Pismo Beach mayor’s race: 4 questions for the candidates

Two well-known candidates are vying to be the next mayor of Pismo Beach to succeed Shelly Higginbotham, who announced in February that she would not run for re-election. The mayor serves a two-year term.

The candidates are Pismo Beach City Councilman Ed Waage, who is in the last year of his second term and a former city planning commissioner; and Sandra Nielsen, a member of the city Parks, Recreation and Beautification Commission and a former county planning commissioner, among other public service.

Waage and Nielsen responded to four questions asked by The Tribune:

Q: Do you think the city should keep the Chapman Estate or return it to the Chapman Trust? If the city keeps the estate, what is your position on the number and size of events that should be held there?

Nielsen: Keep the estate, not as an event center, but as a cultural oasis. The distribution agreement states “primarily for recreational use and enjoyment of the general public.” Let us enjoy the beauty and calm in nonintrusive ways. Large and medium-scale events must be severely limited. We need a task force of stakeholders to determine an acceptable balance, and we must take a long-range view that the financial needs will be met through community commitment.

Waage: I would like to keep the estate, but we still need some more work on event details. We only want to allow enough events to help pay for the upkeep. To minimize parking and traffic impacts, we require that attendees use a parking shuttle for larger events. We recently held a successful fundraiser at the estate, and it appeared that the impact was small. The goal is to make the estate available for the enjoyment of our residents.

Q: The city is pursuing a Regional Groundwater Sustainability Program. What further steps does the council need to take to ensure a secure water supply into the future?

Nielsen: The first step is adjustment of attitude. We are not likely to be saved by a grand El Niño. Our climate is changing. We live in a desert by the sea blessed with a moist blanket of fog. Let our development plans and landscaping reflect that. A complex web of communities draws off the same aquifer and other sources. We must work together for solutions. I propose a water symposium to explore all paths.

Waage: Pismo Beach has led the way toward boosting our groundwater supply through a wastewater recycling program in partnership with our neighbors. We are the only city with a building moratorium on new projects. We have a mix of state water (and drought buffer), Lopez Lake and groundwater along with carryover water to see us through the drought. Our residents and businesses have reduced water use, but we need to find additional ways to conserve and utilize storm runoff.

Q: What is your future vision for Pismo Beach, especially in regard to economic and building developments, and how specifically would you accomplish it?

Nielsen: We need to revitalize our downtown so that it is welcoming to residents as well as tourists. With disciplined planning and creative architecture, the classic California character can be retained. Communities have preserved, yet improved, their essence everywhere. Why not us? I want to develop more workforce housing and create tech space such as incubators to attract fresh energy and diversify our economy. Why aren’t we installing fiber optics when undergrounding utilities on Shell Beach Road?

Waage: I strongly support keeping the small, seaside town character of Pismo Beach, but I do want to complete projects such as the Shell Beach streetscape, which will provide a multiuse path for recreation and a safe route to school. We are financially strong due to tourism, which provides resources to fix up our downtown with public art, repair and enhance the pier, and improve parks and infrastructure. We are almost built out, so I don’t expect much additional development.

Q: What do you think is the single largest issue facing the city, and what specific steps would you take in your first six months to address it?

Nielsen: A fundamental change needs to happen on the council regarding the way decisions are reached. It seems little was learned from the Price Canyon annexation confrontation as we head in the same direction with the Chapman Estate. When observing council meetings, there is little sense of the deliberation in public one would expect of five individuals. More questions need to be posed, and more answers need to be questioned. In general, I promise more transparency.

Waage: The largest issue we are facing is finishing the number of approved public projects. Beyond that, public safety is a key issue. We need to find ways to better combat increases of theft and burglary due to realignment (reducing prison populations) and Proposition 47 (reducing penalties) that have put large numbers of probationers on our streets. I want to reach out to our residents to better secure their property and to work with our police to make us more secure.

This story was originally published October 5, 2016 at 12:56 AM with the headline "Pismo Beach mayor’s race: 4 questions for the candidates."