Development of 46 new homes gets green light from SLO County planners
Nearly 50 new homes are coming to the Monarch Dunes project in southern San Luis Obispo County within the next few years.
On Thursday, the San Luis Obispo County Planning Commission voted 4-0 — with Commissioner Mariam Shah not present — to approve a request by Monarch Dunes LLC to subdivide an 11.52-acre parcel between Mesa Road and South Ford Drive into 46 residential lots and four open space parcels, which were identified as Phases 3 and 4 of the Monarch Dunes Specific Plan.
The 46 homes planned for those lots will consist of 23 common-wall duplexes that share garage walls, of which 25% — or 12 units — will include attached accessory dwelling units, bringing the number of living spaces up to 58 in total, according to the staff report.
The project was unanimously approved following a brief deliberation by the Planning Commission, which praised its higher-density approach to tract development.
“I’m also glad to see these ... slightly more efficient duplexes here that are space-efficient and can save a little construction cost with the shared walls, and potentially be a little more affordable,” Commissioner Anne Wyatt said. ”That was certainly the plan when we approved this in the specific plan, so (I’m) glad to see it coming together here.”
Monarch Dunes to add conventional homes, ADUs
Ian McCarville, a land-use planner with Kirk Consulting who spoke on behalf of Monarch Dunes LLC, said as recently as 2023, Phase 3 of the project was envisioned as a 400-room resort, while Phase 4 of the project was designated as a potential public park site.
However, the resort was reduced to 65 rooms and rolled into the Monarch Dunes Village Center, which is currently under construction, McCarville said.
The project will see the developer add around 2.2 miles of perimeter trails — a holdover from the Board of Supervisors’ 2023 decision to drop the public park, McCarville said. Because the site was changed from park space to residential lots, the Quimby fees that were supposed to fund the new park will be repurposed to pay for new 5-foot-wide hard surface walking trail segments, he said.
Quimby fees are an in-lieu fee that requires residential developers to fund park projects if they don’t set aside land for parks.
“The applicant did offer that park for dedication to the county, but it was never accepted, so ultimately it sat vacant and under-utilized for decades,” McCarville said. “That’s what ultimately incentivize us to transition it to a residential zoning.”
McCarville said the residential lots will range from 4,200 to 6,000 square feet, while four planned open space parcels will range from 2,200 to 144,000 square feet.
Project planner Cindy Chambers said the homes will sit around 10 to 20 feet from the curb at a minimum, with 50% of the homes allowed to push up to the 10-foot minimum distance.
Chamber said 18 eucalyptus trees, seven redwood trees and seven strawberry trees will be removed to make way for the grading on the eastern end of the site, and will be replaced with new trees that will line the road that connects the expansion to Trail View Place.
Wyatt said the new homes will add a balanced mix of prices and unit types to Monarch Dunes, which consists of more than 1,200 homes and has been developing smaller tracts over the past few years.
“I’m really pleased to see this model of some number of ADUs/JADUs being incorporated into even relatively small lots,” Wyatt said. “And I want to note, we still have moderately high square footage of these homes on relatively small lots, even with ADUs incorporated into a quarter of the units, so kudos there.”
