Residents concerned about new hotel proposed on Shell Beach Road

A new hotel is in the works for Shell Beach, though some residents are concerned about increasing traffic on one of the neighborhood’s most heavily driven and notoriously accident-prone roads.

Strive Management is proposing a 37-room, two-story hotel at 2655 Shell Beach Road, with a 507-square-foot detached cafe/ice cream shop at the front of the lot. The project would include an underground parking lot, plus at-grade parking, for a total of 39 spaces.

The project would be in a relatively busy area of Shell Beach surrounded by primarily residential properties to the south and east, a Highway 101 interchange to the northwest and the Spyglass Village business center directly to the west. That half-mile stretch of Shell Beach Road is also home to three other hotels: the 82-room Spyglass Inn, 70-room Dolphin Bay Resort & Spa and 160-room The Cliffs Resort.

The lot was formerly the home of a gas station, though that was demolished in 2008, according to a city staff report.

Among the nine letters the city has received on the proposal in advance of Tuesday night’s Pismo Beach Planning Commission meeting to discuss the project, the primary concern for those who oppose it was traffic and the possibility of increasing traffic incidents in the already accident-prone area — one of the more notorious examples being the 2011 fatal accident in which Tricia Rittger, 39, of Los Osos was struck and killed while crossing Shell Beach Road in front of the Cliffs Resort.

Planners expect the hotel would add up to 334 daily trips along Shell Beach Road, though staff say the increased number of trips will not negatively impact emergency service times on the road.

Some residents disagree.

“If you look at Shell Beach Road at the other end of Shell Beach, there’s plenty of traffic safety signs down there,” Paul Malarik said. “But then in this area, it is lacking in the extreme.”

Malarik said he was concerned the hotel would increase traffic without adding any additional safety measures to mitigate that increase, noting that he and his fellow neighbors are often afraid to pull out onto Shell Beach Road from Coburn Avenue and Seacliff Drive because of speeding cars in that area.

“How many people will have to die before they respond?” Malarik said. “On our end (of Shell Beach Road) it’s like we have to beg for it. I think it is outrageous.”

Malarik noted he is also concerned about chemical contamination of the neighboring riparian area and the ocean because of possible pollutants that may have soaked into the lot from its previous life as a gas station.

Other resident concerns listed in the city staff report included increasing water use in the city while much of the state continues to suffer in drought, increasing crime in the area and the possibility that the two-story hotel would block ocean views.

The city Planning Commission is scheduled to hear comment and debate the project at its meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday in City Council chambers, 760 Mattie Road in Pismo Beach.

This story was originally published September 26, 2016 at 1:44 PM with the headline "Residents concerned about new hotel proposed on Shell Beach Road."