As you head west in Grover Beach, things start to look taller than they were before, a little more building and a little less sky.
It feels claustrophobic, but that’s progress, right?
Well, for some—of course.
“Groovy Grover Beach is going away if this continues,” city resident Kelvin Coveduck said. “We just want responsible building, and we want reasonable heights.”
Is Grover Beach groovy?
The beachy vibe in California is arguably in transition. Beach cottages and hippie hovels are disappearing and being replaced by taller, more rigid structures with the wood accents and woven lamp shades that cry out “boho chic.” Pismo Beach’s downtown, for instance, is taller and more straightforward than it was a decade ago. Hotels along the waterfront compete with Instagrammable “luxury” aesthetics just begging for some creative artist to come along and do something! Quick, add some color. Does everything have to be the same? Boring!
And Grover Beach is heading in the same direction, minus the hotels and plus the “luxury townhomes.” The western edge of Grand Avenue is not the same. With a freshly paved street, median planters, and new sidewalks came the Bella Vista Villas and Trinity townhomes projects, towering over the one-story bungalows and strip malls that still exist on that end of town.
Coveduck’s resistance is understandable. Change is hard. But even he admits that millennials and younger generations aren’t looking for “a white picket fence.” Even he believes that the only way to build housing in a small place like Grover is to build up. But does it all have to be done at one intersection?
“Front Street is a huge visual asset,” he said. “I would think that there’s a compromise in Grover Beach and the character of us being a small beach town.”
It’s true, but change is necessary as is keeping up with the times. And the times are a-changing. No longer are millennials dreaming of a three-bedroom, two-bathroom house on land with a front yard and backyard to keep track of. That’s a lot of extra work in an area where many people have to maintain a job and a side hustle to pay their bills.
“I’m a millennial, I have two small children. It would be wonderful to live somewhere where I could walk to dinner with them, walk to the beach for our evening walk, walk our dog nearby,” South County Chamber of Commerce Chair Susannah Brown told the Grover Beach Planning Commission in December.
And the Solstice townhomes project being discussed at the meeting was just the kind of project Brown and others like her are looking for. But does it have to be so tall? It could be 33 feet instead of 40 feet, Coveduck and company are saying, even to the point of suggesting that the whole issue could become a ballot measure that could lower building heights across the city.
Grover Beach does love a spicy ballot measure!
Just like Paso Robles loves a good culture-war topic.
And random public commenters have been harping on the school district to take up the transgender issue for years. It started before President Donald Trump took office; was still happening when Lucia Mar Unified School District blew up and made national headlines—thanks, Shannon Kessler (now running for state Assembly; thanks, culture war); and will continue in February because the Paso Robles Joint Unified School District board finally caved.
What’s the issue? Restrooms, of course, and girls’ sports. Nobody seems to care if a trans male competes in boys’ sports. The issue—their issue, the Republicans—has always been and will always be about trans females.
One trans student spoke up at the meeting where several others expressed their concerns about bathroom safety and fairness in sports. Arguably, the issue he brought up was a more pervasive issue than the other way round: bullying, harassment, and threats.
Paso High School Queer Student Union President Aster Watson described being followed, verbally harassed, and having trash thrown at him. I’ve heard other members of North County’s LGBTQ-plus community describe similar incidents on and around Atascadero’s high school campus.
“These are things that have actually happened to me, not assumptions of what might happen,” Watson said. “No problem will be solved by focusing on trans students, because we aren’t the issue.”
“The true issue,” he said, is a staff that’s too lenient when it comes to disciplining students who bully and harass other students.
I guess it’s hard to discipline students for bullying when the most powerful man in the United States puts his bullying on full display for everyone in the world to see. If the president gets to do it without consequences, why can’t I?
At least Paso Superintendent Jennifer Loftus seems to have a good head for navigating this kind of stuff: “What I appreciate is the opportunity to grapple with what the law actually is, what our options are within the law, and then allow everyone time to think about what it might look like to come up with solutions that would be palatable to our community and supportive of our students—which I know is everyone’s ultimate goal,” she said.
Her assumption is nice. But we all know that’s not the case. The ultimate goal of some of the speakers isn’t to support all students. ∆
The Shredder supports New Times. Send other causes to shredder@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Jan 22-29, 2026.
why does the new Shredder sound like a sleepy neighbor who is attempting to yell at clouds in the quietest voice possible?
People who buy property that has a beachfront view at the time they bought it should be aware of building height allowances on properties in their line of sight to the ocean. Empty lots and worn down shanties will be built on in the future. You, too, could build up to that maximum height and maintain a view of the ocean from your rooftop deck forever.
It’s just nimbyism dressed up as…nimbyism.