Pismo scratches building moratorium but declares critical water shortage

Pismo Beach will not face its first drought-induced building moratorium since the 1980s — at least, not yet.

On Tuesday, the City Council decided not to enact an ordinance that would create a three-tiered restriction on building, saying it needed more time and more details before making a decision that could severely hurt the city’s economy.

The council did recognize the severity of the city’s drought situation, however, and declared a “critical water supply shortage” — the most severe water shortage level. The declaration allows the city to impose any water-rationing methods necessary to ensure public health and safety, including the failed moratorium.

“I think we are a little late to the game here, but I think we should look at other ways to move down the needle (on water use) before we shut down the main economic engine of Pismo Beach,” Councilman Erik Howell said of the moratorium.

He and other council members noted that several large projects, including hotels, are already in the pipeline, and that they would prefer to have more information before potentially stalling those projects.

The proposed ordinance called for three tiers of building restrictions:

The first tier would allow completed planning permit applications to be processed.

Applications for building permits for vacant parcels would not be accepted, and any new commercial use or redevelopment of existing buildings must show that water demand would be less than or equal to the average monthly usage in the year before the tier was triggered.

The second tier would continue to prohibit new planning permit applications for vacant parcels but would also prevent those projects from obtaining building permits until the water supply is improved.

Also in the second tier, new commercial use and redevelopment of existing buildings would be required to show that water demand was at least 15 percent less than the average monthly usage in the year before the tier was implemented. The city would also be required to cut irrigation by no less than 50 percent.

The third tier would require new commercial use and redevelopment of existing buildings to show water demand would be at least 30 percent less than the year before the tier was triggered. All municipal irrigation also would be banned, except at the direction of the City Council.

The proposed ordinance prompted protest from several residents and developers asking for the city to look into other water sources before halting building — including contracting with Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant to buy water from its desalination plant.

On Tuesday, the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors and PG&E, which owns Diablo Canyon, agreed to research a way to make some of the desalinated water available to nearby communities. No pipeline currently exists to move the water, however.

“The resolution that is being proposed tonight seems hasty,” Pismo Beach resident Sylvia Gonzales told the council. “All the potential sources of water have been explored, but not exhausted.”

Local developer Gary Grossman also spoke at the meeting, describing the proposed restrictions as “draconian.”

“I can see a lot of opportunities (that) we are moving to downtown going away with this,” he said. “I would like to see a little more discussion.”

The council asked the staff to bring back the moratorium proposal in the fall to give the council time to see how well other conservation methods fare in improving the city’s water supply.

The moratorium debate was a part of a larger three-hour discussion regarding water use in the city.

During that discussion, the council directed staff to bring back a number of other conservation methods for approval, including requiring commercial businesses to install no-water urinals and creating more rebate programs for city residents.

It also continues the city’s existing mandatory water-use restrictions prohibiting outdoor water uses such as cleaning driveways and washing cars with a hose, and limiting outdoor irrigation to before 10 a.m. and after 4 p.m.

This story was originally published May 19, 2015 at 10:41 PM with the headline "Pismo scratches building moratorium but declares critical water shortage."