The cost of Paso Robles’ hotel boom

February 14, 2014

paso 011Paso Robles has a handful of hotels in the planning stage which could double the number of North County rooms over the next 10 years and also increase water requirements for the drought ravaged area.

Under a city council seeking additional room tax revenue, Paso Robles has more than doubled its hotel space from 648 rooms in 2000 to 1375 rooms currently. Two of the proposed hotels include a Marriot Residence Inn and an Oxford Suites. [PacificCoastBusinessTimes]

One of the largest proposed projects, dubbed the Gateway Project, includes plans to annex 270 acres south of the city. The Paso Robles City Council is moving forward on a proposal that is slated to include large gardens, three hotels, 62,300 feet of retail space and office space, up to 35 single family homes, vineyards and open space.

One of the Gateway proposed resorts, Entrada de Paso Robles, is slated to include 280 rooms, 80 bungalows and an outside attraction called discovery gardens. City Manager Jim App told the Pacific Coast Business Times that the gardens, which will be planted first, will have water recycled on site, though he did not explain how this would occur.

App said the developer of the project will also have to purchase state water from Lake Nacimiento. Nevertheless, state water has been oversold and much of it exists only on paper, the reason it is dubbed paper water.

App said he thinks the project will be completed in three to five years.

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It’s true, you can”t fix stupid. Are the brains of Paso Robles really even considering this? Wake up, you are running out of water and it will be years, not a big rainfall, that will have to take place until there may be a recovery. The bed tax will not produce additional water.


This city is doomed.


MaryMalone,


Apparently you didn’t read. Santa Maria’s water source suffers from salt wate r intrusion and other POC’s of significance. And the water source may be in better shape than Paso, but it has significant issues.


App must be confused, delusional or believes his own BS – State water from Namimiento. Because App shovels it, we must believe it. In addition, there truly isn’t any water in Nacimiento to distribute. The plan was to install at $180 million pipeline to no where, for a reserve during a drought. Now that we are in the first drought since the pipeline was completed, there’s literally no water. With financing this is another $350 million debacle. Many staff raised concern about the lunacy of this pipeline and los their careers over it. But the puppets like, the Water Resource Manager, the Water Conservation Manager and the idiot PG all suckled up to APP and the other brilliant leaders. These people would follow hitler’s lead to the detriment of society and that is exactly what they have done. Now, that it is blatantly obvious we are out of water, or nearly, a stage 3 water resource crisis city leaders are going to continue to allow more building for tax revenue to try and cover up all their previous screw ups – spending money they didn’t have. Now they will allocate water that doesn’t exist. Absolutely brilliant – just another disaster waiting to happen. Oh, and lets not forget the “Green Streets” the City put in – put in instead of paying fines to the water board for the inept actions of the waste water treatment staff and industrial waste manager. Instead of paying fines, lets put the money into a green street, then we can sell that to the community as a win and how brilliant we all are. Just keep shoveling, soon you will all be shoveling dust. Just keep lying, since everyone can’t see the truth.


Please get it right. The developer would not be purchasing state water from Nacimiento. They would be purchasing Nacimiento Pipeline water. State water is at 0% of allocation and has nothing to do with Nacimiento. I don’t like the idea of more hotel rooms any more than the next guy, but Paso Robles has committed to all new growth being served by the water resources they have on hand (Naci water plus what they pump), once the water treatment plant is online. And Paso does have a record of conservation efforts that is positive.


Yep, our “conservation efforts” have meant years of mandatory restricted landscape watering, businesses not allowed to power-wash their filthy sidewalks/parking lots, no downtown city fountain in operation, etc…


Meanwhile, Paso leaders blindly plow forward, allowing the new hotels and 35 homes listed in this article PLUS pushing the development of 1000+ MORE homes in southeast Paso (Beechwood/Creston Rd)


Once again, it seems like the locals don’t matter as much as the tourists to Jim App and the city councilmen. The locals still have no Centennial Pool, crappy pothole roads with faded striping and crumbling curbs, and mandatory water restrictions…BUT some how it’s just fine to build, build, build?!!


“the locals don’t matter as much as the tourists” This seems to be true all over the central coast these days. That quote is pretty good at summing up how the SLO city council treats locals too. Anything for a bit of tax loot — who cares if us locals get shoved under the bus. It’s interesting that people in Paso seem to know what a bunch of clowns they have, but SLOpians are clueless, and believe all the trash about happy-town-be-us. Any theories why the SLOpians are so blind?


What a major “Cluster F–K!


What the heck? No one even knows about the new hotel proposal on 46 West with gardens–Entrada de Paso Robles.


This is an area of low groundwater near the Jardin area where homeowners already have dry wells. If it is at the site of the old golf course, it means that they can draw ground water and can use city water through an old land use agreement. The Nacimiento water that they would require the hotel to purchase also has to be mixed half and half with ground water.


People in the county near this area need to get their pitchforks out and go after the city. If you are concerned about your wells in the Jardin area, then you need to be concerned about this development.


There is confusion. Is this project on the north side of 46 west (close to Target) or on 46 east by Jardine Rd? Or are these two different projects?


Santa Maria North….and all that comes with it.


….everything that comes with it EXCEPT for the fabulously diverse water portfolio developed by Santa Maria’s Rick Sweet, which puts Santa Maria in the cat-bird seat when it comes to wielding the power of the water they have to sell.


Santa Maria has its problems, but it certainly did it right when it came to planning for the water future of its residents.


Anybody want to spot the odds on which of the “planning entities,” which obviously don’t

talk to each other is going to win this one?


County supervisors are going to have to deal with Paso Robles. They are making an end run around the county to secure all the Nacimiento water and pump the ground water they sit on that is not included in the possible Water District, but it is on the worst part of the aquifer depletion area.


People in the city have no idea what the Planning Commission and the City Planning Department are doing, but they need to be held accountable for water and for traffic. They are adding thousands of water users during a drought, and thousands of cars without adding any new roads.


Total insanity.