There may have been no contested races for Morro Bay City Council in the November Election, but that didn’t stop voters from turning out in droves to vote on a measure designed to fight a proposed Battery Energy Storage System project.
Measure A-24, a citizen’s initiative aimed at giving voters a say in the BESS Project being proposed by Vistra Energy. A-24 won a decisive victory for “Estero Bay Preservation,” the group formed to write and promote Meas. A-24, as it garnered 59.85% of the votes, some 3,849 total votes.
Another citizen’s group, “Citizens Opposed to Measure A-24” had 40.15% support in opposition, some 2,595 votes.
Of interest in this unusual election, was the voter turnout. According to results posted Nov. 23 by the County Elections Office, turnout in Morro Bay was 6,847 ballots cast out of a total electorate of 8,762 registered voters, that’s an 83.68% voter turnout.
And Morro Bay voters have overwhelmingly embraced the mail-in balloting system, as 6,574 voters mailed their ballots in, compared to just 295 who went to the town’s four polling spots.
And even with A-24’s kerfuffle, 379 total ballots didn’t cast a vote for or against A-24, according to the Clerk’s report.
But A-24’s effectiveness in putting up a roadblock in front of the BESS may not eventually be applied to its intended target, this after Vistra informed the City it was pausing its review of the BESS Project and turning to the California Energy Commission for review and permit approval, under a special work-around under Assembly Bill 205 (AB 205).
It will however, eventually become part of the City’s Zoning Ordinance and be applied to any other proposed future projects from Beach Street out to Morro Rock, if it requires a zoning change to be approved.
As for the City Council, Mayor Carla Wixom and Councilmen-elect Jeff Eckles and Bill Luffee, who all ran unopposed at the election, will be sworn in at a special meeting at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 10 at the Vet’s Hall, 209 Surf St. That will be followed by a regular meeting starting at 5:30. It’s customary for the City Council to cancel its second meeting in December for the Christmas Holiday, but that announcement hasn’t officially been made yet.
The mostly ceremonial night will start with the out-going council certifying the election results and after some speeches and award presentations, the new members will take the oath of office and begin their terms.
Luffee and Eckles will take over for out-going Councilwomen Jen Ford and Laurel Barton. Wixom will be starting her second 2-year term.
They will join mid-term Councilwomen, Cyndee Edwards and Zara Landrum.
