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Save The Avila Coast Again

Save The Avila Coast Again

Save Avila from ruin by over development of luxury resort and large events.

SLO County’s largest developers have submitted an application for what would be the largest entertainment, lodging, and hospitality complex on the beachfront in California. This will forever change our beloved Avila Coast.  See ABR Entertainment Complex Facts. We are not against lodging and hospitality that serve visitors pursuing coastal-dependent recreation (such as enjoying the beach, boating, fishing, or swimming), which is protected by the Coastal Act for all Californians. We are not against events either.  However, they must be on a scale that won’t draw so many people that those who can’t afford $100 concerts or $300/night lodging are effectively excluded from accessing the Avila Coast – three miles of SLO County’s most popular coastal recreation. See the Scoping Comment Letter filed by the Chapter in collaboration with the SLO Chapter of the Sierra Club detailing the impacts of the proposed ABR development. 
 

Avila Overwhelmed by Size of Proposed Entertainment Complex  

  • 11,000 potential daily visitors to entertainment complex
  • 1,600 population of Avila
  • Visitors are 7.5 times the population of Avila
  • Equivalent to 350,000 visitors to City of SLO!         
 
INCOMPATIBLE USES
 Event traffic on inadequate roads restricts access to coastal-dependent recreation.  People who  have been coming to Avila for decades have stopped due to the traffic created by numerous large events (up to 5,000 attendees) on the Avila Beach Golf Course.  Large music and festival events are not coastal-dependent recreation protected by the Coastal Act, which has been reaffirmed by millions of Californians three times. Event traffic and crowds interfere with Bob Jones Trail users.  Intoxicated adults, loud music, and frustrated drivers don’t mix with babies in strollers, toddlers on training wheels, and children carrying boogie boards. Thousands of event and resort customers, 25 porta-potties, stage equipment, food trucks, and loud music don’t mix with the beaches, estuary, and bird sanctuary protected by the Coastal Act.
 
UNSAFE
  •  The three-mile drive from 101 on curving, narrow, undivided highway increases the probability of fatal traffic accidents – especially for event goers who are tired and/or intoxicated.
  • Steep ridges converging on SLO Creek and Avila Beach Drive create a bottleneck that could prevent evacuation on these roads in the event of a firestorm or flood.
  • The event site is directly across from a children’s playground, aquarium, and family beach.

TAKE ACTION NOW!

 The Developers’ first step in establishing the huge entertainment complex at Avila is obtaining a combined permit for the resort and events from the SLO County Board of Supervisors. Send an email to them urging them to deny the permit as it presently stands. The proposed events and hospitality facility must be significantly downsized so that the traffic generated does not impinge on the right of all Californians to access the terrific, free, coastal-dependent recreation along the Avila Coast.