An oddly shaped property at 197 Main St., Morro Bay is the subject of a hearing at the State Coastal Commission Sept. 12, after the City approved plans for a pie-wedge shaped little house.
Coastal Commissioners were slated to decide whether to take over permitting of a proposed tiny, oddly shaped house on Main Street in Morro Bay.
Commissioners on Sept. 12 were to hear an appeal of the City’s approval of a new home at 197 Main St. Former Councilwoman and activist, Betty Winholtz, appealed the City’s issuance of a Coastal Development Permit (CDP) for a 459-square foot, 2-story house on a pie-wedge shaped 2,500 s.f. lot located adjacent to the entrance road leading down to the Bay Front Marine.
Local real estate professional, Sandy Bean, is the owner of the lot and proposes to build on a property that the Commission staff said was “very irregularly shaped.”
The property due to its odd shape needed some concessions from the City, mainly concerning required setbacks on the side and rear, as well as building height limits and others. The City’s variances were apparently justified given the shape of the property.
Architect’s rendering of what the proposed little house would look like including a parking space by the front door.
“The City’s approval recognized such constraints and allowed for numerous deviations of LCP site planning standards,” the report said, “via variance approval so as to provide for an architecturally pleasing while still livable small residence.”
In essence the appeal said the City should not have granted the variances. “The Appellant,” the report said, “contends that the City should not have given such variance/exception allowances, and that doing so results in an LCP-inconsistent project on these issues and with overall community character, among other things.”
The surrounding neighborhood is almost entirely residential, with single-family homes, duplexes, a mobile home park, and a condo complex all within a couple of blocks. There are also folks living on boats down at the marina, plus a couple of business offices, and there is a former grocery store and cannery a few doors down Main Street that have been closed for many years. There is also a small boat haulout and maintenance yard.
The neighborhood is rather eclectic with several unique structures including a lighthouse, a windmill house, a self-proclaimed castle, a group of small homes that fit together like a jigsaw puzzle, a boathouse, a houseboat and now potentially, a pie-wedge house too.
“While the Appellant makes valid arguments regarding LCP conformance,” the report said, “including that the project is inconsistent with several site planning requirements, the City made reasonable findings underlying the reasons for such deviations, and the project is of such a small scale and magnitude that it does not raise any significant coastal resource problems of note.”
So the recommendation from the report was that Commissioners find “no substantial issue” with the project. If they vote that way, then the matter would likely end.
If they found substantial issue, then the appeal would be accepted, and the Commission would take over permitting. The City’s approval could be upheld anyway, probably with additional conditions or changed in some way; or Commissioners could deny the whole project.
Taking over the permitting would run it through the wash once again and trigger a full analysis by the commission staff and increased costs to the applicant.
“After reviewing the appeal contentions,” the report said, “in light of the City’s record, staff does not see any significant coastal resource issues with the project, and recommends the Commission find no substantial issue with respect to the City’s approval and therefore decline to take jurisdiction over the CDP application.”
The Commission was slated to meet this week (Wednesday-Friday, post press time) in Monterey. The pie-wedge house was scheduled for Thursday.
