The San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors has directed staff to develop a land use ordinance and amend General Plan policies to require ministerial land use approval (“a planting permit”) until 2045 for new or expanded planting of irrigated crops irrigated with water from groundwater wells located within the Paso Basin Land Use Management Area (PBLUMA), with a two-tier framework: 1) plantings using up to 25 acre-feet per year (AFY) of total groundwater per site, and 2) plantings maintaining neutral groundwater use on site with a 6-year rolling lookback period. Plantings using groundwater outside of these two tiers would not be allowed. General Plan elements to be revised include the Agricultural Element and Conservation and Open Space Element. 

Please click here to view a map of the PBLUMA area.

Please click here to view the PBLUMA area in our interactive web map.

Project Updates

Notice of Availability of Draft Program Environmental Impact Report

Notice of Availability – Draft PEIR

Paso Basin Planting Ordinance – Draft PEIR

Appendix A – IS/NOP and Received Comment Letters

Appendix B – Groundwater Use and Acreage Estimation

Appendix C – Draft Planting Ordinance GPAs

Appendix D – CalEEMod Model Results

Appendix E – Energy Calculations

Appendix F – Special Status Species with Potential to Occur

Appendix G – General Plan Consistency Analysis

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Draft Planting Ordinance Overview for November 1, 2021 ALAB Meeting

ALAB Presentation 11-1-21: Draft Planting Ordinance Overview

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30-Day Review Period for Draft Ordinance: October 25 - November 24, 2021

Public Review Draft Planting Ordinance and General Plan Amendments Public-Review-Draft-Planting-Ordinance-10-22-21.pdf

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Initial Study (IS)

The Initial Study describes the project description, location, and a preliminary assessment of potential environmental impacts

Preliminary Initial Study

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30-day Review Period for NOP/IS: August 12 - September 13, 2021

Submit comments using the contact information above.

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Virtual Scoping Meeting: Wednesday, September 1, 2021 at 6:00-7:30 pm

Virtual Scoping Meeting

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