Morro Bay Embarcadero, Drone photo by Dean Sullivan
The City of Morro Bay is moving forward with an update of its Waterfront Master Plan (WMP), a document that’s meant to guide future development in the heart of the City’s tourism business district.
The City Council in late January approved forming a “Waterfront Master Plan Advisory Committee,” (WMPAC) that would work with the City’s still to be chosen consultant, to update a WMP that hasn’t been updated since first being adopted in 1996.
The City received a $750,000 “planning assistance grant” from the Coastal Commission, which carries a $75,000 local match requirement to pay for the work. The City got similar grants to pay for updating its General Plan/Local Coastal Plan, which was completed in 2021.
Community Development Director Airlin Singewald said staff time contributed to the effort would count as the City’s local matching share of the costs.
The WMP “is a vision for the future development, land use, circulation, and infrastructure for both sides of the Embarcadero from Tidelands Park to Morro Rock,” Singewald said.
The WMP is included in the Local Coastal Program, which is part of the General Plan (collectively called “Plan Morro Bay”), both of which were recently updated. Those updates called for the WMP to be reworked too.
“Policy LU-8.1 of Plan Morro Bay,” Singewald said, “directs the City to update the 1996 Waterfront Master Plan with a focus on addressing issues of sea level rise and future planning for Morro Rock.”
This new update will also include planning the old sewer treatment plant property on Atascadero Road and the areas “potentially impacted by offshore wind development,” reads the report.
It was the Coastal Commission’s idea to form a committee and under the terms of the grant, the agency set a time limit, too.
“Task 3 of the grant scope states: the City will form a Waterfront Master Plan Advisory Committee (WMPAC),” the report said, “consisting of community members and local stakeholders to act in an advisory capacity and provide recommendations to the Planning Commission and City Council for consideration.”
The committee’s work will be public. “The WMPAC,” the report continued, “will hold monthly public meetings to provide recommendations on policy and design components on the WMP. The estimated completion date for the Waterfront Master Plan Update is Nov. 30, 2026.”
While that might sound a long way off, consider that it took nearly a decade and over $1 million to complete the draft General Plan Update.
Singewald said the idea is for the WMPAC to be structured and operate the same way the advisory committee did on the General Plan/LCP Update. “The GPAC consisted of nine, ‘at large’ members,” the report said, “appointed following a citywide recruitment and interviews.”
The vision was for the WMPAC to have a mix of members from advisory boards, waterfront leaseholders and the public.
“The WMPAC,” Singewald said, “should consist of a broad representation of waterfront interests, including commercial fishing, master leaseholders, tourism and business entities, and environmental protection. WMPAC membership would ideally possess a balance of technical expertise [e.g., finance, engineering, architecture, planning, environmental science, business, etc.] and more general community member perspectives.”
The staff recommended a 9-member committee with five members from the various advisory boards (Planning Commission; Harbor Advisory Board; Public Works Advisory Board; Parks & Recreation; and Citizen’s Finance Committee), plus one, Embarcadero master leaseholder; and three at-large citizens.
Each of the advisory boards would choose a member and the Master Leaseholders Association would pick their representative. A public recruitment would take place for the at-large members.
The City Council thought nine people on a committee was too many, so they pared it down to seven members. There would still be one each from the five advisory boards, plus one master leaseholder, and “one member from an environmental group, such as the Morro Bay National Estuary Program,” reads the minutes from the January meeting.
Also, the Council said it didn’t want the Harbor Advisory Board’s member to also be the representative for the Master Leaseholders Assoc. So, the leaseholder’s rep on the HAB can’t be on the WMPAC.
Those directions were taken to the advisory boards in the ensuing weeks and the staff returned to the City Council on March 11 with a list of nominees to consider, they were: James Constanzo of the Parks & Rec Commission; Mary Witkowski from the Planning Commission; Gene Doughty from the Harbor Board; Stephen Peck of the Finance Committee; Paul Donnelly of PWAB; Melodie Grubbs of the NEP; and Cherise Hansson from the Master Leaseholders Assoc.
The staff said they had received recommendations from the Morro Bay Commercial Fishermen’s Organization and Master Leaseholders to add an eighth member representing the MBCFO. The staff asked the Council to make that amendment to the committee’s formation Resolution.
So how is this plan update going to work? Singewald said, “Staff intends to implement a hybrid approach that utilizes in-house resources and consulting expertise while collaborating with the WMPAC for the Waterfront Master Plan Update. One of the initial tasks for the WMPAC, once it is formed, will be working with Planning staff and consultants to define a high-level scope of work for the updated master plan within the grant perimeter.”
Though the waterfront has seen many re-developments over the past nearly 30 years since the WMP was first adopted and has only a handful of lease sites left to rebuild, it will also cover the west side of Embarcadero, which is private property.
It will also have to consider several other changes in the law that have come down the pike over the years.
That would include the new flood zone maps from FEMA; Measure A-24 that requires a vote for any zoning changes to the area from Beach Street north to Morro Rock and includes the power plant property and the old sewer plant on Atascadero Road.
That old sewer plant site too will be interesting to see how the City goes about developing any kind of plan for that troublesome site. It already has heavy restrictions placed there via precedent.
When the City’s first sewer project was denied by the Coastal Commission back in 2013, the Commission used findings that could come back to haunt any potential future re-development on a property that ought to have huge potential, given its proximity to the beach.
The Commission cited “coastal hazards” — sea level rise, tsunami run-up zones, flood plain zones, — and visual impacts in denying that project and ordering that any new plant be moved inland away from coastal hazards.
The commissioners even warned the City that those findings would carry on into the future, when the old sewer plant site is re-developed. Now, over 10 years later, it seems that chicken is finally coming home to roost.
In recent comments submitted by Commission staff regarding a proposed Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) project being pursued by plant owner Vistra and a City master planning effort for the remainder of the power plant property, the Commission staff indicated those same “coastal hazard” concerns exist at both the old sewer plant and the power plant sites.
Also, the City is studying the condition of the rock revetment that lines the water’s edge of the Embarcadero from the boat launch ramp to Morro Rock, and defines the edge of the bay waters; and also along the Rock parking lot at the edge of Morro Strand Beach.
A recent study was completed that indicated it could cost upwards of over $50 million to repair the revetment.
The City has been out for bids to find a consultant to do the WMP Update and is expected to award a contract soon. Once that is done, the advisory boards will in turn nominate someone for the advisory committee. Readers who want to get involved should expect to see notices asking for volunteers in the near future.
