This week’s San Luis Obispo County government meetings

May 20, 2024

By CalCoastNews staff

The San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors will meet at 9 a.m. on May 21 in the board chambers.

The annual supplemental budget serves two primary purposes: to publish the budget hearing schedule and to adjust staff’s recommendations based upon information received after the recommended budget was finalized.

Under item 5 on the agenda, staff is asking the board to approve a slight increase in the budget and to set a budget hearing schedule.

Enacted in 2022, the Ballot DISCLOSE Act requires all ballot measures to include a list of supporters and opponents to be printed directly on the ballot. As no funding was appropriated to support this requirement, county staff determined the Ballot DISCLOSE Act creates an unfunded state mandate for counties, which already absorb most of the costs for state and federal elections.

Under item 17, staff is recommending the board vote to opt out of the provisions of the Ballot DISCLOSE Act requiring the listing of supporters and opponents for county, city, district and school measures on current and future county ballots. Clerk-Recorder Elaina Cano estimates a savings of $121,000 per election.

The San Luis Obispo County Planning Commission will meet on May 23 at 9 a.m. in the SLO County Board of supervisors chambers.

James and Debra Saunders are seeking approvals to build a 36-unit, multi-family residential project at 777 Monterey Road in San Miguel.

Under item 4 on the agenda, the developers are seeking permits to build seven one-story apartment buildings, with five different building designs. The proposed project includes Spanish style buildings with red tile roofing and stone accents to resemble the design of the Mission of San Miguel.

For noise mitigation, the developers plan to construct a 6-foot-tall metal noise mitigation wall along the western side of the property line adjacent to Highway 101. In addition, they plan to plant trees along the wall to help mitigate noise.

The Paso Robles City Council will meet at 6:30 p.m. on May 21 in the council chambers.

During their May 7 meeting, Councilwoman Sharon Roden questioned requests for funding for Main Street and for the Hispanic Business Association. She asked that those seeking shared funds come back to a future meeting so that the council can review their work plans.

Under item K-1 on the agenda, the council will discuss providing funds to the Main Street Association and the Hispanic Business Association as part of the city’s long-term and strategically aligned partnerships program.

To support Main Street’s marketing, visitor services, and economic development objectives – the group is requesting $110,000 for the upcoming fiscal year. The Hispanic Business Association is seeking $150,000, or $75,000 a year, to support their work providing Spanish language resources and services for the city’s
Hispanic/Latino business community.

Staff is asking the council to either:

1. Take no action
2. Direct staff to include the funding requests within the fiscal year 2024-25 and 2025-26 budget and develop a contribution agreement with the stakeholder groups for city council consideration
3. Direct staff to not include the funding requests within the fiscal year 2024-25 and 2025-26 budget
4. Provide alternative direction to staff

The Pismo Beach City Council will meet on May 21 at 5:30 in the council chambers.

Both Grover Beach and Arroyo Grande city councils voted last week to quit the joint powers authority tied to the Central Coast Blue reclaimed water project.

Under item 12-B on the agenda, the Pismo Beach City Council will consider having staff reconfigure  the Central Coast Blue Regional Recycled Groundwater Authority. The plan is to allow both Grover Beach and Arroyo Grande to exit the authority on June 30 with compensation for their percentage of ownership in the authority.

In order to continue the authority, the council will consider allowing the Pismo Beach Public Financing Agency to be admitted as a member agency. City staff will then take over management of the authority.

The San Luis Obispo City Council will meet May 21 at 5:30 p.m. in its council chambers.

Last year, Kevin Shenkman threatened litigation unless San Luis Obispo reforms its election process to provide for single council member districts to give SLO’s 19% Latino community a fair shot, asserting that Latinos have been underrepresented on the council. Since then, the California Supreme Court issued a unanimous ruling in support of Shenkman regarding a similar demand he made in Santa Monica.

Under item 1-c on the agenda, in closed session the council will discuss complying with Shenkman’s demand.

The Oceano Community Services District Board will meet on April 22 at 6 p.m. in the board room.

Under item 9-a on the agenda, the directors are expected to appoint Peter Brown as district general manager. The district plans to pay Brown $196,867 annually. He is slated to start on June 10.