Los Osos sewer project could get final hearing soon

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• Department of Interior grant will help coastal habitats

  Department of Interior grant will help coastal habitats

  San Luis Obispo County has received a grant of $610,000 to improve coastal habitats in Los Osos, Pismo Beach and the Guadalupe Dunes.

  The largest chunk — $300,000 — goes to the county to prepare state and federal environmental impact reports for the Los Osos Habitat Conservation Plan. It will protect endangered species in Los Osos from new development.

  Preparing the plan is required by the state Coastal Commission as part of its approval of the Los Osos sewer system. The plan should speed up the time it takes to get a building permit in Los Osos, said county Supervisor Bruce Gibson.

• Morro Bay-Cayucos sewage plant decision is stuck between money and Coastal Commission

  Morro Bay-Cayucos sewage plant decision is stuck between money and Coastal Commission

  The thorny question of where to build a new sewage treatment plant will be up for discussion tonight when officials from Morro Bay and Cayucos hold a joint meeting.

  The existing sewage treatment plant is a quandary for the two communities. It needs a major upgrade that is expected to cost at least $34 million, but the state Coastal Commission does not like the proposed location near the ocean.

  Analyses done by a consulting firm show that moving the treatment plant to a new location could almost double the cost, mostly because private property would have to be acquired. That’s a problem for Morro Bay Mayor Bill Yates.

• Los osos sewer project may get a little cheaper

  Los osos sewer project may get a little cheaper

  State water officials will meet in Sacramento on Monday to consider lowering the interest rate on a loan for the Los Osos sewer project, a move that could shave millions of dollars off the price of the project, reducing the cost to residents.

  The State Water Resources Control Board will consider a staff recommendation to lower the rate on a $69.7 million loan from 2.6 percent to 2 percent. The county and Los Osos Community Services District are sending letters to the water board urging that the interest rate be reduced to zero in an effort to make the massive infrastructure project as affordable as possible.

  “The district board is wholly supportive of a reduction in the current interest rate of 2.6 percent to 0 percent, and we believe we speak for the overwhelming majority of the 12,500 residents affected by the project,” community services district board President Marshall Ochylski stated in a letter to the board.

• Pismo Beach approves emergency permits to stabilize eroding bluffs

  Pismo Beach approves emergency permits to stabilize eroding bluffs

  In an effort to prevent a potential sewage spill, Pismo Beach officials have issued an emergency permit to stabilize eroding bluffs in Shell Beach.

  On the same day that the City Council set aside $12,000 for design work for two seawalls, the Coastal Commission questioned Pismo Beach’s need for an emergency permit.

  Community Development Director Jon Biggs issued the emergency permit Thursday.

• Water rate hike disputed by customers

  Water rate hike disputed by customers

  More than 100 people from as far away as Ojai packed the South Bay Community Center in Los Osos on Friday afternoon to protest hefty rate increases proposed by Golden State Water Co.

  The private water company has customers throughout the state and county, including in Los Osos, Edna Valley and Nipomo. It is proposing various rate increases depending on location, with some of the biggest for 3,300 customers in Los Osos and Edna Valley where rates would go up 48.9 percent for a typical home in 2013.

  The state Public Utilities Commission held the meeting to get customer feedback. It must approve any rate increase and expects to make a decision a year from now, said Administrative Law Judge Richard Smith, who is hearing the case.