At Shamel Park in Cambria, the grass has been dry and brown for the past few months.
“The well that irrigates that grass went down,” said San Luis Obispo County District 2 Supervisor Bruce Gibson.
San Luis Obispo County Parks and Recreation says the well went down during the fall of last year. It's located on California State Parks' property in a natural preserve, one of the highest levels of environmental protection.
“It’s just a higher level of review and scrutiny that we need to put it under to make sure that we are not doing anything to change the habitat," said California State Parks District Superintendent Dan Falat.
So to get the well up and running again, the county and state parks had to go through a California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review, along with other requirements.
“And then we have to do what is called a minimum tool analysis," Falat said. "Which essentially reviews the work that is going to be done to ensure that it is as minimal as possible and there are no significant impacts to the natural preserve."
Gibson says that since the initial request, the project has been divided into two phases. Phase 1 will address the water issue.
“Just in the last week or so, we have actually been able to work with State Parks and narrow the project down to just replacing the pump in the well,” Gibson said.
County Parks says Phase 2 will involve pressure tank upgrades, but that is currently postponed to allow for additional analysis and planning.
They added that they are working to get a contractor to schedule the repair, which should be completed within the next 30 days.
“Well, it’s an unfortunate situation," Gibson said. "As I said, a bunch of well-intended rules sort of piled up to create this really bad result, and I can understand people aren’t happy about it.”
