Grover Beach, California

Transformation ahead

A city whose time has come

The City of Grover Beach, California, a stunning beachfront community of approximately 13,000 in San Luis Obispo County on California’s Central Coast, has always had long term plans and the fortitude to see them come to fruition with plans conceived decades ago finally poised to pay off.  Topping the list, the wheels are in motion for the soon-to-be-completed West Grand Avenue Streetscape project.

“We’re a city on the move,” says City Manager, Matthew Bronson.

“We had a vision 20 years ago for mixed-use development with housing, commercial development and restaurants in the heart of our city along with creating a more pedestrian-friendly area. And now, we’re finally achieving it, by creating an urban village along our main corridor that leads right to the beach, and creating a better sense of place in Grover Beach.”

Historically, Grover Beach “was envisioned as a community where the rail line would meet the ocean with a big beachfront resort,” Bronson recounts. As the history of the community unfolded throughout the years, modern Grover Beach became a city primarily of residential neighborhoods, with mostly single-family homes, many parks and green spaces, highly rated schools, and an undeveloped beachfront.

A city’s vibe

Assistant City Manager Kristin Eriksson believes Grover Beach has “a very unique vibe,” differentiating it from nearby municipalities. “A lot of beach towns look the same and they’re almost interchangeable,” she asserts. “We’re a bit different. We don’t have a ton of development so it’s less commercialized.”

“We didn’t experience the degree of beachfront development that a city on the coast typically has,” Bronson echoes. “Our beach is owned and operated by California State Parks and has miles of open space including sand dunes. You can walk or drive up and down some of the largest and most beautiful coastal dunes in the state. Our beachfront area has a beautiful boardwalk where you can see the state’s largest butterfly grove. We also have the only drive-on beach in California, which also offers accessibility into the beach environment. Our beach is a unique part of the California coast that you can’t find anywhere else.”

A new urban village

While the pristine beach is a major draw, the city’s current focus is on the downtown corridor on West Grand Avenue, with the vision of transforming it into a thriving urban village just blocks away from the sea and shore. This total cost was $7 million with $3.4 million funded by the San Luis Obispo Council of Governments to improve infrastructure in this area where new housing units were being built. The remainder of the project funding included state transportation funds and the city’s general fund, plus gas tax revenue, and other sources.

Guided by the West Grand Avenue Master Plan, adopted in 2011, the project’s key features include a new landscaped center median, new crosswalks with enhanced safety features, pavement rehabilitation, a painted bike lane, new streetlights, new storm drains, and more trees. Bronson adds that the city is also working with CalTrans (California Department of Transportation) to improve pedestrian access and safety where West Grand Avenue crosses State Highway 1 and ends at the coast. “We will see more demand for that crossing as we have more housing units, more residents, and more customers wanting to stroll a few blocks to enjoy our great beach,” he said.

“The West Grand Avenue development represents a total transformation of our main commercial corridor,” Eriksson states. “Our downtown will be completely different. It will drive people to the area businesses. And adding housing will make it an area where everyone will want to be. I think beyond the aesthetic appeal, the pedestrian improvements will get people out, walking and interacting with each other and our businesses.”

The housing agenda

Regarding new housing, Bronson conveyed that a housing shortage is a significant issue throughout the entire region and state, and every city is required to have a certain number of housing units identified over a multi-year period. “Our goal as a city is to help increase housing availability on all different levels including affordable housing,” Bronson states. “But Grover Beach is a two-mile-square built-out city; we don’t have any areas where hundreds of single-family housing units can be built. So, more housing in our city means infill developments and increasing housing units through greater height and density.”

“Right now, we have 150 housing units under construction on West Grand Avenue, a third of which are deed-restricted ‘affordable’ for low and very low-income individuals in our community. We’re trying to help our first responders, teachers, social service employees, vital workers who need to be in our community. We can’t solve the housing problem ourselves but adding more supply at all different levels including affordable housing for those at the very low income level is a big step forward for our city.”

An expanding infrastructure

As Grover Beach’s population grows over time, so does the need to maintain and expand its infrastructure. Bronson explains, “For many years, we didn’t have the funding to do critical infrastructure projects such as street repairs, utility work, and park improvements which hindered our vitality as a community. The city was hidden in plain sight because our infrastructure was in really bad condition. That changed beginning in 2014 when voters authorized nearly $50 million in bond funding to improve local streets. That was nearly unheard of – for a city in California to tax itself, to invest in itself to fix local streets. 10 years later, we have fixed over 70% of our local streets across our community with a plan to fix the remaining streets within the next 10 years. We’ve also taken steps to improve our water and sewer infrastructure, and our park and facilities infrastructure. The city’s work has created the foundation for the current development taking place as we’ve seen much greater private investment in part because we’ve invested in our own infrastructure.”

In one crucial piece of the infrastructure design, Grover Beach is clearly a leader. “We have one of the strongest and most extensive broadband infrastructures in our county,” Eriksson affirms. “So, one of our advantages is that over the next year, all businesses and residences in the city will have access to high-speed fiber internet service to enable Grover Beach to be a digitally connected community.”

Perhaps because Grover Beach happens to be home to several transoceanic fiber optic cables that come from Asia, positioning the city as a hub for the data network between the United States and the orient, it was expected to be an early adopter of fiber technology. In any case, the city’s fiber broadband network is the result of a public/private partnership with a local internet company called Digital West, now known as Astound Business Solutions. “Years ago, the city put in over $1 million for the conduits across our city, and Astound put in the fiber,” Bronson explains. “Once every property in the city is connected to the fastest internet in this area, Grover Beach will be the first true gigabit city on the Central Coast.”

The sands of time

Going forward, Eriksson hopes to see money become available to replace outdated city facilities which have deferred maintenance needs with new facilities including a new maintenance yard, police station, and community center along with an expanded city hall. She also highlighted the need to upgrade more of the city’s parks. The city’s main park, Ramona Garden Park, which serves as a concert venue every Sunday afternoon in the summer, is primed to add a playground, a special event amphitheater, and a band shell, compliments of a recently awarded $3.3 million federal grant. “It will transform this park into even more of a regional gem for our community and the surrounding area,” says Bronson.

Meanwhile, Bronson said the city will continue to work on meeting the city’s housing and infrastructure needs, while looking ahead to the transformation of the West Grand Avenue corridor into the urban village leading to the beach long envisioned. All in all, Grover Beach, California is certainly a city whose time has come.

AT A GLANCE

Grover Beach, California

WHAT: A city of approximately 13,000 residents

WHERE: In San Luis Obispo County on California’s Central Coast

WEBSITE: www.groverbeach.org