Don’t be afraid to check out what we’re leaving behind in 2024. It was a little rough, especially with the controversial presidential election full of surprises and a contentious partisan atmosphere that trickled down from the national to local level. Several cities and at least one community services district devolved into divisive politics that impacted public meetings and waylaid decision-making processes.
In addition, one of the biggest housing development projects proposed in recent memory moved forward despite community opposition. A water recycling project in Five Cities lost almost all of its backers, Diablo Canyon Power Plant looks to a possible 20-year extension, and a battery energy storage facility opted to bypass the city planning process in Morro Bay.
Of course, there’s more, so much more! Find out what by continuing to read our annual year in review.
—Camillia Lanham
Atascadero barber convicted of sexual assault
More than two years after an Instagram whistleblower outed Atascadero’s former Cardinal Barbershop owner, Nathan Abate, for allegedly raping her and her friend roughly a decade ago, a San Luis Obispo Superior Court jury found Abate guilty of three counts of sexual assault. Abate’s 18-day trial focused on three women, but almost 40 women accused him and his friend, Julian Contreras—who owned the defunct Kin Coffee shop and remains a fugitive in Mexico—of assualt. On Nov. 19, Judge Michael Frye handed Abate the maximum sentence allowed under California law—eight years and eight months. Now a registered sex offender for life, Abate will serve his sentence at the California Men’s Colony and faces the possibility of lifetime parole upon his release.
—Bulbul Rajagopal
Dana Reserve gets approved
The largest housing development proposed in SLO County in 25 years received its final OK from the San Luis Obispo Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) on Nov. 14, despite pushback from local residents and environmentalists over the number of trees it would cut down and impacts on water, infrastructure, and public safety. Nick Tompkins, developer of the Dana Reserve, a 288-acre housing development that promises to bring 1,318 residential units, commercial buildings, and recreational space to Nipomo, also received approvals from the SLO County Board of Supervisors and the Nipomo Community Services District (NCSD) in 2024. The Nipomo Action Committee then sued the Dana Reserve in May, claiming the project will stress local resources and burden local emergency services. Project spokesperson Jocelyn Brennan said the team will continue resolving their legal issues and hasn’t yet landed on a date for when the project will break ground.
—Samantha Herrera
Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary receives historic designation
The Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary’s official designation in November made it the first tribally nominated sanctuary of its kind. Following a lengthy public comment period in 2023, the public and local officials alike urged the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to adopt sanctuary boundaries that covered 7,600 miles across San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties’ coast and connect with the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary to create a contiguous protected space. NOAA’s final preferred alternative shrunk, however. It will stretch 116 miles along the coast from the Diablo Canyon Power Plant to Gaviota and extend off the coast about 60 miles with a maximum depth of 11,580 feet. Now, a policy council will work on forming an advisory council of stakeholders within the first months of 2025 to help diversify the representation of the partners protecting the sanctuary. NOAA will begin accepting applications for sanctuary advisory council seats in early January 2025.
—Bulbul
Battery plant applicant bypasses Morro Bay
After four years of discussion surrounding Vistra’s proposal to build a battery energy storage plant in Morro Bay, the Texas-owned company opted to bypass the city in October and apply for state approval from the California Energy Commission as established in AB 205, a bill that offers energy storage facilities a more streamlined process for project approval. This challenges Morro Bay’s recently passed ballot Measure A-24 that indirectly aimed to stop the battery plant by allowing residents to vote on land use changes on the parcels slated for the battery plant, rather than leaving that decision up to the City Council. After Vistra decided to bypass the city, the City Council discussed its options to block any future applications for battery plants in the city. Options included prohibiting battery plant applications completely and requiring applications to use AB 205 or enacting a temporary urgency ordinance that would block applications for two years so the city can develop more clear guidelines around land use. Neither would block Vistra’s current application.
—Libbey Hanson
Central Coast Blue breaks up
The Central Coast Blue water recycling project hit some major roadblocks in 2024. The project that aims to inject treated wastewater into the Santa Maria Valley Groundwater Basin to protect it from seawater intrusion and drought was originally a cost-sharing agreement between Pismo Beach, Grover Beach, and Arroyo Grande. In 2022, the project was expected to cost between $85 million to $112 million, but that cost shot up to between $134 million and $159 million. Cost pressures pushed Arroyo Grande to pull out of the agreement in April. Grover Beach followed suit later that month, leaving Pismo Beach as the sole agency in the project. Pismo Beach City Manager Jorge Garcia said the city was actively looking for additional partners to join the project, as the city believes that water resiliency is “an important and worthwhile endeavor.”
—Samantha
Board of Supervisors gets a new face
Voters chose Atascadero Mayor Heather Moreno to replace 5th District SLO County Supervisor Debbie Arnold in 2025. Three-term incumbent Arnold chose not to run again. Following an often-tense battle marked by disparaging mailers and disagreement about voter interest in partisan issues, Moreno defeated Atascadero City Councilmember Susan Funk in the March primary election by grabbing 56.4 percent of the vote share. The 2024 election cycle was also rocky for both a sitting supervisor and a hopeful candidate. The second round of efforts to recall 2nd District Supervisor Bruce Gibson came to a halt once more, this time for failing to gather enough signatures. In September, the DA’s Office charged 3rd District Supervisor hopeful Michelle Morrow with voter registration fraud, submitting false nomination papers, perjury by declaration, and fraudulent voting. Morrow tried to run for the 3rd District seat while living in the 4th District. She pleaded no contest to the felonies and awaits sentencing on Jan. 6, 2025. Morrow faces up to two years of supervised probation and could serve up to 180 days in SLO County Jail.
—Bulbul
Gala’s financial crisis
After announcing a financial crisis in October, the Gala Pride and Diversity Center said it’s at risk of closing. Board President Julia Thompson initially connected the crisis to a loss of donations after funds dropped by more than half, according to the organization’s IRS tax record filings. But weeks later, Gala accused its former Executive Director Dustin Colyer-Worth of embezzling money before leaving the organization in September. During a community question-and-answer session in November, Thompson shared they had confirmed at least $42,000 in stolen funds, and that an ongoing investigation against Colyer-Worth was confirmed by the SLO Police Department. Thompson said Gala is not at risk of losing its building and hopes to remain open and keep its staff.
—Libbey
Solutions to homelessness see starts and stops
SLO County’s first safe parking site for homeless people living out of their vehicles proved to be more controversial than curative. In February—after months of uncertainty about whether the troubled Oklahoma Avenue safe parking site would close—the Homeless Services Division announced a sunset date, much to the dismay of the last 10 people living on-site. Two successful temporary restraining orders from the homeless union kept the safe parking site from closing until April 29. The homeless union appealed a U.S. District Court judge’s denial of a preliminary injunction, but the county announced that the union agreed to drop the filing in exchange for allowing the remaining participants stay on-site until May 6. In the agreement, the county also paid the union $60,000 from the general fund to help with relocation and temporary lodging costs. The city of SLO then became the hotspot for new solutions to alleviate homelessness. SLO’s 46 Prado Road—neighbor to CAPSLO’s 40 Prado Road homeless facility—was earmarked to host services for homeless families, complete with a case management office and small units equipped with bathrooms, kitchenettes, and play yards. SLO will also see an 80-bed hamlet for the homeless who once lived in the Bob Jones Trail encampment corridor. Called Welcome Home Village, the site at the corner of Johnson Avenue and Bishop Street is an extension to the Health Agency campus.
—Bulbul
Division in Grover Beach
Turmoil was the word of the year for Grover Beach after the City Council voted to raise water rates almost 20 percent over the course of four years to help fund the city’s portion of the Central Coast Blue project. Upset community members formed Grover H2O to protest the water rate increase and hold council members who voted in favor of the rate increase accountable. The group floated a recall petition against then Councilmember Dan Rushing; filed a lawsuit against the city, City Clerk Wendi Sims, and Rushing for censoring free political speech and for election tampering; and had its members run for elected positions. Debbie Peterson ran for mayor, and Marsha Boylanatz ran for the 3rd District seat. Neither won, but Rushing was successfully recalled. Newly elected Mayor Kassi Dee was sworn in on Dec. 9 and said her first priority is rebuilding trust between the City Council and residents. “I’m planning to lead with integrity, transparency, and visibility,” she told New Times.
—Samantha
Paso Robles city drama
The Paso Robles City Council repealed its paid parking program after causing an uproar among disgruntled residents, causing two council members to say they never wanted to hear about paid parking again. The city first designated paid parking lots for employees in 2018 after receiving complaints that employees and business owners were hogging all the downtown parking. In 2019 the city implemented paid street parking and tried to tweak it earlier this year. In May, the city eliminated paid parking entirely after it received a cease-and-desist letter and residents petitioned for a ballot measure. Keeping the employee paid parking lots is still under discussion. City Manager Ty Lewis and failed City Council candidate Linda George both filed complaints with the city. Lewis submitted a $2.2 million complaint against the city in August accusing Councilmember Chris Bausch of creating a hostile work environment with the help of candidate George, who was against the city’s paid parking program and named Lewis as her “nemesis.” In his complaint, Lewis claimed the hostility had caused him to faint at a council meeting in May and go on medical leave. In response, George filed a complaint against Lewis in December claiming he had interfered with her City Council campaign. George’s complaint is still pending with the city, and if denied, George said she intends to file a lawsuit.
—Libbey
SLO City Council lowers parking costs and welcomes fresh face
Plagued by almost a year of doubled parking rates in downtown SLO, business owners and residents impacted by the cost of pulling up to the city core expressed their disappointment to the City Council. The result after community surveys? Parking rates were cut by almost half to $2.75 an hour on downtown streets and $2.25 per hour in the surrounding area. Parking in downtown structures is now $2 an hour, with an $8 daily maximum. The SLO City Council also bid adieu to its all-women era, thanks to the win secured by newcomer and Cal Poly city and regional planning professor Mike Boswell in the Nov. 5 election. Councilmember Andy Pease terms out in December. Boswell and incumbent Councilmember Jan Marx won the two seats up for grabs in the four-person race, securing 37 percent and 34.2 percent of the vote share, respectively.
—Bulbul
A makeover for the county cannabis program
The SLO County Board of Supervisors revamped the cannabis ordinance by continuing to relax regulations for operators. Input from business owners influenced supervisors to freeze the cannabis business tax at 6 percent. County leaders also brought permitting regulations for cultivators into compliance with the state. In July, supervisors expanded mobile delivery hours for dispensaries in unincorporated communities, allowed for full cost recovery for immediate abatement of illegal cannabis activities, and tweaked the start date of cultivation permits. Supervisors continued to develop the county’s cannabis rules through the end of the year. In December, they opted for what 4th District Supervisor Jimmy Paulding labeled the “go slow approach.” In a 3-2 vote, supervisors decided to direct staff to develop a way to revise the coastal zone land use ordinance to allow for brick-and-mortar retail dispensaries in the coastal zone.
—Bulbul
Community takes on funding responsibility for the Bob Jones Trail
The SLO County Board of Supervisors can’t use eminent domain to bridge the 4.5-mile gap between the existing portions of the Bob Jones Trail that touches on private property. In August, North County Supervisor Debbie Arnold’s dissent in the 3-1 vote prevented supervisors from adopting the resolution of necessity—the first step of the eminent domain process that affords governments the ability to take private property for public use and reimburse the landowner for its value. Faced with the failed resolution and a property owner who refuses to sell a part of his land for the pathway, supervisors must now find an alternative to close the gap. However, potential monetary relief lies on the horizon for the Bob Jones Trail. Advocacy group Friends of the Bob Jones Trail called on county residents to help raise money to complete the decades-long project. While the county has secured 80 percent of funding through an $18 million grant from the California Transportation Commission, Friends hopes to raise $1 million by Jan. 30, 2025. Their final funding goal is $5.5 million by fiscal year 2026-27.
—Bulbul
Diablo Canyon gets a deep clean, possible longer life
Thanks to the California Coastal Commission’s authorization, Pacific Gas and Electric Company prepared for the first deep clean of the Diablo Canyon Power Plant’s seawater intake cove in almost 40 years. The mammoth task of excavating 70,000 cubic yards of shoaled sediment from the 10-acre cove and dumping it roughly 1,300 to 2,500 feet offshore at the Morro Bay sandspit has a cool purpose: keeping nuclear reactors from heating up. But the cove isn’t alone in receiving new life. SLO County supervisors passed a resolution recommending two decades more of operations at Diablo Canyon Power Plant despite it not yet meeting requirements for the existing five-year extension. SLO Mothers for Peace, Friends of the Earth, and Environmental Working Group remain concerned about the danger of not only continuing to run the aging power plant but also extending its lifespan by 20 years. Those contentions morphed into an appeal to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to reverse an Atomic Safety and Licensing Board decision that denied the groups’ petition for a public hearing to scrutinize safety concerns.
—Bulbul
Paso schools change campuses
Paso Robles Joint Unified School District (PRJUSD) closed Georgia Brown Elementary when state officials discovered a geological anomaly underneath the building. In February, the PRJUSD school board voted to move Georgia Brown’s students to Lewis Middle School. Lewis Middle School was converted to Georgia Brown Dual Immersion school for grades K-6, while Lewis and Flamson Middle Schools merged into Lewis Flamson Middle School. The school board also approved an inclusivity training for educators and staff to address increasing instances of racism within classrooms and teachers feeling unequipped to address it. Board member Dorian Baker said she felt unsure about the training, and questioned whether it furthered a diversity, equity, and inclusion-related agenda, while board member Kenney Enney said students need more punishment to improve behavior. In the school board election, one candidate was accused of committing election fraud. Candidate Hunter Breese was accused of not living at the address he listed on his candidate application. Breese later accused his opponent, incumbent board member Nathan Williams, of violating federal law under the U.S. Postal Service by placing campaign materials in mailboxes. Williams secured a seat on the board against Breese in the November election with 63 percent of votes.
—Libbey
A year of university protests
Since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, 2023, tension between pro-Palestinian student protesters, Cal Poly administration, and Jewish students has been strong. Following a wave of protests at various universities around the country at the end of the 2023-24 school year, the California State University System adopted a new Time, Place, and Manner directive on Aug. 15 to help “facilitate academic freedom, freedom of expression, and recognize the rights, privileges, and responsibilities of the university campus communities.” Some Cal Poly students and faculty members expressed concerns that the new guidelines violate their First Amendment rights while negatively impacting students’ and faculty’s ability to fight for what they believe in. Some Cal Poly Jewish students said the university isn’t offering them support and feel as if they have to hide their identities to protect themselves on campus. “I feel judged; I feel unsafe; I feel like I can’t even be myself,” Cal Poly public health major Lexi Yaghoubi told New Times. “I can’t say I’m Jewish, I can’t wear my star out in public.”
—Samantha
Disruptive council meetings
Local city councils grappled with both rambunctious public commenters and Zoombombers—disruptive and often anonymous virtual trolls spreading hate speech during public comment—this year. The virtual commenters issue came to a head as local governments navigated how to handle disruptors and still uphold the First Amendment. Atascadero experienced Zoombombing amid a Pride Month discussion as three virtual and anonymous attendees spoke against it. City Attorney David Fleishman muted the commenters once they veered into hate speech. After similar occurrences at an Arroyo Grande City Council in April, City Attorney Isaac Rosen interrupted speakers when he sensed it was transitioning to hate speech, and the SLO City Council now prohibits live virtual comments. Arroyo Grande and several other cities decided to change public comment for items not on the agenda to help move city council meetings along and keep the attention on important business items. In Arroyo Grande, public comment was limited from three minutes per person to one. Some community members, such as mayoral candidate Gaea Powell, said that it was an attack on residents’ First Amendment rights. In Atascadero, the city moved public comment for items not on the agenda to after the consent agenda. Grover Beach City Council initially moved comments to the end of the meeting before changing it back.
—Libbey and Samantha
The battle over offshore wind
Amid outcry from some community members, the Port San Luis Harbor District approved a study of what infrastructure would be needed to support development of the local offshore wind industry and how it might impact the district. The SLO County Board of Supervisors followed suit and approved offshore wind development studies at Port San Luis, the Cal Poly Pier, and Morro Bay. To help provide more transparency and receive feedback from the community, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced a new round of public comment following the release of its draft programmatic environmental impact statement in November. As an additional step in the bureau’s regional analysis, it will identify and ensure a more thorough understanding of the potential environmental effects of mitigation associated with offshore wind.
—Samantha
Fire services and controversy
The Oceano Community Services District (OCSD) ended the year by tying up an issue that had the governing body in disarray at the beginning of 2024. The SLO Local Agency Formation Commission approved the OCSD’s divestiture of its fire services. It defaults back to SLO County, which has a contract with the Five Cities Fire Authority to provide services to Oceano. Controversy between OCSD board members over the fire issue and others kept meetings contentious and seeped into the election, pitting two sitting board members against one another for one seat: Shirley Gibson and Charles Varni. Gibson won the race. Oceano also had a new plaza built at 17th Street and Beach Street that was constructed by Caltrans within the county’s right of way. OCSD General Manager Peter Brown said the county is responsible for owning and maintaining the Oceano Plaza but wants the OCSD to help with “regular maintenance, landscaping, upkeep, irrigation, those types of things” but the district doesn’t have funding to spend on plaza upkeep. Gibson said the district should focus on its core functions: water, sewer, garbage, lighting, and parking.
—Samantha
School bonds pass
The three multi-million-dollar school bonds on the ballot this year in parts of SLO County passed after a close call for two. School bonds require 55 percent of voters to approve them. Atascadero’s Measure B-24 passed with 56 percent of votes and asked for $110 million for improving facilities and increasing campus safety efforts. Property owners will see an increase of $46 per $100,000 of assessed land value per year. Templeton’s Measure D asked voters for $52.3 million and passed with 55.7 percent of votes to enhance its STEAM facilities, and Lucia Mar’s $143 million bond, Measure H, passed with 55.2 percent of votes to expand school infrastructure. Δ
—Libbey
This article appears in Year in Review 2024.
Do you not check your statements for accuracy before printing? Grover Beach residents would have seen no less than an 80% increase in their bill in 4 years, not a 20% increase as you’ve stated. Shame on you very misleading and not the 1st time you have made this error.