Los Osos Community Services District (CSD) and a local citizens group hope that a tax measure on the June primary election ballot could become the building block that transforms Sunnyside School into Sunnyside Park.
San Luis Coastal Unified School District closed Sunnyside School in 2001 because of funding reductions. Despite restored funding, major enrollment losses kept the school shuttered.
Locals can access a portion of the 12-acre Sunnyside property, and many of them banded together as the Sunnyside Park Citizens Coalition—advocating for public ownership and officially converting the site into a park.
Coalition member Trish Bartel told New Times that while the National Recreation and Park Association suggested a range of 6.3 to 10.5 total park acres per 1,000 residents, San Luis Obispo County’s general plan and the updated Los Osos community plan only aimed for 3 acres per 1,000 residents.
“For the past 34 years, the county has not added park space to Los Osos,” she said. “With a population of 15,000 residents, we need to add 45 acres of parks to Los Osos.”
The school district wants $6 million for Sunnyside. Its purchase, repair, and upkeep by Los Osos depend on the passage of a $15 monthly parcel tax per household.
“The CSD has an informal agreement with the school district to only negotiate with the CSD for acquisition at this time,” CSD General Manager Ron Munds said. “They understand the purchase is contingent on the tax measure passing. Ultimately, it is the school district and their board’s discretion on how and when to move in a different direction.”
Over 52 days starting in November 2025, Sunnyside Park Citizens Coalition gathered more than 1,500 signatures to place the funding measure on the June ballot.
At its Jan. 12 meeting, the Los Osos Community Services District claimed that it’s “only a vehicle” to get the tax measure on the ballot and that it was the citizens coalition that advocated for it.
But CSD board member Chuck Cesena declared he personally gathered signatures for the measure to appear on the ballot.
“In the interest of full disclosure, I did sit at Alehouse one night with the petition and gather signatures,” Cesena said at the meeting. “I did not identify myself as a member of the CSD.”
CSD General Manager Munds told New Times that individual action by board members is allowed. Board members can’t collectively work together to advocate for the measure.
The board unanimously approved a resolution ordering a special district election on June 2 where locals would vote on the parcel tax. The resolution also requests that the SLO County Board of Supervisors consolidate the special election and the statewide primary to happen on the same date.
The tax measure needs a simple majority to pass. If voters approve it, the measure sets a parcel tax of $185 per year for 15 years, after which it drops to $100 per parcel per year with an inflation adjustment.
The tax would bring in $1.1 million annually for 15 years to acquire Sunnyside. Following 15 years, with no sunset date in sight, the tax would generate roughly $600,000 annually for operations and maintenance.
“This first step is merely to get the property purchased,” CSD board member Richard Hubbard said at the meeting. “After that, we will be faced with the task of doing whatever improvements we can with whatever money we have, but it’s not going to happen overnight … It’s going to be a long, slow process. I hope I live long enough to see it, but I know my grandson will.”
Many community members expressed support for the measure at the CSD meeting. Los Osos real estate broker Jeff Edwards was the sole critic, alleging “misrepresentation.”
Edwards questioned the CSD’s involvement in acquiring property for parks and recreation purposes.
He told New Times that the Sunnyside site could serve as a makeshift downtown area for Los Osos if it’s privately developed as a mixed-use project including senior and affordable housing, artist lofts, adult and child day care, urgent care, a relocation of the community library, and a hotel set around a large public plaza.
“Of the Sunnyside 12 acres, there is only about 2 to 3 acres currently in turf,” he said via email. “The balance of the site, but for a swath of native vegetation along the south border, is covered with asphalt and buildings. … If the LOCSD was sincere about [parks and recreation], they would look to acquire a site that had real potential for that, one that is flat, like for fields.”
Edwards added that the CSD has no experience operating and maintaining such facilities, and that it underestimated how expensive owning and managing Sunnyside would be.
The CSD disagrees with him.
“The operations, maintenance, and improvements amount of the property tax assessment has a small amount of extra money that can be put aside for improvements,” Munds said. “We understand that this amount will not be enough to make major improvements to the property. It is our strategy to search for grants for the larger projects, and there is a nonprofit forming to do fundraising within the community for improvements as well.” ∆
This article appears in Jan 15-22, 2026.
I can accept that Los Osos could use more green space/parks. But this new park would be across the street from the existing green space/park/community center/skateboard facility. it would seem that a new green space should be in a different “parkless” neighborhood.