Prospect dim for Pismo duplex

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• Pismo rebuffed on rental limits

  Pismo rebuffed on rental limits

  The state Coastal Commission last week rejected a request by Pismo Beach to prohibit vacation rentals in residential parts of the city.

  The city applied to amend its coastal planning rules, which must be approved by the commission, to ban homes being used as vacation rentals.

  Such rentals frequently generate complaints from residents about noise, trash and parking problems.

• Still time to save Pismo’s old city hall

  Still time to save Pismo’s old city hall

  Like most small California beach towns, Pismo Beach is far better known for its outdoor amenities — sand, surf and sunsets — than for its historic architecture. While there are plenty of older shops and bungalows in the downtown, many have been so extensively remodeled that they’ve lost much of their historic charm.

  Now the City Council is signaling its intent to demolish one of Pismo’s oldest and most distinctive structures — the old red brick building at 1000 Bello St. that housed an elementary school and was later used as City Hall.

  Built in 1923, the structure has been vacant for the past dozen years and requires extensive renovation, including earthquake retrofitting, that would cost more than $6 million.

• LAFCO board postpones making a decision on Pismo Beach development

  LAFCO board postpones making a decision on Pismo Beach development

  Pismo Beach’s attempt to add 182 acres is on hold while LAFCO gets more information

• Old Pismo Beach city hall may be demolished

  Old Pismo Beach city hall may be demolished

  For the past dozen years, the former Pismo Beach city hall building has sat mostly unused, except for some storage uses.

  The brick building at 1000 Bello St. has an extensive past: it was originally built as a schoolhouse in 1923, with additional rooms, council chambers and auditoriums added in the late 1920s and early ’30s.

  Later, it served as city hall for about 42 years, before the city relocated to its current location on Mattie Road in 1995 — a move that was called temporary at the time.

• Viewpoint: Los Robles del Mar denied; what's next?

  Viewpoint: Los Robles del Mar denied; what's next?

  On March 15, the San Luis Obispo County Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) denied the proposed annexation of the 154-acre Los Robles del Mar project into the city of Pismo Beach.

  The denial, made by a vote of 5-2, cited uncertainties about the city’s ability to serve the project while maintaining an adequate water supply for already existing users within the city. This is the second time in recent years that the project has been denied on the basis of inadequate water supply. While the project sponsors threaten litigation — and may indeed pursue such litigation — the need to change the project into something more sustainable in terms of resource impact and more appropriate to the site has become more obvious than ever.

  How can this be done? The city of Pismo Beach is apparently powerless in the matter, since in 2004 the City Council gave away the store with a development agreement that locks the city government into supporting the current design that jams more than 300 residential units onto the