Development in Pismo Beach

Pismo Beach is an incorporated city whose boundaries run along the coast from the Grover Beach line north through Shell Beach to the Avila Beach turnoff. The City of Pismo Beach handles planning and building permits throughout, and because most of the city is in the Coastal Zone, its Local Coastal Program and, for some projects, the California Coastal Commission are part of the approval path.

This page covers the central and southern parts of the city: the downtown core around Pomeroy Avenue and the pier, the motels and hotels along Price Street and Dolliver Street, Price Canyon, and the neighborhoods east of Highway 101. Shell Beach, the northern part of the same city, is listed on its own page because people search for it by name, but every Shell Beach project is a Pismo Beach project in the city's records.

Hospitality is a larger share of the activity here than anywhere else in the Five Cities, alongside infill housing and the City's own street, pier and utility work. The research behind this guide notes incomplete coverage for late 2021 and for activity after September 2026, and that some permit closure records could not be reconciled, so recent changes may not yet appear.