Free parking at Pismo Preserve will be a thing of the past starting Oct. 16, when daily parking per vehicle will come with a $5 price tag.
According to the Land Conservancy of San Luis Obispo County, which owns the preserve, costs have been going up and donations have been declining since the onset of the pandemic.
“Not to always blame COVID for everything, but COVID shut everything down about two months after we opened,” the Land Conservancy’s Development and Engagement Director Jamie Bell said. “We feel like we lost the momentum there to communicate to the public who we are and what we are doing with the Pismo Preserve. We have seen donations drop year over year and our expenses have gone up.”
The Land Conservancy took over the 900-acre private ranch above Pismo Beach and transformed it into the public preserve for outdoor recreation. Every year, 180,000 people visit the Pismo Preserve for hiking, biking, and horse riding. That volume also means it costs more than $200,000 annually in operating expenses.
Since the preserve isn’t a county or city park, it doesn’t receive tax revenue.
“We do receive grants and a variety of funding for other projects, and we did receive some large grants for the purchase of the property at the Pismo Preserve,” Bell said. “But we do not receive any other state or local government funding for the ongoing operations of the preserve.”
The Land Conservancy announced the new paid parking program on Oct. 7. Daily parking fees would fund the ongoing maintenance and operations at the preserve.
Bell told New Times that there are 46 standard parking spaces, four motorcycle spaces, and three equestrian parking spaces. The three ADA spaces don’t require payments.
The process is similar to city street parking—find a spot, then pay for it through the ParkMobile app or with cash or a credit card at the pay station by the restrooms and kiosk. The pass is valid for the whole day.
Visitors who use the pay station must return their receipt to their dashboard to avoid enforcement penalties.
“We do want to emphasize that purchasing a pass doesn’t guarantee a parking spot, obviously we’re limited on those, and there’s still some mornings that are very busy, and it could still be hard to find parking,” Bell said.
She added that while the Land Conservancy encourages alternative means of transportation and carpooling to save money, it discourages parking in neighborhoods near the preserve, which could block private drives or take up parking spots at private businesses.
“Parking is a hotly debated issue. We know that it’s not the most exciting thing for some people,” Bell said. “However, our closer supporters have been really supportive of the idea. They would actually love to see their donations going to conserving even more places like this.”
According to the Land Conservancy website, visitors can also “save money and hit the trails quicker” by purchasing an annual parking pass online for $50. The annual passes hang on the rearview mirror and would be mailed weekly. They’re valid for the remainder of the month during which they’re purchased through the following 12 months.
The Land Conservancy received more than a dozen requests to purchase annual passes on the same day it advertised the new parking program.
“We want people to be able to get out there and have a good time and have it be affordable,” Bell said. “We are working on ways to have passes available for checkout at local libraries and through other nonprofits who are working with underserved communities.” ∆
This article appears in Oct 9-19, 2025.