening here in the Morongo Basin. Many years ago this area was zoned as ‘rural living,’ what we call an ‘RL designation.’ That means you can build a house or a restaurant, glamping, or a transfer station, and it all falls under the same basket of land use.
Unfortunately, 50 years ago, we didn’t anticipate the type of growth that we now have. Folks have put up houses in rural living, and those folks don’t necessarily want a trash transfer station next to them now. So how do we create industrial, commercial, multi-family pockets around the rural living designation?
That’s the question that remains to be answered, and that’s the biggest question we have for sure out here.
I think a development code update is in our future. I’m advocating for one, but I’m not sure our land use department is ready for it yet.”
You can hear the full conversation between Supervisor Rowe and Daigneault by listening to the Up Close Show as a podcast, available on our website Z1077fm.com and wherever you get your podcasts.
