Nipomo's Community Advisory Council

What is it? Well, start here first. They are a diverse and representative group of volunteers working to share information about important issues affecting Nipomo, California. They meet 6:30 pm on the 4th Monday of each month in the Nipomo Community Services District building at 148 S. Wilson in Nipomo. The minutes and agendas of their meetings are on their website.

Their mission statement, also on the website states:

The mission of the Nipomo Community Advisory Council ("NCAC") is to provide a forum for citizen involvement and information on issues which affect the greater part of the Nipomo Community. The NCAC seeks to achieve sound community planning and development of the Nipomo and Nipomo Mesa area through consideration of social, technological, environmental and political impacts and to advocate measures to promote a safe environment for our citizens and visitors.

You can meet these volunteers on there website here. Or, you can meet them in person, and in action Monday evening, 10/24/05, at the NCSD building at 6:30 p.m. The Agenda isn't posted on the website as of this post; however, it will be posted shortly, and you can see it here.

A couple of highlights for Monday's meeting:

A 71 unit three-story motel located on 1.20 acres on Hill Street, directly adjacent to west side of King Ventures Frontage Road project. The Land Use Committee recommends that the project be no higher than two-stories/ impact on traffic be evaluated with recomendation for Hill Street to be four-lane / due to the fact that the national response time for public safety services is 5 minutes, concern that with current traffic congestion these services can not meet time standards and fees need to be collected to provide additional staffing and facilities for fire, police, etc.

This would be the first motel in the downtown area, in fact in any area in Nipomo. Interestingly the NCAC wants the motel no higher than two stories, where the developer apparently envisons three. I'm certain there are reasons for the two story preference; however, what if it is only economically feasible at three rather than two? And, what about the TOT that would inure to the the new city in the future? Wouldn't we want as many rooms as possible in our first little motel? All good issues to explore at the meeting on Monday.

Here's another:

Gray Trust: 3.8 acre parcel located at corner of Grande and Blume; to be divided into 39 lots ranging from 2,600 to 5,280 sq ft, 38 residences, one pocket park; underground retention basin and three on-site streets; NCAC recommended denial of this project in December 2004 due to lack of compliance of 6,000 sq ft lots; Project was denied by Planning Commission on 9/22/05; Appeal to be heard before BOS on 11/8/05

There's clearly a great discrepancy between NCAC and the developer on this one. The NCAC wants the developer to conform to the 6,000 sq. foot lot requirement, and he wants to go as small as 2,600 sq. feet. It's probably a done deal, NCAC will not approve this project; however, the real question is what will the Board of Supervisors do on 11/8/05 when the appeal is heard? Given the Board of Supervisors' record of late (more on that later) who knows where this is headed.

NCAC meetings tend to run on the long side; however, we're much more civilized than our counterparts up in Templeton, who have been desribed as nothing more than hooligans. Stop by, and take up to three minutes to share what's on your mind during the public comment section, and see how our local ad hoc community advisory group works out the details on all things Nipomo.