Pismo Beach nears settling developer fees battle 

The Pismo Beach City Council voted in favor of approving a development agreement with Pismo Beach Self Storage during its Dec. 19 City Council meeting.

That vote settles more than a decade of conflict between the city and developer over Pismo's development fees.

• File Photo By Kasey Bubnash
• AGREEMENT APPROVED The Pismo Beach City Council approved a development agreement ordinance with Pismo Beach Self Storage LP and will return to council at their next scheduled meeting to vote again on an adoption. 

During a Nov. 14 Planning Commission meeting, where the project was initially approved, Pismo Beach's City Attorney David Fleishman said that a development agreement like the one presented was unusual for the city, as it allows for the developer to gain certainty before moving forward with their project.

"Arising out of some litigation between the city and Pismo Beach Self Storage's partnership over the years, the parties have decided to settle their differences and process a development agreement that would allow the developer to change an existing approval at 105 5 Cities Drive to what currently is a self-storage," Fleishman told the Planning Commission.

The development agreement states that the storage company will have permitted uses for the subject's property, approved site plans, elevations, floor plans, sections and provisions for reservations or dedication of land for public purposes, and any other provisions required by state law.

Fleishman also told the Planning Commission that the project originally consisted of three phases with phases two and three envisioned as industrial condominium units and a small retail facility, but those plans changed.

Although the project initially aimed to develop new retail space, the developer will now use this project to revert the land back to its historical use of RV storage, according to the staff report.

The City Council voted to approve the development agreement on Dec. 14, but it hasn't approved the final layout or details of phases two and three of the project. Both still need to go before the city Planning Commission for approval.

Conflict between the city and Pacific Beach Self Storage has been ongoing since 2004 when PBSS developer William Kendall bought land on 5 Cities Drive that was used for self-storage and RV storage hoping to expand and update the facility to a multi-use project.

The development plans had faced the recession in 2008 and city fees that led the developer to sue the city twice—in 2019 and 2020. The parties settled in 2023 with Pismo Beach Self Storage agreeing to pay a total of $400,000 in fees for the city to process and adopt a development agreement. Δ