A View From Harbor Street
By David Buckingham

From helping low-income utility customers, to announcing new water conservation measures, and adopting updated residential design guidelines, the City Council took important action last week to care for our residents, improve environmental stewardship, and better define our regulations for property owners and developers. Here’s a summary of a few items of import to many of our residents:
Utility Discount Program
The Council approved a water and sewer rate discount for our most financially challenged residents, providing an opportunity for perhaps one-fifth of our ratepayers to see up to a 10 percent reduction in their monthly utility bills. Morro Bay will use water and sewer fund penalty fees, non-sufficient check charges and application revenues to help provide many of our low and fixed-income residents a measurable discount. Water and sewer rate payments won’t be used to fund the program.
For Fiscal Year 2015-16 (through June 30, 2016), the discount is set at $8 per month. Qualifying residents must be enrolled in the PG&E “Customer Care Program.” Eligible residents can sign up for the Morro Bay Utility Discount Program at City Hall by bringing in a copy of their PG&E statement and completing a short enrollment form.
An overview of the City Utility Discount Program, and the application, are available online at: morro-bay.ca.us/utilitydiscount. Residents who enroll before the 20th of any month will see an $8 discount on their following monthly bill, with September 2015 being the first active month of the discount.
We are thankful to be able to offer this important program to provide care for our neighbors in need. For any questions please contact Susan Slayton at 772-6217, or visit Charlee at the service counter at City Hall.
Water Conservation Incentives
The City Council also heard a number of new water conservation strategies and approved several new conservation incentives. When it comes to meeting the State-mandated water reduction standards, all of us in Morro Bay – residents, businesses and visitors — are doing well, but we have not yet met the required reduction.
The State requirement for Morro Bay is to achieve a 12-percent reduction. We are at about 11-percent reduction.  So, we can’t, and shouldn’t, stop conserving. The City has already taken a number of actions: we have stopped watering grass around all City buildings and in many of our parks; we are assisting hotels and restaurants with water conservation “marketing” materials; and we have existing incentive rebates for low-flow toilets and resource-efficient washing machines.
The City is now offering additional incentive programs including: a $100 to $500 “Cash for Grass” incentive; a $100 SMART irrigation controller rebate; and $25 to $100 for drip irrigation and/or rain barrel catchments. The City is also reviewing and renewing our Green Building Incentive Program.
Thanks for doing your part to help our city meet the State-mandated goal and please take a look at the new incentives, and your water usage, to help the City save that last 1%. Information and applications for all these incentive programs are available online at: morro-bay.ca.us/waterconservation. Contact Damaris Hansen at 772-6265 for additional details on our water conservation program.
Residential Design Guidelines
Finally, the Council approved new “interim” Residential Design Guidelines. These now are the active regulations for residential construction, renovation and remodeling projects. As the City updates our General Plan over the next 2-3 years, however, these guidelines will be reviewed further.
The purpose of the design guidelines is to maintain the highest quality character of Morro Bay’s neighborhoods, while providing property owners clear standards by which to plan their projects. Our goal is to have clear standards that everyone can understand and follow to give every project the highest chance of quick approval and success, with the definition of success including that our residents can all be proud of the character of their neighborhoods — from existing homes to remodels to new construction. A large aspect of the guidelines is to work to retain the existing character of neighborhoods.
These design guidelines took over nine months to update and included nine separate presentations to the Planning Commission during public meetings.  The document includes guidance on scale and mass, building orientation, garage and driveway design, building materials, solar access, landscaping and other key architectural and design aspects.
The document is available online at: morro-bay.ca.us/DocumentCenter/View/8429, and the Community Development Department stands ready to assist residents and property owners throughout each phase of their project. Contact Scot Graham at 772-6291.
The City of Morro Bay is committed to our residents, our environment and our neighborhoods. We are thankful to continue to make progress in many areas, including the Utility Discount Program, water conservation and residential design guidelines. Our staff is here to serve, and if you’d like to contact me directly don’t hesitate to send me an email at: .

David Buckingham is Morro Bay’s city manager. His “A View from Harbor Street” is a regular feature in The Bay News. Send reader comments to: .