Cayucos Del Mar Hotel

The Cayucos Del Mar Hotel applicant, Frank DeCicco, proposed to subdivide 18 legal lots of record into three lots (two residential lots and one commercial lot) and to construct a 19-room, moderate cost, hotel (the “Cayucos Del Mar Hotel”) with associated underground hotel parking and landscaping. It would be located at the northeast corner of Ocean Boulevard and Old Creek Road, just inland of Highway 1, in the unincorporated community of Cayucos in San Luis Obispo County.

The Commission previously heard an appeal of the San Luis Obispo’s permit for the project in 2009. Substantial issue was found. In 2015, the applicant submitted an amendment to slightly scale down the hotel project and eliminate the residential component. As such, Coastal Commission staff recommended approval of the project with conditions and determined that no additional low cost accommodation mitigation was necessary given that 4 of the rooms are considered lower cost.

There was significant community opposition to the project due to objections of the project’s inconsistency with the County’s LUP policies including community character, parking concerns and visual impacts.

This project has the potential to set a dangerous precedent for community character and visual resources in Cayucos. Additionally, the applicant openly has plans to develop a residential component on this lot that was previously part of the project proposal. This is illegal as piecemealing under CEQA because the project will not be reviewed for impacts in its entirety. Piecemealing has the potential to provide a loophole for getting development projects approved that are not otherwise consistent with the Coastal Act.