The California Department of Parks and Recreation is moving forward with a controversial proposal to purchase more than
500 acres of county-owned land in the Oceano Dunes.
State Parks wants to buy what is known as the La Grande Beach Tract - a 584-acre parcel in the Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area. The land comprises about one-third of the motorized riding and camping areas in the dunes.
The state first attempted to buy the property in 2008 but failed and has since been negotiating with the county behind closed doors since.
Earlier this month, State Parks filed a notice of intent to prepare a full environmental impact report for the proposed purchase of the La Grande Tract and plans to hold a public meeting in Grover Beach.
The meeting will be held from
6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 22, at the Ramona Garden Park Center, 993 Ramona Ave., to solicit public comment on the scope and content of the planned environmental review.
Calls to State Parks Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Division officials in Sacramento about the proposed purchase of the dunes land and now-planned environmental review of the project weren't returned before press time.
According to the Notice of Preparation, the environmental impact report will evaluate the potential environmental impacts resulting from a purchase of land the state currently leases.
A 25-year lease the state had with the county for operation and maintenance of the La Grande Tract expired in June 2008. The agreement wasn't renewed, and the state now leases the property on a month-to-month agreement with the county.
The proposed project assumes there will be no change in the current use of the property without subsequent environmental review and that State Parks has no plans to change the use if the parcel is acquired, according to the Notice of Preparation.
Areas now open to off-road
vehicles and camping would remain open, all pre-existing camping and vehicle limits would remain unchanged and any special events that occur now on the land would still occur if State Parks acquires the property.
Additionally, State Parks plans to monitor and manage the southern area of the La Grande Tract that's fenced off annually during the Western snowy plover breeding season to protect the endangered birds, according to the Notice of Preparation.
The environmental review of the proposed purchase also will examine a "reasonable range" of project alternatives, including no project.
October 14, 2009
Unfortunately good news for us means we only get to keep what we already had. Basically nothing really changes... Really good news would be to get back some of that land we lost to the south back in the 80's.
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