Despite the Twentynine Palms City Council rejecting an offer from a solar developer, the issue has arisen once again after an assertive letter from the California Energy Commission has come to light. Reporter Heather Clisby has more … 
There was a narrow victory for opponents of a proposed solar farm at the March 23 Twentynine Palms City Council meeting when council voted to uphold the 2012 moratorium against such developments. 
In a letter dated March 27 and shared with Z107.7 this week, Jared Babula, attorney for the California Energy Commission (CEC), informed Robert Smith, attorney with K&L Gates LLP representing solar developer, E-Group, of its own power to supersede council rulings. 
Referencing E-Group’s proposed Geneva Solar Project as a “photovoltaic facility with an AC-output of 50 MW” the CEC asserted its own jurisdiction over the project’s future, specifically: 
“…the CEC has the exclusive power to certify the site and related facilities and the issuance of a certificate by the CEC for a project is in lieu of any local permit, certificate or similar document.” 
Councilmember April Ramirez, who cast the lone vote to accept the offered benefits package and move forward with the project, plans to keep the issue alive. 
“I fully intend to bring this up at the next council meeting along with the hundreds of letters from constituents that I have received asking for us to reconsider this. That day that they voted no, there were more people that wrote in in favor of it, almost twice as many as the people that were against it, and they still voted no,” said Ramirez. “It’s unfortunate but the overall consensus, at least that’s coming to me – people that feel safe enough to come to me – is that a very poor decision was made.”
Ramirez noted that while the March 23 meeting saw many in-person opponents of the project, many constituents in favor made their support clear through other means – phone calls, letters, emails and two petitions – one with 45 signatures and another with 20-30. She stated that the Brown Act dictates that councilmembers must weigh these expressions the same as an in-person statement. 
To formally revisit the issue, Ramirez would have to make a motion and have it seconded by a fellow councilmember for a future agenda item. 
“And what it really does, ultimately, it signals to any other developer or solar project or anything that wants to come here, ‘Don’t even waste your time with the city, just go straight to the state and don’t even try to do a negotiations package.’ So we’re closing doors of opportunity before they’ve even opened.”
The next meeting of the Twentynine Palms City Council is Tuesday, April 14.

source