Los Angeles People and Urban Air Invade San Luis Obispo

We’re hospitable people; you won’t find the organized resentment seen in Seattle when an advance party from Los Angeles moves in.

San Luis Obispo and other towns along this central coast have for years been an attractive lunch stop between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Backdropped by oak-studded coastal hills and the ramparts of the Santa Lucia Mountains are pleasant small-town atmospheres in picturesque settings. In recent years, an increasing number of people have not only stopped, they have elected to stay.

That small-town atmosphere is being eroded by increased traffic, crowded schools, sewer moratoriums and water rationing. A relentless sequence has started: more houses, more people, more crowding and, inevitably, campaigns to rein in this explosive growth.

Nothing personal, you understand. There are no hostile bumper stickers. There may be some mutters about outsiders when it’s hard to find a parking place. Or a snide joke that says you have to persuade 12 people to move back to Orange County to get one of those precious building permits in Morro Bay. The only public display I have seen is a cheerful road sign that says “Smile, you are 192 miles from L.A.” But be prepared for a siege if you want to subdivide new land.

Anyone accustomed to densely populated parts of California would have some difficulty grasping how there could be a growth problem in one of the state’s largest counties with only 216,000 people. While that is double the number that lived here 20 years ago--and most of them live within a few miles of Highway 101--it isn’t space but resources, especially water, that are in short supply.

The surge of growth here can be simply explained: pleasant climate, clean air, moderate taxes--and small towns standing alone in beautiful rural settings. There have never been any significant local industries, so there has never been a strong job market. The state of California is the largest employer in San Luis Obispo County. This has made an appealing situation for retired people. Selling a home in Orange County, buying a similar one here for half the price--and banking the difference--makes a nice retirement bonus. It’s a trade that would be more palatable at both ends if traders weren’t so inclined to boast about it.

But retirees are only part of the growth. With the availability of sophisticated communications systems, many people no longer need to be close to their co-workers, or their customers. James Ciernia, a financial consultant who lives here, flies his own plane to meetings with clients all over the West. Jay Farbstein conducts a specialized architectural practice that takes him as far away as Alaska. Anita Carson designs elegant evening clothes, sends the samples off to a New York salesroom and has the orders manufactured in Los Angeles.

The county is finally getting an expanded employment base. With faxes, modems and overnight delivery services, a number of businesses have become footloose. They can operate efficiently wherever they choose to locate. Consider the computer-manufacturing business belonging to Bert and Candace Forbes. They came to San Luis Obispo from the Bay Area in 1979 because of the quality of life they wanted for themselves and their children. They can operate as well here as they could in Silicon Valley, and have no difficulty finding suppliers or the technical help they need. Beginning with two people, they now have 78 employees and are growing fast.

Yet the Forbeses and the legion of retirees face the same question: How much more growth can this area absorb before it begins to degrade the very quality of life that made it so attractive in the first place? School districts in some parts of the county are severely strained and need new school plants, but there is no apparent source of funding. The community of Los Osos is under a building moratorium, imposed by the state until it constructs a complete sewer system and waste-treatment plant. That won’t happen quickly. Other coastal towns operate under state-imposed moratoriums because they have run out of water.

What strikes real terror in the hearts of locals is the occasional appearance of a thin layer of air you can see. This is called an “aerosol” locally, but to anyone from Los Angeles, it looks a lot like smog. If true smog were to become a common occurrence on the Central Coast, that would be devastating evidence that we really cannot control our fate.

The problems aren’t limited to resources. During the 10 years ending in 1988, crime rose 55% in San Luis Obispo County in a period when population only grew by 31%. The percentages are more impressive than the numbers, however. In 1988, 529 criminal filings were made in San Luis Obispo County Superior Court. We don’t like it, but it’s hard to make that look like a crime wave when compared with the 41,937 filings in Los Angeles County Superior Court that same year. That figure alone could put a lot of people on the road to a rural county.

The flash point for local unease came with the construction of a shopping center in the town of Arroyo Grande, right next to Highway 101. The whole development wouldn’t make much of a bulge among the mammoth malls of Orange County, but it was a substantial project for this area. It introduced the citizens to the delight of discount shopping, something not usually seen locally; at the same time it introduced them to world-class traffic jams. That was the catalyst for a movement to address problems of growth on a countywide basis.

In June, the people of the county will vote on two measures to control growth, known briefly as “Fair Share” and “Countywide.” “Fair Share” is a detailed ordinance that would limit growth in the unincorporated areas of the county to the state average, currently 2.6%, by limiting the number of building permits issued each year. It also stipulates standards dealing with affordable housing and the availability of adequate resources and community services. If adopted, it would become law within 30 days. “Countywide,” by contrast, directs the Board of Supervisors to adopt a 3% overall county growth policy and to recommend the characteristics that policy should embrace. It’s not nearly as strong a measure, since it essentially puts the matter back in the hands of the Board of Supervisors--where it is now.

Like many ballot measures, actual objectives are somewhat different than stated. Since neither measure would affect the growth of cities and towns, neither could actually control growth to the extent they suggest. The real issue is what happens to open agricultural lands between towns and cities.

One of the distinctions of this county, a distinction largely lost in the sprawling urban centers to the north and south of us, is that you don’t need a sign to tell you when you pass from one community to another. San Luis Obispo is distinct from Morro Bay, Paso Robles distinct from Atascadero; they are sharply defined by the pastoral countryside between them. “Fair Share” would ration that countryside for development under carefully controlled conditions. “Countywide” would not be nearly so stringent. No surprise that “Countywide” is strongly supported by the ranchers and farmers who own pastoral countryside between the towns. In many cases, they have been providing free scenery for generations, and they don’t appreciate the idea that their land should be considered a public amenity. This argument will be ever with us. Whether the slow-growth or the not-so-slow-growth factions prevail is not clear now. Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, as I write this in the late afternoon, the oak-covered hills across the creek are in deep shadow, silhouetted against a brilliant blue sky. To the west, the clouds are draped on the Irish Hills like cotton batting. Our neighbor’s Red Brangus calves shine like bright copper pennies in the new grass and two red-tailed hawks spiral overhead in that romantic ritual they perform each spring. All this, just five miles away from a college town with good restaurants, good shopping and all the services associated with civilized living. I understand why people would like to live here; I’m sure that many more will. But if growth isn’t managed, the qualities that make this place special won’t be here for anyone.