Oceano Vehicle Free Beach History Page

California State Parks operates a nearly 5,000-acre State Park in and around the City of Grover Beach and Oceano in south San Luis Obispo County, typically referred to as Oceano Dunes. It is the only State Park in California where vehicles (including off-highway vehicles, or OHVs) are allowed on the beach and dunes. The California Coastal Commission retains the ability to make changes to Park operations through periodic review of its Coastal Development Permit (CDP) that temporarily authorized uses and intensities of use at the Park in the 1980s, and found most recently in 2019 that driving at the Park has degraded dune habitats, harmed native species, caused air quality and public health issues, and made it difficult for the public to walk, swim and enjoy other non-vehicular activities at the beach and dunes.

At that time, the Commission required State Parks to address all of these issues and more, including evaluating phasing out OHV use altogether, and State Parks has now developed a draft plan in response, known as its public works plan, or PWP. Commission staff has evaluated State Parks’ draft PWP and believes it is not consistent with the Coastal Act and the City of Grover Beach and San Luis Obispo County Local Coastal Programs (LCPs), which are the standard of review for the PWP. In particular, the PWP does not address the range of coastal resource impacts associated with the uses and intensities of use at the Park.

Coastal Commission staff is recommending that the Commission amend the underlying CDP to address the coastal resource impacts caused by the operation of Oceano Dunes and bring such operations into compliance with the Coastal Act and applicable LCPs. This includes recommendations to eliminate OHV use over a 5-year transition period, provide low-cost vehicular access/camping on the beach between West Grand Avenue and Pier Avenue (with no vehicles south of that point), close the Pier Avenue entrance in Oceano, and make a series of changes to protect natural resources in the Park (including the dunes, Arroyo Grande Creek, Oso Flaco Lake, sensitive species protections, etc.).

Importantly, this recommendation would not close the Park, and it would continue to remain open and available both for general public use (including activities associated with beach day use, ocean activities, equestrian use, biking, hiking, fishing, bird watching, etc.), and for vehicular/camping use in its northern reach. Commission staff believes that, given the information that is available to the Commission today, these conditions are required for the uses allowed at the Park to be consistent with the Coastal Act and LCPs, as well as to bring finality to at least 40 years of debate and discussion on these issues.

Although staff recognizes that this recommendation will require a significant shift in Park operations, it will also allow for a different Park experience that is itself attractive for coastal visitors and that can serve as a regional economic engine, particularly for families looking for unique lower cost recreational and outdoor opportunities. Staff’s recommended conditions are found on pages 22 through 26 of this report, and the motion to implement staff’s recommendation is found on page 22. For further information, including information translated into Spanish, see the Commission’s Oceano Dunes webpage at www.coastal.ca.gov/oceano-dunes/ 

Some important documents related to this issue include:

July 2019 - Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area Coastal Development Permit 4-82-300 Review (CCC Staff recommendation)

• This is a very significant document in which the California Coastal Commission staff detail the long history of State Parks being in violation of its Conditional Development Permit. This document clearly states that an off highway recreational area is incompatible with the dunes’ environmentally sensitive habitat and needs to be phased out within 5 years.

December 2020 - State Park’s Public Works Plan

• This is the State Park’s 431 page response to the CCC's July 2019 letter which detailed historic and current State Parks’ violations of its Coastal Development Permit. It is a comprehensive blueprint for the future expansion of off hi-way vehicle recreation in the dunes and beach, plus other improvements to local coastal State Parks (e.g., Oceano Campground, Pismo Beach Campground, Butterfly Grove).

December 2020 Environmental Impact Review of State Parks Public Work Plan

March 2021 CCC staff response to the State Parks' Public Works Plan.

• This document details the CCC’s dissatisfaction with the Public Works Plan and orders State Parks to begin a 5 year shutdown of all vehicles South of Pier Avenue; shutdown of the SVRA; and the closing of Pier Avenue as an access ramp to the beach; plus other interim conditions focused on protecting flora and fauna during the 5 year period.

March 2021 Addendum to the staff response to the State Parks' Public Works Plan.

• This addendum is valuable as it presents additional CCC information and perspectives on feedback from State Parks and off roaders to the original Th3 document.

November 2024 Surfrider Amicus Brief.

• This is a very good overview of the off-roaders lawsuit against the CCC in the form of a response from a team of major environmental organizations.  It was written in support of the CCC.

Oceano Vehicle Free Beach vs State Vehicle Recreation Area - What's the difference?

In 2020 the Pismo State Parks Division (State Parks) sent a beach use preference survey to every household and business in Oceano. It was included in the water utility bill from the Oceano Community Services District. 537 surveys were returned and verified by zip code as local. 55% of respondents expressed a desire for a vehicle-free beach for Oceano (OVFB). 28% expressed a desire to expand vehicle use on the beach and dunes.

For decades, the argument has been made that the Oceano beach vehicle highway was necessary for there to be access to the State Vehicle Recreation Area (SVRA). The simple fact is that both of these realities can co-exist, if there is the public and political will to do so.

In 1982, the California Coastal Commission (CCC) created the Oceano Dunes State Vehicle Recreational Area (SVRA). As part of the Coastal Development Permit (CDP) it authorized a temporary permit for beach access to the SVRA via Grand Avenue in Grover Beach and Pier Avenue in Oceano, thus creating a vehicle access “highway” on 6 miles of public beach.

The promise was that once a Southern entrance to the SVRA was developed, vehicles would no longer use Oceano beach for that purpose. In its March 18, 2021 CCC Staff Report (Th3), stated that “The base CDP only temporarily authorized such uses so that State Parks would have time to explore modifications to Park operations…It was anticipated that conclusions…would be finalized within a couple of years (Th3 page 3).” The report adds, “…The CCC has never analyzed or authorized permanent use of these entrances, as is required in the original CDP.   Thus, under the Coastal Act, they remain only temporarily authorized some 40 years later (Th3 page 7).

As a consequence, for more than four decades, the community of Oceano has suffered significant economic repression and environmental injustice in the loss of public recreation opportunities along its beachfront and threats to endangered species. It has also lost its most important economic asset as a coastal community, access to a safe beach.

There are two clear options for solving this problem and potential for creative thinking regarding each: First, as promised, a new entrance to the SVRA is developed, and Oceano beach is free of motor vehicles. This is the “co-existence” option. Second, the SVRA is phased out of existence, with its beach and dunes returned to their natural existence.

Surfrider is asking the relevant government agencies to come together and develop a solution that fulfills its promise of 43 years ago for an Oceano vehicle-free beach