Lawsuit alleges SLO County skirted the law to allow guesthouse in Los Osos - San Luis Obispo Tribune
Over the past few months, a small construction project at a neighborhood lot in Los Osos has been steadily moving forward.
The two-story, white stucco and red-roofed guesthouse and garage rises near the peak of Highland Drive — giving the soon-to-be occupants a handsome view of Morro Bay and a few of the Nine Sisters mountains and hills in coastal San Luis Obispo County.
The development surprised many neighbors; they wondered how it got approved without any apparent public notice or hearing, as they’d grown accustomed to receiving for most new proposed construction projects in the water-strapped town nestled in an environmentally sensitive habitat area.
Now, one group of neighbors is suing the county for what they call an “egregious” permitting process. They allege the county illegally granted the permit for the Highland guesthouse in April without proper public review or hearing.
“This is negligent behavior from a government that’s ignored a town without a government,” said Emily Miggins, who is leading the newly established Los Osans for Good Governance, which filed the lawsuit on Feb. 3. “They’re denying our right to use our voice.”
Although the county has reportedly approved other guesthouses in Los Osos without an initial public hearing or notice, it appears that after it made those decisions, the county then sent notices of final action to the California Coastal Commission — as required by the county’s coastal land use ordinance. Other interested individuals may also receive the notices of final action for each project, which they can then often appeal to the Coastal Commission.
The Highland guesthouse is unique, however, as the county did not provide any public hearing or notice, nor did it send the notice of final action to the Commission or any other interested parties — therefore denying any opportunity for anyone to appeal the project.
That’s despite guesthouses being considered a “special use” under the county’s coastal land-use ordinance and requiring such public process and allowing an appeal, according to the Coastal Commission.
“The county did not issue a properly noticed and properly heard CDP (coastal development permit) as is required, and the county failed to notify the commission of its action, which is also required,” wrote Coastal Commission spokesperson Noaki Schwartz in an email to The Tribune. “Thus, the permit issued by the county is invalid.”
The county indirectly defended its actions in response to a Tribune inquiry, saying guesthouse permits in some areas are ministerial, or automatically granted, given the applicants show they’ve met objective zoning, building code, and health and safety requirements.
Airlin Singewald, a division manager with the county’s Planning and Building Department, noted in an email to The Tribune that the county will only give public notice or hearing of a proposed guesthouse if it’s in an “appealable” area of the county near the coast.
“This site is not located in the coastal appealable zone,” wrote Blake Fixler, the legislative assistant for county Supervisor Bruce Gibson, in an email to Miggins obtained by The Tribune. “In theory, any lot in that neighborhood would have the same opportunity if they met the standards and had their plans reviewed to meet the necessary criteria.”
The lawsuit filed by the Los Osans for Good Governance disputes that point. It asks the court to rescind the building permit for the Highland guesthouse and direct the county to provide public notice of its consideration for the guesthouse should the applicant submit another proposal — despite the building being nearly complete already.
The owner of the property, Peter Von Langen, who works for the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board, is named as party in interest in the lawsuit and did not respond to requests for comment from The Tribune.
Should the court side with Los Osans for Good Governance, that would allow residents to appeal the building permit to the Coastal Commission.
Lawsuit claims water crisis may be worsened by approval of guesthouses
Beyond the convoluted permitting process, what troubles Miggins and other concerned neighbors is that they say plans show the Highland guesthouse has bathroom and kitchen sinks, a shower and a toilet.
At first glance, those are common household items that hardly anyone would question.
But in Los Osos, they mean the guesthouse has a hookup to the community’s wastewater system and will be drawing water from an already critically overdrafted groundwater basin. What water is left in the basin can be either partially polluted by nitrates from septic systems or is being degraded by seawater intrusion.
“Los Osos suffers from an acute water supply crisis,” the Feb. 3 lawsuit says. “This crisis is exemplified by the county imposition on restrictions for new growth in the Los Osos community.”
To grant permits for new construction projects, the county usually must first analyze how or whether the project will be served by a sustainable water source — unless a permit is granted “ministerially,” as was the case for the Highland guesthouse.
The analysis of whether the proposed project has a sustainable water source typically involves an applicant receiving a “will-serve letter” from a local water authority.
In Los Osos, it’s tough to show such proof as the groundwater basin has been deemed unsustainable for the current population — much less new residents.
“Because of the inconclusive results of our monitoring that would truly indicate we’re moving forward towards that sustainability, we’re reluctant as water purveyors to take on new customers at this point,” said Ron Munds, general manager of the Los Osos Community Services District, in an interview with The Tribune in July.
Munds at the time was primarily talking about customers who have projects that would involve a full kitchen such as an accessory dwelling unit or house.
Fast forward to a Los Osos Community Advisory Council Land Use Committee meeting on Monday, and Munds appeared to still hold that position, although he questioned whether guesthouses may be the solution Los Osos needs to balance housing needs with water security.
“These smaller projects, they do mean a lot in terms of … potentially adding to water use,” he said during the meeting. “But what I’m seeing in the initial data is that some do, some don’t (add to water use).”
According to Munds, at least eight guesthouses were built in Los Osos between 2017 and 2021, and more have since been approved by the county or are in the works. The community services district is analyzing the water use from those new developments to see whether the county continuing to approve such projects will ultimately hurt the community’s water supply or prove to be a sustainable option.
Golden State Water Co., which serves water to the Highland guesthouse, is a state-regulated water purveyor, so it would need to get approval from the California Public Utilities Commission in order to stop issuing will-serve letters. Despite the basin’s troubled state, Mark Zimmer, general manager of Golden State Water Co.’s Los Osos service area, has historically told The Tribune the company does not want to go down that “complicated, long process.”
Any water-using development proposed in Los Osos that has come before the Coastal Commission, regardless of whether it has a will-serve letter from a purveyor, has been flatly rejected.
“When a project is proposed based on water supplied from an already over-extracted basin where demand is already greater than its supply … even projects with offsets and retrofits cannot address that core problem,” said a November Coastal Commission staff report for a proposed guesthouse on Santa Ysabel Avenue in Los Osos, which was later withdrawn from the state agency’s consideration.
So when the Highland Drive guesthouse began construction without residents given the opportunity to appeal, Miggins was perturbed.
“There’s no water. Where are they getting water?” she asked. “This is a broken process. There is a game going on in this county with its water.”
This story was originally published February 13, 2022 9:00 AM.
source: https://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/environment/article258220633.html
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