A previous version of this story erroneously stated that the Oceano Advisory Council supports efforts to repurpose the Oceano County Airport. The group has taken no official stance on the matter.
Allene Villa is a lifelong resident of Oceano, but her interest in the Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area (SVRA) and its role in what she calls “environmental injustices” for the people of Oceano is a recent preoccupation.
Villa was 2 years old when her mom, then a recent Mexican immigrant, moved the family from Grover Beach to Oceano, one of the few places in San Luis Obispo County with affordable housing stock. That was more than 50 years ago, and Villa has been in Oceano pretty much ever since.
While cars always drove out on the beach and buggies were in the dunes, Villa said it was rare in the ’80s to see “monstrous” lifted trucks and RVs towing trailers.
As the years passed and the vehicles got bigger, Villa said the crowds got bigger, too. People got rowdier, and serious accidents became more common. Villa stopped taking her mom, who has poor eyesight, to the beach out of fear that she might accidentally step into traffic and get hit by a car. Her family members stopped bringing their kids for the same reason.
“So we really don’t have access to our local beach, and the more I thought of it, the more I was like, ‘Well this isn’t right,'” she said. “We should have access to our own beach and we should feel safe at our beach.”
It wasn’t until 2018, when now Arroyo Grande City Councilmember Jimmy Paulding ran—ultimately unsuccessfully—to serve as 4th District SLO County supervisor, that Villa really started to see off-roading as an environmental justice issue.
Villa, who now serves as chair of the Oceano Advisory Council, argues that most of the revenue generated by the SRVA money goes to State Parks, the county, and just a few off-roading businesses in Oceano.
“And what do we get?” Villa asked. “We get air pollution, we get noise pollution, we get trash pollution, we get accidents. That’s all we get.”
Affordable future
After the California Coastal Commission’s March 18 vote to eliminate off-roading in the SVRA, people are planning for an Oceano without off-roading. While Villa said she’s excited for all the new possibilities, economic booms can have repercussions for underprivileged residents. Villa and other Oceano Advisory Council members hope to ensure that Oceano’s character remains intact and that current residents, many who are low-income and Latino, aren’t priced out of the town.
“The gentrification issue and maintaining affordable housing stock has been paramount in our community and certainly in the Oceano Advisory Council,” said Charles Varni, Oceano Advisory Council vice chair and a founding member of the Oceano Economic Development Council, a new group aiming to encourage equitable economic growth in Oceano.
Varni thinks the off-roading ban will enable Oceano to become a clean, vibrant beach town like many of its neighbors. But Varni admitted that these looming changes could have unintentional consequences.
He pointed to Avila Beach. Before the Unocal oil spill cleanup efforts in the early 2000s, which involved tearing down and rebuilding much of the town, Avila Beach was home to mostly working class people and funky shops and restaurants.
“It had a lot of charm,” Varni said. “It had a lot of cheap housing, and it just got—it basically got wiped off the map.”
Now, according to the county’s draft Avila Community Plan, Avila Beach is one of the most expensive towns and busiest tourist destinations in SLO County. In 2019, 12 homes were sold in Avila at a median price of around $1,459,000, more than double SLO County’s overall median selling price of $708,954.
People also frequently use Pismo Beach as an example of a place that exploded economically after banning vehicles on much of the beach in the 1930s.
But Effie McDermott, a local Pismo Beach historian, said it was really Pismo’s first local coastal plan and zoning changes that encouraged the development of the many pricey hotels, condos, and restaurants that now call Pismo Beach home.
That’s not what Varni wants for Oceano.
U.S. Census Bureau data shows that roughly 45 percent of Oceano’s population is Latino or Hispanic, and the area’s median household income was estimated to be $67,742 in 2019. Roughly 12 percent of Oceano residents live in poverty, according to the data. While Avila’s median gross rent sat at around $1,774 a month between 2015 and 2019, Oceano’s was only $1,250.
Members of the advisory and economic development councils are cooking up ways to improve the community without making it totally unaffordable. The Advisory Council’s biggest push is to develop an ordinance regulating vacation rentals in Oceano. Varni said while vacation rentals do come with benefits, they also use up needed housing stock and are often operated by out-of-town people or companies.
With more than 90 vacation rental permits approved in Oceano as of 2018, according to a June 2019 report published by a Cal Poly student, Varni said it’s time for Oceano residents to set some limits.
Oceano Advisory Council members have also considered reports regarding the repurposing and developing the Oceano County Airport, although the group has taken no official stance on the matter. Varni said SLO County’s ownership of the airport makes it the town’s largest landholder. That land could be used for much-needed affordable housing, a community events center, and retail buildings to benefit the whole community. Instead, he said, it’s being used as a landing pad for a few private pilots.
Varni also supports an ordinance that requires all new developments to build curbs, gutters, and sidewalks, but much of Oceano still floods during rainstorms, and the county usually cites budget limitations for the area’s lacking drainage. The Oceano Advisory Council has the goal of facilitating applications of SLO County for multi-million dollar grants from the state and federal government to improve some of that infrastructure. Varni said some rent control enforcement efforts and laws that make it easier for people to build accessory dwelling units could also help existing residents.
New focus
Adam Verdin, co-owner of Old Juan’s Cantina, said he’s not sure those are the issues the people of Oceano really want to tackle.
Verdin isn’t an Oceano resident himself, but he employs a number of Oceano locals, grew up in Oceano, and has lived in the Five Cities area for most of his life. Verdin said he doesn’t like to get involved in politics, but he recently joined the Oceano Vitality Advisory Council in an attempt to advocate for Oceano’s Latino and business community in discussions regarding the area’s future.
Although the Vitality Advisory Council, which the SLO County Board of Supervisors officially recognized in June, is largely made up of ardent off-roading supporters and has been criticized as a divisive effort to defund the original Oceano Advisory Council, Verdin said that isn’t the case at all. He couldn’t be more excited to move on from the debate over vehicle access in the dunes, a saga that he said has long stolen focus away from Oceano’s many other needs.
“It’s over, it’s done, it’s a legal fight, and it is what it is,” Verdin said. “But I thought, ‘You know, there are other issues that do need attention.'”
The Vitality Advisory Council has two major goals: to get broad community engagement in its meetings and planning efforts, and to implement the remaining projects outlined in the 2013 Oceano Revitalization Plan.
When Verdin first started following the debate over the dunes, he heard a lot of people talk about what the Latino community wants and needs, but he didn’t see many Latinos participating in the conversation.
So Verdin is making outreach his mission. He wants the Vitality Advisory Council’s documents and website to be available in both Spanish and English. He wants the meetings to be accessible to everyone, including those who work odd hours. He wants to ensure that people feel comfortable expressing their opinions.
“In my brain, I say, ‘How would I get my grandmother to come to a public meeting?'” he said, adding that his grandparents were both Mexican immigrants who spoke mostly Spanish. “I think it’s a door-to-door task. I think we actually have to walk door to door.”
While Verdin said the other group’s ideas sound perfectly nice, he can’t support any of them until he hears from all of the community. Plus, he said he’d rather focus on realistic projects. The updates outlined in the revitalization plan are already mapped out with some support from the county. The only thing Oceano residents would have to do is build consensus over some of the projects and help find funding sources.
“And it has nothing to do with dust, or dunes, or snowy plovers,” he said. Δ
Staff Writer Kasey Bubnash can be reached at kbubnash@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Jul 8-18, 2021.
Thank you New Times for covering this important story in Oceano, the community most County Supervisors forget about. The Oceano Advisory Council (OAC) was founded in 1996 and is currently focused on three main issues: instituting a vacation rental ordinance; creation of a Curbs, Gutters, and Sidewalks Taskforce (CGS); and a Pier Avenue Rejuvenation and Public Plaza Taskforce. The Pier Avenue effort is a high priority because in less than one year it will become a dead end street with no vehicle entrance onto the beach. The OAC welcomes all locals to participate in this process by attending our meetings and joining the Task Forces. Go to our website at oceanoadvisorycouncil.org for detailed information and to contact us.
I think it was very unfortunate that Supervisor Compton, along with Arnold and Peschong, supported the unprecedented creation of another Advisory Council in Oceano. It does nothing to bring the community together, institutionalizes differences, and creates confusion for County staff and others who work with our community. In their application papers, the founding members of the Vitality Advisory Council for Oceano (VACO) listed one issue that was important to them–keeping the SVRA open and vehicles on the beach. So it is both encouraging, and somewhat confusing, to read that Mr Verdin is not concerned about the SVRA at all and wants to focus on other issues in Oceano. Sure wish he had accepted the OAC invitation to join the Advisory Council and work with us on issues like affordable housing, more jobs, curbs, gutters, sidewalks, parks, flood control, safe crosswalks on Hiway 1, and economic redevelopment.
One correction. There is already requirements in place that new buildings include curbs, gutters, and sidewalks. The OAC has the goal of facilitating the application of SLO County for multi-million dollar grants which are targeted to disadvantaged communities by the Federal and State government. This is an issue of environmental, social, and economic justice. I hope Mr Verdin and his VACO colleagues will join us in this community effort.
Charles Varni, Vice Chair
Oceano Advisory Council
Leave the sand dunes ALONE!!!! It’s been a tradition for decades, a huge tourist destination. A woman complains about not being able to take her elderly mom to the beach out of fear of being run over??? Really? So just eliminate car access to the beach altogether??? Guess she won’t be going on the beach for sure now…..makes no sense. The Oceano dunes are a California staple, take it away and oceano and Pismo will die altogether. But Pismo is almost dead anyways with its gawdy redesign that doesn’t even allow for cars in the parking lot??? LAME. Not the Pismo I grew up in. It’s gentrified and LAME now……LEAVE THE DUNES ALONE!!!!!
I think one thing most of us can agree on is that Supervisor Lynn Compton has not done a good job for the South County. She has provided absolutely no effective leadership or direction regarding the troublesome or controversial issues in the south county. She seems to like wielding a gavel at the board of supervisors meetings, but she has been virtually nonexistent in the portions of her district that could use help. If she has been doing anything regarding these issues, shes been doing it behind closed doors with little or no transparency. Not good. Not good at all. We can do better for sure.
When I go to the State’s Environmental Health Hazard website I’m not seeing any of the Pismo, Oceano or Avita beach communities listed as areas of health hazards that trigger environmental justice concerns. Since when does the mere presence of a hispanic population make a site an environmental justice area?
☀️ I’d like to see the other side of the facts regarding the Oceano Dunes reported on too. Your reports have been very biased and not what most would consider responsible journalism.
🇺🇸 Please look in to writing an article about how the land was designed for off road use and the smiles, cheer and life long memories that are made on the sand everyday.
💦 I invite you to come to our family camping area and see what’s really happening on the sand. Kids having fun, families making memories. We keep the beach clean around us and respect the beach wildlife.
Can we please get you to be sure you get both sides of the story… as the old saying goes.
Why not? They better hope it DOES include gentrification and getting rid of Jeff Lee and the status quo.
Some things to consider: the Oceano airport is in a vulnerable floodplain. The ocean is rising and within 50 years or sooner the ocean is likely going to start encroaching on Pier Avenue.
Possibly, just possibly, the value of the airport is going to rise dramatically in the next decade or so with the expansion of drone deliveries and proliferation of personal aircraft, both of which could significantly increase commerce at the airport and surrounding area.
If Mr. Varni had given half the effort on engagement and inclusive public dialog as he has spent complaining about VACO, maybe there would not have been a need for us. Nowhere in our application was SVRA mentioned as a purpose or priority, and the Oceano Revitalization Plan doesn’t mention it either. We are here to represent all members of Oceano, approximately half of whom are Latino and not represented by your English-only outreach. vaco805.org
https://censusreporter.org/profiles/16000US0653294-oceano-ca/
ow ironic that Mr Verdin criticizes the OAC for lack of outreach to Latinos (not true) when I specifically reached out to him at least three times asking him to participate with the OAC. Here is a quote from my May 28 email to him,
“The Oceano Advisory Council meets the third Thursday of the month at 530 pm with agendas and Zoom links available at our website oceanoadvisorycouncil.org. We are also seeking new members for the OAC and welcome new applicants from the Oceano community. Having more business owners would be welcome.” Our new OAC website (oceanoadvisorycouncil.org) is being set-up for Spanish translation. And our bilingual community newsletter will be distributed across the community by hand and email next week. Most Latinos in Oceano speak English and if they dont many of them understand it. You imply all Latinos are monolingual. We have first and second language Spanish speakers on the OAC and can communicate bilingually, as we did at the Curbs, Gutters, and Sidewalks Taskforce meeting last week.
The OAC was formed in 1996 and is leading the Community planning effort with a Taskforce on curbs, gutters, and sidewalks; a Pier Avenue Rejuvenation and Public Plaza Taskforce (working title) which includes the small revitalization zone; and a subcommittee on vacation rental impacts..plus other topics. Accomplishing these goals calls for cooperation. The more the OAC and VACO find common ground the better it will be for the community. Does Oceano want a beautiful, inviting, pedestrian friendly grand entrance to the beach at the end of Pier Ave that will anchor the economic future of the street, becoming a major community attraction? We need to get started now! Pier Avenue, as a vehicle entrance to the beach, closes July 1, 2022. The OAC brings many resources to the table in terms of information, energy, diversity, and community connection.
I appreciate Mr Verdin asserting that the SVRA and dunes issue are not ones the VACO is interested in but rather they want to focus on a 2013 Revitalization Plan which has much valuable information. There are also many other studies, plans, and reports from SLO County departments, hired consultants, and many Cal Poly State University assessments and plans on Pier Ave. Most of these are available on our website.
It looks like the OAC and VACO are on many of the same pages. I think that by working together we will be more likely to achieve common goals and significantly help the community.
In these emails I am representing myself as a 20 year resident of Oceano and am not speaking for the OAC. The OAC policies and actions reported are factual.
Charles Varni
Oceano
After 25 years, you are adding a Spanish section to your website. That is awesome! I’m proud of you. Charles you know because we have discussed this that you did invite me to “participate” but only AFTER deciding to support the early and consequential closure of Pier Ave. Repeat, AFTER and not BEFORE that vote. Never heard a peep from you before then. I suggest you re-read the entire correspondence from which you selectively pull a self serving quote. The challenge is you want my input, but only in your forum and on subjects of your choosing. Our approach is fundamentally different- do the hard work of engaging the community and let the priorities flow from that engagement. Good Luck!
Thank goodness for Charles Varni’s efforts on behalf of Océano. I may not agree with everything he is proposing, but I am confident that his efforts are well-needed, well-reasoned, well-articulated, diplomatic and beneficial to the community. His is a voice that should be respected and listened to by anyone who sincerely cares about the well-being of the south county and its residents. Thank you!
I’m not an Oceano resident, but I know one thing for sure: I wouldn’t join any organization with people like Charles Varni in it.
Here’s the thing: It’s conduct unbecoming of a chair or a vice chair of any organization to condescendingly berate a community member or small business owner they’re also trying to invite — and then have the audacity to claim they represent the best interests of the person they’re berating.
That’s the digital equivalent of shoving a political sign in someone’s face and being appalled when that someone rejects your message. Sure enough, that’s exactly what happened to me when Varni visited my neck of the woods in Morro Bay back in 2018 when he was advocating for our city’s support for Measure G. For the record, I proudly voted yes on Measure G. But I cannot be as proudly supportive of the way he accosted me and then-City Council candidate Jeff Heller outside of the Veteran’s Hall. Heller told him to back off and Varni got into a shouting match with him.
If you can’t handle rejection, refuse to understand why you’ve been rejected and refuse to improve, then you simply don’t have the acuity to serve in any leadership position that requires an even keel.
Considering the fact that OAC’s own treasurer is a convicted ex-felon (SOURCE: https://www.newtimesslo.com/sanluisobispo/…) and their members disseminated an email from South County Democratic Party leadership that one of VACO’s members was “maybe” a sexual predator, one has to really wonder why the community would want a second advisory council to exist.
Here’s a little advice for people like Varni: If you want people to join your group, fix what’s clearly broken. Fix the way you communicate and “reach out” to people. Look around the room. Read the room. And read why the only people in the room are you, an ex-felon treasurer, and a resident who seems like a nice person with laudable goals but gets lost in the flurry of self-serving diatribes and falsehoods from you and the ex-felon.
I think a big problem with Oceano is there are very few opportunities for the community to come together for a mutual celebration of anything. Oceano doesn’t have music festivals, oceano, doesn’t have festivals of any kind. Oceano’s Community Center doesn’t have any community activities. Let’s find something to celebrate that transcends party lines, racial lines and doesn’t involve motor vehicles or real estate transactions.
Océano seems to be the only community in the county that has so many nonresidents trying to tell residents what to do and how to do it. This is a very interesting phenomenon that has gotten worse the last few years.
Aaron Ochs: what are the lies you’re referring to? After reading your comment it feels like you’re holding a vicious grudge over an inconsequential incident that happened years ago that has little or no relevance to the issues at hand in Oceano. I realize you don’t live in Oceano, but nevertheless do you have anything productive to offer to the discussion that is not an attack on others?
It’s not so much “vicious” as it is disappointing that his behavior hasn’t changed.
The truth is: there’s no evidence VACO was formed as some sort of vehicle to reverse the eventual closing of the SVRA. I got emails from Democrats in that area that featured the claim. Then I got the email about VACO members that featured spurious claims about them based on that false premise. As someone who fact-checks controversial claims, I was driven to the subject like a moth to a flame. Then I discovered the irony: they’re acting more like CalCoastNews than they realize.
So… Vicious? No. Disappointed? Yes.
Do I have something productive to add to Oceano? Not really, since I don’t live there, don’t have a stake in the matter. It’s out of my purview, but I wish them the very best and hope the two advisory boards can coexist.
If my community of Morro Bay can juggle several advisory bodies with overlapping priorities, Oceano can certainly handle two advisory councils without the drama.
As the President of Friends of Oceano Airport and the Vice-president of the California Pilots Association, I would like to give a little history of the airport and also point out the many ways in which our airport is a good neighbor. Oceano Airport was built in the 1950’s to serve the communities of Pismo Beach, Oceano and Grover City. This unique airport is within a short walk of the beautiful Pacific Ocean and sandy beaches.
Oceano, in addition to perhaps being the closest airport to the Pacific Ocean, is a vital link in emergency services in San Luis Obispo County. Life-flight, California Highway Patrol, Sheriff Aero Squadron, Civil Air Patrol, Diablo Canyon evacuation, Beach rescues, Arroyo Grande Community Hospital, Angel Flights, Air Rescue, all make use of Oceano airport. It is a great field for training and is used by regional flight instructors. The airport is an economic engine for our 5-cities area. We have many visitors, including corporate aircraft that come, eat, stay and enjoy our slice of paradise.
Friends of Oceano Airport is a 501C3 non-profit organization committed to the preservation of our beautiful slice of paradise, Oceano Airport. We are proud to be a chapter of the California Pilots Association. Our goal is to help promote general aviation, and to promote and protect general aviation airports. FOA has three standing events per year. In May we have Oceano Airport Celebration Salute to Veterans. We collect items for care packages that go to our overseas troops. In August [this year August 13 and 14] we have Fly-In Movie night. This is an opportunity for members of our community as well as pilots from all over the state to come to the airport to enjoy a free movie. This year we are doing a Beach Burger Fry and Dance [$10] featuring Leo and the Boyz on Friday Aug. 13th. Movie night is Saturday August 14th and is free of charge. We do sell refreshments that will support an aviation scholarship. All are welcome. Fly in, walk in, drive in. The first Saturday of December is our annual Toys for Tots event. Our event, now going on 12 years is the largest Toys for Tots events in the 5-cities. The toys and funds we collect help the kids in our area have more toys under the tree at Christmas.
So, if you want to see what our airport is really about, come on Friday 8/13 for the Burger Fry and Dance, or bring your family, chairs and blanket and enjoy our movie night on Saturday 8/14. http://www.FriendsofOceanoAirport.com
Why not require reservations to drive on the Dunes like any state or county campground? That could reduce the traffic down to a tolerable level for residents.
But, our representatives on Boards, Councils and the Legislature are not capable of outside the box thinking so Oceano now faces an upsurge [once the drought ends and water is available] in building which will not be cheap because of the ever more costly building codes.
Of course that may have happened even if the Dunes remained open to off roaders.
Time Marches on, you know.