By Peter Day
Senior Reporter
Two weeks ago, just a handful of the most dedicated meeting-goers attending the first of three meetings on Lucerne Valley's community plan update. Last Wednesday, three times as many showed up at the event held at the Lucerne Valley Community Center.
The purpose of the March 30 meeting was to"guide the future use, character and independent identity" of Lucerne Valley. Currently San Bernardino County has 14 community plans in use. They were adopted in 2007 with the exception of Oak Hills' plan, which was adopted in 2013.
"What we're trying to get now is an action plan for your community," said county planning manager Karen E. Watkins.
Soon after the start of the meeting, the facilitators — which included county staffers and members of the Michael Baker International consulting firm hired by the county — started the highly involved meeting.
After describing the night's activities, the meeting facilitator said, "What is important is that we stop talking and start listening." Activities included brainstorming the town's strengths and weaknesses, drawing important areas on maps, and writing down critiques of the previous meeting results.
There also was a question and answer period, which indicated an amount of skepticism from several of the participants.
"How does this filter through the whole bureacracy?" asked Linda Gommel of the Lucerne Valley Market and Hardware Store. "They (the county) still OK solar plants, they still approve big box stores (in Lucerne Valley)."
Richard Selby, who chairs the county-appointed Lucerne Valley Johnson Valley Municipal Advisory Council, said "We submitted more than 300 pages of comments on the community plan (in 2007). Someone went to sleep at the wheel."
The facilitators also gave several handouts including the results of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) taken during the previous meeting. The following is a sampling:
Strengths: local businesses including Mitsubishi Cement, Omya, Specialty Minerals, the Market, etc.; well-documented community history; rural location and character, natural beauty; Lion's Club Shooting Range, King of the Hammers; affordable housing; a town of characters; many longterm residents.
Weaknesses: poor demographics; poor road conditions; lack of sufficient medical services; old water lines in certain areas; crimes and drugs; economically depressed area.
Opportunities: development of senior living community; open space usage such as off-highway vehicle areas.
Threats: government land grabs of pristine desert for renewable energy farms, marine base expansion; more electrical transmission lines being installed; big box retail stores driving out local stores; illegal land scraping; drugs, crime and theft; county's opposition to hauled water.
The next meeting will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on July 20 at the Lucerne Valley Community Center.