by on 2014-08-15

Former Colton City Planning Commissioner, Gary Mitchell, passed away July 20 at age 64. He passed of sepsis, his wife, Gloria Hudgins-Mitchell said. Mitchell served as a planning commissioner from 2008 to 2012 and also served on the Colton Oversight Board of the Successor Agency to the Redevelopment Agency. An environmental assessor, Mitchell owned his own business, Gary Mitchell & Associates. Mitchell was an alumnus of Colton High School and studied political science in college before he got into city planning. He graduated from the University of California, Riverside, with a bachelor’s degree. Working as a White House intern during college, Mitchell met President Ronald Regan and received an award from President Regan for his environmental work. Later in life, he also met President George Bush Sr. “He was very humble,” Hudgins-Mitchell said. As a planning commissioner with the city of Colton, Mitchell worked on large planning projects as well as smaller sign projects and ordinances. He helped plan the Indio Plaza, which included a golf course. “He loved planning. It was his life,” Hudgins-Mitchell said. “He loved taking a piece of dirt and turning it into something beautiful.” Mary Lou Navarro, a longtime neighbor and the wife of Councilman Frank Navarro, who served on the planning commission with Mitchell in 2012, remembered Mitchell’s capacity for conversation, recalling the conversations the two would have after he returned from the hospital after undergoing open heart surgery in January. “We would talk about anything and everything. We’d talk on the phone for an hour and a half and the next week, we’d talk for two. He loved to talk and laugh,” Mary Lou said. Councilman Frank Navarro said, "Gary was an individual that brought a lot of planning experience to the commission...he was an asset to the commission." Serving as the commission's chair for two years, "...he was involved in some pretty major projects in San Bernardino and Riverside counties," Navarro said. Mitchell is survived by his wife, his stepson Roy Hudgins, his stepdaughter Debbie Guajardo, 11 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Hudgins-Mitchell remembered him as someone who had a way with children. “He was a great father and grandfather,” Hudgins-Mitchell said. “He loved taking (the grandchildren) to Baskin Robbins and the movies.” His intelligence and penchant for technology also made him popular with the kids in his neighborhood, Hudgins-Mitchell said. “He was so intelligent with computers. He always had to have the most modern gadgets. He would help the kids in the neighborhood with their homework,” she said. “All the kids loved to talk to him.”