MBCA Meets Thursday, September 11

The next regular board meeting of the Morongo Basin Conservation Association is Thursday, September 11, 2008, at 9:30 a.m. at PFF Bank & Trust in Yucca Valley.

Please join us and add your voice and experience!

Alert! Your help needed NOW! Referendum needs signatures!

The effort to repeal the approval of the Yucca Valley Wal-mart Supercenter by getting a Referendum on the ballot is down to the last few days. We've gotten lots of petition signatures but WE NEED MORE HELP. We need folks to gather signatures and most of all we need registered Yucca Valley voters to "witness" the signature-gathering, as required by law. If you can donate any time at all, please contact MBCA immediately at info@mbconservation.org or call David Fick at 366-9862 or 220-2376.

This is the time to come forward, folks. It's critical that the Town of Yucca Valley be given the message loud and clear that it must follow the law in approving projects and that its citizens will stand for nothing less. If the Town Council is forced to reverse this decision, you can bet they'll be a lot more careful when the next project comes along.

Learn more about the Referendum effort on this previous post and about the Wal-Mart issue on our Website.

Please contact MBCA TODAY and volunteer some hours. The deadline for signatures is THURSDAY; let's not miss our chance by just a few signatures!

It won't happen without you!


MORE INFO ON THIS TOPIC: On the WalMart page on the MBCA Website. Previous blog posts: WalMart, Yucca Valley.

Candidates forums in Yucca Valley

The Yucca Valley Chamber of Commerce will be hosting two candidates forums this month.

The first, for the Yucca Valley Town Council candidates, will be at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the Yucca Valley Community Center’s Yucca Room.

The second, for Hi-Desert Water District candidates, will be at 6 p.m. Sept. 30 in the Yucca Room.

The public may submit questions beforehand, and the forums also will be videotaped and broadcast. For details, see the Hi-Desert Star.

MBCA is also creating a Virtual Forum for candidates on questions of interest to MBCA members, which will be posted on our Website later this month.

Earthwork approved for Black Mesa

The Yucca Valley Town Council has approved a large earthwork for the top of Black Mesa, a volcanic outcrop off of Old Woman Springs Road opposite Aberdeen Drive.

Representing the artist, Andrew Rogers, Copper Mountain College professor Spellman Downer explained to the Council:

...the installation, though long, would probably not exceed three feet in height. The light-colored, contrasting stones would be purchased locally, probably from Whitewater Rock and Supply. No cement would be used, nor would the flat stones be dug into the ground. “We’re only asking to lay the stones on the ground and stack them,” Downer assured the Town. “We won’t disturb the onsite rocks.” Local labor would be paid “market rates” to help the artist get the installation up in about a week’s time, he said.

Rogers' other similar works can be viewed at his Website. Read the rest of the story in the Hi-Desert Star.

Joshua Tree merchants address MAC

The Joshua Tree Municipal Advisory Council (MAC) will be holding a special public meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 9, when a group of downtown merchants will present ideas and findings on ways to make downtown JT more business- and pedestrian-friendly.

Formed under the Joshua Tree Chamber of Commerce about six months ago, the group has been examining existing conditions and discussing the process of creating guidelines to help unify downtown businesses, encouraging tourist-related commercial development and improving vehicle and pedestrian safety, according to David Dawson, senior planner for San Bernardino County.

The public will "have the opportunity to tell San Bernardino County planners what they want their downtown to look like."

Read the rest in the Hi-Desert Star.


FOR MORE INFO ON THIS TOPIC: See the Joshua Tree Community and Land Use/Development pages of the MBCA Website. View previous blog posts: Joshua Tree.

Alert! Referendum to Challenge Yucca Valley Approval of the Wal-Mart Supercenter EIR

Dear MBCA Members and Friends of CEIYV,

A referendum petition is circulating to challenge the Yucca Valley Town Council's decision to approve the Wal-Mart Supercenter EIR. To repeal the Council’s decision, at least one thousand verifiable signatures are required from Yucca Valley registered voters.

The petitions must be delivered to CEIYV by September 12, 2008.

If you are a Yucca Valley registered voter and oppose the Council's decision to approve the Wal-Mart Supercenter EIR, we need your help to obtain petition signatures and assist at staff tables located at local grocery stores.

The following is the press release for the referendum:

"The Coalition for Environmental Integrity in Yucca Valley is sponsoring a Referendum Petition against Yucca Valley Ordinance #194, the decision of the Yucca Valley Town Council to approve the Wal-Mart Supercenter. This is to undo a done deal by Wal-Mart and the Yucca Valley Town Council.

A successful Referendum Petition will give the Town Council a chance to repeal their decision or submit the decision to the voters of Yucca Valley.

Registered voters within Yucca Valley are given the opportunity to make the Town Council listen and heed their concerns about the Wal-Mart Supercenter and the economic damage it will cause to Yucca Valley.

Petition Circulators will be at a table outside a grocery store near you."

Please share this referendum information with registered voters you know in Yucca Valley and encourage them to sign the petition at a local grocery store before September 11, 2008.

For more information please contact David Fick at 366-9862 or Charla Shamhart at 365-3170 or email MBCA.

Sincerely,

David Fick,
President, MBCA
http://www.mbconservation.org/


MORE INFO ON THIS TOPIC: On the WalMart page on the MBCA Website. Previous blog posts: WalMart, Yucca Valley.

Lucerne Valley to hear Johnson Valley's concerns

Lucerne Valley, just to the north of the Morongo Basin, shares many of our concerns regarding impacts of development on our local economies and rural character. The Lucerne Valley Economic Development Association (LEVDA) has been providing comments on Green Path North; the Programmatic Solar Energy environmental study currently being conducted by the Departments of Interior and Energy; and wind energy projects in their neighborhood such as West Fry (in the Johnson Valley Off-Highway Recreation Area) and the Granite Mountains.

On Tuesday, Sept. 2, they'll be hearing from Johnson Valley residents and user groups about impacts of the proposed expansion of the 29 Palms Marine Base and potential economic impacts on Lucerne Valley. Lucerne Valley Senior Center, 5 p.m.

Open Space Group now has Website

The Morongo Basin Open Space Group, of which MBCA is a member, now has a Website.

The Open Space Group was created by local agencies and organizations as a forum to collaboratively protect our unique natural landscapes and open spaces through regional conservation and lands use planning in the Morongo Basin of California.

On the site may be viewed meeting agendas and summaries and group documents.

New JTDOG keeping herd on Katz

The following press release was issued by a new organization formed to keep an eye on development in Joshua Tree:

JT Residents Establish Land Use Watchdog Organization

Joshua Tree Development Oversight Group (JTDOG) Eyes Katz Project

Joshua Tree, August 26, 2008 -- In response to widespread community concerns over a proposed large-scale housing development in Joshua Tree, residents have joined together to form the Joshua Tree Development Oversight Group, Inc. (JTDOG). According to its core founders, JTDOG will educate and inform the public on land use issues, and mobilize the community to participate in the process from an early stage.

"The formation of JTDOG is a direct result of the community's outspoken opposition to the proposed Katz project," said downtown Joshua Tree business owner George Kopp, one of JTDOG's founding officers. "Over 300 residents showed up at the public meeting last March, and not one spoke in favor of this project. Putting 2,700 homes on a square mile of pristine land, and causing the destruction of over 10,000 Joshua trees, is unacceptable to our community, and contrary to the Community Plan."

Kopp stressed that the Katz project, dubbed Joshua Tree Villas, is by no means a done deal, and that organized community opposition could derail it. "There is a mistaken assumption that because Katz's land is zoned for 2,700 homes, he can build whatever he wants," Kopp said. "In fact, he has many hurdles to surmount, and it will be years before he can put a shovel in the ground. Now is the time for the community to get involved."

To assure that the permitting process is followed properly, JTDOG will closely monitor government entities, including the Board of Supervisors, county planners, the Dept. of Building and Safety, and the Joshua Basin Water District. JTDOG will keep the public informed of open meetings and other opportunities for public participation and comment. "So far, the developer has dominated the conversation with county agencies," Kopp said. "The community is entitled to have its say."

JTDOG will hold its first fundraiser, a screening of the award-winning documentary, "The Unforeseen", on September 23rd at the Joshua Tree Retreat Center (formerly Mentalphysics), directly across the highway from the proposed housing project. "The Unforeseen" relates the saga of a mega housing development in Austin, Texas, and its unforeseen impacts on the community. JTDOG, Inc. is a non-profit California corporation, and has applied for tax-exempt status under section 501(c)3 of the tax code. More information is available online at http://www.jtdog.org/ .

FOR MORE INFO ON THIS TOPIC: See the Land Use/Development pages of the MBCA Website. View previous blog posts Joshua Tree, Katz Development/Section 33.

Partying with the stars

The Andromeda Society will host a Star Party on Saturday, Aug. 30, at the Hidden Valley Campground in Joshua Tree National Park. Find out more here.

Our deep and starry night skies are one of the finest and most valuable assets of the Morongo Basin. Careless lighting needlessly threatens this resource. Learn more about why dark skies matter and how to keep the stars shining on the Lighting Issues pages of the MBCA Website. There you'll also find copies of the Lighting Ordinances for Yucca Valley, Twentynine Palms, and the County areas, and learn how to use them.

Besides hosting regular star parties in the Park, the amateur astronomers of the local Andromeda Society also publish a monthly round-up of celestial movements on their Website.