Regulatory requirements wreaking financial havoc in Los Osos

December 11, 2024

OPINION by TIFFANY BREWER

Los Osos is under attack! Sneaky requirements have pushed us under the financial burden of mandates beyond acceptance.

We are working on a common, extremely modest residential remodel in Los Osos. Before we could even apply for a permit, San Luis Obispo County mandated us to provide a set of reports, costing in the tens of thousands of dollars. Fortunately for us, three and a half years later we were granted a set of stamped permits with a handful of additional stipulations.

Ranging from cultural monitors at a set rate of $150 an hour, archeologists at $180 to $250 an hour, contractors, plumbers, biologists, school district fees, and more we have been drained before they even allowed the project to begin. We have been reassessed over six times in the last year and a half, all under the name of escaped improvements, lacking their failed oversight back in 1962 when the “lost square footage” that they’re referring to was permitted by their very own building and planning department.

During this process, it was brought to light, since we were added to the title, the county realized that they had made an assessment error dating back to 1962. Therefore, on top of all the other oversight mandates enforced, we now are being slammed with four years of back tax on the property which is due on Dec. 31.

The current push back is coming from the septic mandates. In the name of water conservancy and nitrate requirements, we are being coerced into adding a wastewater treatment plant on site.

Yes, we have a functioning septic tank that hasn’t failed gravity since its time, however due to sneaky LAMP standards passed by the state of California in 2020 while we were all asleep, we are being forced into owning, maintaining, and providing the county with our very own residential scale wastewater treatment plant. The cost to install, monitor, and run the plant is between $50,000 and $100,000.

My recent conversations with them have been to request something more financially available to a young family with kids. However, there are no alternatives that would pass inspection that they can provide.

I offered to install an incinerating toilet, or something that doesn’t require infiltration into the groundwater at all, and one that doesn’t even require water. Their response was no because it wouldn’t pass inspection as it doesn’t meet the LAMP requirements. So in the name of the water conservancy, we cannot install a non-water using toilet. Got it!

Never would I have ever imagined the amount of obstacles facing us to simply renovate and restore a family owned property.

Tiffany Brewer is a life-long Los Osos resident. She went to Baywood Elementary School, Los Osos Middle School, Morro Bay High School, Cuesta College, and then graduated from California State University, Fresno.