Twentynine Palms planning commission forwards housing element progress report to city council

The City of Twentynine Palms Planning Commission on Tuesday accepted the city's housing element annual progress report and general plan status report and voted to forward both to the City Council and the state.

The community development director told the commission that the city issued 24 residential dwelling units in calendar year 2024 and noted the city's Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) of 965 units to be constructed by the end of 2029. The director said the state does not require a public hearing for this report but the city held one in this instance.

The director said there were no general plan amendments processed last year and that the engineering division provided a spreadsheet of public works projects tied to the general plan status report. He said there were eight public engineering projects on the list, with two or three substantially complete, and that projects included neighborhood safety improvements, high-crash signalized intersections and safe routes to school work along El Paso (about 2 miles of improvements). The staff recommendation was that the commission accept the reports and forward them to the City Council for its information and onward submittal to the state.

A commissioner moved to accept and forward the housing element annual progress report and general plan status report; another commissioner seconded the motion. The motion was approved (vote tally not specified in the transcript).

During discussion after the motion, a commissioner requested that the commission review Residential Development Standards (19.6904) in a future agenda item to ensure the standards are synchronized with ongoing work on mobile home specialty parks. Staff said that item could be placed on a future agenda.

The commission's action forwards municipal reporting on housing production and the general plan's project list to the City Council and creates a follow-up direction to review a specific residential development code section.

Details from the meeting: - Housing units issued in 2024: 24 (staff-reported). - RHNA allocation cited by staff: 965 units due by the end of 2029 (staff-reported). - General plan amendments processed in 2024: none (staff-reported). - Public engineering projects listed: eight total; two or three noted as essentially completed (staff-reported).

The reports will appear on the City Council record and, per staff, be forwarded to the state as required by reporting guidance.