For 36 years, a building moratorium has been in place in Los Osos; however, that could soon change. Many people in the small town are on different sides of potential growth.
“When we can grow this community, it provides a better economy for our businesses. It also provides better funding for our roads and schools,” said Deborah Howe, Los Osos Community Advisory Council Chair.
But with potential growth in Los Osos comes a concern — the town’s water supply. It’s been a longstanding issue for decades.
“We have to have a balanced approach. If we do too much in one direction, then we can get ourselves into trouble, so we really need to make sure that we’re monitoring the water situation and that we’re not growing too quickly,” Howe said.
“We know that housing is needed especially for younger generations, the people that make our economy run. That is not the problem here. The problem is you can build it, they will come. Do we have sustainable water supply?” said Emily Miggins, Los Osos resident.
14,400 residents and 5,000 single-family homes make up Los Osos. Under the proposed Los Osos Community Plan, the town could grow to 18,000 people and 6,000 single-family homes.
The Los Osos Community Plan will be discussed by the California Coastal Commission at their meeting next Thursday at the Inn at Morro Bay at 9 a.m. If approved, it would then move onto the Board of Supervisors.
“The growth would go over a 20-plus year period and so you’re not going to see immediate huge impacts to the community but some metered, limited growth,” said Ron Munds, Los Osos Community Services District General Manager.
Munds says more than 200 people are currently on a waitlist to build since the moratorium began in 1988 and if lifted, will have first choice on building permits. Munds says no matter what happens, the water purveyors and basin management committees’ main priority is always adequate water supply.
“We want to stress any development in the near term is going to be water-neutral. There are safeguards being built in to have an annual monitoring program so if we see something that doesn’t look right in terms of where water use is going, we can put the brakes on and/or stop,” Munds said.
Supervisor Bruce Gibson told KSBY that decades of work have gone into the plan to solve a wide variety of issues and said in part, “Hundreds of people have worked thousands of hours to address the community's water supply, wastewater treatment system and habitat protection issues. The commission's certification of this plan will set the stage for Los Osos to move forward with carefully managed growth."
Emily Miggins has lived in Los Osos for 10 years and says she wants more people to be aware of the potential growth being discussed and is asking the Coastal Commission for a continuance.
“We’ve waited this long for growth and development, but our community hasn’t had that input and that feedback,” Miggins said.
