Ten new mobile homes could go in at Morro Shores Mobile Home Park in Los Osos along Ramona Avenue.
“There’s no opposition to having more people come. We have a beautiful area. We love sharing it with people,” said Patrick McGibney, Los Osos Sustainability Group chair.
McGibney says he welcomes people to Los Osos but doesn’t feel the approval of 10 new mobile homes at the park across from Sweet Springs Nature Preserve is in the town’s best interest.
“It’s the water use that is the concern right now,” McGibney said.
That concern prompted the Los Osos Sustainability Group to appeal the project to the California Coastal Commission.
Doug LaRose lives in the 164-unit mobile home park and welcomes the addition.
“They are only going to add to the quality of this park. It’s really nice. They want to put in a new dog park and bocce ball, there’s a whole crew of bocce ball people, [and a] putting green for the golfers,” LaRose said.
Morro Shores resident Gene Heyer says he isn’t sure he’s fully on board.
“We’d rather not do it but if the Basin Management Committee and Coastal Commission says it’s okay then I'm fine with it,” Heyer said.
Los Osos CSD says the three water purveyors pump around 1,000 acre-feet of water each year in the town and that the addition of 10 mobile homes would use about 1.12 acre-feet of water per year.
McGibney says a local hydrologist wrote a 30-page document on the town’s water basin.
“Which shows that our basin is not in a sustainable position right now and that we do have seawater intrusion,” McGibney said.
However, a Coastal Commission staff report states there is an adequate and sustainable water supply to serve new development in Los Osos and recommends the appeal be denied.
The project manager says while not a requirement, they do plan to upgrade certain appliances in the new homes to help offset water demand.
“I have no qualms about it at all because as we get older, we need a place to live,” LaRose said.
The county approved the project back in 2021 and in a report filed last week, the Coastal Commission states water is not an issue.
“We do not have a sustainable water basin right now. That is the only thing we are concerned about right now,” McGibney said.
In a statement to KSBY, project manager Nyri Achadjian said, "As responsible members of the Los Osos community, we take water resources seriously. As suggested by the Los Osos Community Advisory Council, we’ve voluntarily committed to a 2:1 water offset—a proactive measure that isn’t required but ensures we save twice the water used by the 10 new homes. Through the County’s Plumbing Retrofit-To-Build program, we will implement water-savings on-site to directly benefit Morro Shores residents, making this a water-positive project that supports both housing and long-term sustainability."
The Coastal Commission is expected to hear the appeal on Wednesday, March 12 at 9 a.m.
