For more than three decades, State Parks has violated its Coastal Development Permit, which allowed vehicles to temporarily enter the Oceano Dunes SVRA at Grand and Pier Avenues but required designation of a permanent access. The community of Oceano has waited too long to be relieved of the burden of being the doormat of the Dunes.
Thousands of vehicles enter Oceano’s beach via Pier Avenue and drive miles south along a “sand highway” to the OHV riding area. Heavy truck and trailer traffic on Pier Avenue makes the area unsafe for pedestrians and creates clouds of unhealthy dust. Our disadvantaged community is held back from redevelopment of this potential business corridor by State Park’s use of our street as its gateway. Along Pier Avenue, there are shuttered shops and restaurants, and neglected, litter-strewn and weedy lots. Residents and visitors to our beach town lack access to a beach free from the noise and danger of traffic.
To allow revitalization of Pier Avenue, provide a safe beach, and protect endangered species and water quality, the Grand and Pier Avenue vehicle entrances to the ODSVRA must be closed and driving restricted to areas south of Arroyo Grande Creek.
Cynthia Replogle
Oceano
This article appears in Food and Drink.
The money grubbers in this county will never shut down their unhealthy dunes in Oceano. They would rather spend millions in medical costs and see people killed and maimed for fun and profit than stop their worship of Mammon.
If you want to see dunes without motorized recreation, only a few miles down the coast there is guadalupe dunes. Go out there and you will notice a lack of people, a lack of shops, a lack of anything but sand, that’s because sand dunes are really not a very nice place to be.
The recreation opportunities of the dunes can’t happen just anywhere. The “potential business corridor” can and does already does exist elsewhere. Pier ave exists because of the motorized recreation, not in spite of. The shops on pier avenue that cater to the vehicular recreation are just fine. The restaurants and shops that cater to regular beach goers are shut because it’s very often windy and cold with lots of blowing sand, it’s often miserable to be out of doors there.
Vehicular recreation on the dunes is enjoyed many people, many more people than would enjoy the dunes without.
Ian, please re-read my letter as it does not say anything about ending motorized recreation on the dunes. We want no vehicles on the beach north of Arroyo Grande Creek; the OHV riding area is miles south.
Contrast Pier Avenue with the main streets in any other California beach town, for example, Pismo Beach. Those communities can capitalize on their ocean proximity with shops and restaurants, while Oceano cannot due to heavy truck and trailer traffic from the OSDVRA. As you point out, it’s miserable to be outside on Pier Avenue because of blowing sand – which is tracked onto the street from the ODSVRA.