Plan for boutique resort near SLO County pier sparks appeal from 2 coastal commissioners
Plans to put a three-story boutique resort hotel on a 1-acre, blufftop oceanfront property at the north end of Cayucos have hit a snag.
The proposal by Jay and Lisa Cobb calls for a 17-unit, 20,144-square-foot facility that includes a range of recreational features. It would be located just north of Cayucos Creek across North Ocean Avenue from the Bella Vista by the Sea RV park.
The project was approved by the San Luis Obispo County Planning Commission on April 22. But on June 15, two members of the California Coastal Commission, Linda Escalante and Caryl Hart, filed an appeal after the panel reviewed the plans.
The commissioners are concerned about a number of issues with the project, and that appeals process is often the final opportunity to modify or even stop a project from going forward.
Next up, according to a July 1 email interview with Noaki Schwartz, the commission’s spokesperson, “the appeal will come before the commission in August” for “a ‘substantial issue only’ hearing” in which commissioners will review the project and see if they agree that the issues raised by Escalante and Hart deserve a more detailed look by the entire group.
If “commissioners find substantial issue, then the commission takes over the permitting and will schedule a later hearing on the proposal,” Schwartz said, but if they don’t, “then the permit stands” and the project can proceed.
Cross between a boutique hotel and vacation rental
The project, which doesn’t yet have a name, “is certainly not going to be a motel” or a traditional hotel, Jay Cobb explained. “It is going to have a resort look and feel that is centered around maximizing the guest experience. … The best description would be a cross between a boutique hotel and a very large vacation rental. I like to refer to it as ‘paradise.’”
In a June 2 email interview, Cobb said he “grew up going to Cayucos as a kid, and my wife and I starting taking our boys to the area 16 years ago.” Then, “we wanted a place to stay that would accommodate four people, nice and clean with newer features, in the heart of downtown next to the pier, lots of features and amenities like a resort, and preferably on the beach.”
That place didn’t exist, he said.
“When this lot became available,” Cobb said, “I felt like I had the perfect opportunity to give young families what I had always wanted in Cayucos.”
Cobb described the location as “the last piece of land in a popular beach town, sitting directly on top of the beach on the Central Coast with just a few steps down to the sand. The views are incredible, with every suite offering 180 degrees of the ocean, the pier, Morro Rock, and the wonderful town of Cayucos.
“This project epitomizes the words entertainment and fun,” he said. “I’m always looking for ways to create something different, so while designing the ‘paradise’ building, I had the guest experience top-of-mind. The problem I was trying to solve was how to take the best elements of a vacation rental, remove the barriers of a hotel and maximize the guest experience through unique features and amenities.”
The plan would include, he said, “optional flex spaces for room expandability to include a full kitchen, bar, great room, and large balcony.”
The Cobbs’ vision offers the opportunity for “two families renting two regular suites and opting in for a flex space in between their rooms, to be used as a communal space to cook dinner together, enjoy drinks while soaking in the breathtaking views, or relax amongst just the two families.”
Outside plans include a lazy-river pool and hot tub; a walking and jogging path around the perimeter of the lot, shuffleboard tables, ping-pong tables, corn hole, BBQs, plenty of outdoor seating and fire pits in the landscape, plus a walk-up rental shop and bar.
Inside amenities would include a bar, coffee shop, small market, gym, spa and seating for breakfasts and evening appetizers.
Why commissioners appealed the project
In their appeal, the two commissioners noted a number of issues with the project, “which would be one of the largest in Cayucos” and is “located on a vacant, roughly 1-acre blufftop/oceanfront property adjacent to and immediately upcoast of Cayucos Creek on North Ocean Avenue.”
They cited “questions of consistency with County Local Coastal Program (LCP) policies” that relate to “the adequacy of bluff and creek setbacks in relations to coastal hazards, public recreational access and lower-cost accommodations and public views.”
They noted that the project would be “fronted by surface-level parking within a prime public viewshed. The boxy design doesn’t include any view corridors or breaks in building volume, thereby blocking essentially all existing views from North Ocean Avenue.”
The appeal also describes the site as “strategically, geographically located to provide visually striking views of both the adjacent central village of Cayucos and the Cayucos Pier, as well as of downcoast hills and the shoreline stretching down to Morro Rock and Montana de Oro” in the distance.
“All of these public views would be blocked and otherwise adversely affected by the project, and thus the county’s approval raises LCP visual-resource consistency issues.”
The appeal also mentions potential bluff erosion and coastal hazards, including those that “may be exacerbated by sea-level rise, for a minimum of 100 years.”
It notes that the county’s 38-foot setback estimate was “derived based on a 50-year period, rather than the required 100 years.”
It says the hazard potential is exacerbated because “materials comprising the site appear to be terrace deposits, alluvium or even fill, any of which would erode easily and quickly if subjected to more regular wave attack and higher sea levels.”
The appeal also includes concerns about a proposed “deeply embedded retaining wall separating the main hotel facility from the lateral public blufftop pathway,” lack of public recreational access, lower-cost accommodations, and lack of vertical access from the site to the shore.
Parking concerns were also mentioned.
As proposed, the project would need 77 on-site parking places to meet county requirements, but the applicants requested that be reduced to 21, none of which were designated for the public to use for beach parking.
The LCP does allow for parking reductions “when certain findings are made,” the appeal says, “but such a large reduction” raises questions about whether hotel guests and employees will need to park in public, on-street spaces, thereby ‘usurping” opportunities for non-guests to park at the beach there.
Developer was surprised
In a July 1 email interview, Jay Cobb he was “quite surprised” by the commissioners’ appeal “since we had worked closely with staff.”
He said he contacted commission staff early in the process, add that “our design team redesigned the public area to address Coastal Commission staff’s concerns and to accommodate other concerns.”
Cobb said he’s confident he and his team can satisfy the commission’s additional concerns “and provide an outstanding project for Cayucos residents and travelers to the area, while protecting the integrity of this site.”
He said the Estero Area Plan identified the location as a hotel site and that Cayucos residents had given input into the area plan before county supervisors approved it.
Likewise, the Cayucos Citizens’ Advisory Council (CAC) had suggestions about the hotel’s design, he said, and “we incorporated their input into the final design. CAC unanimously recommended approval of the hotel 7-0, which I understand is a rare occurrence.”
Cobb added that county planning staff did an extensive review, receiving six letters of opposition vs. “numerous letters and calls in support of the project.”
The staff recommended that the Planning Commission approve the application, he said, which it did unanimously “after relevant discussion on the hotel’s design, compliance with the ordinances, community amenities, and geologic/erosion concerns.”
Despite the appear, Cobb remains optimistic about his plans, saying “this project is very early to discuss, as we have a long way to go until it’s completed. Still with that being said I am very excited. It’s going to be incredible.”
This story was originally published July 7, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
