The Community Christmas Tree Lighting is back for 2021! Join us Friday, December 10th 5:30 – 6:45 at the picnic area of the Red Barn, on the corner of Los Osos Valley Road and Palisades Avenue! We’ll have a cut Christmas tree, carols and light snacks! Bring the kids!

The Annual Christmas Paradewill be Saturday, December 11, starting at 10 a.m! The theme this year is Parade of Thanks! This will be the 33rd year the parade has been held!

The Bay Osos Kiwanis will have a pre-parade Pancake Breakfast at the Bay Auto & Tire on Los Osos Valley Road.

Following the Parade, the Maxine Lewis Memorial Homeless Shelter Fundraiser will be held at the South Bay Community Center until 6:00 pm.

 The Los Osos Community Services District invites all interested persons to attend a Public Hearing on December 2, 2021 at 6:00 p.m. online at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86456192412 relative to the following:

CREATION OF A BOARD OF DIRECTORS DISTRICT-BASED ELECTORAL SYSTEM PURSUANT TO ELECTIONS CODE SECTION 10010

Public Hearing to select a voting area scenario for five Board of Directors Districts for elections commencing with the General Election in November 2022.

The Board of Directors will discuss, consider, and take community input before taking final action on selecting a voting area scenario for the Board of Directors election district boundaries, and other such matters as may be related to the formation of Board of Directors districts. Draft maps of potential Board of Directors election district boundaries will be available at the Public Hearing. For more information, you are invited to contact Ron Munds, General Manager, at (805) 528-9370 or by email rmunds@losososcsd.org. Copies of the Staff Reports and any support materials will be available for public inspection in the District Office, 2122 9th Street Suite 110, Los Osos, California, or by visiting the District website at www.losososcsd.org. The Board of Directors may also discuss other hearings or business items before or after the item listed above. If you challenge the proposed action in court, you may be limited to raising only those issues you or someone else raised at the public hearing described in this notice, or in written correspondence delivered to the Board of Directors at, or prior to, the public hearing.

The Los Osos Community Services District wants to remind you that this is the time of year we recommend you turn off your irrigation system. 

As you know Los Osos is built on sandy soil.  With this type of soil, water percolates into the ground.  It doesn’t necessarily flow to the surface.  Many times, the source of a high usage investigation is an irrigation system leak. So, it is important to maintain irrigation systems regularly.

There are not many lawns in our water service area.  Many homeowners have chosen drought tolerant plants or native plants in their gardens. Below is a link to watering guides for your use taken from the following website:  https://www.slowaterwiselandscaping.com/Watering-Guide/CoastalAreas.php

Watering Established Plants

If you are growing California native plants in their natural geographic range and they are properly sited, your drought tolerant plants should be able to thrive entirely on rainfall.

They might look a little brown and drought stressed in the summer and early fall, but that’s natural.  Water conservation is one of the key benefits of gardening with native plants.

However, most drought tolerant natives (and all riparian natives) can handle occasional light irrigation in the hot summer and early fall, and if you are careful, they’ll probably look a little greener and prettier with just a little bit of water.  But again, be careful.  Improper irrigation is probably the biggest reason – after poor plant selection – why some California native gardens fail. Read more about this subject here:  https://www.cnps.org/gardening/prepping-and-planting/watering

There is a common misconception that everything that gets put in the recycling bin ends up getting recycled. However, this is not the case! Just because an item gets placed in a recycling bin does not mean that it is allowed (and will be actually recycled!) in IWMAs recycling program. Follow these tips to improve your recycling:

1. Visit the IWMA Recycling Guide to get a full list of what you can and cannot place in the recycling bin.
2. Empty plastic food containers of all food and give them a quick rinse to remove any residue before recycling. Wet or soiled paper cannot be placed in the recycling bin. 
3. Empty liquid contents from all bottles and jugs.
4. Break down cardboard boxes so that they lie flat in the bin.
5. Shred confidential documents selectively as shredded paper cannot usually be recycled. It’s not always necessary to shred a document entirely. You really only need to shred the parts that contain private information. Bag them before tossing so that the scraps don’t end up as litter!
6. Take batteries, paint, pesticide and other chemicals to the local household hazardous waste (HHW) facility – it’s free! Batteries can be returned to the retailer where they were perched in SLO County.
7. Pay attention to product packaging! Aim for items packaged in one material type, as items made of more than one material, like soy milk containers that contain foil, paper and plastic, usually cannot be recycled.
8. Remember that reuse comes before recycling – by reducing your use of single-use containers and bags and opting for reusable containers and bags, you can avoid having to recycle altogether.
9. Is your item still usable? Avoid adding to the landfill or recycling stream by donating usable items at a local thrift store or posting items online.
10. When in doubt, throw it out! Don’t “wishcycle,” as this can potentially end up contaminating your entire recycling bin.

This is the time to remind the public that only rain should go down the storm drain.  Be sure to throw trash away properly as water collected in drains goes to the Ocean. Help us keep our Ocean clean!

LOCSD is continuing with their regularly scheduled Board, Utilities Advisory Committee, Finance Advisory Committee, Emergency Services Advisory Committee and Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee Meetings. 

Information for each meeting and how to get connected will be available on the Agenda for each meeting. Agendas can be found on the LOCSD Website (losososcsd.org) which is posted a minimum of 72 hours before the meeting time.

Our upcoming meetings are:

• Board of Directors Meeting Open Session - December 2, 2021 @ 6PM
• Parks & Recreation Meeting - December 14, 2021 @5:30PM 
• Utilities Advisory Committee Meeting - December 15, 2021 @5:30PM 
• Finance Advisory Committee Meeting - January 3, 2022 @ 5:30PM
• Board of Directors Meeting Open Session - January 6, 2022 @ 6PM
• Utilities Advisory Committee Meeting - January 19, 2022 @5:30PM 

For more information about the upcoming meetings for LOCSD, please go to our website, or click here. 

 The Offices will be closed on  December 23rd and 24th, and December 31st. If you have a water emergency on any of those days, please call our afterhours service line at 714-836-0933.