Fund skatepark or a public restroom? SLO County town makes ‘tough decision’ on state grant
Some may see the recent Cambria Community Services District grant conundrum as faceoff between a new public restroom vs. the Cambria skatepark, but that’s not how three of the district directors interpreted their Nov. 30 decision on which would get the state grant.
In a split vote, the Cambria CSD’s Board of Directors instructed staff to go after the $177,952 California Parks and Recreation grant to help build a public restroom that’s already been designed for the East Ranch portion of Cambria’s Fiscalini Ranch Preserve.
The restroom is expected to cost $371,000 total to build.
The board’s decision means the skatepark will instead have to wait for a future allocation, though it might not be long before that money is on the way.
Directors are expected to confirm the restroom resolution at their meeting Dec. 9, along with a budget adjustment encumbering the entire cost of the project out of general funds. The district would pay for the work and then get repaid by the grant in phases during the project.
The recommended project completion date is Dec. 31, 2023, two years after the application deadline.
Cambria skatepark project still awaiting funding
On Dec. 9 or soon thereafter, the board may also cement their commitment to a future allocation for what the district’s match for the skatepark would have been if they’d opted to apply for the grant on behalf of the skating facility.
Board Vice President Donn Howell and Director Karen Dean indicated Nov. 30 that such an allocation — which would have matched the district’s share of the skatepark’s estimated $661,000 cost if the grant application had been for that facility — should reassure the park’s advocates that the CSD board supports the project, both now and when that design is far enough along to qualify for permit approval and a grant.
Some online postings indicate that not everybody sees it that way.
Comments on Nextdoor and Facebook claimed the district had “hijacked” the grant from the skatepark project, that local residents would be more likely to leave the dogpark and go home than use a public restroom and that a remote bathroom facility could be a magnet for illegal activities and other problems.
General Manager John Weigold reiterated in a Dec. 1 phone interview that the state brought the original grant opportunity to the CSD in June as a reimbursement grant.
Weigold said when he presented the funding possibility at the Parks, Recreation & Open Space Commission’s July meeting, the fully designed, nearly shovel-ready East Village restroom was the only project officially on the commission’s radar.
Skate Cambria Director Julie Amodei proposed the skatepark as another possibility, and the CSD’s decision conundrum began.
Skatepark advocates have been fundraising since mid-2020 to replace the former park, built decades ago by parents, kids and enthusiasts on the property next to the Cambria Public Library. That’s where Skate Cambria wants the new park to be.
The district got a county grant of $20,000, and hired Spohn Ranch to design the new skate facility. Aaron Spohn has previously presented a draft design to the parks and recreation commission and the CSD board.
The Skate Cambria website on Dec. 2 showed donations of $167,999 and 3,000 signatures in support of the skatepark.
Restroom necessary under Fiscalini Ranch Preserve grant
Several directors and members of the public emphasized that a new 10-foot-by-20-foot, two-stall restroom probably isn’t needed now or in the immediate future.
However, Monte Soto of Cambria’s Civil Design Studio, designer of the restroom/East Ranch project, said a restroom definitely will be required whenever the district has the funds to comply with the terms of a 20-year-old, $500,000 grant the county gave toward the purchase of what was then East West Ranch (now Fiscalini Ranch Preserve).
According to that grant agreement, the CSD will eventually have to put recreational facilities on the eastern portion of the property.
As Director Harry Farmer recalled, the county’s grant was inexorably linked to the district’s commitment to provide public recreation and park facilities on that portion of the ranch. While no firm deadline was put on that requirement, the lack of progress toward meeting that commitment has been a topic at the county level.
Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces Commission Chairman Steve Kniffen, a staunch supporter of the skatepark, commented via Zoom that the commission had made the restroom a priority then “because we didn’t have anything else,” and any other progress on the ranch was stymied by regulations.
“If we wanted to put in some picnic tables” or other amenities, he said, “we couldn’t until we have a bathroom there. It was the next step in moving forward on the East Ranch project.”
Weigold called the restroom “the linchpin” for anything else the district wants to put on East Ranch.
While the master plan and completion of the East Ranch project’s first phase a few years ago (grading, parking area and dog park) have helped to assuage some of the county’s concerns, having more progress on the horizon is a good step.
On Dec. 2, Kniffen called the CSD board’s selection of the restroom project for the grant a “tough decision, but I think they made the right one. Their decision was Solomon-esque.”
Community questions urgency to make grant decision
At the Nov. 30 Zoom meeting, some community members challenged the apparent urgency to complete the grant decision, a topic for which the board had called two special meetings in November.
Several staff and board members replied that the deadline to apply for the grant was Dec. 31.
A holiday-compressed schedule for necessary paperwork, meetings and the resolution meant time was of the essence if the district was to apply and/or qualify for the grant opportunity, no matter which project was listed on the application.
