Oceano Dunes off-road riding group could sue Coastal Commission over OHV access
Friends of Oceano Dunes could sue the California Coastal Commission if the agency initiates a five-year phase-out of off-highway vehicles at Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area, the nonprofit group’s president announced during a protest at Pismo State Beach on Sunday afternoon.
The protest was organized by Friends of Oceano Dunes, which advocates for about 23,000 off-road enthusiasts that use the park, as well as the Pismo Beach Chamber of Commerce and a local OHV advocacy group, Beach.Drive.Ride.
About 70 people showed up during the hour-long protest to demand that OHV use continue in the Oceano Dunes.
Meanwhile, about 10 counter-protesters brought signs and chanted in opposition, saying that environmental and safety concerns outweigh the benefit of OHV recreational uses.
The protest comes just days before a Coastal Commission special meeting.
On Thursday, commissioners will discuss Oceano Dunes SVRA’s Coastal Development Permit and the proposed revisions outlined by its staff in a recent report.
That report requests commissioners modify the Oceano Dunes temporary permit first drafted in 1982 to mandate OHV use be phased out over a five-year period and limit vehicle day use and overnight camping to the beach area between Pier and Grand avenues in Oceano and Grover Beach, respectively.
Friends of Oceano Dunes may sue Coastal Commission
Jim Suty said Friends of Oceano Dunes opposes the staff report and may sue the Coastal Commission.
“Friends of Oceano Dunes has been pretty successful in our lawsuits and that’s going to continue,” he said at the protest. “We are preparing our lawsuit against the Coastal Commission right now.”
Whether that lawsuit is filed will depend on if the commission requires California State Parks to phase out OHV use on the dunes.
Friends of Oceano Dunes has had several victories in the courts over the last five years regarding regulatory issues at the state park.
Most recently, the organization won a public records act lawsuit in February against State Parks for withholding documents about the closure of the Oceano Dunes during the summer of 2020.
Another lawsuit over improper expansion of dust control measures at the park, filed against the Coastal Commission in 2017 and won by Friends of Oceano Dunes in July, resulted in the commission paying more than $250,000 in legal fees to the organization.
According to a recent report by the Mills Legal Clinic at Stanford University’s Stanford Law School submitted to the commission before its upcoming meeting, the panel is mandated to eliminate off-road riding at the Oceano Dunes.
The report highlighted, among other things, that off-highway vehicle use in the park violates the California Coastal Act and San Luis Obispo County’s Local Coastal Plan, which governs land use policy in the county’s coastal zone. Both of those legally require the protection of coastal resources.
Additionally, the Stanford Law School report found State Parks has “known the risk of motorized recreation to endangered species at the Park and failed to minimize those risks for decades,” and that “State Parks is not taking seriously the commitment to (dust) emissions reduction standards.”
“Staff’s recommendation to phase out OHV use on the fragile dune system and protected coastal resources of (Oceano Dunes SVRA) constitutes sound public policy and is entirely consistent with applicable state law, including the Coastal Act, the Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Act, and the California Endangered Species Act,” the Stanford report said.
Vehicle use increases beach access, protesters say
Several people spoke at Sunday’s protest to demand that the Oceano Dunes stay open to off-highway vehicle use. Most people said that driving on the beach allows for unique and necessary access.
Nan Lippitt said that she’s able to birdwatch at Pismo State Beach because of the vehicle access.
“It’s paramount that we keep the beach open to vehicular traffic to allow for people to have the real beach experience,” she said, speaking for those with physical disabilities.
Lippitt said that out of the entire California coastline, only the few miles along Pismo State Beach andOceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area allow for vehicle access. This access is essential, she said, for folks like her who have limited mobility and cannot walk on the soft sand.
The commission’s staff report does not call for the complete closure of vehicle access to the beach. Rather, if implemented, it would limit vehicle access to just the one-mile stretch between Pier and Grand avenues in Oceano and Grover Beach, respectively.
That area in the Oceano Dunes park and Pismo State Beach is not designated as an environmentally sensitive habitat area under the Coastal Act, according to the staff report, thus allowing for vehicle use.
Protesters worry about Oceano economy
Organizers at the protest also cited economic concerns over their protest of closing the dunes to vehicle access.
Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area has more than 1 million visitors every year, according to a State Parks analysis. There is a specific economy that has formed around OHV use at the dunes, such as all-terrain vehicle rental shops contracted by State Parks.
Jared Macleod, vice president of Friends of Oceano Dunes, said that this OHV-based economy, and that of the entire Oceano and Grover Beach communities, would be put at risk if OHV use was discontinued in the park.
Saying that the local economies had been detrimentally impacted by the dunes closure last summer due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, Macleod asked protest attendees to “imagine your community like this for the next 10 years.”
On the contrary, the Grover Beach City Council wrote in a letter to the Coastal Commission as public comment for its upcoming special meeting on the Oceano Dunes that “we have seen an increase in tourism and related tax revenues in our beachfront community over the past year though we recognize that COVID travel limitations make it difficult to draw definitive conclusions from 2020.”
In that same letter, the City Council asked the commission to adequately compensate its local businesses that cater to OHV use at the Oceano Dunes should the activity be discontinued.
How to provide input on Oceano Dunes future
Protest organizers asked attendees to show up to the Coastal Commission’s meeting Thursday, which will be held virtually on Cal-Span.org beginning at 9 a.m.
Individual speakers will be allotted one minute each during the public comment portion of the meeting. Those who wish to comment must first fill out a remote testimony request form on the commission’s website before 5 p.m. Wednesday at coastal.ca.gov/meetings/request-testimony/special-hearing.
Additionally, anyone may file a written comment with State Parks by 5 p.m. March 18 by email at OceanoDunes.PWP.EIR@parks.ca.gov or mail at California State Parks Strategic Planning and Recreation Services Division, 1725 23rd St., Suite 200 in Sacramento, CA 95816.
This story was originally published March 15, 2021 at 7:00 AM with the headline "Oceano Dunes off-road riding group could sue Coastal Commission over OHV access."
