Resident urges Los Osos board to shape county town hall on buildout ordinance; board agrees to agendize input

Resident Richard Margetson told the board the county’s planned town hall on the Los Osos buildout ordinance must provide formal presentations and live microphone question-and-answer opportunities so the community can get direct responses from staff and supervisors.

“It can't be just an open house with booths... there has to be an opportunity for the public... to come up to the microphone ask questions and get answers,” Margetson said, urging the district to insist on a full town-hall format rather than a controlled open-house approach.

A board member responded that the suggestion was a “great idea” and said the board would place consideration of district participation on a future meeting agenda; the speaker asked General Manager Ron to review alternatives with county staff ahead of the community meeting. The board did not record any formal direction to the county itself during this session.

Separately, the Basin Management Committee reported three actions: approval to send the committee’s annual report to the court, a vote to have staff apply for a Rose Foundation (National Estuary Program) grant for a new monitoring well in the vicinity of Fourth and Ramona (or Third and Pismo), and a vote to support a joint-purveyor letter to San Luis Obispo County regarding the growth management ordinance. These committee actions were presented as committee decisions, not final district policy.

Board members said the scheduled county town hall will be an important forum on how buildout and related infrastructure responsibilities would be handled in the community; the board agreed to discuss its role at the next regular meeting.