CEQA Now representative Robert Berkman of Newberry Springs, and the Newberry Springs Community Alliance representative, Ted Stimpfel, attended a Morongo Basin Conservation Association (MBCA) board meeting on Thursday, February 8, 2018, in Yucca Valley to strategize in a collaborative effort to address the inaction of the county's Land Use Services Department to follow the county Supervisor's order to place Policy 4.10 before the county's Planning Commission for consideration.

    Policy 4.10 is a proposed part of the Renewable Energy and Conservation Element (REC Element) that would help protect the county's Rural Living zoned residential parcels from utility-scale renewable energy encroachment.

    Policy 4.10 was removed from the REC Element before the Element was approved by the Board of Supervisors last August and Policy 4.10 was ordered by the Supervisors to be sent to the Planning Commission for review.  The task of placing Policy 4.10 before the Planning Commission falls upon the Land Use Services Department (LUSD) which has failed to do so in over six months.  If Policy 4.10 is approved by the Planning Commission, it would automatically become a part of the REC Element.

    The REC Element regulating renewable energy development is to become a part of the county's General Plan updating later this year and rural residents want Policy 4.10 as originally written included in the General Plan.

    The reason for the LUSD's delay to bring Policy 4.10 before the Planning Commission isn't clear but residents want Policy 4.10 reviewed by the Planning Commission as ordered, and approved as originally worded.  There is some concern that the LUSD may take it upon itself to reword the Policy.

    Attending the MBCA meeting was Sheara Cohen, California Desert Public Lands Representative of The Wilderness Society who was addressing the Trump Administration's attempt to rewrite the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan (DRECP).  The Administration's directive to reopen vast areas of the desert to corporate development is adding to the uncertainty of the desert's environmental preservation.

    On Tuesday, February 13, 2018, community representatives from Newberry Springs, Twenty-nine Palms, Morongo Basin, and the Lucerne Valley are expected to request the county Board of Supervisors at their Board meeting to again direct that Policy 4.10 be placed before the Planning Commission as originally written.