VOTE NO on MEASURES A-26 and F-26

What is Measure A-26?

Measure A-26 asks, "Shall the current appointive Office of the City Clerk be required to be an elected position?"

The City Clerk is a full-time official who manages public records, elections, and other duties to keep the city in compliance with state and federal law.

Measure A-26 had 783 petition signers and was accepted October 2024.

A-26 is Expensive

Within 90 days of passing, A-26 requires Grover Beach to hold a special election expected to cost more than $300,000. That's ~1.5% of the 2026-2027 General Fund that we did not budget. It's expensive, in part, because for the current City Clerk to avoid a conflict of interest, we'd need outside help to run it.

City money is OUR tax money. We all agreed we'd rather spend on police officers, fire protection, water supply resilience, flooding mitigation, sewers, streets, sidewalks, parks, community events, civic buildings, and other shared services.

A-26 is Limiting

A-26 shrinks the pool of applicants and restricts our flexibility to manage them. Right now, we can recruit from anywhere for someone with the necessary computer skills, technical knowledge, experience, and temperament.

With A-26, there's only one qualification: be a registered Grover Beach voter. Why would we commit to paying four years of full-time salary and benefits with no way to check that the next City Clerk could even type?

Underperforming appointees can be coached or dismissed through a timely, professional process. Someone elected can only be dismissed by a recall election, yet another unfunded expense.

A-26 is Spiteful

A-26 only exists to punish a City Clerk who acted in good faith trying to ensure an honest election.

In 2024, a ballot measure circulated to recall the District 2 City Councilmember for voting yes on a water recycling project. The original text contained misleading statements about the councilmember.

Under legal guidance from the City Attorney, the City Clerk declined to process it until the proponents self-corrected. The proponents then sued the city, only for a judge to rule the city should have taken the issue and the proponents to court instead.

Even though those folks got everything they wanted (water project abandoned, rate increases rescinded, councilmember recalled), they pushed through A-26 and they keep suing us.

Their lawsuits have already cost our city $115,000 in legal fees. If they win the one still ongoing, we'll be out another $150,000 or more.

We cannot afford more spiteful expenses. We shouldn't gamble with having a competent City Clerk. It's alright to change your mind. Vote NO on A-26.

Sources

Measure A-26 - Official Info

What is a City Clerk?

City Clerk Pay and Benefits 2025

City of Galt - 2026 Measure L to Make City Clerk Appointed

City of Fairfield - 2026 Measure Q to Make City Clerk Appointed

$115K + pending $150K for 2024 Recall Litigation

$13.6M Lost Water and Wastewater Fund Revenue for Measure G-24

Grover Beach 2026-2027 Budget

Three Retired City Clerks Advise No on Measure A-26 - SLO Tribune Opinions, October 2026

Former Grover Beach Councilmember Advises No on Measure A-26 - New Times SLO Letters, October 2026

What is Measure F-26?

Measure F-26 asks, "Shall the City of Grover Beach implement a building height limit and establish a minimum thirty-three percent (33%) commercial component in mixed-use development?"

Mixed-use development means homes and commercial retail/restaurant spaces on the same property. Its residents are often important regular customers of the adjacent businesses.

Measure F-26 had 1249 petition signers and was accepted June 2026.

F-26 is Half-Baked

Measure F-26 tries ham-handedly to shrink the number of homes built above businesses by lowering the existing building height limit 15 feet, ~27% less.

Yet it's missing any plan for where to put that lost capacity in the remaining residential neighborhoods and farmland.

Per state housing law, that makes it unenforceable. A total dud.

It's ok if you didn't know that before now.

Back in July, F-26 caught the eyes of some folks in Sacramento who sent us letters about it. So the F-26 proponents definitely knew. They could have saved face and withdrawn the measure before August 7, but they didn't.

Now it's mostly about principle. If you believe ballot measures are an important part of democracy, why reward such a poorly-crafted one with your vote?

How We Got Here

State law requires every local government to plan for new homes. For Grover Beach, meetings for the next round of this process, called the Housing Element, begin next year.

In the last round, we granted property owners along West Grand Avenue another 15 feet of airspace to build. That's it. 15 feet. 180 inches. About a car length.

Why 15 Feet Matters

Turns out, 15 feet was a key to unlocking mixed-use development where overgrown, empty lots and neglected buildings had languished for decades. We've finally got momentum towards our shared goal of a lively West End for Grover Beach.

For context, recall how dramatically the 2008 Great Recession changed the business math for local homebuilders. We can't pretend we've got the same costs of financing, labor, materials, and regulations as in the early 2000s.

Yet that's the time warp the building code was stuck in until June 2022. Prior to this change, the last mixed-use development on West Grand Avenue, Beach Place, was approved in January 2000.

No surprise, people back then also thought Beach Place was "tall". Everything looks tall compared to a field of weeds.

It took just 15 feet to help the new math of mixed-use developments pencil out. We're catching up with dozens of new homes, along with more attractive, high-ceilinged spaces for businesses. So far, the new buildings haven't displaced a single resident.

What DOES displace residents?

Competition for the same aging homes.

Label the new homes "luxury" if you must. Higher-income professionals and ready-to-downsize retirees exist. Enough of them want the social connection, walkability, elevators, energy- and water-efficiency, and lower maintenance these homes provide. When those folks can live in newer market-rate homes, they aren't out-competing everyone else for the older ones.

Clawing back that 15 feet from property owners halts our progress towards making older homes more affordable. Which I guess is great if you were alive to buy a home here 30 years ago, but it's not great for today's workers doing the lower- and moderate-income jobs every community needs.

There is no Time Machine

Measure F-26 sends us back to the rules that over 22 years produced zero mixed-use buildings on West Grand Avenue. State housing law means we can't shirk our responsibility to zone for more homes anymore.

Residents who think they can call the state's bluff need to circle on the map where more homes and businesses should go. Show us the building code changes and subsidies that would make construction feasible. And show us who their okay with pushing out.

It's ok to send a half-baked ballot measure to the bin. It's ok to change your mind. Vote No on F-26.

Sources

Measure F-26 - Official Info

Letter from California Housing Defense Fund in Support of a Multi-Family Development

Letter from California Housing Defense Fund on Measure F-26 - July 2027

Letter from California Housing & Community Development on Measure F-26 - July 2027

Letter from YIMBY Law in Support of a Mixed-Use Project - July 2027

Housing Shortage Is a Major Driver of Poverty - September 2026

Court Ruling - State vs Huntington Beach Penalties & Fines - May 2026

State Housing Law - City Council & Planning Commission Special Meeting Agenda Packet - March 2026

Land Use Element - City Council & Planning Commission Special Meeting Agenda Packet - October 2021

Residents Advise No on F-26 - New Times SLO Letters, October 2026

Current Grover Beach Development Projects