Outlined area shows the boundaries for the Waterfront Master Plan, which the City is well along in the process of updating for the first time ever. Map courtesy City of Morro Bay
The City of Morro Bay is deep into a rewrite of its Waterfront Master Plan (WMP) and is hosting an online survey to try and reach people who might not have attended a recent public workshop.
The City held its third public workshop on May 18 and started to get specific on support for proposed ideas that could go into the new WMP.
The online survey (see: www.myinput.com/mbwmp takes about 10 minutes to complete and focuses in on areas that respondents might have a special interests in.
For example, one of the ideas being floated is to expand the public viewing area for sea otter cove, the shore-side area on the southeast corner of the South T-pier that has become a hangout for the bay’s resident population of sea otters, and a popular spot to view and photograph the sea weasels.
Other ideas include expanding the Maritime Museum and reconfiguring the Front Street parking lot.
The “Morro Bay Waterfront Master Plan Online Survey” will be available until noon on Monday, July 17. The results will be compiled into a report and presented at a future meeting.
In the end, the WMP will have to be approved by the Planning Commission, City Council and ultimately the Coastal Commission, becoming part of the Local Coastal Program and in turn the General Plan.
The City received a $750,000 grant to pay for the WMP update and hired a consultant, Placeworks, to lead the effort.
The WMP hasn’t been updated since it was written in 1996. And while the waterfront hasn’t changed all that much, except for several redevelopment projects, the laws, goals and policies that apply have changed.
Among the new policies and concerns is a sea level rise analysis regulated and mandated by the Coastal Commission. This new update also expands the area considered the waterfront to include the power plant property and the City’s old sewer treatment plant site. It basically ends at the top of the bluff on the east side of the Embarcadero and stretches south just past the launch ramp.
Locally, the northern end of the Embarcadero is regulated by two voter-approved ordinances — Measures D and A-24.
Measure D established a zone from Beach Street north reserved for developments incidental to commercial or sport fishing, meaning any redevelopments, additions or new developments must be related to fishing.
Measure A-24 is another voter initiative that mandates the City Council to seek voter approval to change the existing zoning on any property west of the Embarcadero and north of Beach Street including the power plant and old sewer plant. That one was passed to obstruct a proposed Battery Energy Storage System or BESS that had been proposed for the old power plant.
Vistra Energy, which proposed the BESS and owns the property, has since dropped its proposal but the measure remains in effect unless overturned by a court or another vote of the people.
Placeworks boiled down the WMP into a handful of main ideas:
• Maintaining and enhancing the waterfront’s character and charm;
• Honoring the past while meeting the needs of the future;
• Greater accessibility for locals and visitors to enjoy our spectacular coastal resources;
• Enhanced revenue to provide City services and maintain public amenities; and,
• Environmental stewardship.
Absent from this list is the desire to continue to have a working waterfront, which has been a top priority for the City for decades.
The schedule for the update includes a fourth workshop sometime this summer and release of a draft update, and a fifth workshop and public hearing in September when the draft plan would presumably be adopted by the City Council.
It will automatically then have to go to the Coastal Commission for its review, potential changes, and adoption.
If there are changes made by the Commission, and it’s probably a safe bet there will be, then it will have to come back to the City Council for further review and then final adoption. This process can be lengthy.
The WMP update also includes a citizen’s advisory committee made up of representatives from the City’s various advisory boards and commissions, and stakeholders like the Waterfront Master Leaseholders Assoc., the National Estuary Program, and Morro Bay Commercial Fishermen’s Organization, eight members in all.
The committee’s ultimate duty will be to provide a recommendation to the Planning Commission and City Council on whether to approve whatever update comes out of the process. It will not have a binding say in the matter.
The advisory committee meets at 3 p.m. the first Thursday of the month (July 2) at the Vet’s Hall, 209 Surf St.
For more information on the Waterfront Master Plan Update, see: www.morrobayca.gov/1116/Waterfront-Master-Plan.
