Plan to Annex Marine Base Seen as Boon for City

If city officials get their way, the population of this Mojave Desert town will nearly double overnight.

Twentynine Palms has come up with a novel plan to annex the sprawling Marine Corps Air Ground Base, making the 10,000 people who live on the base legal residents of the city.

Adding extra residents would bring in an infusion of cash, city officials say, but the deal wouldn’t strain municipal services because the military would continue to take care of its own.

“We are absolutely amazed, and we’re very, very pleased,” said Mayor Liz Meyer. “The city gets more money to spend on things like parks and roads and the people at the Marine base get a nicer city.”

Marine and city officials signed a preliminary agreement Oct. 26 that set the annexation process into motion. Lawyers for the city and the base have been fine-tuning the particulars for the past seven months.

Marine officials, concerned about the base’s autonomy, insisted on retaining control of services such as police, fire, cable television and garbage collection. City leaders agreed, and Twentynine Palms will not have to beef up its police or fire services to patrol the additional 4.8 square miles.

As a result, the estimated $500,000 a year the city will receive in state money from gas tax and motor vehicle registration can go directly to city improvements.

“Oh yeah, I’d say it’s pretty exciting,” said Jim Hart, city manager of Twentynine Palms.

The annexation comes 12 years after Twentynine Palms became a city. Once the dowdy stepsister to glam-queen Palm Springs, the city has worked to come into its own.

In the 1870s, prospectors looking for gold found members of the Chemeheuvi tribe living near a pool now known as the Oasis of Mara. Some historians believe 29 palms ringed the desert spring and that’s how the town got its name.

The area has long been used by the military, which trained soldiers, conducted war games and tested glider planes on the powerful thermal currents that rise from the desert floor.

The idea to annex the Marine base came from the city manager’s work toward a doctorate in business administration. The general topic--how does a city annex a military base?--became specific: How can Twentynine Palms annex the Marine Corps base?

Hart put his answers into a dissertation, and into practice.

“From April of this year until we signed last week, we met with or spoke to representatives at the Marine base every day,” Hart said. “Because of my dissertation, every question they had, I had an answer.”

Finally, after the tiniest detail had been addressed, negotiated and put into writing, the agreement was signed.

“We see it as a good thing,” said Marine Capt. Vincent Bosquez. “The main thing we gain is good community relations; this helps maintain a spirit of cooperation and we can become close neighbors with the city.”

City officials point out that Marine families rely on Twentynine Palms’ Parks and Recreation sports, arts and community programs. The children take part in the programs and parents help staff them.

But there are more bureaucratic hurdles ahead.

The city manager meets Tuesday with the Local Agency Formation Commission to review the agreement and the annexation application. Commission officials will then hold a public hearing. If all goes well, the matter goes to the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors.

The board, which passed a resolution supporting the annexation Oct. 26, is expected to sign off on the agreement and send it back to Twentynine Palms for a public hearing. At that time, people affected by the annexation may speak out. If fewer than 25% of the affected people protest, the annexation goes to the Twentynine Palms City Council for a final vote.

Although Hart received his degree in August from California Coast University in Santa Ana, seeing the deal get final approval will seem like his true graduation.

“When the council votes, when they approve it, that’s when I’ll celebrate,” he said.

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This story has been edited to reflect a correction to the original published text. The marine base is in San Bernardino county, not Riverside.

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