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YUCCA VALLEY TOWN COUNCIL DRAWS FIRE ON NATIVE PLANT REQUIREMENTS, ADULT BUSINESSES

During a marathon four-hour meeting last night, the Yucca Valley Town Council faced a packed house and residents who were passionate about changes to the development code concerning the native plant ordinance and changes to the code that affect adult-oriented businesses. Town staff repeatedly told the council the town did not have any businesses that met the definition of an adult-oriented business, but the residents who made public comments clearly thought that No Limits, who has a sign twirler with a Triple X sign on the highway, was an adult business. After spirited public comments on the morality of the business versus the owner’s right to operate a legal business, the item was pulled so that the Town’s lawyer could study the changes to the development code and report back in a few weeks. Managing editor Tami Roleff fills in the details about the changes to the native plant ordinance…
When the Yucca Valley Planning Commission updated the town’s development code, it removed most of the protected plants from the town’s native plant ordinance, leaving just two—the Joshua tree and one species of yucca. Several town residents urged the council to add several plants back on to the protected list, and Councilmember Bob Leone said the council needed education about the different plants. “We have to be more learned on what we’re doing to these plants. Once you remove them, they’re not protected, you can inherently change the environment in this community. If you want to go ahead to make it a New York City, then you go ahead and cement everything up and build around.” Outgoing council member Dawn Rowe said if residents wanted native plants, they didn’t have to look too far. “We do have the national park, Mojave preserve. We’re talking about developable land, where we have an expectation of parks and sidewalks in some cases and children and playing and houses and structures for horses. How do we accommodate all that while we preserve nature?” Leone retorted, “We don’t live in the park; we live in Yucca Valley.” Ultimately, the council’s consensus was to add California juniper and pinon pines, and Parry nolina back on to the list of protected desert native plants.

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