Overview:
The idea to create specific zoning for Pioneertown’s Mane Street was first introduced to the community by San Bernardino County in 2016 during the County Planning administered workshops that led to San Bernardino County’s Pioneertown Communities Action Guide:
Action Statement B.1: Advocate with the County to establish a commercial
zoning overlay on Mane Street that restricts big box retail, encourages
neighborhood commercial scale retail and lodging, and establishes flexibility for
locally-grown businesses
The actual mechanism to create the Mane Street Historic District Overlay was created as part of the most recent update to the San Bernardino County Countywide Plan which added “Tourism Overlays” to the Development Code to help better address the unique challenges and opportunities of communities and areas that see large amounts of tourism visitation. Although initially suggested by San Bernardino Planning, the actual process for initiating an Overlay was left to the community – only an individual or organization (and not the County itself) could suggest or author an Overlay.
The Overlay was submitted for consideration in October of 2021. Although the County had created the mechanism for allowing Overlays, they didn’t prescribe a procedure on how they would be created – in December of 2021 Planning Staff determined that Overlays would be considered as a General Plan Amendment, a sophisticated tool for making major changes to the Development Code.
Past:
September 13, 2016 – Pioneertown Communities Countywide Plan Workshop #1
November 15, 2016 – Pioneertown Communities Countywide Plan Workshop #2
May 29, 2018 – The first discussion with San Bernardino County Planning about a possible Overlay was held with Karen Watkins of Planning and Mark Lundquist representing the 3rd District Supervisor.
August 18, 2019 – The Pioneertown Mane Street Historic District Nomination is submitted to the California Office of Historic Preservation
May 26, 2020 – The Pioneertown Mane Street Historic District is entered into the National Register of Historic Places
August 19, 2020 – Pioneertown Communities Community Action Guide published
December 4, 2020 – Mane Street Property Owner Outreach & Discussions Begin
July 21, 2021 – Proposed Overlay Publicly Announced
July 25, 2021 – Public Presentation 1
August 8, 2021 – Public Presentation 2
October 28, 2021 – Submission to San Bernardino County
Forthcoming:
October 2022 – San Bernardino County Planning to provide an update
TBD – Application Deemed Complete and Routed to Departments for Review
TBD – Department Comments Issued and Addressed
TBD – Planning Creates a Staff Report and Solicits Public Comments
TBD – Planning Commission Hearing
TBD – Board of Supervisors Meeting