Forever Marilyn closer to permanently staying on Museum Way as Planning Commission agrees plan to vacate street conforms with general plan

It's the latest move in a debate that has gone on for years: should a portion of Museum Way be a permanent pedestrian walkway or a public roadway?

During Wednesday's meeting, the City of Palm Springs Planning Commission agreed that the plan to vacate the portion of Museum Way, where the "Forever Marilyn' statue sits, is in fact in line with the city's previous General Plan, which was approved nearly two decades ago.

They also agreed keeping the stretch between Balardo and Museum Drive also conformed to the Downtown Specific Plan, which lays out zoning rules for that portion of the city.

"Tonight was really to make a general plan conformity determination to advise the City Council when they ultimately hear the project next month," said Christopher Hadwin, Director of Planning for the City of Palm Springs. "Vacating that potion, it did conform to the general plan. And the reason for that is that the city's current General Plan, which was adopted in 2007, does not show that portion of Museum Way as a public roadway on its circulation element, so they were able to make that determination during tonight's meeting.”

The decision stems from a private application to vacate that portion of the road in the future.

"In December of 2023, the City Council voted to remove Museum Way from the Downtown Specific Plan. So tonight's Planning Commission decision also affirmed that decision too, and saying that this portion of museum way, if it were vacated is consistent with the city's policies,: explained Hadwin.

Despite the unanimous vote from the Commission, not everyone agreed with the plan. Two residents spoke against it during the public hearing portion of Wednesdays meeting inside the City Chamber. Frank Tysen, was one of those opposed.

"In fact, originally, Museum Way was going to be much wider," said Tysen. "And it got cut down, but then the idea was to have access to the Art Museum in every which way. Now, at this point to close off Museum Way completely negates that whole idea of giving access to the museum.”

Although Wednesday's vote focused on the designation of the street, it is lso directly related to a controversial piece of heart in the heart of downtown Palm Springs, the 'Forever Marilyn' statue.

“I will say that there were a lot of public comments that were received to the Planning Commission for tonight's decision that were related to the location of the statue of the Marilyn Monroe statue,": said Hadwin. "And that was not within the scope or purview of what the Planning Commission was reviewing tonight. They were really looking again at whether the closure of the street would conform to the city's policies or not.”

As for the next steps, in terms of the Planning Commission's involvement, they are done. It will now get passed along to the City Council for a vote, which will include a public hearing. That meeting is expected to happen in late July.