PLANNING & DEVELOPMENT DOCUMENTS
Included in this set of documents are land-use plans prepared for Oceano by the County dating from the 1976 Land Use Plan for Oceano Airport to the 2002 Oceano Specific Plan and the 2013 Oceano Revitalization Plan. While much was envisioned in the 2002 and 2013 plans for improving Oceano’s infrastructure, living conditions and economy, little has ever come of them.
The OEDC redevelopment initiative has as its primary intent to make good on the community’s vision for its future as a destination beach community, engaging with Cal Poly faculty and students, the Oceano community at large, and regional affiliations in a collective effort to bring about County implementation measures.
Nine of the following documents have to do with this collective effort, working in concert with Cal Poly’s City and Regional Planning Department. Among them are concept plans produced as outcomes from engaging with and polling a relatively small number of community members. As such, they are meant only as ideas for further thought, not as proposals.
Also included are key documents relating to recent actions taken by State Parks and the Coastal Commission that have consequential impacts on Oceano’s future ability to become a destination beach community.
Oceano Community Survey Results (June 2022)
A Cal Poly CRP Project
The six-month survey was conducted for the OEDC in January – June 2022 by bilingual graduate students in Cal Poly’s City and Regional Planning (CRP) program, building on four years of earlier studies undertaken for the OEDC by Cal Poly CRP and Business School students and faculty. The community-wide survey garnered results from 275 of Oceano’s 2,636 households that had been sampled demographically to match 2020 census data.
The survey’s design was done jointly by Cal Poly faculty and students on the one hand and OEDC council members and advisors on the other. The process was overseen by AICP-certified planning professionals Chuck Stevenson (former division manager for the County’s long-range planning division and a former SLO City planning commissioner) and planning consultant Doreen Liberto, a former SLO City planning commissioner who is a current planning commissioner for Kern County. Also instrumental to its design was input from the OEDC’s 25-member Project Advisory Committee (PAC) which represents 15 Oceano stakeholder groups.
California Coastal Commission Staff Report: Oceano Dunes Development Permit 4-82-300 Review (March 2021)
This staff report laid the foundation for action taken by the Coastal Commission on March 18, 2021 to phase out OHV activity at the Pismo State Park and ODSVRA over a three-year period. Commission staff found State Parks’ draft PWP to be at odds with the Coastal Act and the City of Grover Beach and San Luis Obispo County Local Coastal Programs, stating that the PWP failed to address the range of coastal resource impacts associated with the uses and intensities of use at the Park.
Department of State Parks Draft Public Works Plan and Draft Environmental Impact Report (December 2020)
In 1982, the California Coastal Commission (“CCC“) approved a Coastal Development Permit (CDP 4-82-300) for the Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area (ODSVRA). The CDP had been amended several times since 1982 and set in motion a 40-year debate over vehicular access to and recreation at the ODSVRA. State Parks and the CCC jointly agreed to the idea of a drafting a PWP to comprehensively address the prevailing issues. The PWP’s stated purpose was to set forth a long-range land-use management plan that would comply with the California Coastal Act and Local Coastal Programs and would be reviewed and approved by the CCC. Its scope of work encompasses the ODSVRA and Pismo State Beach, which together constitute the Oceano Dunes District.
Oceano Land-Use Preference Study RFP – November 2020
A proposed Cal Poly CRP project
The purpose of this project is to draft a Request for Proposal (RFP) for a study to assess the feasibility and desirability of redeveloping Oceano as a traditional beach community. The study would ask Oceano residents about their preferences for redeveloping key land-use elements to stimulate the local economy, create jobs and improve Oceano’s quality of life.
Oceano Pier Avenue Specific Plan – June 2019
A Cal Poly CRP graduate student project
This Specific Plan was prepared to serve as a guide for the redevelopment of Pier Avenue as a business district and to evaluate the potential to meet the needs for local economic stimulation, tourism, and job creation. It incorporates feedback from Oceano residents who attended four community workshops led by Cal Poly graduate students in 2018-19.
Oceano Airport Redevelopment Specific Plan – June 2019 Renamed the Oceano Town Center Specific Plan – November 2020
A Cal Poly CRP graduate student project
Recently renamed the Oceano Town Center Concept Plan, the Oceano Airport Redevelopment Specific Plan envisions a vibrant, mixed-use development with an historic and cultural core west of Highway 1. The original conceptualization of this plan dates back to the early 1900s when town leaders mapped out and designed a town center at the site of the present-day airport. The plan imagines a center for educational exhibits relevant to the history of the area that may also serve as a staging ground for music, art, and other Oceano-specific community events. A continuous pedestrian network spanning the length of the plan will link it to existing focal points in the Downtown and Pier Avenue neighborhoods, establishing a flourishing promenade district augmented by robust open green space.
Flood Control Measures for the Redevelopment of the Oceano Airport – June 2019
A Cal Poly CRP graduate student plan
This plan provides a flood-control toolkit with site design and Best Management Practices (BMPs) necessary to redevelop the airport into a mixed-use community. The plan encompasses site grading, installation of a pump system, land conservation, constructed wetlands, and extended lagoon system, detention and retention basins, and low-impact development throughout the 50-acre site. The plan also recommends that approximately half of the site be dedicated to mixed-use development and the remaining half to open space. Together, the site would provide a comprehensive flood system with site design measures and constructed BMPs to enable redevelopment of the airport and to mitigate current and future flooding threats.
Shared Parking Analysis for Downtown and Southern Oceano – June 2019
This study reviews the 2040 parking demand for the mixed-use developments proposed in the Downtown and Southern Oceano Neighborhoods under the Preferred Growth Alternative of the 2019 Oceano Community Plan. The objective of this analysis was to estimate the total number of required parking spaces in the study area.
Transportation and Traffic Environmental Impact Analysis for the Oceano Community Plan Update – June 2019
A Cal Poly CRP graduate student report
This report evaluates the potential transportation and traffic impacts of the proposed Oceano Community Plan Update’s Preferred Growth Alternative. The Preferred Growth Alternative refers to the full buildout of the plan in which all the proposed increases in residents, housing units, and employment opportunities have been fully developed, and the proposed improvements to the circulation system within the community have been fully implemented. The buildout projections are for the year 2040.
Bus Stop and Bus Route Improvement Plan in Oceano – June 2019
A Cal Poly CRP graduate student report
The purpose of this study was to determine if the existing bus stop locations are the most effective in terms of their service coverage to meet community needs. For those considered to be under-performing, this study recommends new bus stop locations and transit re-realignment. In addition, recommendations for potential passenger amenities are provided as they can enhance comfort, convenience, and security. Amenities include items such as benches, route displays, and shelters.
Oceano Community Plan Update – March 2019
A Cal Poly CRP Planning Studio
A team of graduate students from Cal Poly’s City & Regional Planning program led a series of four community workshops with Oceano residents in the fall of 2018 and winter of 2019. The overriding purpose of the workshops was to explore community preferences for future growth alternatives. Residents were asked at the outset for their preference of baseline growth, moderate growth or maximum growth. Results of this community plan update were then used as input for a set of plans prepared in a subsequent planning studio.
Accounts of Recent Closures of General Aviation Airports (2017-20)
As a general aviation airport, Oceano Airport’s repurposing would require FAA approval along with the approval of the SLO County Board of Supervisors.
Examples of recent approvals are noted below, each taking years to approve. The most notable recent example is of Reid-Hillview Airport in San Jose, whose repurposing was approved by the Santa Clara Board of Supervisors for reasons similar to those for considering the repurposing of Oceano Airport.
In all cases, airport closure requires refunding prior FAA grant-funding, which presently amounts to $3.1 million for Oceano Airport. The County would therefore need to weigh the offsetting financial opportunity presented by repurposing the property, along with weighing the offsetting needs and interests of the community.
November 2020. Supes Approve Plans to Close San Jose’s Reid-Hillview Airport In 2031
https: //sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2020/11/19/reid-hillview-airport-east-san-jose-2031-closure-approved/
December 2018. Reid-Hillview Airport’s days may be numbered after supervisors’ action…
https://www.mercurynews.com/
December 2018 County of Santa Clara Business Plan Update: Reid-Hillview Airport Closure
https://countyairports.sccgov.org/resources/business-plan-update
Wikipedia Reid-Hillview Airport
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reid%E2%80%93Hillview_Airport
November 2017 St. Clair Regional Airport Officially Closed
https://www.emissourian.com/local_news/saint_clair/st-clair-regional-airport-officially-closed/article_e8775f33-d0f3-5adc-b996-823210a30b91.html
January 2017 Santa Monica Airport will close in 2028 and be replaced by a park, officials say
https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-santa-monica-airport-20170128-story.html
Front Street Revitalization Improvements – Draft Technical Memorandum (August 2016)
The purpose of this technical memorandum was to develop, analyze, and recommend priority projects for revitalizing Front Street (Highway 1). It draws from specific projects suggested in the 2002 Oceano Specific Plan and the 2013 Oceano Revitalization Plan, targeting Front Street improvements. As with other Oceano plans and attempts to implement capital improvements, nothing ever came of it.
Oceano Community Health Plan (June 2014)
A Cal Poly CRP Planning Project
This project examines the relationship between the built environment and public health, and explores ways planning professionals are beginning to address health issues through infrastructure, land use, creative zoning, and planning strategies that promote health and active living in policy. The planning documents, modeled after health elements currently being included in general plans throughout California, have integrated the fields of planning and public health to provide Cayucos and Oceano an assessment of its residents’ health, a description of the current built environment conditions that may be helping or hindering physical activity and access to nutritious food sources, as well as establish goals, policies and implementation strategies that will set a course of action toward healthier communities.
Oceano Revitalization Plan – July 2013
To identify the challenges and the opportunities faced by Oceano, the public process was designed to engage residents, agencies, elected leaders, community service organizations, and other stakeholders in an intensive and highly interactive public engagement program that included a multi-day design “charrette.”
Oceano Specific Plan – April 2002
The 2002 Oceano Specific Plan provided an overall framework for translating broad community values and expectations into specific strategies for enhancing the community’s quality of life. The Plan also contains estimates of future population, housing and employment that serve as the basis for planning.
Airport Land Use Plan (ALUP) for Oceano Airport – February 1976
The San Luis Obispo County Airport Land Use Commission (ALUC) is an independent body of seven members, created in response to the mandates of The State Aeronautics Act, first enacted in 1967. Under this statute, it is the duty of the ALUC:
- to assist local agencies in ensuring compatible land uses in the vicinity of all new airports and in the vicinity of existing airports to the extent that the land in the vicinity is not already devoted to incompatible uses;
- to coordinate planning at the state, regional, and local levels so as to provide for the orderly development of air transportation, while at the same time protecting the public health, safety, and welfare; and
- to provide for the orderly development of the area surrounding the Oceano County Airport (Airport) so that new developments are not likely ultimately to cause restrictions to be placed on flight operations to or from the airport.