Pismo Beach Surf Shop owner wants to open a new SLO County spot. Why did construction stop?
For a couple of months, some people have been calling a vacant Cambria shop “the mystery building.”
There had been a flurry of construction activity at the site at 1561 Main St. earlier this year. A metal construction fence went up around the site in March.
Then work suddenly stopped, puzzling area residents.
Bill Bookout, owner of the popular Pismo Beach Surf Shop, had hoped to open a sister operation at the Main Street spot in mid-April: Cambria Bike Rentals and Cambria Surf Shop. He’d even ordered logo t-shirts.
Then San Luis Obispo County code enforcement officials called for a halt to the renovation of the aging building.
The March 16 stop order cited unpermitted work on a retaining wall behind the shop and in other areas.
If people could peek into the building, according to Bookout, they’d see a wide assortment of equipment for various recreational activities, including biking, kayaking, surfing, boogie boarding, beach cruisers and surreys.
They might also feel a sense of North Coast history.
History of Cambria building
There seem to be various versions about how the building came to be on Main Street, including reports from local historians Dawn Dunlap, Debbie Soto and Melody Coe.
Decades ago, the last North Coast structure that bore the name Washington School was likely moved to the site from the China Gulch area of Hearst Ranch — probably along with a teacherage, a building close to a school that’s provided for teacher housing. Rancher Ervin Smithers and Loren Williams were perhaps the ones that moved the schoolhouse.
According to Soto, her husband’s second cousin, Jimmy Soto, attended Washington School. He’s told family members for years that the school building and teacherage were moved to 1561 Main St..
In Debbie Soto’s book, “Glimpses of a Bygone Era: One-Room Schoolhouses Along the Hearst Ranch,” she details the history of what were probably several different buildings labeled Washington School through June 1946, when the last one closed. That schoolhouse was subsequently moved.
She said the current building appears similar to photos she’s seen of the school and teacherage.
Smithers told Coe that the men divided the structure or structures into three sections, divvying them up between a local church and a real estate office, both nearby. The last segment apparently became all or part of the building from which Bookout now hopes to soon do his rentals and sales of recreational equipment, garden and other quirky art and other items.
SLO County: ‘Code violations on the site are significant’
So why did San Luis Obispo County halt work on Cambria Bike Shop and Cambria Surf Shop?
According to Erika Schuetze, the county’s administrative services manager for IT and communications, “Supervising coastal planner Schani Siong has determined that the work completed does not require a land use permit. However, the work does require building permits.”
Schuetze wrote in an email that Siong’s “determination, which is the first step of the process, was delayed because the property owner did not provide all of the requested information needed to make the determination.”
The communications manager explained the county’s position that “code violations on the site are significant. The unpermitted grading on the site could potentially destabilize the hillside. There was also unpermitted construction within the building that included construction of a wall, plumbing and electrical.”
She added that “additional considerations are required for commercially-zoned construction to ensure regulations are complied with such as (Americans with Disabilities Act) accessibility and path of travel.”
Bookout prepared for a May 3 meeting with the county by hiring an engineering firm to draw up plans. He said the planner he expected to meet at the meeting wasn’t there, but code enforcement officer Hannah Miller was.
Schuetze said that Bookout came to the May 3 meeting “with incomplete plans and without a permit application. He was counseled extensively at the scheduled meeting that he must submit a permit application with complete plans so that his permit can be processed.”
“At this time, we cannot determine when Cambria Surf/Bike Shop will be open for business,” she added. “The property owner must submit a building permit application and complete the permitting process that has been established in the unincorporated areas of the county, which all property owners and businesses are subject to for the health and safety of our community and its visitors.”
Bookout said Miller also wants him to move a storage container that’s like a lot of others in town. He’s already made plans to do that in early June, he said.
What’s next for SLO County surf shop owner?
Bookout says he’ll fill out any paperwork the county wants him to submit. He’s very anxious to open up, before the crucial summer season trade passes him by.
“Once summer’s over, I’m done,” he said sadly.
With the anticipated drop in business in fall, winter and spring, Bookout said, “There’s no sense having employees up there until next year.”
He owns the land and building outright now, having bought it from former owner Luis Guitterez of Cambria General Store, 850 Main St. Guitterez also owned the long-gone Video Kid shop, once located at 1561 Main St.
But if Bookout can’t open this summer, he said, he just might “have to sell it to the Realtor who wants to make a real estate office out of it. I’d hate to do that.”
Bookout thinks that selling the building would be a huge loss for Cambria visitors and residents.
“I really want to work with the county and get this solved as soon as possible,” Bookout said.
