Planning commission forwards split recommendation on eGroup solar project amid dust, CEQA and benefits debates

The Twentynine Palms Planning Commission voted to forward a split recommendation to the City Council on the proposed eGroup commercial solar project after a nearly three-hour continued hearing that focused on environmental impacts, community benefits and procedural questions.

The motion to send a split recommendation passed with two commissioners in favor of approving the project, two in favor of denying it and one neutral. The commission’s action means the City Council will receive the record and the Planning Commission’s divided findings for further consideration.

Why it matters: speakers at the hearing sharply disagreed over whether the project’s promised revenue and community benefit package justify disturbing roughly 140 acres of largely undisturbed desert. The applicant’s representative, Robert Smith, said the developer has proposed an annual community-benefit payment that starts at $105,000 and escalates to $150,000 after five years, producing roughly $5,445,000 over the life of the project. He told commissioners construction grading would require about 40 days and about 1.3 acre-feet of water, brought in by truck, and said the developer would offer HEPA filters to residents within 1.5 miles during construction…