Category: Central Coast

March 5,2019-

The annual estimate of  fall Chinook salmon abundance off the California coast has come in higher for 2019. The National Marine Fisheries Service estimate just released expects Sacramento River salmon (SRFC) adults off the coast will be 379.6 thousand,up from 229.4 thousand in 2017. It is the highest preseason estimate since 2015.

Experts suggest wet weather in 2016/17 helped more river salmon survived the trip to the ocean but beneficial conditions in the Pacific itself also play a part, allowing the young fish to survive in higher numbers measured two years later.

The agency notes that in 2018 the adult escapement fell short of targets not reaching the minimum escapement target of 122,000- the fourth year in a row the escapement goal has not been met.

With the higher numbers offshore the local fishing industry as well as recreational fishermen should have a better year.

“We are cautiously optimistic that the increase in ocean abundance of SRFC will translate into more fishing opportunity this year,” said CDFW Environmental Scientist Kandice Morgenstern.

-February 4,2019-

Property owner Bill Marvin plans to convert a 1500sf office building along LOVR in Los Osos into a new ale house the could open late this summer. The project will get a preliminary hearing in front of the Los Osos Valley Advisory Council Land Use Subcommittee February 4, 7:00 pm at the Sea Pines.

Architect Thomas Reay of Omni Design Group says the new name will be The Olde Ale House, a continuation of the now closed Baywood Ale House effort that shuttered last year after their rented building at Santa Maria and 3rd St in Baywood was purchased by another group.

It is now called Baywood Tavern and like its former occupant – is very popular.

The Olde Ale House“is pretty much the same people that brought you the Baywood Ale House” says Reay.The new location is at 945 Los Osos Valley Road in Los Osos next to Martin’s.The place will include an outdoor patio out back.

Involved in the operation of the business will be Marvin,his wife and sister-in-law( Chris and Cathy Stratford) along with the original operators of the Baywood Ale House,Chad and Christie Carroll. “All five of us are part of the new LLC “Marvin explains.

So now the town will have two craft beer places, each serving tasty food along with outdoor seating options.

“We still need to get our permits and then there will be several months of work” on the 1500sf building “to put in a full kitchen and fire sprinkler system” for starters explains Reay.

The County planning department will have to approve the use before anything happens.

“The Baywood Ale House was pretty popular and there were plenty of disappointed people when it closed.” The place had a good run launching in 2015 and closing in May of last year.

“Already we are hearing lots of people in the community talking about the plan to bring it back” adds Reay. Before there was any activity at the empty office building on LOVR they hoisted a blue beer flag that apparently tipped off several sharp-eyed local beer enthusiasts that likely started the chatter.

 

-February 3,2019-

Los Osos could get new Ale House

Property owner Bill Marvin plans to convert a 1500sf office building into a new ale house the could open a few months down the road. The project will get a preliminary hearing in front of the  Los Osos Valley Advisory Council Land Use subcommittee  February 7.The ale house is proposed at 945 Los Osos Valley Road in Los Osos next to to Martin’s.The place will include an outdoor patio out back.

PUC approves plan for bike trail over Hwy 101 along California Ave 

Commuting to CalPoly and back to the city’s east side will be easier in the future with plans to build a Class 1 bike/walking trail across Hwy 101. The trail, approved this month at the CPUC, would parallel the railroad tracks like the existing bike trail does along California Ave west of the highway.

New bank to open in SLO

Santa Barbara-based American Riviera Bank will open a branch in San Luis Obispo in coming months. The bank received state approval to convert the loan production office to a full-service  branch at 1085 Higuera St Suite 110, San Luis Obispo. They already have a new branch in Paso Robles. In their latest  financial report CEO Jeff DeVine said” We are looking forward to further expansion in 2019 with a full-service branch in the City of San Luis Obispo.” Remodel of the building is underway.

American Riviera Bank (OTC Markets: ARBV) announced  in late January record unaudited net income of $5,890,000 ($1.32 per share) for the year ended December 31, 2018. This represents a 67% increase in net income from the $3,536,000 ($0.80 per share) for the same reporting period in the prior year. 

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Science and Agriculture Teaching and Research Complex Project

CalPoly will construct a new 102,900sf Science and Agriculture Teaching and Research Complex to foster interdisciplinary teaching and research between science and agricultural colleges. The SATRC would house laboratories, interdisciplinary spaces, and faculty offices. The project includes two components: Phase A and Phase B. Phase A would include approx. 87,000sf of space. Phase B would be 15,000sf.

Firestone Brewery to make beer from the sun

The City of Paso Robles is processing a permit for Firestone Brewery to build two separate solar systems installed at two locations within the overall Firestone campus. The larger of the two systems includes a 2.1-MW ground-mounted single axis tracker system on 9.78-acres of an overall 39-acre open field located east of Firestone’s main building operations, near the water treatment ponds. An additional 277 kW carport system is proposed within a remote parking lot currently used by Firestone employees.

Firestone says they are very energy conscious  adding they utilize kettle steam recovery systems that save energy as well as water, and we also recover energy by capturing heat during the wort cooling process. LED lighting located throughout the campus increases energy efficiency by 75 percent. Additionally, their new warehouse is energy efficient thanks to its highly reflective roof; leading-edge insulation; electric forklifts; and efforts to ship by rail when possible.

Firestone has secured a 2.1 MW solar power installation, which will reduce their carbon footprint with an output of 3,565 MWh of energy annually.

“Our goal is to have most of the beer we make powered and brewed by Paso Robles sunshine.”

Pollo Loco finally expected to open 2nd week in February

San Louis Obispo has been patiently awaiting the opening of the new Pollo Loco chicken restaurant next to Target on LOVR for months. Now comes word the eatery is expected to open in the second week of February says a company source.

-January 31,2019-

It’s still some 10 days out but multiple weather models are showing a South Pacific Atmospheric River (AR) targeting the Central Coast and all of California arriving and continuing from Feb 9-15 with multiple waves.

Like a fire hose that extends thousands off miles off of New Guinea, the storms look like they will have plenty of moisture that could causes damage when it hits the coast of California. But it could also bring much need water supply to reservoirs in the state.

Below are two GFS maps showing the event on Feb 10, the bottom map close to North America and a world weather map showing the extent of the AR stretching into the So Pacific – also on Feb 10.

Snowpack across California is about 110 percent of normal this week for this time of  the year, thanks to an atmospheric river that brought heavy snowstorms to the Sierra recently says the state Department of Water Resources.

-January 28,2019-
PG&E forecaster John Lindsey says today that “This afternoon’s model runs total cumulative rainfall is forecast to range between 3 and 6 inches throughout the Central Coast on Thursday into next Monday.”
NWS Oxnard predicts rains will start light Wednesday evening.

Lindsey adds that a vigorous cold front may produce moderate gale-force to fresh gale-force (32 to 46 mph) southerly winds & heavy rain. Saturated soils combined with these winds may cause trees to topple over Friday into Saturday along the coast.

Sierra will likely see plenty of snow from this weekends storm and southern California could get heavy rain totals.This model map shows total accumulation by Sunday

January 5,2019-

Morro Bay Planning Commission will hear a proposal January 15 to build a a 3-story 83 room hotel at 233 Atascadero in Morro Bay. That is the nw corner of Highway 1 and SR 41 next to the overpass. The property is across the street from two existing hotels. The hearing would be a conceptual review only on the vacant 2 acre site. The site is owned by the Gambril family, local developers.

If the project moves forward Morro Bay would have around 1000 hotel rooms.Hotel occupancy rates  have been trending  higher in recent reports.

By Kevin Hecteman
California Farm Bureau

December 22,2018
The California Avocado Commission’s early estimates call for a 2019 harvest of 167 million pounds, down half from this year’s 334 million. The main culprit is said to be last July’s heat wave, which damaged avocado groves from Santa Barbara to San Diego counties.

California avocados may be in short supply in 2019.
The state’s crop for next year is presently estimated to come in at 167 million pounds, said Ken Melban, vice president of industry affairs for the California Avocado Commission. That’s half of this year’s harvest, estimated at 334 million pounds, he added.
“Where that got impacted was the heat that happened in July,” Melban said. “Some of the areas took a pretty big hit.”
Pockets along Highway 126 in Ventura County east of Santa Paula seemed to be hit hard, he said, as were parts of southern Riverside and northern San Diego counties.
Avocado grower Ed McFadden, who manages groves in Fillmore, said he’s taking the long view.
“Next year’s going to be light, but things are aligning where we have the potential for a great crop in 2020,” McFadden said. “We’re going to push the trees and get the best size we can on the fruit that is on the trees, and try to get the best bloom and set and crop for the next round.”
McFadden said many trees in his area have recovered fairly well from July’s heat.
“Many areas put on a good flush in our neighborhood following the heat wave, kind of our traditional fall flush,” he said. “I think we’re setting up nicely for a good bloom next spring. But damage was done to the crop that was on the trees, the set from spring 2018. We had a lot of drop; many places had a lot of drop.”
McFadden said he was nearly done with harvest when the heat hit, with only a couple of bins left to fill; one bin holds 1,000 pounds of fruit.
Market conditions will determine when he sends the harvest crews into the groves, McFadden said.
“We’re usually thinking about it in February or March,” he said. “If there’s still a high volume of imports, we might push that off a little later. It’ll still be spread out a bit to take advantage of market conditions. We’ll play it by ear.”
He’ll have plenty of time to plot strategy.
“We’ve got three, four, five months of winter before we start picking, so let’s hope we have a nice, wet winter and continue getting a good leaching on our soils, and that Mother Nature is merciful in the frost department,” McFadden said.
In a heat wave, an avocado tree’s leaves will act to prevent water loss and, as a result, leaves can overheat, according to the commission. As Ag Alert® reported in July, the best course of action with a heat-stressed avocado tree is usually to do nothing.
“Heat damage like that is similar to frost damage,” McFadden said. “You have to be patient, wait and see what the tree’s going to do. Once it’s committed, then you can see where the damage really is, (and) you can come in and do some pruning. For the burn, it’s just going around and trimming off dead tips of branches that were killed in the heat.”
McFadden said he’s done a fair amount of pruning.

 

The U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will share information on current planning activities for possible offshore wind development along the California coast during a public information meeting on December 13, 2018, in San Luis Obispo, California.

BOEM published a Call for Information and Nominations (Call) on October 19, 2018 to solicit public input on the potential for offshore wind energy development within three Call Areas: two in central California and one in northern California. BOEM also seeks to obtain nominations  and industry interest in commercial wind energy leases in these Call Areas.

At the meeting, BOEM will discuss how the public can comment on the Call, the planning timeline, and additional opportunities for public participation. BOEM will provide a demonstration of the California Offshore Wind Energy Gateway, a web-based spatial planning tool being used by BOEM and the State of California to collect and share information on offshore uses and resources to inform decision making. In addition, the public will have the opportunity to provide input and ask questions of state agency representatives and other BOEM California Intergovernmental Renewable Energy Task Force (Task Force) members.

This meeting is scheduled for:

Date:

Thursday, December 13, 2018

Time:

5:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Location:

San Luis Obispo County Government Center Board Chambers

1055 Monterey Street, Room D-170 San Luis Obispo, CA 93408

More information on the Task Force can be found at https://www.boem.gov/California/

December 2,2018-

As of the first week of December the winter season looks wet in much California and here in the mid-state region. Forecasts are suggesting it may be little too wet particularly along the Big Sur area this coming week with as much as 6 to 7 inches of rain predicted above those big slides along Highway 1. Our own Los Osos has received more than 4 inches of rain so far.

After this awful dry summer the state is getting a welcome reprieve from what appeared to be climate driven wildfires with a week’s worth of bountiful rain and snow.

The state’s river basins are mostly above average for this date according to the Dept of Water Resources with the Tulare Lake Basin stations standing at 145% of average and San Joaquin Basin at 112%. The northern state stations are just 80% of average. Cold temps are helping the snow to stick.

Ski resorts are happy for a change with China Peak opening early and all of Tahoe operating. Mammoth Lakes has received 6 inches of snow-water content in the past week while the resort says 70 inches of powder grace the upper peaks.

Here is the winter forecast from NOAA

November 15,2018-

GFS forecast models are all predicting 3 to 4 waves of storms coming into the state over Thanksgiving week as early as November 23 with cold temp waves plowing into California through the first week December. Still week out and therefore not certain, the cold wet weather will be a welcome reprieve  from high-pressure and extreme dryness that caused some of the worst wildfires in the history of the state.