Note that we've modified the website a bit -- added 2 new sections: "Land Use" and "Transportation" -- these are important areas in the community, so we separated issues related to these two, to have their own pages.

NCAC Meetings and Recent Items:

• Agenda Items for NCAC’s LAST monthly meeting (Wednesday 17 April 2024) -- Link to the YouTube video is  HERE. 

  • Pedestrian and Transportation Needs in Cambria – based on CCSD PROS committee of CCSD.

    • Link to PROS Commission list -- LINK

    • Attachment – Paving Cambria East Ranch Access road – LINK

    • Attachment – 4 Intersections at Highway 1 – LINK

    • Attachment – Santa Rosa Creek/Hwy 1 crossing – LINK

    • LINK to the county’s interactive map system for transportation needs

  • SLOCOG presented their proposed investment plan (to be voted upon by the electorate) – link to the presentation is HERE.

  • At last month's meeting of the North Coast Advisory Council (NCAC), there was a discussion about the SLO County Planning Commission's decision on the new Cambria Christmas Market permit request. Since then, we learned that an appeal to the decision has been scheduled for July 9, 2024. Your comments should be emailed before July 8, 2024, to Nicole Ellis, Senior Planner at the Planning and Building Department, at nellis@co.slo.ca.us .The Planning Commission commented that they hadn’t received many comments about the Christmas Market from Cambria, so didn’t see a “ground swell” of opposition to the market. 

  • Update on fire insurance from the Cambria Fire Safe Focus Group (David Pierson)

  • Note that the date for the Beautify Cambria/Goodwill Donation Drive fundraiser has been changed to Saturday, May 18th, from 9AM to 3PM, still at Santa Rosa Church.

  • We discussed the recent (March 9) dog attack incident on Park Hill, in which a small dog was killed and the victim dog's owner lost part of a finger. NCAC has gotten involved to the extent of making sure that county animal control follows up properly to ensure public safety. NCAC has not yet gotten a reply from email sent to the County Supervisor and head of Animal Services about the availability of proven indicators of previous bite incidents by the same animal. A link to a paper (written by the victim) indicating date and time of previous attacks is HERE. 

• The Goodwill Donation drive fundraiser for Beautify Cambria Association is now on Saturday, 18 May, 9AM to 3PM, at the Santa Rosa Catholic Church. Link to the letter is HERE. 

• The last NCAC monthly meeting was held on Wednesday 20 March 2024 at 6PM, via Zoom. Meetings are on the 3rd Wednesday of each month. Link to the YouTube video is HERE. Agenda has been placed on website ("meeting agendas" page) . Draft minutes have been  placed on the "Minutes of meetings" page.

  • Agenda Items for NCAC’s last monthly meeting (Wednesday 20 March 2024)

    • CCSD General Manager McElhennie wrote a comprehensive letter last week, which included information on the status of the Water Reclamation Facility (WRF). During the meeting, he expanded on some of the items in the letter (see Minutes or video for details)

    • NCAC has had some retirements and potential new delegates. During the meeting, we voted on Christina Galloway as our new Environmental representative, and Jeff Bloom as our new Area 2 ( Happy Hill, Leimert) delegate. Both were approved by NCAC vote.

    • The SLO planning commission met on Thursday, 22 February at 9AM. At our last NCAC meeting, the council voted on a series of recommendations to the Planning Commission. These included:

      • Limiting permit duration to 10 years

      • Relocate the free shuttle pick up location on Main Street to a location off Main Street

      • Offering complimentary Cambria resident passes

      • Removing the 6 additional days between Christmas and New Years

      • These were not included in the final recommendation of the Planning Commission. The Planning Commission commented that they hadn’t received many comments about the Christmas Market from Cambria, so didn’t see a “ground swell” of opposition to the market. At the Commission meeting, there were members of the NCAC Land Use Committee, plus two other local residents.

    • The Land Use Committee  also reported on two referrals received recently. We discussed results from site visits to San Simeon Campground (new Modular buildings) and renovation/rebuild at 2675 Sherwood, Cambria.  Mr. Kwasny  (LUC chair) moved to approve the first referral (for installation of three modular residences at the San Simeon State Park campground),  Council approved. After discussion about whether sufficient documentation had been received for the Council to vote on the second referral (to replace an existing residence with a new one), Mr. Kwasny postponed the vote to the April meeting.

    • Status of storm-related repairs. As we’ve seen, the situation on Pine Knolls is over a year old, so residents have taken a “ground swell” movement to undertake petition and other citizen actions within the county. We also are waiting on a number of other storm-related repairs (Lampton Park, sea walls, etc.) which may be responsibility of organizations other than Public Works.

    • Update on fire insurance from the Cambria Fire Safe Focus Group (David Pierson). Mr. Pierson emphasized that the CFSFG report contains a weblink which can be accessed as a first step for homeowners who need information on fire insurance. In response to a question from the audience about the cost of fire insurance, Mr. Pierson said the decision by many insurers to cease doing business in California has resulted in efforts by Governor Newsom and the Insurance Commissioner to modify the premium structure so that some costs can be passed to policyholders, which might result in insurance companies reentering the California market.

    • Transportation report – trails, sidewalks, etc. and priorities. Postponed to April, because of the lateness of the meeting. 

    • Beautify Cambria also made a short presentation about their Goodwill Donation Drive fundraiser on on May 18th (9AM to 3PM -- NOTE date change from earlier) at Santa Rosa Church.

• Note that some recent links have been added below. These include items which CCSD has sent to various committees for study. Also, we've provided links to allow interested parties to comment on the proposed Morro Bay Windfarm project. 

• The county Board of Supervisors is investigating a Independent Redistricting Commission (IRC) for SLO county. While the initial BOS meeting on this has passed, residents are still able to pass comments on the IRC to the BOS. You can send a message for all Board members at:   boardofsups@co.slo.ca.us  (be sure to put IRC in the subject line). 

• Also, AT&T is requesting the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to allow AT&T to do the following:

  • Application 23-03-002: regarding the application of AT&T California to Withdraw its Eligible Telecommunications Carrier Designation

  • Application 23-03-003: regarding the application of AT&T California for Relief from its Carrier of Last Resort Obligation

  • Please visit apps.cpuc.ca.gov/c/A2303002 to submit a public comment about AT&T California’s application to withdraw its Eligible Telecommunications Carrier designation.

  • Please visit apps.cpuc.ca.gov/c/A2303003 to submit a public comment about AT&T California’s application for relief from its Carrier of Last Resort Obligations.

• The Cambria Community Services District (CCSD) is considering incorporation (becoming a city). In order to fully understand the pros and cons of this, there are some file links to look at:

  • Report on Revenue Enhancement for the Cambria Community Services District, Available HERE​​

  • Pros and Cons of Incorporation, available HERE.

  • Current CCSD Budget (FY 2023/24), available HERE. 

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• The SLO county supervisors recently completed a survey of Community Area Councils (of which NCAC is one of 11, for the unincorporated areas of the county). At their meeting on 5 December, the BOS voted to accept the revised rules for CACs, with an invitation to the community to "weigh in" with comments. The BOS will then review the handbook in the next year, and update as necessary.  Links to the various documents are below:

  • Survey results -- HERE​

  • Revised CAC Handbook -- HERE

Summaries of recent meetings and other activities may be found on the "Recent Activities" page, while meeting minutes may be found on the "Minutes of Meetings" page. 

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Following a recent meeting, county planner Kip Morais reached out to  the Parks Department after the meeting and got this:

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Based on discussions with planning staff on other storm damaged infrastructure along coast, per County regulations – emergency permits may be issued to implement temporary stabilization measures, and may require additional permits i.e. grading/ encroachment permit(s) as applicable.  We determine this in consultation with Coastal Commission staff and other dept staff.   After the emergency ceases, and within 30 days of issuance, a proper Minor Use Permit / Coastal Development permit application shall be submitted to have the improvements carefully reviewed in compliance with the County coastal codes and policies. This may result in possible removal and/or alterations of the improvement installed.

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An emergency permit will not speed up the process for implementing the ultimate long term project, it is just a way to stabilize vulnerable infrastructure temporarily until a permanent fix can per fully designed permitted and implemented. The coastal accessways do not meet the criteria for an emergency permit.  Here is the full code section below:

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Emergency Permit  https://library.municode.com/ca/san_luis_obispo_county/codes/county_code?nodeId=TIT23COZOLAUS_CH23.03PERE_23.03.045EMPE 

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