Planning Commission

The Planning Commission is a five-member body appointed by the Board of Supervisors. Its primary role is to consider how land use decisions affect the County. In this role, the Commission has review and approval authority for tract maps, conditional use permits, and variances and is responsible for making recommendations to the Board of Supervisors regarding plan and ordinance updates.

To send an email to the Planning Commission please email Daniela Chavez and she will forward your message to the proper recipient. 

Planning Commission Purview   

Appeals of Director DeterminationsDecision-Making Body
Conditional Use PermitsDecision-Making Body
General Plan AmendmentsAdvisory Body
Minor Use Permits (elevated by Director)Decision-Making Body
Third Time ExtensionsDecision-Making Body
Tract MapsDecision-Making Body
VariancesDecision-Making Body
Entitlement TypeRole

 

Planning Commissioners

District 1

Alex has been a business owner and active member of the Paso Robles community for thirty years.  He graduated from the University of Southern California with a degree in Communications.  He started working in the Paso Robles wine industry, seasonally, in 1991 while working full-time in Pasadena and eventually San Luis Obispo, in real estate development and management.  In 1996, Alex and his wife Monica purchased property on the westside of Paso Robles and began planting their estate vineyard.  In 2002, they opened their winery and tasting room on Adelaida Road.  In 2011, Alex and Monica, in an effort to be more sustainable in their agricultural practices, launched the county’s first craft-distillery.  Alex has served on multiple boards of directors including the Paso Robles Wine County Alliance (chair), the Wine Institute, Twin Cities Board of Governors, and currently serves on the Travel Paso Board (secretary).

District 2

Anne is a planning consultant with specialties in affordable housing, historic preservation and sustainable mobility. She is Executive Director at Smart Share Housing Solutions, a San Luis Obispo County non-profit affordable housing developer. She writes on housing and housing policy and has been a frequent contributor to the national magazine Planning. She currently serves on several volunteer boards, including the Casita Coalition, National Shared Housing Resource Center and Friends of the Bob Jones Trail. She received a bachelors in urban studies and planning from UC San Diego and a masters in planning from Cal Poly. This is her second term on the County Planning Commission, serving 4 years starting in 2007 and rejoining in 2023.

District 3

Kristina Simpson-Spearman is a decorated U.S. Army veteran with 20 years of senior level federal service in planning and policy under the Clinton, Bush and Obama Administrations and within the U.S. Senate.  Spearman has a Masters of Public Policy from American University, and is a graduate of the Harvard School of Public Health and Kennedy School of Government.  Spearman also brings practical planning and building experience to the position.  She recently completed a complex development project over the past four years resulting in their family home within District 3.  Spearman began her term in January, 2021.

District 4

Mariam Shah was born in Cleveland, Ohio. She attended the University of Michigan, double majoring in Spanish and American Culture. She has a law degree from the Georgetown University Law Center and spent seven years as a corporate litigator in New York City, Cleveland, Ohio and Akron, Ohio, representing businesses of all sizes. In 2008, she and her husband drove up Highway 1 and immediately decided the Central Coast was a great place to escape midwestern winters and raise a family. 

Mariam ran for Grover Beach City Council in 2014. During her time on the council, she served on the executive committees of the Homeless Services Oversight Committee (2 years as chair), the Air Pollution Control District (2 years as chair), and the CA League of Cities. She spent several years on the Grover Heights Elementary PTA executive committee and currently serves as the Treasurer for the Oceano Elementary PTA.  She recently completed a term on the Diablo Canyon Decommissioning Engagement Panel and serves on the executive board of the Five Cities Homeless Coalition.  Mariam also works part-time as a Community Organizer for a local healthcare nonprofit.  In her spare time, she is usually at one of her daughter’s games or talking about cars with her son.  She enjoys life on the Arroyo Grande Mesa in a multigenerational living situation with her extended family.

District 5

Mike Avila, Jr. is a small business owner. Mike and his wife, Kellie Avila, own Avila Traffic Safety, which began operation in 2014 with locations in Atascadero and Fresno. Today, this company employs over 100 people, and performs roadway safety work, installing roadway signage, and structures as well as selling roadway safety products and equipment.

In 2002, Mike and Kellie, started M.E. Avila Construction Corporation, a construction contracting firm based out of Atascadero primarily performing Federal Government contracts and telecommunications projects within the Western United States, extending to Alaska for some select projects. The Avilas successfully operated this business until 2022, when they sold it. This business still operates today under new owners and management. 

Mike holds both a General Engineering and General Contractors Lic. in multiple states since 2001. A member of San Luis Obispo County community for 40 years, Mike graduated from Arroyo Grande High School and settled in Atascadero in 2004 where he and Kellie presently reside and have raised their 2 children who are now adults. 

Throughout the years, Mike has built numerous custom and build-to-sell homes for clients in South San Luis Obispo County. Building homes continued Mike’s entrepreneurial spirit with the freedom and creativity from working on these projects and with clients. Even with the demands of owning businesses which included extensive travel, Mike made sure to carve out time to coach his sons when they were younger and regularly made their games in high school and college.

Mike brings his many years of contracting and business experience, as well as being a citizen of San Luis Obispo County of 40 years to the Planning Commission. Mike looks forward to giving back to the community that has been so beneficial to him and his family, and the Planning Commission provides that opportunity where he will be fair and objective.

 

 

Meetings

The Planning Commission Meetings are typically on the second and fourth Thursdays of each month at 9:00 AM in the Board of Supervisors Chambers at the County Government Center.