Front Page  »  

Arroyo Grande man battles city building officials

May 12, 2012

An Arroyo Grande man attempting to put a surf shop in the Village has called it quits and posted on the window of his property, “Building for sale. Thanks city of AG.” [Tribune]

Doug DeBerti, who moved his family to Arroyo Grande a few years ago, contends city employees have given him conflicting information about placing a business in the former home of J.J.’s Market, a building he purchased from Nick Tompkins.

One of DeBerti’s disputes with city officials is over their attempts to force him to share his parking lot with Tompkins, who is planning to build a grocery store next door. The city and DeBerti have also battled over landscaping, signage, and two proposed murals DeBerti wanted to have painted on the building.

DeBerti plans to continue working to open his shop in the Village while also trying to sell the building. If he finds a buyer for the Arroyo Grande building, he plans to open his surf shop in Grover Beach.


Loading...
Subjects:             
Related:


19 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

“city employees have given him conflicting information”


Everybody at one time or another has or will experience being given misinformation by governement employees whether city or state level.

Any expenses incurred or loss due to the misinformation, the governement will NOT take responsibility for (remember that-always the case!)!


0

It’s real simple. You want to bring a business to the village you must conform with the old world character and charm of the village Why? Because we citizens decided we want the village to have old world charm and character and because the business people believe customers come to see them because of the village’s charm and character and, bottom line, because that’s what we all paid for.


This joker doesn’t get to force his way in and buck the rules and detract from our old word character and charm just because he’s emotional. The analogy here is a new condo owner saying he wants to paint his condo purple in violation of the existing CC&Rs. Good luck getting any sympathy from your neighbors.


0

Conform to Old world character, you kidding or what?. Is that what you village people call the abortion of a building that greets everyone on the left as you enter your village?


0

No, it’s one of the last buildings going out of town on the left towards Lopez. If you’re coming into town from Lopez it would be one of the first buildings on the right.


The village is special and unique in its character. The property values reflect it. The crowds every weekend reflect it. The pride people take in their homes and yards reflect it. Everyone I’ve ever brought over here who’s never been here has loved it.


Sorry but we don’t want to lose our identity to some mural walled surf shop from Bakersfield. Similar to AG, if the guy wanted to put his business in downtown SLO he’d half to conform with SLO’s downtown regulations which are even more burdensome. You just don’t get to come into a community and try to dictate how it should change its ways to fit your wants. It was a very arrogant and emotional thing for this business man to do.


Let’s keep the characters of our communities separate and enjoy the differences..


0

The building you’re talking about is WHY we have more rules and a review process now.

I don’t know the whole story here, but obviously big murals won’t fit-in.


BTW, having owned businesses in both AG and Grover, Leaving AG to go to Grover to escape City Employees pushing you around, well, is the idea of a person who has never tried doing buisness in Grover…..


0

How long have you been a resident of Arroyo Grande?


0

Former thank you. Got tired long ago of politicians telling me what color my home could be to make the tourists happy.


0

Get over yourself. “The village” isn’t Carmel, Solvang or Santa Barbara. It’s not even SLO. It’s a mishmash of architectural styles that hardly screams “old world character and charm.”


0

We already had a surf shop in Grover Beach. It didn’t last more than a year i think. Not sure what their problem was.


What’s more important to a surf shop, having the beach at hand (Pismo or Grover) or having wealthier customers at hand?


0

We had a Surf Shop in the Village too, it died…


0

Yeah, I know the knee jerk reaction is to slam the city, but the Village is unique, something that DeBerti knew.


It just seems like I’ve seen this before. Someone moves here (in this case from Bakersfield), buys a business (in this case, a historic part of the community) and then whines about regulations. Our local government screws up enough without anyone having to cry wolf. Rooster Creek built a beautiful building that enhanced the village. I don’t know the particulars.( i.e. what the murals looked like), but his quote to the Trib that he wanted “to put lipstick on the building” doesn’t sound promising.


For once, I have to applaud A.G .City Officials.


0

It is special, if you want to buy an expensive sandwich, latte, tie one on, or browse antiques. Just like downtown San Luis we are losing it to the LA implants that just love the fabulous “Village”. Twenty years ago, there was a real butcher shop and a few other worthwhile stores.


0

Why, 100 years ago, there was a buggy shop and a blacksmith ( one that worked on horseshoes and other implements, not a boutique forge ).

Copurse, that damn Guttenberg started all this ‘progress’ nonsense with that movable type !


0

You’re right, Bob, the Village should just be bulldozed and another WalMart put in. Local identity is vastly overrated.


0

Martyr time, aye Russ?


0

90% of the people here are from another place and with them over the decades have destroyed what rural SLO was. Bitch about the traffic and strip malls where you were then build them everywhere because you want modern conveniences. Look at Los Osos Valley road, it takes as long to go 3 blocks or stores as it does to get all the way to Los Osos once passed the ugly.


0

LA County/Orange County/Bay Area/San Joaquin Valley — GO HOME!


0

I am sure there is a back story, but superficially it looks like AG is continuing to shoot itself in the foot.


0

The City needs to make their money before we make ours. That is the deal. Modern Mafia.


0