SOME VERY GOOD REASONS (BUT NOT ALL) FOR APPEALLING TO THE
CALIFORNIA COASTAL COMMISSION - RE: THE CAYUCOS DEL MAR PROJECT

The project viewed in relationship to its surroundings is massive and completely out of scale.  It will cast an enormous shadow on the coast for years to come.  The building is close to four times larger than any existing building in Cayucos.  There is currently nothing of this scale visible on Scenic Highway One along the coast stretch from Morro Bay through Big Sur and up to Carmel.  It will contain in its mass the equivalent of more than thirty of the local homes. 

If allowed to be built in its currently proposed format, it will use past zoning code allowances in height and mass.  This will blight the surrounding neighborhood as all present and future homes will be required to conform to now existing coastal codes. The consequences of this are that the thirty or more homes affected will never be allowed to build tall or large enough to overcome the impact of this massive building, and will have dramatically reduced property values. They will be doomed to a form of automatic slum environment.  The project will have the affect of a “box” store with movie set façade built in the middle of a small, family neighborhood.  This building and its future downgraded environs will not present a pretty sight to visitors traveling on Scenic Coastal Highway One.

In Mr. DeCicco and the PLF’s latest media blitz for the Central Coast, he says that he is building a quaint, family run, European style lodging.  Nothing could be farther from the facts.  This is not a visitor serving establishment.  It is purpose designed as a condominium/time-share operation. Almost all of the units are large, two bed, two bath apartments with full kitchens, and washers and dryers.  The square footage of these apartments would require an enormous nightly rate.  Certainly not rates that even an upper income family would consider for their travels, let alone the average traveling public.  Mr. DeCicco was asked by the San Luis Obispo Planning Commission if he would guarantee that this building would not be turned into time share units.  He refused that request.

A dramatically large percentage of the citizens of Cayucos signed a petition objecting to the mass, height and type of overbuilding on a commercial/multi-family site.  We see this as a means for someone to build twenty-two holiday rental homes massed together one on top of the other.  We know all the problems associated with even one holiday rental home let alone seventeen to twenty packed together.  Local laws require that holiday rental homes be at least 250 feet apart.  There are good reasons for this given the noise and massing of people and vehicles at holiday homes.  What a way to get around these laws.

There are considerable environmental concerns associated with the project that have not been fully addressed.  The DeCicco project proposes underground parking.  This is a very good idea in itself.  But this will require a very large hole to be excavated on land that was for decades the site of a gas station.  Ten years ago a cursory evaluation of shallow soils revealed low level petroleum hydrocarbon contamination.  No further evaluation efforts have occurred. There is a high water table in the area where the land is located.  The large amounts of ground water that will accumulate during and after the excavation will be siphoned off to a nearby natural creek that feeds into the ocean.  Also large quantities of dust particles will be thrown into the air during the building of the project.  Mr. DeCicco and his construction crew will be allowed to be self-monitoring regarding any dangerous substances that appear in the water and air.  This does not instill confidence that the safety of the surrounding environment and population will be adequately protected from potential toxicity.

These and numerous other alarming concerns that neighbors, the residents of and visitors to Cayucos have expressed have not been assuaged by Mr. DeCicco or the County of San Luis Obispo for a variety of reasons and pre-existing zoning ordinances. 

The Cayucos Advisory Council voted against the project with a proviso that if the 3rd floor could be removed, it would be reconsidered. The San Luis Obispo Planning Commission voted to remove the 3rd floor of the project. During the San Luis Obispo Board of Supervisors hearing numerous concerns were expressed by supervisors regarding the project’s incompatibility.  And over 2,000 petition signatories stated adverse opinions to this project. 

All of these voices have never been against building at this location but were expressing a desire to find a solution to the potential negative impact of this large and precedent setting project as proposed but to no avail.  Mr. DeCicco has made changes during the review process, but they have been palliative and never addressed the heart of the problems. 

As the protectors of human based resources and the environment of the California coast, we implore The Coastal Commission, as the last recourse for public concerns, to allow a hearing on the DeCicco project so that rational and long lasting resolutions to these issues can be found.