It was a packed Yucca Valley Planning Commission meeting last night, as commissioners discussed several issues during their three-hour-long meeting. Managing Editor Tami Roleff tells us what piqued the public’s interest…
More than 40 people were at last night’s Yucca Valley Planning Commission meeting, in which commissioners discussed exemptions from home occupation permits for art studios. Twelve of the 13 speakers supported exemptions and said they rarely had visitors to their studios—except during the annual art tours—and urged the town to do whatever it could to support local artists, such as exempting them from home occupation permits.
Esther Shaw: “Studios are not a home store, they’re just where we work.” Scott McKone: “We are not in it for profit. It’s a stretch to say we consider it a gainful occupation.” Ed Keesling: “It’s in the best interest of Yucca Valley to exempt our studios because we are a benefit to the town—hotels, gas stations, and restaurants—rather than a detriment.”
Paul Klopfenstein, president of the Morongo Basin Cultural Arts Council, explained how the annual Open Studio Art Tours attracts tourists. “The Open Studio Art Tours brought in 7,000 people last year. We had over 500 people at our studio. The number of people from out of town is phenomenal.”
Sheldon Hough: “Having a business is entirely different than artists. Art studios should be exempt.”
Commissioners agreed that art studios should be exempt, and sent the change to the Town Council for approval, with a notation that council members should discuss how many people an artist should be allowed to employ, and whether they should be required to be members of the artists’ families.
Next the commissioners told the owner of the Yucca Valley RV Park that they would only allow an additional two RV spaces in the park, instead of the four that he requested, and that had been in use now for several years. They also required that he add additional parking and restore a dump station to the park.
Finally, the commissioners could not decide on a new time for their meetings, and so they postponed the decision to a later meeting.
