It’s official: SLO County is getting a massive new ‘glamping’ resort. What will it have?
Over a decade after it was first introduced, a 26-acre recreational vehicle and outdoor “glamping” resort is set to come to Atascadero after passing its final planning and approval hurdle last week.
On Tuesday, the Atascadero City Council unanimously approved design plans for the Del Rio Ranch, an expansive camping and lodging resort from Cal Coast Communities catering to both tourists and local residents.
The resort will be located on the southeast corner of Del Rio Road and El Camino Real, filling out the empty space across the intersection from the incoming Del Rio Marketplace.
Del Rio Ranch will host guests in 18 hotel rooms, 98 RV camping spaces and 70 glamping sites for cabanas, cabins and Airstream trailers.
The resort will also provide a recreational center for the greater Atascadero community, complete with a commercial shopping center, public event lawn and membership-based pool, clubhouse and spa.
“The idea is that we’re creating a destination,” project architect Eddie Herrera said at the meeting Jan. 28. “We’re advertising a public amenity tourist attraction.”
Del Rio Ranch proposal has changed over time
Del Rio Ranch dates back to 2012, when plans for the project were originally adopted with a Walmart on site. The design was amended in 2020 to remove the Walmart.
The first conceptual design of the resort was approved by the City Council in 2021, which at the time included 3.6 acres of multi-family residential space, a 100-room hotel, 4.25 acres of RV sites, a small conference facility and an entertainment center.
Now, Del Rio Ranch is in its second — and final — iteration.
The new design greatly reduced the number of hotel rooms and removed all residential, conference and multi-use building space to focus exclusively on tourism and temporary lodging. The Atascadero Planning Commission approved the current design on Dec. 17, conditional on the removal of palm trees along the project frontages on El Camino Real and Del Rio Road.
Del Rio Ranch’s RV and glamping sites make up the majority of the resort area on the eastern side of the property, separated from El Camino Real by the commercial spaces and event venue planned to run along the street.
The three-story, road-facing shopping center will be open and advertised to the public, designed with Mediterranean-style architecture and crowned with the hotel rooms on the top floor.
The commercial space will include two main buildings framing a central outdoor plaza, which will host restaurants, entertainment and retail businesses. The project will provide 247 on-site parking spaces for non-RV vehicles.
RVs and glamping visitors will enter and check into the property via a new public road to be built on the southern end of the property near an RV service station that will provide minimal services including car wash, tire pressure checks and minor replacements. Maintenance of the new road would fall under the city’s jurisdiction.
After check-in, guests will continue on to their hotel lodging or outdoor site.
Each campsite will include one shade tree, while premium RV sites include barbecue pits or fire pits on the larger sites, according to the staff report. RV sites will be outfitted with electric, sewer and water utility hook-ups, while some premium glamping sites will also include hot tubs.
One of the major changes to Del Rio Ranch since its origin was the removal of residential space. All lodging at the resort will be temporary, with stays capped at 29 days.
The resort area will also include a plaza hosting a spa, ice cream shop and other retailers. Nearby, a clubhouse will be connected to two pools and an area for food and drink services.
The pools and clubhouse will we open to the public for a membership fee, Herrera said.
On the southeast corner of the site, an outdoor event lawn doubles as the site’s main drainage basin. The space includes a small stage that allows room for food trucks to pull up for small-scale community events or concerts to be held in the area.
“We want this to be a local community ... based center,” he said. “That is the foremost, the heart of it. We get the tourists in, great —but we want this open to the general public here in Atascadero.”
Some community members were concerned about adding a large tourist attraction to Atascadero at Tuesday’s meeting, citing traffic and residential access to surrounding neighborhoods.
“An RV park that only gets used for tourists and doesn’t ever get a sense of community is not good for that particular environment or for our community,” said one resident during public comment. “But I believe it has a lot of good possibilities.”
Del Rio Ranch gained unanimous city council support
The City Council unanimously approved the plans Tuesday, with Councilmember Heather Newsom absent — but they did listen to the community’s concerns.
The approval hinges on the condition that the developer adopts road recommendations made by by a traffic engineer and approved by the city, possibly including grading, tree trimming, vegetation removal, adding traffic signage, pavement markings, alternative routes and any number of other traffic safety enhancements.
The project plan will not need to come in front of the City Council again, even to approve those additions.
The board also approved a land use and zoning change, a modification to the housing element to take the site out of the housing inventory, and plan amendments to update the site’s official maps and blueprints.
The next step is to prepare civil plans and construction drawings to apply for construction permits, city spokesperson Terrie Banish told The Tribune.
Assuming the project is financed, development could begin before the end of the year, but there are no definitive timelines yet, Banish said.
“I’m excited about this project,” Councilmember Susan Funk said. “I think that this is going to ... add a lot to our city. I have come to believe in it, come to see it as a real value added for the community.”
