For five months, I've followed residents pushing a petition to stop tall buildings in the city and it’s made its way to the ballot in November, but a recent letter from the state changes everything.
After getting over 1,200 signatures to qualify for the ballot, supporters of a measure to limit building heights in Grover Beach thought all they had to do next was wait for the results from November’s election, but a letter from the state’s department of housing and community development has changed that.
Mike Wilson is a strong supporter of Measure F-26.
“The thing that makes me curious is that it appears that the city and its management are acting as though it's already been fait accompli," Wilson said.
But Councilmember Jules Tuggle said it is a done deal.
The letter addressed to the city says if measure F-26 passes and the city does not make up for the reduction in available homes, it would violate the statewide housing crisis act and would be void.
“It would be void because you can't down zone without up zoning," Tuggle said. "The language for zoning would [need to] be in the initiative.”
But that language isn’t in the initiative and the deadline for it to be changed on the ballot has passed. Because it does not give a solution to the loss in housing availability, Tuggle said there’s nothing they can do at this point to make the measure legally viable.
The measure’s supporters said people should still take this vote seriously.
“This would, no matter what, be a referendum of your feelings, your voice in this vote to express how you want this city to evolve," Wilson said.
Tuggle said this is just the beginning of the conversation on developments in the city. The results from November’s election will be like a survey to tell the city where to go next with the divisive issue.
“We can take the feedback of how it does in the election cycle and if it does pass, that furthers the voices that we're hearing on the side of 'can we please slow down this growth?' and if it doesn't, that actually may provide us more information that we really are stuck in almost a 50/50 split," Tuggle said.
