It’s confirmed:  The Wonder Inn Hotel/Resort proposal will be heard by the County Planning Commission on Thursday, March 23.  It’s time to show up!

On that date the Planning Commission will hear a presentation of the Proposal from Planning Staff, then from the developers, and then from you, the public. They will then vote to either approve or deny the project, or possibly to require an EIR.  

We need to be there!

So here’s what we do: 

• Show up at 9 am on March 23, either at the County Building in San Bernardino (385 N. Arrowhead Ave., First Floor) or right here in Joshua Tree via live feed at the Bob Burke Government Center at Whitefeather Road (63665 29 Palms Hwy).  
• Be prepared to comment live and tell the Commissioners why the Project should be denied.  You’ll have three minutes.  We’ll have more details on ways to comment closer to the date. 
• Write the Commissioners now and tell them why you oppose the Project.  You can write your own letter, or use our click-and-send letter with options to modify and add comments of your own.

Special request:  We need some folks who are willing to use their comment time to read text prepared by our Stop Wonder Inn team to specifically address certain issues.  If you’d like to help in this way, please contact us asap. This will ensure all the critical issues are covered and the Commissioners are fully informed on what’s at stake. 

We’re expecting the Final Staff Report to be released 3/17, and it will include Land Use Services’ recommendations to the Planning Commission.  We’ll update you at that time with final details and any necessary modifications to this plan.

What will happen on the 23rd?  It’s impossible to know.  But we’re taking some encouragement from the fact that the Commission just denied the Flamingo Heights 640 Glamping Proposal, a project with parallels to the Wonder Inn proposal.  The Commissioners gave very little indication why they denied the project, asking few questions, so we can’t be sure what forces were at work.  But we do know that the opponents submitted volumes of comments and turned out in force for the hearing, and that has to help.  So let’s see if we can’t repeat their success!

So let’s get the word out, send in your letters, and plan to be there and be heard on the 23rd!