The Yucca Valley Town Council heard a recap of Mara’s Christmas Wish at its meeting last night. Last Christmas, 2,374 meals were served, and 427 children received gift bags, each of which contained five to 10 toys. Mara’s Christmas Wish is planning two fundraisers to raise money for the Christmas dinner this year. In other business, Managing editor Tami Roleff says one popular event during Grubstake Days will be on hiatus this year…
The Yucca Valley Chamber of Commerce—the organization behind the Grubstake Days celebration over the Memorial Day weekend—notified the Town Council last night that it does not intend to include a parade this year. Wanda Stadum with the Chamber said that the roads in Old Town will be under construction in May for the sewer project, and the chamber searched high and low in both the west end and east end of town looking for a suitable substitute that had space for staging and lining up the parade, parking for both spectators and participants, and a parade route. Since it couldn’t find an alternative location, the Chamber will put the parade on hold for this year. When the Council approved its budget last year, it gave the Chamber $5000 to be used for the parade. Last night, the Council voted to split up the $5000 allocated for the parade: $1,000 for marketing events for this year’s parade; $2,000 rolled over for next year’s parade, and $2000 will go to the rodeo.
Following a closed session, the town’s attorney Thomas Jex reported that the council voted to defend itself against a lawsuit filed by the family of Benjamin Lawrenson who was killed January 1, 2018, while riding his motorcycle on Highway 62 when a motorist made a U-turn at the AM/PM gas station at Balsa Avenue and Lawrenson T-boned the car. Caltrans has since installed delineators in front of the AM/PM to prevent drivers from making illegal turns into the gas station.
Also during the regular session, the Council heard a marketing report in which it was given many statistics about the residents of Yucca Valley and the surrounding communities; retail sales; employment and housing; and more. The town has a population of 22048; the surrounding area (30-mile radius, called the “trade area”) has a population of 70,119.
The town’s median age of 41.8 years is older than the average age in the trade area, San Bernardino County, and the state. The town’s unemployment rate of 5.1 percent is slightly higher than the state’s rate of 4.3 percent and the county’s rate of 4.2 percent.
The major employers in the town are the Morongo Unified School District (317 employees), Wal-Mart (272), Braswell Family Senior Care (209), Home Depot (160), and Stater Bros. (157). In 2018, Only 15.5 percent of town residents work within the town limits; 5.4 percent work in Joshua Tree, 5.3 percent in Palm Springs, and 2.8 percent work in Twentynine Palms. There are 1,280 workers who live and work in Yucca Valley; 2,652 people who live outside town limits but work in the town, and 6,973 residents who live in Yucca Valley but work in other areas.
The highest rates of hotel occupancy occur in February (71 percent), March (79.8 percent), and April (70.0 percent). During the remaining months of the year, occupancy rates fluctuate between 45 and 58 percent.
Retail vacancy rates in Yucca Valley are 5.0 percent, which is below San Bernardino and Riverside County, and the Coachella Valley, which range from 6.0 percent to 9.9 percent for the third quarter of 2018. The vacancy rates for office space in Yucca Valley is also lower than surrounding areas (4.1 percent, versus 4.2 percent to 14.2 percent). However, the industrial vacancy rate in Yucca Valley is higher (4.1 percent) than some other areas (2.6 percent to 8.4 percent).
Yucca Valley’s multi-family vacancy rate of 5.0 percent is higher than San Bernardino City and County and Palm Springs rates of 3.7 to 4.7 percent.
Residents and visitors spent $353 million in retail sales in 2017, compared to $8 million for Morongo Valley, $22 million in Joshua Tree, $112 million in Twentynine Palms, and $147 million in Desert Hot Springs. That breaks down to about $16,000 per capita.
Overall retail sales in Yucca Valley are higher than expected for general and miscellaneous merchandise stores, grocery stores, restaurants, building and garden supply stores, automotive and gas stations, indicating that people come to Yucca Valley to spend money. However, Yucca Valley’s sales of clothing, furniture, health and personal care, sporting goods and hobby stores, and electronics are lower than expected, indicating that residents go elsewhere to buy these items, including online.
