Pismo Beach LCP Update (Phase 1)

The Commission approved the first phase of Pismo Beach’s Land Use Plan update, with five modifications recommended by Commission staff. The update modernizes the City’s land use, natural resource, and circulation policies, which dates back to 1993. Staff’s modifications removed a Mixed-Use designation from two beachfront parcels at the mouth of Pismo Creek and better balanced habitat protection with public access along the shoreline. Policies on coastal hazards and sea level rise adaptation were split off into a second phase, which the City is now preparing with Commission grant funding.

Pismo Beach is one of the most popular beach towns on the Central Coast, and this update will protect the beaches and open space that draw people there. The new plan:

• keeps development off the sandy beach,
• protects public parking near beach access points,
• sizes bluff-top trail dedications to account for sea level rise,
• requires public access facilities at Dinosaur Caves to be designed so they can move inland as the bluff erodes.

It also calls for new high-cost hotels to provide 25 percent of their rooms at lower cost, and it keeps in-lieu fees within Pismo Beach. Those fees will support affordable stays for visitors, including the many families who travel from the Central Valley.

The hardest choices are still ahead. Phase 2 will decide how the City adapts to rising seas, including how it handles shoreline armoring and plans for its low-lying campgrounds. Those decisions will shape the future of Pismo’s beaches.

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