On Tuesday, the Morro Bay City Council authorized closing on the purchase of the former wastewater treatment plant that the city shared with Cayucos.
“I could simplify it by saying if you want to put a shovel in the ground, you have to have permission, so this will allow us the freedom to drive our own path forward,” said Morro Bay Mayor Carla Wixom.
The $3.87 million comes from the sewer fund and grants ownership of the former water and concrete plants, a portion of the Morro Dunes RV Park, some public beach, and other jointly-owned assets like sewer lines and ocean outfall to the city.
Wixom said this purchase has been a long time coming and the next step is the decommissioning process.
“All of the old equipment will come out, the old piping and things, and then where the old sludge beds were, the old drying beds and all that will all be remediated before it can be reutilized,” Wixom said.
The area is zoned as a visitor-serving area and there will be future meetings to gauge community perspectives, but there are already some ideas.
“It can be an RV park, it could be sports fields, it could be whatever we imagine — amphitheater," Wixom said. "Lots of opportunities, or a mixed use of many of those things.”
The Morro Dunes RV Park sits next door, which brings in visitors like Fred Frangente, who’s been coming here every year for the past 40 years.
“My children grew up playing on the dunes over here, sliding up and down, building forts from the driftwood," Frangente said.
He shared what he thinks of the site being used as a visitor-serving area.
“Well, it has it’s pros and cons," Frangente said. "We come here because of the absence of a lot of people, and the more services that you do provide, the more people you’re going to get come in."
Any revenue generated from the site’s future use would go back into the sewer fund to pay for sewer-related items. The city is looking to close escrow on July 1.
