Save Water this October
The Los Osos Community Services District reminds residents that October is the time of year to shut off their irrigation controllers.
“Many of our residents have replaced landscaping with drought tolerant plants,” reads the SLO Water Wise Landscaping website. “This is a good thing as they don’t require as much water. Evaluate the condition of your garden. Native plants that are established don’t require a lot of watering. For those of you who have landscape contractors regularly visit your home, ask them to shut off the irrigation. Due to the fact that Los Osos is built on sand dunes, our soil will percolate most water accumulated. So, this provides a possibility for leaks to go undetected. Go ahead and shut off your irrigation for the rest of the year through winter.”
For tips on water conservation ideas, go losososcsd.org/water-conservation. For sustainable landscapes, drought information and to learn more about watering on the Coast go to slowaterwiselandscaping.com.
Upcoming LOCSD meetings are:
• Utilities Advisory Committee Meeting – October 19 at 5:30 p.m
• Finance Advisory Committee Meeting – November 1 at 5:30 p.m.
• Board of Directors Meeting Open Session – November 3 at 6 p.m.
• Utilities Advisory Committee Meeting – November 16 at 5:30 p.m.
• Emergency Services Advisory Committee Meeting – November 17 at 5:30 p.m.
• Finance Advisory Committee Meeting – November 28, at 5:30 p.m.
Information for each meeting and how to get connected will be available on the Agenda for each meeting. Agendas can be found on the LOCSD Website (losososcsd.org) which is posted a minimum of 72 hours before the meeting time.
Controlled Burns To Take Place
Prescribed burns will take place through March of 2023 in San Luis Obispo County to prevent future fires, California State Parks announced in a news release. The effort will be carried out in cooperation with Cal Fire, the San Luis Obispo County Air Pollution Control District, and the Morro Bay Fire Department.
The burns will occur in Hearst San Simeon, Harmony Headlands, Estero Bluffs, Morro Bay, and Montana de Oro state parks. Work includes grasslands and coastal scrub burns, as well as broadcast and pile burns in forested and urban/wildland interfaces to address diseased, dead, and downed trees.
“These burns are part of the prescribed fire program for vegetation management, hazardous fuel load reduction, wildlife habitat improvement, and other ecological benefits,” State Parks officials said. “These treatments will enhance the health of the ecosystems by removing diseased materials, restoring essential nutrients to the soil, and reducing the chance of a catastrophic wildfire.
“In grassland and scrub areas, fire will be reintroduced as a component of the ecosystem on a rotational basis. Forest prescribed burns will help in managing forest pests and pathogens in the parklands and will improve wildfire prevention in wildland-urban interfaces.”
Some public trails near the burn area may be closed on the day of the burn. People traveling near the fire burn areas may see smoke from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on the day of the burns. In readers smell smoke, San Luis Obispo County urges you to take precautions and use common sense to reduce any harmful health effects by limiting outdoor activities. These precautions are especially important for children, the elderly, and people with respiratory and heart conditions.
New Rules for Affordable Housing in SLO
Developers in the City of San Luis Obispo have some new affordable housing rules to consider.
The so called Inclusionary Housing Ordinance gives residential developers the option to either build affordable housing or pay a fee to the City’s Affordable Housing Fund, which is then used to help fund new projects in SLO.
One of the most significant updates to the Inclusionary Housing Ordinance is that the number of affordable units provided in each project is subject to a flat percentage or a set fee per square foot. The previous ordinance allowed for the reduction of the number of dedicated affordable units for certain projects based on densities or unit sizes.
The City Council also established an impact fee for all new commercial development, the Commercial Linkage Fee, to contribute to the Affordable Housing Fund.
A 2020 Affordable Housing Nexus Study found commercial development in SLO creates more demand for residential housing. For example, when a new hotel, office, or other type of commercial business is built, new employees need housing, and housing demand increases. The new commercial linkage fee will be based on the project’s square footage.
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