A rebuilt Bonita Street Station would replace the 1-story crew quarters with a 2-story crew quarters including room for a police department satellite office. Submitted photo
Morro Bay’s long-closed fire station in North Morro Bay recently passed a major hurdle after the City Council denied an appeal of the Planning Commission’s approval for the project.
Called the Bonita Street Station and located at 460 Bonita St., the old fire station was once the home of the volunteer fire department that served the Town of El Morro, which is what North Morro Bay was called before incorporation in 1064.
That consolidation with Morro Bay proper led to the consolidation of the two fire departments as well and the move into the Harbor Street location as headquarters.
The Bonita Street Station consists of an apparatus bay, which was rebuilt some time ago, and a small house for crew quarters. But the crew quarters fell into disrepair through mainly disuse and now needs to be replaced. Reopening the second fire station is part of the fire departments’ long term planning to better serve the north end of town.
The plan is to split the normal 4-man crew that’s supposed to be on duty at all times into two, 2-man crews with one staying at and responding from Bonita Street.
The City Council in June 2025 authorized the redevelopment of the Bonita Station voting to demolish the old, 1-story crew quarters and build a new, 2-story structure that would also include a satellite office for the police department to use.
The new building would have an operational area on the ground floor and the crew quarters on the second story.
The Council chose that option instead of remodeling the old building or replacing it with a 1-story structure.
From the start there’s been one neighbor who was concerned with the plans.
“During the design process, the Fire Chief and Community Development Director both met with the neighbor to understand and consider her concerns regarding impacts to her private views,” reads a report from Community Development Director Airlin Singewald. “While the City’s planning regulations do not protect private views, to be a good neighbor, the Fire Department incorporated her feedback into the design by setting the building another 10-feet back from the property line [a 25-foot setback compared to the existing 10-foot building setback]. The minimum setback requirement is 20 feet.”
The project went before the Planning Commission last April and the Commission approved of the plans including changes made to address the neighbor’s concerns about the views from her home.
The new plans also included changes to the parking configurations, moving some of the required parking spaces to a side yard setback.
But, “The neighbor also asked for all three required parking spaces to be located in the front setback, rather than including two tandem spaces in the eastern side yard and one in the front setback.
“However, this would require a further parking modification and would eliminate a public curbside parking space, in conflict with the Zoning Code.”
So an appeal was filed April 15 and in June the City Council heard the appeal and denied it.
Grounds for the appeal included: failing to consider a lower impact alternative; erroneously finding that no less-detrimental alternative existed; improper reliance on self-imposed constraints, meaning the plans rely on a discretionary decision made by the City Council and not by any real constraints; there was inadequate consideration of the cost differences, i.e. $1.5 million vs. $2.5 million; failure to ensure neighborhood compatibility; and, incomplete consideration of relevant information, namely the City didn’t properly take into account findings from a study done for the fire department.
In the end the appeal demanded the City Council uphold the appeal and deny the 2-story design; direct staff to once again evaluate the 1-story design; and to change the setbacks so the single story option could work. The planning staff recommended the City do none of these.
The Council’s denial reaffirmed the Coastal Development Permit and Conditional Use Permit issued for the project. Community Development Director Singewald said no further appeals have been made and no lawsuit was filed to challenge the project. The site is outside the Coastal Commission’s appeal jurisdiction, so that State agency cannot be involved.
The appeal hearing saw several residents stand up in both support and opposition to the project.
Former Councilwoman, Betty Winholtz asked why we need a 2-story station and “suggested a 2-person station was sufficient,” according to the minutes form the meeting.
Judy Setting reportedly wanted to limit neighborhood impacts and urged a single-story be built with the option to add a second story when needed.
Michelle Leicester-Cadaret said the structure was too big and unnecessary for a city that is not growing.
On the other hand, Courtney Shepler said she appreciated that the proposed plan was responsive to neighbor feedback and the footprint less intrusive than what zoning would allow for single family home. She added that a fire station in North Morro Bay would improve the ISO rating, which measures how well a community and its fire department are prepared to handle fires, and lower insurance rates.
The project can now have detailed schematics drafted for the project that will have to be reviewed and approved by the City Building Department. Once those plans are approved, the City will be able to go out for bids for the project but the City will have to figure out how to pay for it as well.
The City has been seeking Congressional help with the costs from Rep. Salud Carbajal but financing has not yet been identified. The CDP/CUP has a 2-year time limit with options for extending it if needed.
Though the Bonita Street Station has always been a part of the fire department’s facilities, it hasn’t been in active use for decades. The apparatus bay was damaged and rebuilt but the crew quarters were deemed uninhabitable many years ago.
At one time, the City planned to build a new fire station on a vacant nearly 1-acre parcel that was deeded over by the developers of The Cloisters Subdivision, at the corner of Coral and San Jacinto.
That was intended to become the department’s main firehouse, but the City never built there. Instead, following damage from the 2003 San Simeon Earthquake (in December 2003), the main fire station on Harbor Street was condemned and eventually burned down in a training exercise and a new modern stationhouse was built.
The Cloisters parcel was put up for sale by the City and eventually sold after about a decade of being listed. That money was supposed to be used to help pay off the debt on the new, Harbor Street Firehouse.
A 5-unit subdivision is currently being built there after a couple of years seeking approval. The City Council also recently voted to have those five homes eventually be included in the Cloisters Home Owners Association (HOA).
The Bonita Street Station would be the department’s second firehouse and should greatly reduce response times for the north end of town, once it gets rebuilt.
