An aerial photo shows the location of a home that the owners want to add onto, on Rodman Drive in the Cabrillo Estates in Los Osos. Photo courtesy SLO County
In the first test of its recent decision to end Los Osos’ water woes, the Coastal Commission will have to decide whether to take over permitting of a home addition project or stick with its June decision on the water supply.
The issue was a County-issued Coastal Development Permit to add a bedroom and bathroom, plus storage space to an existing home in Los Osos at 2831 Rodman Dr., in the Cabrillo Estates neighborhood.
Already there is a 2,225 square foot, 2-story home on a 14,000 s.f. lot. Also, the County CDP retro-permitted a previous unpermitted garage conversion into an additional bedroom and bath. The project would turn a 3-bedroom/2-bath house into 4 bedrooms/3 baths, and 3,200 s.f.
A group of local activists, the Los Osos Sustainability Group, filed the appeal, with Patrick McGibney listed as lead appellant. The Sept. 12 item is a “De Novo” hearing, meaning that Commissioners were being asked whether they could find “substantial issue” with the appeal’s objections, triggering a takeover of the permitting process by the Coastal Commission.
Should that happen, it would put the County’s CDP approval on hold while the project is flushed out by staff with regards to adherence to the Coastal Act.
The issue boils down to the town’s water supply and in particular disagreements over whether the groundwater supply is being over drafted causing seawater intrusion for the residents now, and therefore, no projects should be approved until more supply is brought in.
It’s the same basic argument that was made months ago when SLO County sought to have the town’s General Plan certified by the Commission and were stuck on water supply issues.
But at its June meetings held in Morro Bay the Commission approved the Los Osos Community Plan and dropped the Level 3, overdraft designation on the water supply.
The Commission staff report dismissed these latest appeal grounds and recommended Commissioners let it go. “The Appellant,” the report explained, “contends that the County’s CDP approval raises LCP [Local Coastal Program] consistency questions related to adequacy of the community’s water supply, including that there is not an adequate water supply to serve this expanded residence.”
The staff disagreed with this claim and said adding a bedroom and bathroom to an existing house wouldn’t necessarily increase the water usage.
“Broadly,” the report said, “the Commission has found in past appeal cases that existing development using existing water connections represents a different development category when compared to building new units.”
That’s essentially the argument made by Community Services District officials who were told by Commission staff that their “Will Serve” letters were insufficient to allow new construction in Los Osos (nor in Cambria).
That bureaucratic kerfuffle spilled onto the front pages when a pointed letter from Commission staff to the County Planning Director was made public. The letter sternly asked the County to stop issuing all CDP permits in both communities that lead to increased water usage.
The argument by the County (and the LOCSD) was that adding a bathroom to a house without adding more residents wouldn’t automatically mean more water usage. The Commission apparently now agrees.
“When such existing development expands [i.e., typically adding a bedroom and/or a bathroom and/or other such minor remodel/expansion], it is not expanding water use in the same way as a new independent residential unit, but rather it can be understood as spreading out water usage within the unit to additional bathrooms/fixtures.”
The Community Plan’s approval in June is already shaping the agency’s thinking.
“Even if evidence were presented,” the report said, “to suggest the project would result in a significant intensification of water usage, as the Commission is well aware, the best available science has demonstrated that the Los Osos Groundwater Basin is not in overdraft and that there is sufficient water to serve new water-using development.”
Depending on how Commissioners vote at the De Novo hearing, the matter could end there. If they find “substantial issue” the Commission would take over the permitting and do a full analysis of the appeal claims and the merits of the project.
As historic as the June decision on the Community Plan was, this is the first test of those bureaucratic actions that allegedly solved the town’s water supply problem with a figurative wave of a pen.
