Pismo Beach: Waage leads for mayor; Guthrie and Howell ahead for City Council

The next mayor of Pismo Beach looks to be current councilman Ed Waage, based on unofficial election tallies Tuesday night.

With 100 percent of precincts reporting, but some ballots still uncounted, Waage had about 56.8 percent of the vote, compared to mayoral challenger Sandra Gore Nielsen’s 42.7 percent on election night.

Council candidates Marcia Guthrie and Erik Howell were also in the lead for the two open seats on the City Council — with 26.2 percent and 26.1 percent of the vote — though Brian “Craig” Kreowski was close at their heels with 24.3 percent.

Candidate Tom Burgher II trailed behind with 12.9 percent.

The results of particularly close races, like the one for City Council, could be subject to change depending on yet-to-be-counted “vote-by-mail” and provisional ballots. San Luis Obipso County Clerk Recorder Tommy Gong said he expects those ballots to be tallied by the end of the week.

While not a contentious as other South County races this year — or even past Pismo Beach races — the results of Tuesday’s election will determine the beach town’s leadership as it decides a key range of growth issues for the city, from opening up the Chapman Estate to how best to address the ongoing state drought and a dwindling water supply.

The field of six candidates are vying for a total of three spots: the mayor and two City Council seats.

Looking to replace outgoing Mayor Shelly Higginbotham at the city’s helm are current Councilman Waage and former county Planning Commissioner Nielsen. Nielsen originally filed paperwork to run for one of the two open City Council seats, but after seeing that Waage was uncontested, said she decided to run for mayor instead.

That left four contenders vying for two spots on the City Council: incumbent Howell; local activist Guthrie; gallery owner Burgher and attorney Kreowski.

Of particular interest for most of the candidates has been how best to manage the 1.5-acre Chapman Estate in Shell Beach.

The property was gifted to the city after the death of notable local philanthropist Clifford Chapman in 2012 to be used “for public benefit,” under the condition it still host several large fundraisers that had previously been held each year at the estate. When they accepted the property, city officials said they would like it to be used as a “cultural center,” and possible event venue.

Neighbors have strongly opposed the plans to open up the property to the public as an event center, saying weddings, parties and similar events every weekend would have a negative effect on the neighborhood.

Incumbents Waage and Howell have in general voiced their support for opening up the estate to more events, though both have said the number and size of those events would need to be limited to lessen the impacts on the neighborhood. Gore Nielsen, Guthrie, Kreowski and Burgher have all pushed for a more limited approach to events at the estate.

Also important to Pismo Beach voters will be how the city continues to address the ongoing state drought and its impact on the city’s water supply. In 2015, the city approved a building moratorium that limits construction in town, and the city is additionally in the process of exploring its Regional Groundwater Sustainability program that would potentially recycle water for reuse throughout the city and for re-injection back into the Santa Maria Groundwater Basin.

Most of the candidates admitted more could be done to protect the city’s water supply, from encouraging more water reclamation to exploring desalination.

This story was originally published November 8, 2016 at 8:40 PM with the headline "Pismo Beach: Waage leads for mayor; Guthrie and Howell ahead for City Council."