SLO County waterpark can build new pool and hot tub for adults, despite appeal
The Ravine Waterpark in Paso Robles can officially move forward with the construction of a new, no-splash pool and hot tub designed for adult visitors at the park, after an effort to stop the project was rejected by the Paso Robles City Council on Tuesday night.
The proposal to build a new pool, hot tub and concrete deck at the Ravine was approved by the Planning Commission on Feb. 10 as an amendment to the waterpark’s original development plan, which was approved in 2004, according to City Council documents.
The amenities were advertised as an area targeted toward adult visitors to the park.
After it was approved, Ranch and Coast Properties filed an appeal to stop the project, citing a list of eight concerns about operations at the Ravine.
Those concerns included discrepancies in the project description, concerns about traffic and parking on Paso Robles Boulevard, accusations of drainage violations, and more.
City staff determined that several of the points of appeal were related to existing and previously approved conditions of the Ravine’s use permit, and as a result were unrelated to the proposed project.
Still, staff recommended additional conditions for the Ravine’s project as a “good-faith gesture to ensure the harmonious future operation,” City Council documents said.
The appeal was ultimately denied by the council, and the project was unanimously pushed through with additional conditions prohibiting waterpark parking on Paso Robles Boulevard and requiring additional maintenance of the park’s water drainage systems.
The council also approved an indemnity clause that was inadvertently excluded from the item approved by the Planning Commission, and it recommended that the Ravine consider additional landscaping.
Appeal alleges improper parking, drainage issues at waterpark
Community development director Warren Frace outlined the appeal and the city’s response during Tuesday’s meeting, before both the appellant and applicant spoke.
Frace said the project was intended not to be a kids play area, but a lounge area for parents of kids who are at the Ravine. While the amenities would be new, they’d be located in an area of the park that had already been developed and used regularly as a gathering space.
Frace outlined the city’s response to all eight appeal points. He said discrepancies may have caused confusion because the size of the Ravine’s total parcel is different from its developable acreage. The city edited the project resolution to reflect the accurate size after the appeal was brought forward.
Frace added that traffic studies and adjustments were not considered for the project because it isn’t slated to significantly impact the number of visitors to the park.
As for the drainage concerns, Frace said city staff found no evidence of illicit drainage and said the existing drainage facilities had been approved, though a drainage basin did need some maintenance work to remove silt buildup.
Additionally, Frace said the project did not trigger a new airport land-use plan analysis because the impacts of the project on traffic would be minimal, and the buildings within 100 feet of Huer Huero Creek that had been identified as an appeal concern had all been permitted in the original land-use plan in 2004.
As for parking, Frace said the city received word from the Ravine management that remnants of the temporary parking lot that was permitted on Paso Robles Boulevard were removed, and signage prohibiting Ravine parking in the area was in place.
While the appellant’s lawyer John Erskine said the city’s finding that the project was exempt from CEQA was “absolutely not the case,” the city attorney and the city’s CEQA attorney informed the council otherwise.
The council heard from the appellants, who reiterated their concerns, as well as Ian McCarville, a representative for the Ravine who works with Kirk Consulting, who reiterated that the new project was a repurposing of an already used area of the park and said the construction might actually result in fewer people using that area of the park.
He added that the appellant’s concerns appeared to be tied to the existing conditions of the Ravine’s use permit, not the new project.
The City Council ultimately decided to unanimously approve the project with new conditions prohibiting parking along Paso Robles Boulevard and requiring maintenance of the drainage basin.
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