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SINCE 1916 Making Communities Better Through Print.™ VOL. CIV, NO. III
THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 2024
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How to support Atascadero businesses in the slow season
Retailers using slow season to build connections with local shoppers
County moving forward with By CHRISTIANNA MARKS new gas station christianna@atascaderonews.com and market in ATASCADERO — As Templeton we’re in the lull after the holiMixed views from residents on whether or not to support the new project By CAMILLE DEVAUL camille@atascaderonews.com
SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY — Templeton is one step closer to being the home of a new gas station and convenience store on Las Tablas Road following the Tuesday, Jan. 23, San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors meeting. During the meeting, supervisors approved with a 3-2 vote — Jimmy Paulding (Dist. 4) and Bruce Gibson (Dist. 2) dissenting — to deny the appeal of Joe Jarboe and uphold the Planning Commission’s decision to approve the project’s Minor Use Permit. The project includes construction of a fueling station including eight fuel dispensers and nine electric vehicle charging spaces and a 5,200 square-foot convenience store on what is known as East Bennet Village Parcel 1. Located between Bennet Way and Duncan Road on Las Tables, the station is in close proximity to the Twin Cities Hospital. The project has gone through several revisions since its 2021 introduction. What started with a quick service restaurant, fuel station, car wash, and convenience store, now will have a fuel and charging station and market. Residents of Templeton have taken a long stand against the project. Jarboe, the appellant of the project, made the argument that the proposed project is close to other gas stations already in the area as there is a Chevron station on Las Tablas on the other side of Highway 101. “This appeal is heavily supported by the community,” Jarboe said at the meeting on Tuesday. “This is a monstrosity that has no business being this close to residences.” A representative for the Filipponi Family Trust — the applicant for the project, responded to the appellant’s argument, saying the project is expected CONTINUED ON PAGE A7
NEWS
day season, where everything seems to slow down a bit, and the weather leads us to want to stay inside, Atascadero News reached out to local businesses to see how they are handling their slowest months of the year. Cammy Guionnet, an aesthetician at Masons on Traffic Way, said that a lot of local shoppers might be under the impression that the small specialty stores around town are more on the pricey side but that shopping local is actually more affordable than most would expect. “I know everyone’s on a budget right now, and so I think, especially for us, we try to keep our prices reasonable so that we can accommodate the locals,” added Guionnet on what Masons is doing on their side. She added that business has been slow, though since Masons offers aesthetics and it’s peel season, nothing has really slowed down much on that end.
City Council given update on the progress of its goals and actions Fiscal Year 2022-23 Audit passes unanimously By CHRISTIANNA MARKS christianna@atascaderonews.com
(From left) Jeff Skinner, Specs by Kyla owner Kyla Skinner, and Masons owner Michelle Cendro are shown in front of their shops on Traffic Way in Atascadero. Photo by Christianna Marks.
However, the retail section of the store, which features gifts and skin and beauty lines, slows down a lot in January and February. Most businesses are also putting in the work on their end to make sure they are available to customers and building community while getting to know their clientele. “One thing I always keep in
mind is just being consistent with my hours. Making sure I’m here when I say I’m going to be here, even if it’s slow,” said Specs by Kyla owner Kyla Skinner. “[It’s about] building connection with people, building a relationship and building a connection and making people feel like you care about them.” Skinner also pointed out
that she automatically thinks of the internet when she needs to buy something and has made an effort to find a local shop that will have what she needs instead. “Doing that, even though it takes maybe a little more effort, it’s worth it because you’re supporting really cool businesses and people in our
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Kristin Smart’s family files lawsuit against Cal Poly
Complaint claims negligence during first days of disappearance By CAMILLE DEVAUL camille@atascaderonews.com
SAN LUIS OBISPO — Nearly 28 years since the disappearance of 19-yearold Cal Poly student Kristin Smart, her family is filing a lawsuit against the university. Kristin went missing on Memorial Day weekend in May of 1996 after attending an off-campus party. She was last seen walking back to her dorm with Paul Flores. Since her disappearance, Flores has been the center of police investigations, and in 2021, he was arrested for the murder and disappearance of Kristin alongside his father, who was accused of helping his son hide her body. In October 2022, Flores was found guilty of Kristin’s murder, while his father, Ruben, was found not guilty of helping his son. Flores was sentenced to serve 25 years to life in prison in March 2023. To this day, the where-
CRIME
The cover page of the lawsuit filed by Kristin Smart’s family against Cal Poly is shown. Contributed Photo
abouts of Kristin’s remains are unknown. The lawsuit filed by Kristin’s parents and siblings on Thursday, Jan. 18, claims that California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly) is partially responsible for her murder on the grounds of negligence, negligent infliction of emotional distress, and wrongful death. The complaint document opens with the Smarts saying the university “did not begin to understand the multitude of failings by Cal Poly until May 2023.” In May of last year, Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong
publicly apologized to the family for the first time on record, saying, “We recognize that things should have been done differently — and I personally wish that they had.” The complaint continues to describe how Cal Poly allegedly breached its legal duty when it did “not pursue a missing person case promptly, did not interview witnesses timely, did not seal the primary suspect’s dorm room as a crime scene, allowed the suspect’s room to be sanitized and cleaned before it was searched, and did not search the suspect’s
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room until 16 days after Kristin disappeared.” The document also claims that before Flores killed their daughter, multiple reports had been made about Flores’s “threatening, stalking, and harassing behavior.” The Smart family claims in the suit that if the university had properly acted on the reports and investigated, Flores would not have been on the campus with Kristin, therefore preventing her murder. In the years following Kristin’s disappearance, Flores left Cal Poly for various jobs throughout the state, primarily in Southern California. Several witnesses have been brought forward alleging Flores raped and assaulted them. The lawsuit also claims that if Cal Poly looked harder into Flores from the beginning, these other assaults and rapes could have been prevented. The lawsuit further explains that these mishandlings by the university have caused the family “decades of trauma CONTINUED ON PAGE A7
ATASCADERO — The Atascadero City Council met for their regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 23, at 6 p.m. The hybrid meeting was held in the City Council Chambers. At the start of the meeting, both the Agenda for the evening and the Consent Calendar passed unanimously. The first Management Report of the meeting was an Update on Council Goals and Actions, with City Manager Jim Lewis starting off the presentation before handing it off to Deputy City Manager Lara Christensen. “This is a neat moment to step back, and you work so hard every other year to set the key priorities for the city,” Lewis said. “You spend a whole day and a half basically doing that, and from that, action plans are crafted, and a whole bunch of work goes into this. It’s really a best practice every year to look back and see how you’re doing, so the staff pulled together a report for you here. It’s incredible the amount of work the staff is doing. It’s been an honor to work alongside such a hardworking professional group of people.” Christensen started off by going over the council’s strategic priorities and goals. Those being: • Economic and Community Vibrancy • Fiscal and Infrastructure Efficiency and Sustainability • Ensuring Public Saftey and Providing Exceptional City Services Under Economic and Community Vibrancy, the city is moving forward or has completed many projects, including the Downtown Infrastructure Enhancement Project (DIEP) with an anticipated bid release in April, the completed Downtown Paving
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