A Pismo Beach community's hope to preserve part of the rural landscape bordering the Pismo Preserve was dashed when the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors denied its appeal of a construction project in the area.

Longview Avenue neighborhood group Save the Canyon said the project would impact thousands of people's enjoyment of the area.

• Image From SLO County Staff Report
• POINTING FINGERS While neighborhood group Save the Canyon believes a proposed family residence project's hammerhead platform will be an eyesore, county staff found that the nearby Pismo Heights neighborhood had more of a visual impact.

"Not only are the backyards of these homes affected but it creates a huge visual impact from a much larger area creating a blight on this unspoiled land forever destroying the rural landscape; all for the enjoyment of one couple, not the thousands that enjoy the Pismo Preserve or the residents of Pismo Beach," according to the group's GoFundMe page. "This project entails 4,000 cubic yards of steep hillside grading, destroying the face of the canyon, and the hauling damaging our city streets."

On Sept. 24, county supervisors unanimously rejected former Pismo Beach City Councilmember Sheila Blake's appeal of the county Planning Commission's approval of a minor use permit for the home construction project. The permit grants prospective residents Rémi Arnaud and Rita Turkowski to disturb more than an acre of land and allows grading on slopes exceeding 30 percent so that a 1,200-linear-foot driveway could be built to connect the city to the 1019 Longview Ave. lot.

Since the project sits on land that exceeds a 30 percent grade, it needs a platform called a hammerhead that will support the foundation of the proposed single-family residence and enable Cal Fire emergency vehicles to fully turn around.

Opponents cite the hammerhead as an eyesore.

"The MND [mitigated negative declaration] concluded that the visual and aesthetical impacts of the project were ultimately less than significant due to its scope compared to the existing residential development located immediately adjacent to the subject parcel," the staff report said.

Other stated concerns about the project included inadequate environmental analysis; impacts on potential archaeological resources; detriment to oak trees; and increased noise, dust, and vibration during construction.

County staff ruled out each of Save the Canyon's objections, defending the project by referencing a 1999 certificate of compliance that legalized the lot at 1019 Longview Ave. and established two residential building envelopes and a building restriction zone. An environmental analysis was conducted at that time, which resulted in a mitigated negative declaration.

The parcel has remained undeveloped. Staff said that all the neighbors' concerns were already analyzed in 1999 and the impacts were found to be minimal.

Arnaud and Turkowski attorney Thomas Green of Adamski Moroski Madden Cumberland and Green wrote a letter to 5th District Supervisor Debbie Arnold, calling opposition to the project "a classic case of NIMBYism."

"It is readily apparent that the opposition is simply an effort to impose de facto open space requirements over the project site," Green wrote.

Save the Canyon leader Elizabeth Burkhead, who spearheads the group with her husband, Roger Emmons, told New Times that they will be figuring out next steps. The appeal rejection can't be brought before the California Coastal Commission since the project site is outside of the coastal zone.

"We're not giving up," Burkhead said. Δ