The Yucca Valley Town Council met last night to discuss complaints surrounding short-term vacation rentals and a special order regarding the Western Joshua Tree. Reporter Joshua King has more details…
A central focus of last night’s meeting was to discuss a report of 60 complaints lodged towards the town’s short-term vacation rentals since December 1, 2017. The majority of complaints concerned excessive noise, overflowing trash, and trespassing. The Town Council received and filed the report after hearing public comments from multiple sides, with the majority of speakers raising concerns about the impact of short-term vacation rentals on the local community, criticizing the Town for not providing enough information to the public in this area.
Following, the Council adopted an urgency ordinance to enact emergency regulations regarding the Western Joshua Tree. The special order allows the Town to issue “take” permits for a maximum of 450 Western Joshua trees; take permits may only be issued for residential and public works project purposes, not commercial or industrial, or any other use type.
In other business, Kimberley Balch was re-appointed to serve on the 2020-2021 Youth Commission. The Town Council had to amend its ordinance regulating who could serve on the youth commission, since Balch was attending a Low-Desert school remotely during the 2020-2021 school year, and not at a Yucca Valley school. The council also re-appointed Clint Stoker and Brad Napientek to the Yucca Valley Planning Commission and Jeri Melby and Ed Keesling to the Parks and Recreation Board.
