JANUARY
The Morro Bay Tourism Bureau started the New Year looking for a new director, after its inaugural one handed in her resignation in December. Karin Moss, who was hired Dec. 5, 2012 to take over the newly-formed Tourism Bureau, told The Bay News that she prefers to work independently and not under the auspices of a board of directors. She also prefers to work on project-oriented marketing, not so much what the Bureau has in mind. “This is a seven-days-a-week job,” said Moss.
The search was on for interim city government leaders in Morro Bay and the City Council picked an interim city manager in January. Acting City Manager, Susan Slayton, presented a list of candidates, people who do this kind of specialized temp work, to the council for consideration. A retired city manager and former police chief, Ed Kreins, was hired for the job and he stayed on until late September.
Efforts to recall Morro Bay Mayor Jamie Irons fell short of gathering enough signatures to qualify for the ballot, a spokesman for the group pushing the recall said in a statement. Morro Bay Forward gathered about 1,600 signatures, some 150 short of the 1,754 needed to qualify for the ballot. “The reason that we did not achieve our goal had nothing to do with the efforts of Mayor Irons’ supporters or the bias of The Tribune’s Editorial Board,” said Bill Peirce, secretary for Morro Bay Forward. “It was the result of our inability to knock on enough doors in the 90 days we had to collect the signatures. The shorter daylight hours this time of the year and holiday travel made it difficult to find enough registered voters at home. We are confident that if we had attempted the recall in the spring we would have been successful.”
Members of the Cayucos Historical Society rolled out the red carpet to celebrate the opening of a new exhibit at the Cayucos History Museum, located at 41 S. Ocean Ave. The museum, which opened July 2013, is now featuring a history of the Cayucos Pier, with story boards telling the story of the town icon, historic photos and even a scale model of the pier built by local school children using popsicle sticks.
“To be able to walk to the water, have a cup of coffee by the Pier, and take in the bird life, the locals who are always friendly, and to realize we live where people come to rest or vacation. Wow, we are fortunate!” said Bob Crizer, who, with his wife Beth, was selected as the Los Osos/Baywood Park Citizens of the Year. But these 33-year residents of Los Osos consider themselves not just fortunate citizens of their own community, but citizens to all communities. For example, when they read about a Los Angeles woman who was scammed out of her small home, they raised $20,000, recruited a team of 19 from Los Osos, Morro Bay and Cayucos, drove to L.A. and demolished and rebuilt the home in one week.
The sale of a city-owned property in the Cloisters went bust after it was discovered a previously approved 6-lot subdivision would need a permit from the Coastal Commission. The City Council last November approved extending the tentative tract map for the subdivision on the .99-acre vacant lot at San Jacinto and Coral, at the request of a potential buyer, Broc Assets. Broc Assets offered the city $935,000 for the property, the final, large parcel in the Cloisters subdivision. Interim City Attorney Anne Russell said they asked the planning commission to look at the property and make sure it was consistent with the general plan. “It seemed like a slam dunk,” she said. Instead it was more of an air ball, as the staff discovered that when the Cloisters was originally subdivided in the early 1990s, all of the potential residential development credits were transferred to the 120 residential lots clustered into two neighborhoods. “There are no residential lots left in the development,” said Russell.
The Morro Bay Power Plant was given a closure date by the State of California and nearly 60 years of producing power came to an end. According to Dynegy spokeswoman, Katy Sullivan, the California Independent System Operator accepted Dynegy’s retirement request for the power plant, effective Feb. 5. However, Cal-ISO, “reserves the right to rescind the acceptance at any time up to the retirement date,” she said. (That didn’t happen and the plant permanently ceased operations in February.)
County Supervisors awarded a contract to build the Los Osos sewer treatment plant on Jan. 28, and as seems usual for the project, the bids came in over the estimates. Auburn Constructors, Inc., was the lowest responsive, responsible bidder, at $48.1 million. Add in a contingency fund of $2.4 million and the plant’s budget is $50.6 million. The engineer’s estimate was $46.3 million.
Some water customers of Golden State Water Co., in Los Osos were up in arms over plans to once again raise their rates, after the rates were just hiked last year. “We are seeing our quality of life suppressed with the excessive rate increases while the not-for-profit water company across the valley (Los Osos CSD) sells water from the same source for half the price,” said local activist, Al Barrow. (Discontent with Golden State continued into the spring when a group of citizens formed Los Osos FLOW [Friends of Locally Owned Water] to explore buying out the private company.)
FEBRUARY
Morro Bay officials raised the water conservation alert level in town in response to continued dry weather and the Governor’s drought declaration. Public Works Director, Rob Livick, said the city was implementing “Severely Restricted Water Supply Conditions” which is up one level from the “Moderately Restricted Water Supply Conditions” that had been in effect for months.
An Arroyo Grande man was killed when his RV ran off a 600-foot cliff near Ragged Point. According to Cal-Fire, they got a report of a RV driving over the cliff on Hwy 1 about 2:35 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 2 about a half mile south of Ragged Point. Cal-Fire said the RV was “destroyed on impact” at the foot of the cliff and rescuers repelled part way down the cliff and hiked down to the scene. The Highway Patrol reported that the victim was Arthur “Clay” Watkins, 56, who was recently in the news after being arrested on suspicion of bank robbery. Watkins allegedly robbed a Wells Fargo Bank branch in Santa Maria last November, in a rather bizarre case that included another man trying to run off with the loot from the heist after Watkins allegedly dropped it while allegedly trying to escape the scene.
When you turn off Los Osos Valley Road onto Pine Avenue in Los Osos you see the Trinity United Methodist Church and across the street is what can perhaps best be described as a bunch of dead trees towering over a bunch of dead houses. But a proposal surfaced to donate that 5-1/2 acre property to the community and local leaders had hopes that a way could be found to both remove the eyesore and build a new park. “It’s actually 17 ‘dead houses,’” said Daryl Roe of Los Osos Investment Group, LLC who along with his partner, Scott Black was trying to turn a troublesome property into something the community has wanted for a long, long time — more parklands. “We’re not too proud to be the owners of this ‘gem,’” he added.
Neighbors of a proposed hillside road project in Cayucos that would open up some 30 lots for development, gathered at the Vet’s Hall to discuss ways to block the project. “Preserve Cayucos,” led by John Carsel, Carol Baptiste, Ralph Wessel and Arley Robinson, asked the 40 or so residents and property owners there to help them raise $5,000 to hire a consultant to critically analyze the project to extend Gilbert Avenue. “Preserve Cayucos is not against the project per se,” said Carsel, who lives on Gilbert and led the meeting. “We want to ensure it is done right and safely. And if it is not, then we are not in favor of it.” (The geological study showed tremendous potential for the hillside to slip if the project moved forward.)
A giant excavator crushed up Morro Bay’s Lemos Feed & Pet Supply store, tearing down a building with deep roots in the community to make way for a new store. Company founder Mike Lemos said that the new building would mark the third location for the company in Morro Bay. They started out in a space up on Quintana Road, he said, as the excavator made scraps of a barn that used to be at the Main Street location. “We’ve been in Morro Bay since 1978.” (The new store opened in November and is an attractive addition to town.)
MARCH
The City of Morro Bay hired a new interim city attorney, one with more than three decades of experience in municipal law. The City Council voted unanimously to hire the law firm of Aleshire & Wynder, LLP with the principal attorney for Morro Bay being Joe Pannone. Pannone is a veteran municipal attorney who has worked for numerous cities and special agencies and districts across California. He was also the contract attorney for the cities of Lompoc and Bellflower and also city attorney in the City of Baldwin Park until last December. That’s when a new city council majority fired “without cause” Pannone along with the Chief Executive Officer, Vijay Singhal and Police Chief Lili Hadsell. (In December, the “interim” label was removed and the law firm hired full time.)
Amid little fanfare, the Morro Bay Harbor Patrol took possession of its new $400,000 patrol boat increasing its abilities for search and rescue, as well as marine firefighting. Built by D.R. Radon of Goleta, the blue, fiberglass-hulled boat features a full compliment of electronic equipment — GPS, radar, radios and RDF — and is a couple of steps above the departments three other boats in that regard.
It’s been a part of the Morro Bay waterfront for nearly 60 years and a new investor came onboard to help Virg’s Landing continue on well into the future. Virg’s owner, Sharon Moores, said they leased their boats to Denise De Cock and she will also take over the day-to- day operations as manager. De Cock, who was born and raised in Capetown, South Africa, said she has long had a love of the sea. Her father was a master mariner who sailed all over the world. “My father spent his whole life at sea,” she said. (De Cock was by the end of the year in the process of buying the whole operation.)
Morro Bay High School’s principal resigned from his job but continued to work for the school district. Dan Andrus reportedly resigned his position March 7 after being away from campus since Feb. 7, first on medical leave (Feb. 7-19) and then administrative leave (Feb. 20-March 7). He reportedly informed the faculty and staff of his resignation March 7 via E-mail. Assistant Principal Kathy Buehler was named interim principal and is expected to serve out the school year in that capacity. (Los Osos Middle School Principal, Dr. Kyle Pruitt took over in the fall).
Morro Bay’s “Solo Sailor” departed on life’s final bon voyage. Bill Yates, a four-time elected Mayor of Morro Bay, died in March after a long battle with lung cancer. He was 66. Yates served two terms as mayor from 1993-1996, a third term from 2003-04 and a final term from 2010-12. He always said he loved being mayor. In January of 1997 until 2000 he solo sailed the Pacific Ocean writing about his adventures on a blog (see: morro-bay.com/morsels/yates). Yates wrote in his blog, “It’s a perilous business undertaking a long-distance solo sailing voyage; there’s no denying that. But I have never worried about not making it. What’s the point in that? I have always maintained an attitude that if I prepare properly and sail with intelligence, I will make it just fine.”
APRIL
Morro Bay’s community radio station, 97.3 FM The Rock, flipped the proverbial “Big Switch” Saturday (March 22) and hit the airwaves, broadcasting live from outside the Chamber of Commerce office, 695 Harbor St. It took two years to get a Federal Communications Commission license for the station, which has enough power to be heard in Cayucos, Morro Bay and Los Osos, and sometimes Cambria and SLO when weather conditions are right.
Attention turned from the Righetti Ranch site on Hwy 41 to another site farther up Morro Valley, as work on a new sewer treatment plant continued in Morro Bay. The City Council also adopted an ambitious, 5-year schedule for building a new plant, setting a target date of Feb. 25, 2019 to have it completed. But before that giant leap takes place there is a load of interim steps the sewer project must overcome. “We need to pick a site location before we can make significant progress,” said Public Works Director, Rob Livick.
Work by the Council of Governments on a Class-1 bike and pedestrian trail paralleling Hwy 1 from Morro Bay to San Luis Obispo shifted gears. SLOCOG held a public meeting at the County Government Center to gather comments on the so-called, “Chorro Valley Trail.” The meeting was part of a feasibility study on what could eventually be a 12-mile biking, walking and jogging path connecting Morro Bay, Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo and Cal Poly. Jessica Barry, a SLOCOG transportation planner, said they got a $42,000 grant from the Federal Byways Program to start work on what’s expected to be a $52,000 feasibility study.
MAY
Oliver “Hoppy” Hopkins has experienced the thrill of chasing salmon and swordfish on the open sea up and down the West Coast and saw first-hand the horrors of war. Now he’s getting ready to take another adventure when he joins other war veterans on an Honor Flight to Washington D.C. Hoppy, who like a teenager says he “will be 91 in July,” sat for an interview in the modest Morro Bay home that he shares with Morgan, his old boxer dog and companion. “I trained him as a service dog,” says Hoppy, “and he was a hell of a good service dog at one time. But he’s like me, he’s poopin’ out. He’s 11 now.”
For the people aboard the Dos Osos whale watching boat, it was probably the greatest morning of whale watching ever, but it certainly was no fun for a gray whale cow and her calf, when they were attacked by a pod of killer whales about a mile outside the Morro Bay Harbor entrance. For much of the day, the orcas repeatedly rushed the whales, raking them with their teeth and ramming them, trying to separate the mother from baby. The orcas would swim off when the gray’s dove deep cruising the area for a time then meeting up again in a cooperative attack, repeating the strategy over and over. Sometime that day or night, they succeeded too, as reports came in of killer whales feeding on a dead gray. And the sheer terror of what it must have been like for the young whale was plainly evident that Saturday, when its carcass washed ashore on Morro Strand State Beach opposite the Cloisters. With it’s entire head gone, the sea gulls were next to feast on the whale, which had teeth rakes in its flesh from the tail to the missing head. On Monday, City workers buried the carcass in the sand.
JUNE
Another of Morro Bay’s Living Treasures has died. Dan Reddell, 66, died June 3 after a battle with Lou Gehrig’s Disease.
He was born in Los Angeles and lived in Porterville until 1959, when the family moved to the Central Coast. He was a graduate of Coast Union High in Cambria, Cal Poly and earned a master’s at U.C. Santa Barbara. He went into the family construction business rather than pursue a doctorate and became a real estate broker in 1983. He opened Bayshore Realty in 1997.
Reddell was a tireless volunteer in various organizations including Rotary, the Chamber of Commerce and the Harbor Festival. He was the Chamber’s 1987 Citizen of the Year, the 1988 Morro Bay Rotarian of the Year, the Chamber’s 2013 Living Treasure Award winner and the 2013 Realtor of the Year. He was also active with the Morro Bay Grange, Friends of the Fire Department, and the Scenic Coast Association of Realtors, serving as president of Rotary, and the Police Foundation, and was also a founder and past president of the Harbor Festival. The Festival’s main stage was permanently dedicated to Reddell at last year’s event.
He has also adopted the cause of Si Tennenberg to send care packages to U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan and asks that donations in his memory be made to that cause or the fight against Lou Gehrig’s.
Morro Bay avoided a run-off election in November to fill the remaining city council seat, after the interim city attorney decided that more than 120 questionable ballots wouldn’t be counted, giving John Headding the necessary votes to win outright. City Clerk Jamie Boucher, who is the official city elections officer, said, “Deducting the 123 blank ballots cast along with the two over-votes [voting for three instead of two] from the Ballots Cast ‘line’ (3,952) gives us 3,827 ballots cast from which to determine a possible majority. Mr. Headding’s 1,940 votes gave him 50.7% of the vote resulting in no November run-off being necessary, and he being declared a winner.” (Newcomer Matt Makowetski and Mayor Jamie Irons won the other seats. Also, in the November election voters did away with the Primary Election system in Morro Bay.)
Morro Bay’s 2014-15 fiscal year budget was balanced but not without help from a special reserve fund. Employee costs are expected to rise and reserve funds are being spent on capital projects. Residents can expect hikes in water and sewer rates and given those hits, the City staff doesn’t think it wise to ask for more taxes just now. That was the nitty-gritty of the City’s new spending plan. “The General Fund is balanced,” said Interim City Manager Ed Kreins in the budget’s summary letter, “but not without help from the City’s Risk Management Reserve in the amount of $135,688.”
Once again, the Morro Bay fishing industry was leading the way, after a deal was finalized to keep so-called “Catch shares” with the local fleet. The deal involved The Nature Conservancy, and a special non-profit organization, The Morro Bay Community Quota Fund, to hold onto the fishing rights for the local industry. It will allow the fleet to fish the “deep water complex,” catching such groundfish as petrale and dover sole, black cod and black gill, among other species. These groundfish are caught in 200-plus fathoms of water and are the backbone of the local industry.
JULY
Morro Bay Police Department sought to fill a couple of open positions as summer kicked into high gear, after two officers left the City, one under somewhat mysterious circumstances and one for greener pastures. Over the past few months, the department was down as many as four officers, as Cpl. Mark Martin had been off duty for sometime with an injury, and Ofc. Gene Stuart was on leave after a death in his family. Also, Ofc. Leslie Daily, who had been with the department for 10 years left, and Chief Amy Christie declined to talk about why. “I’m not going to discuss these personnel matters,” she told The Bay News. Under state law, agencies are not allowed to disclose why an officer left, no matter the reason. Daily was listed in the Department’s 2013 Annual Report as the “Terrorism Liaison Officer.”
A new principal for Los Osos Middle School was named, replacing the former principal who moved up to Morro Bay High. Andre Illig was recently announced as the new principal by the San Luis Coastal Unified School District, Christin Newlon district personnel director said in a news release. “Mr. Illig rose to the top because of his background as an outstanding science teacher, experience as a middle school principal,” Newlon said, “and strong commitment to the STEAM model started at Los Osos Middle School. Mr. Illig is enthusiastic and personable.”
Coast Guard Station Morro Bay was given the green light to submit plans for a new crew quarters on a vacant lease site adjacent to the Krill’s Saltwater Water Taffy store. The City Council voted unanimously to approve a “consent of landlord” decree that basically promises to lease the site to the Coast Guard and allowing it to submit building plans. But while the site is vacant, the USCG’s plans include taking over the area where a public restroom currently stands. The Coast Guard said it has about $200,000 in its budget for the project that could be used to build a relocated bathroom. (At the end of the year, no plans had yet been submitted.)
AUGUST
Morro Bay’s emergency dispatch center at the police station was eliminated and the City contracted for the service with the County. Though the matter had not been specifically agendized in any council meetings, it was discussed in closed session, evolving first as an “emergency item” out of employee contract negotiations talks, 
The Bay News learned. Also, on July 1, affected City employees were called to a meeting and told of the possible change, and that the dispatching jobs might be eliminated. They were also instructed not to talk about the matter publicly. As a closed session matter, the council can’t comment about it either, until it goes public on the 11th. Interim City Manager Ed Kreins told The Bay News, “There obviously has been no decision made by the council and we will have a presentation at the meeting by me, [Fire Chief] Steve Knuckles, [Police Chief] Amy Christey, Cal Fire representatives and Sheriff’s representatives, answer questions, and hopefully the council will have enough information to make a decision.” (By the end of August, the switch in dispatching services had been completed and seems to be working smoothly.)
The County and State renewed their long-standing arrangement for fire protection in the unincorporated areas of SLO County. County Supervisors recently approved the 2014-15 agreement between Cal Fire and the County Fire Department, an agreement that has been renewed annually since 1930 and this year will cost county taxpayers more than $15.6 million.
SEPTEMBER
Morro Bay picked a career military man for its new city manager, though one who brings a lot of controversial baggage to the job. Interim City Manager Ed Kreins announced the hiring of David Buckingham, a retired U.S. Army colonel, as the new city manager, effective Sept. 29. Kreins took the extraordinary step of explaining to the audience the troubles Col. Buckingham had as garrison commander in Vicenza, Italy, and a dispute he had with the City of Bishop over not being hired as that city’s manager, before landing the Morro Bay job, adding that of the 50 applicants, Buckingham was unanimously chosen by a citizen committee, a staff committee and the city council. Kriens said a gracious good-bye to Morro Bay after seeing the City through a rough several months.
With one application for a wave energy plant offshore at Morro Bay rejected, Dynegy is now pursuing permits for a wave park to connect to its Morro Bay Power Plant. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has been publishing legal notices locally in The Tribune announcing a comment period for two wave energy projects that would be placed in Estero Bay. Called the “Dynegy Point Estero Wave Park, LLC.,” FERC is seeking comments on a “preliminary permit” that would allow it to study the feasibility of such a project that would be developed in phases. First phase is to install one, 1-megawatt buoy as a demonstration project. Called a “GWAVE Power Generating Vessel,” it would be a large buoy connected to the sea floor via chains and a large anchor. The buoy goes up and down with the waves and produces energy, transmitting it via underwater cable to the plant, where it would be fed into the energy grid through a PG&E-owned substation. (The City Council later voted to oppose Dynegy’s proposals and applied to become an official intervenor.)
A local company got the job to repair the Cayucos Pier, as County Supervisors awarded a construction contract to Associated Pacific Constructors, Inc., of Morro Bay. Associated was the lowest responsible bidder at $1.7 million. The County received three bids with base bids ranging from $1.6 million to $3.4M.
A nearly eight-year nightmare for a handful of Los Osos residents came to an end when the Regional Water Quality Control Board voted to lift cease and desist orders (CDO) on their properties. In 2006, the water board, in reaction to the Community Services District’s abandoning of a sewer project that had already broken ground following a recall election, fined the CSD $6 million and proposed handing down CDOs to 45 “randomly selected” property owners within the sewer prohibition zone. This for allegedly violating the “basin plan” and discharging wastewater into the groundwater basin through septic tanks.
Morro Bay High School and the surrounding town seem a good fit — both are in some ways lost in time, out of touch with the 21st Century. And while that might do for a quaint little fishing village, it’s not too good for the high school. The San Luis Coastal Unified School District is asking voters to approve Measure D in November, a $177 million bond needed they say mainly because the District’s high schools — San Luis Obispo, Morro Bay and Pacific Beach — are due for major upgrades and expansion. (The measure was overwhelmingly passed in the November Election.)
OCTOBER
The Morro Bay Harbor Department and volunteers conducted a clean up of the Oyster Beach below Bayshore Bluffs Park, part of the statewide Coastal Clean Up Day. Some 53 abandoned boats — catamarans, canoes, skiffs and small sailboats — were hauled off and towed down the harbor to Coleman Beach, where they were winched out of the water and drug to the department’s storage yard by Morro Creek. What resulted was a large pile of mostly useless boats, but a few gems, too.
California’s drought was taking its toll on many species of plants and trees, and in Baywood Park the drought is believed contributing to the decline of some beautiful and historic Italian stone pines growing near the bay’s edge. Mark Ruddell of Ruddell’s Tree Service in Los Osos said in addition to the drought, the estimated 80-year-old trees are suffering from living in a harsh, sea-air environment, an insect pest mealy bug that infests them, and many have been pruned incorrectly over the years. “They leave the canopy too high [when pruning],” he said, “and it exposes the tree to the salt environment.” The decline has been going on for about the past 5 years or so, he estimated. And the drought hasn’t helped, even though Baywood and much of Los Osos has high ground water due to decades of septic tank use.
NOVEMBER
In a heated staredown between the City of Morro Bay and local business people over ongoing license audits, ‘twas the City that blinked first. The City Council approved moving forward with changes to the municipal code’s business license section to establish a 90-day amnesty period for business people to comply and pay any and all taxes owed, thus avoiding penalties; extend that grace period to business people who have already paid and give refunds of penalties; and establish another license category for artists, handymen and home hobby businesses of $10 a year, so long as they can prove they’ve earned less than $12,000 a year on their work.
Yet another nail was hammered into the coffin of the Morro Bay Power Plant. The Regional Water Quality Control Board is being asked to rescind the “National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permit” or NPDES, that allowed the plant to take in seawater for cooling and power plant use and discharge it at the outfall canal at the base of Morro Rock. The NPDES permit was tied intricately with the plant’s once-through seawater cooling system and provided limits on chemical make up along with temperature, which cause so-called “thermal” impacts to surrounding ocean waters when discharged into the sea. The permit forfeiture comes on top of last year’s announcement by Dynegy that the plant would close if it could not secure a contract for its output. It closed this past February.
Having the waters off San Luis Obispo County declared a National Marine Sanctuary could mean a $23 million a year boost to the local economy and create some 600 new jobs, bringing in federal government dollars and increasing tourism by ensuring offshore oil platforms are forever banned, concludes a recent study done for the Sierra Club. For the first time since 1995, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is seeking applications for NMS status, which has touched off a renewed push for such a designation off our shore.
DECEMBER
Authorities arrested eight people and seized about 4 total tons of marijuana, in the latest episode of a drug-smuggling boat being landed on the North Coast. According to SLO County Sheriff’s Cmdr. James Taylor, at 3:30 a.m. Nov. 27 patrol deputies spotted a suspicious white panel van in San Simeon and followed, eventually stopping the van for a vehicle code infraction at Hwy 1 and Vista del Mar in San Simeon. Deputies discovered a lone driver and a van full of the evil weed. (A second van was stopped and two more men arrested by Monterey County Sheriff’s deputies in Big Sur, and another 2 tons of marijuana seized.)
Los Osos CSD water customers were asked once again to further cut back on usage after a new groundwater study showed seawater marching under foot at an accelerated rate. Rob Miller, the CSD’s engineer, said the study offered “a good time to educate the public and focus on the groundwater basin and the issues we’re having.” The main issue is that seawater intrusion into the deep, lower acquirer, in the 700-plus foot depth and where the CSD’s drinking water wells supply roughly half the community, is getting worse. “It’s the only water we’ve got,” said Kathy Kivley, the CSD general manager during an interview with The Bay News. “If we don’t conserve, we won’t have any water to pump.”
Morro Bay Police arrested a former city resident for allegedly killing his wife, closing an open case that happened five years ago. According to police, the case involved the suspicious death of Sherre Ann Neal-Lypps, 62, who died at a home in the 2400 block of Greenwood Ave., Morro Bay back in June 2009.
It looks like all the hiccups and hitches in the get-a-longs of the City of Morro Bay have been worked out and a project to build a pedestrian/bicycle bridge over Morro Creek at the beach will finally get underway. It was the second attempt to bid the more than $1.2 million project, after the last attempt in October had bids come in more than $240,000 above the available budget. The five bids that were accepted were: Cal Portland, $1.1 million; Souza Const., $1.2 million; Specialty Const., Inc., $1.3 million; Dawson Mauldin, $1.4 million; and R. Burke Corp., $1.5 million. Cal Portland got the contract.
It took the better part of two years but the Morro Bay City Council finally settled on a site for a new sewer plant, and now, with the Cayucos Sanitary district also onboard, the project can start in on the mountain of studies and reports needed to get the plant built. The council voted unanimously to build a new treatment plant at the so-called Rancho Colina site, which is east of town on Hwy 41 up behind the Rancho Colina MHP. It’s been a long, arduous journey to reach what is effectively a “jumping off point,” as the Council has looked at the property, owned by Steve McElvaine, from several angles and issues, all while still keeping an eye open at the possibility of building at the so-called CMC plant site behind Cuesta College. In the end, the CMC site eliminated itself, especially after a detailed analysis put the cost at $161.5 million (including both Cayucos and Morro Bay). The Rancho Colina site came back at $74.2 million.
