The bluff area along North Ocean Avenue was an approved space for a new hotel in Cayucos.
Approved by the San Luis Obispo County Planning Commission in April of 2021, the 17-room hotel would be built atop a 1.1 acre blufftop but it’s the parking that has some nearby business owners concerned.
“There’s got to be a good balance and this fit is not a good balance at all, and that’s speaking from the business side of it,” said Carol Kramer, Sea Shanty owner.
A California Coastal Commission report states the project would include 21 parking spaces, stating “it appears that hotel guests and employees will be forced into public parking spaces nearby, thus reducing and adversely affecting public beach parking opportunities.”
It also cites issues with a nearby staircase for beach access, which the report states would only be approved for hotel guests to use and not the general public.
Kramer has owned the Sea Shanty for the past 41 years and says parking in the coastal town is already an issue. “Well as a business owner, growing business is always good for our economy but when it comes at the expense of what it is going to do for the town then I have to take a look at it like is it really good for the town when it’s not going to provide the parking that we are already short of,” Kramer said.
Joanne Eskildsen whose lived in the town parttime since 2011 is also not a fan of the three-story hotel. “I’m against anything that blocks the view by large buildings etcetera for not only the residents that live here year round but for visitors,” said Eskildsen.
I also reached out to the project applicant to learn more about his plans for the hotel but so far, have not received a call back. With no timeline on when work may get underway, Kramer is enjoying the view the property currently offers.
“Watching the ocean and learning how the ocean changes your life and the different seasons of an ocean. I mean it’s just a learning experience that you can sit and witness. It just becomes who you know and who you are as you grow up. I think that should remain in the city,” Kramer said.
Coastal Commission staff tell me there is no timeline on when the proposal may come back for a final hearing.
