Board approves $684,750 study of potential offshore-wind maintenance facilities after hours of public debate

The San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors voted to contract with Mott MacDonald to prepare operations‑and‑maintenance (O&M) infrastructure studies for potential offshore wind facilities at Port San Luis, the Cal Poly Pier and Morro Bay.

Rebecca Campbell, assistant county administrative officer, and Susan Straken, division manager for planning and building, told the board the work would build on prior regional studies and detailed navigation, dredging, environmental permitting and conceptual waterfront design. The contract is a sole‑source agreement with a not‑to‑exceed price of $684,750; staff said remaining funds from the $1 million state earmark would be divided through subrecipient agreements totaling $315,250 to Port San Luis Harbor District, Cal Poly and the City of Morro Bay for staffing and outreach.

“An operations and maintenance facility is basically a place for vessels to dock — service operation vessels and crew transfer vessels — and also includes warehouses, offices and storage yards,” Straken said, summarizing the consultant scope.

Supporters told the board a careful engineering and environmental analysis is essential before local policy decisions. Kara Woodruff, district director for State Senator John Laird, said the study would “ask and answer what types of O&M facilities may be viable and appropriate in this region, in light of our county’s unique, ecologically rich coastline,” and urged a yes vote.

Local economic‑development and academic voices backed the study as a way to understand tradeoffs and potential local benefits. Rachel Whalen of the San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce said the county needs “definitive actual information” to evaluate potential impacts and opportunities. Karen Tillman, economic development advisor to Cal Poly’s president, called rigorous “engineering, environmental and economic” analysis critical to balance jobs and coastal protection.

Opponents warned the study could be a first step toward industrializing sensitive coastal areas and criticized the sole‑source selection. Mandy Davis, president of React Alliance, said the county was “looking at feasibility studies for an industry that is increasingly being opposed here” and urged the board to stop the contract. Carolyn Krueger of Morro Bay called awarding hundreds of thousands of dollars to Mott MacDonald unnecessary and said local residents were being bypassed.

Several commenters questioned whether the county was duplicating other work and asked for more robust public engagement. Ted Kee (Cambria) and others requested larger, well‑advertised outreach and argued information presented at local advisory meetings showed serious concerns about siting and access.

Supervisor Gibson, who moved approval, said the study is intended to replace speculation with facts. After deliberations, the board approved the contract on a roll‑call vote: Gibson, Ortiz, Pashong and Paulding voted yes; Chairperson Arnold voted no.

What happens next: staff said the San Luis Bay study would take about five months and the Morro Bay work about nine months, and that outreach and communications contracts would come back to the board in a month or two. The adopted action also authorizes the county administrative officer or designee to execute subrecipient agreements allocating the remainder of the grant funds to the three partner entities.

Contract and funding provenance: county staff said the work would be performed by Mott MacDonald under a sole‑source contract but that Mott MacDonald had previously prepared sections of the 2023 State Lands Commission port readiness work and was selected through a past competitive process for a regional REACH study; staff said the county participated in that earlier selection process.