San Luis Obispo’s more troublesome college parties have caught the attention of the SLO County grand jury.
“The city has not effectively engaged in working together with community stakeholders to find solutions for ongoing off-campus issues that negatively impact neighborhoods such as code enforcement, noise issues, trespassing, property damage, and unruly events,” the grand jury report said.
Stemming from resident complaints, the jury’s report determined that the city’s alleged inadequate handling of loud and often destructive parties led to a rise in illegal fraternities hosting unsanctioned events in residential neighborhoods.
One resident the grand jury interviewed about the issue told New Times that fraternity operations—not college students—are the problem. She requested anonymity for safety concerns.
“Some of my neighbors (college students) have called SLOPD [SLO Police Department] for noisy parties at a fraternity next door to them because it was too disruptive. If the fraternity events were removed from the neighborhood, the condition would improve greatly,” she said via email. “There is a vast difference between a fraternity party with 100-plus people screaming and guests coming and going, versus a standard college party, which isn’t usually an issue. I’m not sure that was recognized by the grand jury as far as the problematic noise we are experiencing.”
The report, released on June 23, followed Cal Poly’s attempt to curb the usual disruption caused by the annual St. Fratty’s Day block party. In March, the university hosted a free-to-students music festival on campus instead. But the event exceeded capacity at 6,000 people, resulting in Cal Poly President Jeff Armstrong condemning the crowd in a letter.
The grand jury inspected impacted neighborhoods; reviewed municipal codes, City Council and Planning Commission meetings, conditional use permits issued to fraternities, and outreach plans for past St. Patrick’s Day events; analyzed policies and laws around fraternities and sororities; and examined strategies used by other cities.
It found that the city couldn’t effectively enforce laws prohibiting fraternity and sorority activity in certain residential zones because it’s difficult to identify the houses hosting such parties. The report also claimed that the city failed to consistently enforce permit requirements like parking plans and notifying neighbors.
The jury buttressed its investigation with interviews of residents, Cal Poly leaders, some City Council members, and officials from Community Development and SLOPD.
Based on those interviews, the report alleged that the SLOPD didn’t cooperate with the jury.
“While one sworn officer did participate in an interview, efforts to interview two additional sworn officers were unsuccessful,” the report said. “This unwillingness to engage hindered the grand jury’s ability to corroborate statements, obtain essential information, and maintain transparency in its oversight role.”
SLOPD didn’t respond to New Times‘ request for comment by press time. City spokesperson Whitney Szentesi said that senior staff like the police chief and SLOPD’s public affairs manager fully cooperated with the grand jury.
“We are concerned with both the factual inaccuracies and conclusions drawn in the report,” she said. “It’s important to know that the city of San Luis Obispo has a long history of innovative approaches to addressing neighborhood wellness, and we will continue to work with our community to maintain and improve our neighborhoods.”
Szentesi added that the city sent a list of clarifications to the grand jury on June 20. The city’s response wasn’t included in the grand jury report.
The 27-page clarifications document called the finding about police non-cooperation a “false statement,” adding that the city and SLOPD weren’t served with a subpoena for additional information.
“The department did decline further voluntary requests for additional interviews of department staff by the grand jury after complete access was already provided to the department’s chief, the city manager who supervises the chief, and the civilian police department staff person who were best informed as to all relevant operations to speak most comprehensively about the issues the city understood were being investigated,” the document stated.
The City Council, Planning Commission, and the city manager have 90 days to respond to the grand jury’s recommendations to address the problem of illegal neighborhood parties hosted at fraternities and sororities.
Some of those suggestions include continuing to work with Cal Poly to create a multi-year plan to put an end to St. Fratty’s Day, creating formal guidelines and offering training to SLOPD on how to respond to oversight bodies like the grand jury, and adopting a tiered planning appeal fee structure that’s affordable for the public.
Mayor Erica Stewart told New Times that council members and city staff are working with community members to understand the impacts of Cal Poly, noise, and housing needs.
“The council and city staff will be discussing the report findings and our responses at a council meeting in September,” she said. Δ
This article appears in Jun 26 – Jul 6, 2025.
That’s a laughable comment coming from the mayor that her counsel and City staff will be working with community members to better understand the impacts in the neighborhoods, noise and housing needs. Has she had her head in the sand all the time that she has been mayor? These issues that people have been dealing with didn’t just crop up overnight. They have been going on for a long time and getting worse. And she has done nothing to help the residents. It’ll be interesting to see what she does or doesn’t do this time.