Last night’s Yucca Valley Planning Commission meeting was well attended by Morongo Basin residents, who patiently witnessed the Commission’s approval of several agenda items, including amending the development code to allow delivery-only medical marijuana dispensaries within town limits, approving a new Starbucks in the Stater Brothers-West plaza, and easing prohibitive pay-in-lieu fees as well as change-of-use permits to make it easier for small businesses to be created.
The Tiny Pony and Desierto Alto were given approval for new paint, and commercial on-site mascots were given greater range for the sizes and colors the statues could be.
But the most anticipated agenda item by far concerned permitting for special events in single-family homes: nearly a dozen public comments were delivered in support of re-opening the previously shuttered Tumbleweed Sanctuary and Labyrinth.
Taking the public’s concern to heart, the Commission agreed to expand the conversation to reconsider occupancy, acreage, and enforcement issues in the ordinance and, most importantly, to include language that supports negotiating terms for “any commercial building” in a residential zone pursuing a conditional use permit.
