TWENTYNINE PALMS PLANNING COMMISSION SENDS VACATION HOME RENTAL ORDINANCE TO CITY COUNCIL

The Twentynine Palms Planning Commission finished its work on the vacation home rental ordinance at its meeting last night, and Okayed a staff report on donated land. Reporter Dan Stork gives a run-down on the long session…
After a final painstaking session of crossing T’s and dotting I’s in the vacation home rental draft ordinance, the Twentynine Palms Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend it to the city council. Supporters of the ordinance had spoken briefly during public comment; opponents were totally absent from the meeting. Commissioner Bud Wiederhold expressed satisfaction with the process. “I feel better about what was done this time, than about anything I can think of during my several years [of service], simply because I feel like we’ve got something that the public as a whole wants, and that’s the whole idea behind what we do.”
In other business, the commission voted to certify 67 property parcels donated to the city by the Bowden family as consistent with the General Plan. Individual commissioners had misgivings about the loss of tax revenue inherent in the donation, and doubted that the city could ever make practical use of the disconnected and remote parcels, but acknowledged that accepting the donation was the business of the city council, and not theirs.