State Parks planned to build a seaside campground in SLO County. What happened?
A crumbling, ocean-view motel that sits atop the Piedras Blancas bluffs in San Luis Obispo County was supposed to be the site of California’s next seaside campground.
But nearly 15 years after the idea was introduced, the long-closed building is more dilapidated than ever and no campers in their tents have appeared on the property.
The project has stalled multiple times since State Parks announced plans to build a campground on the Piedras Blancas Motel property in 2012 — leaving some community members wondering what caused the delay.
“We’ve spent 15 years trying to support State Parks in developing this campground,” California State Coastal Conservancy project specialist Tim Duff said. “That hasn’t happened.”
State Parks San Luis Obispo Coast District Superintendent Dan Falat, however, characterized the process differently, saying, “I don’t know that it’s necessarily a delay.”
The San Luis Obispo Coast District has intermittently worked on the project over the past decade and a half when staff time and gaps in other projects allowed, he said.
“Priorities do change over time. You have emergencies that take place,” he said. “It’s a matter of staff time, staff prioritization and what else is going on.”
The Santa Lucia Chapter of the Sierra Club has followed the project since its inception.
To investigate the delay in the project, the Sierra Club filed a Public Records Act request in December 2024 for correspondence related to the project between the California Department of Parks and Recreation and the California State Coastal Conservancy from 2015 to 2024.
The correspondence revealed “a story of bureaucratic inertia on the part of the Department of Parks and Recreation and mounting frustration by the State Coastal Conservancy as they witnessed a project hitting an unending supply of delays, red tape, unfinished reports, unpaid contractors, non-responsiveness, alleged lack of funds, etc.,” the Sierra Club said in a letter to state Sen. John Laird on May 19.
In the letter, the nonprofit encouraged Laird to push the project forward.
Some options could include passing legislation to set a deadline for completion, conducting an audit of the funds spent so far or holding a Senate oversight hearing of State Park’s activities on the campground, according to a letter from the Sierra Club to Laird.
“In 20 years, it’s hard not to notice that this really significant project that a lot of public funding went into hasn’t moved forward,” Sierra Club chapter coordinator Gianna Patchen told The Tribune. “It’s essential that we see State Parks move forward on this, so that public access isn’t something that’s left on the back burner.”
Laird said he’s reviewing the information revealed by the Public Records Act request.
“The concerns raised about State Parks and its management of the Piedras Blancas Campground proposal — and even the Hearst Ranch Trail — are troubling,” he said in a statement. “It will take some time to look through all the documents that the Sierra Club and others have uncovered about the situation and to talk to those involved to get a better understanding of what occurred, and how to best proceed.“
Where did the time go?
In 2005, the Trust for Public Land purchased the Piedras Blancas Motel and cafe property for $4.5 million, using funds from the California State Coastal Conservancy, according to a 2012 staff report from the conservancy.
The motel was built during the 1950s, then shut down around 2005, according to previous Tribune reporting. The 22.8-acre parcel is located at 6420 Cabrillo Highway within Hearst San Simeon State Park.
In 2006, the property was transferred to State Parks, with the goal of developing low-cost overnight lodging in place of the motel, the report said. At first, the goal was to convert the motel into a youth hostel, Duff told The Tribune.
The State Coastal Conservancy funded a structural analysis of the cafe and motel buildings in 2008. Then, in 2009, the conservancy funded a feasibility study to research what could be done with the property, the report said.
In 2012, a report showed that the north end of the property would be endangered by erosion within about 20 years, which meant State Parks could no longer feasibly renovate the motel.
Later that year, the California Department of Parks and Recreation and State Coastal Conservancy agreed to establish a campground south of the motel where more blufftop land was available away from the dangers of erosion, the 2012 report said.
The commission then gave the agency a $40,000 grant in 2012 for the initial concept design, allowing State Parks to apply for a permit and start the environmental review process, Duff said.
From 2013 to 2017, the Department of Parks and Recreation proceeded with designs, permits and environmental review of the project, according to documents revealed by the Sierra Club’s Public Records Act request.
State Parks proposed to build a 5-acre campground with 29 campsites and 14 cabins.
State Parks submitted a Mitigated Negative Declaration report to the county and California Coastal Commission for comments. A Mitigated Negative Declaration report shares revisions to the project that would eliminate negative environmental impacts caused by the project.
From 2018 to 2022, State Parks prepared the requested information. Very little progress was made on the project during this time, according to correspondence between State Parks and the California State Coastal Conservancy.
Property used for public parking, park ranger housing
Right now, members of the public can park in the motel parking lot and stroll along the bluffs to admire the ocean, Falat said.
Meanwhile, a State Parks employee lives on the property. The property has two units for employees; one is a house, and the other is the old manager’s quarters for the motel. Right now, only one employee lives on site and pays $532.43 per month for rent, Falat said.
State Parks established on-site employee housing to prevent people from vandalizing the motel and to ensure that a park ranger could quickly respond to calls for service in the area.
State Parks employees can apply for housing when it becomes available, then the agency picks the tenant based on seniority and who works in the area, Falat said.
Meanwhile, State Parks and Caltrans are collaborating to build a 4.5-mile segment of the California Coastal Trail through the property, which would connect the Elephant Seal Vista Point to the beach at Arroyo de la Cruz.
Falat said State Parks and Caltrans are working on finalizing permits, funding and land aquisition for the California Coastal Trail.
Does the property have enough water for a campground?
The property has two groundwater wells, one that’s viable and one that isn’t, according to a report completed this month.
The active well is 44 feet deep and currently serves the housing unit occupied by a State Parks employee, the report said.
The State Coastal Conservancy hired the company Balance Hydrologics Inc. to conduct a test to determine the maximum amount of water that could be sustainably pumped from the well.
The test showed that the well could sustainably provide about 3.4 gallons of water per minute during an eight-hour period, the report said.
Such a small amount of water wouldn’t be enough to service the original project design, which included 14 cabins, 29 campsites, a restaurant and flushing toilets. But Duff said the well could support a smaller campground that uses less water.
“We’re confident that there’s enough water to provide adequate supply for some level of campground,” Duff said.
When concerns about water availability surfaced five years ago, Duff suggested that State Parks reduce the scope of the project. State Parks could eliminate water-intensive infrastructure like the cabins and the restaurant, and replace flushing toilets with waterless vault toilets, he said.
State Parks operates numerous dry campgrounds across California, including a handful in the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, which Falat oversaw while working as the superintendent of the Colorado Desert District before returning to the Central Coast.
But State Parks never responded to the idea of a dry campground, Duff said. Instead, the agency looked for water offsite — an effort that proved unsuccessful.
State Parks checked to see if nearby Caltrans wells could serve the campground, but the wells are no longer viable, Falat said.
Falat said a dry campground “is not out of the question,” but State Parks may also pivot to establish a day-use area on the property, instead, he said.
State Parks plans to perform another well test, then evaluate what project is feasible based on water availability, Falat said.
He could not provide a timeline for when a design would be ready.
“This campground hopefully will last forever, or as long as possible — hopefully outlast our lifetimes,” he said. “So while it may seem like a long time, we want to make sure that we’re doing it right.”
While the State Coastal Conservancy would prefer to see a campground on the property, they would accept if State Parks built trails and a day-use area for visitors to enjoy, Duff said.
“It’s really up to State Parks to decide what they want to do with the property,” Duff said. “The original intent when we transferred the property to State Parks 15 years ago was to provide lower-cost overnight accommodations. We think that that’s an appropriate use for the site, but that’s fully up to State Parks.”
