I received word that a candidate from San Carlos has taken out papers to challenge the incumbent for the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District. His name is Nicholas Pegueros and he has a website up at http://www.votenick.org If you live in Ward 7, which includes parts of Redwood City, San Carlos and much of the northern San Mateo coast, including Half Moon Bay. Nick appears to be in favor of recreation on open space lands, including mountain biking and dogs. I really like the dogs part. 

Several interesting philosophical questions have come out of discussions at CCWD and Jim Larimer’s recent postings on the Review’s website.

At the CCWD discussions on our third recent water rate increase, part of the “Blame” for the increase was put on the higher cost for the El Granada pipeline. As expected, the “Blame” for this increase was placed at the feet of those “No-growth environmentalists”.

Let’s examine this premise.

Larimer’s argument on this and other projects is, in essence, “here is a perfect, community supported, beneficial, smart growth project. It is being appealed and delayed by the no-growthers.  All delays and extra costs are therefore their fault.”

Did I get that right, Jim?

What Jim leaves out is that the projects he backs (Wavecrest, the El Granada pipeline, etc.) always have a fatal flaw. These projects do not conform to California laws.  Jim Larimer does not recognize the necessity to adhere to all California laws in planning a successful and beneficial project.

The Pipeline project had such a fatal flaw.  The larger pipe that was proposed without connection limits was considered by the Coastal Commission to be growth-inducing. The CCWD members of the time, including Ken Coverdell, were apprised of that. They chose to ignore the Coastal Commission and press forward anyway.  And then, of course, everything just stopped.

Four years later, after the Coastal Commission stepped in and took over the appeal, Jim Larimer was elected to the CCWD Board. The Board, as one must remember, has the sole power to propose or modify projects. The public can give opinions; only the Board decides. Upon taking office, Jim made clear his opinion of the Coastal Commission and its laws. He fought the CCC by refusing to answer their questions, and refusing to make the project compliant.  He even posted a letter in the Review attacking those who proposed the simple solution of putting connection limits on the bigger pipe. They were “putting the community in danger”. When asked what danger he was talking about, he refused to clarify the remark.

After two more years of delays under Larimer’s watch, the CCC finally overrode him and imposed the connection limits he and the original project proposers had refused to accept. Six years were wasted by the original Board’s refusal to submit a conforming project.  Now Jim blames the watchdog group for pointing out that the project was poorly planned and contained fatal flaws that led to the delays.

What our community needs are well-planned projects that conform to California law and can be approved by the Coastal Commission.  How much easier life would be for the community if Jim and the CCWD Board would simply do the right thing up front. We know it’s not done out of ignorance of the law; it’s simply done out of disrespect for the law.  Jim’s experience has illustrated for us all the importance of following the law and the CCC’s recommendations.

Ric Lohman

The Coastal Commission is preparing for budget cuts driven by Gov. Schwartzenegger’s proposal to cut 10% from the state’s “bureaucracy”, reports the Capitol Weekly. Layout notices have been sent to 46 members of its 125-person staff.  The staff says that there is a possibility to 19 to 25 layoffs.  At one time, the commission had a staff of 200.

“Budget cuts at these levels will devastate the Coastal Commission and critically impair implementation of the Coastal Act. The commission will not be able to work with local governments on LCP (Local Coastal Plan) issues...,” Susan Hansch, the commission’s budget expert and chief deputy director, wrote in a July 8 memo to the commission’s employees.
...
The fundamental issue is that the commission is charged by law with protecting coastal lands, and it must make far-reaching decisions that often affect millions of dollars and the stewardship of the state’s majestic landscape.

“I don’t believe the system is designed to allow less scrutiny,” said Andi Culbertson, an urban-planning consultant in Santa Ynez. “The time frames for processing projects have gone up and up because the staffing has gone down and down. They are barely able to make their own statutory time frames.”

So what happens if the numbers of staff members get cut still more?

“There are only so many white mice and they can go only so fast. The Coastal Act is a very labor-intensive law, very evidence-intensive, and there is an awful lot of work to do,” Culbertson said.

The article is pretty heavy on quotes from land use consultants and other folks who make their livings from coastal development and who aren’t shedding any tears for the commission’s staff.

Is August here already?  Enjoy summer by meeting up with your San Mateo County Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation and the Live 105 Action Team this Saturday, August 2, from 10 a.m. until Noon, at Sharp Park Beach in Pacifica.

Look for Steve and Surfer Spud at the Surfrider and LIVE 105 tables near the Pacifica pier.  We’ll provide gloves, bags, and free CDs from Weezer, Coldplay, Death Cab For Cutie, The Bravery, or The Kooks, (while supplies last). 

For more info, catch a wave on our website, E-mail, or call Surfer Spud at 415-402-6788.

The Coastside Land Trust is holding our monthly restoration event at our Francis Beach properties this coming Saturday, July 26th, 12:30 to 3pm.  We’re making good progress re-establishing native vegetation on these properties. It sometimes seems like an impossible task, but if you look a the picture with Michael Kimsey and his adopted berry vine, it is clear that Michael is winning ground for the berry vine. Berry vines provide both shelter and food for animals. This year’s is a particularly good year for our native berries, and the birds, insects, and people are enjoying them and thriving.

Please join us. Check in at the Francis State Beach kiosk at Kelly and the Pacific Ocean, proceed north on the maintenance road to the maintenance sheds. Our properties are on the east side of the maintenance road. Refreshments, good humor and appreciation are provided for all ages and abilities.

Jo Chamberlain
Executive Director
Coastside Land Trust

NOAA’s Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary is celebrating 15 years of ocean protection through its Beach Watch volunteer shoreline monitoring program. Developed and launched by the sanctuary in 1993, Beach Watch is the flagship volunteer program of the NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries.

The Beach Watch program uses highly trained “citizen scientists” from all walks of life to conduct regular shoreline surveys spanning 150 miles of coastline, from Point Año Nuevo south of San Francisco north to Bodega Head. The volunteers have also conducted special wildlife surveys during several oil spills, most recently the Cosco Busan spill in San Francisco Bay in November. Since 1996, the nonprofit Farallones Marine Sanctuary Association has managed Beach Watch data and volunteers.

Beach Watch surveyors identify wildlife, notify the sanctuary of the condition of streams and lagoons, document visitor use patterns and violations, and retrieve oil samples as evidence of spills to help pinpoint the source of oil on beaches. Information collected by Beach Watch volunteers has helped secure several multimillion-dollar settlements from responsible parties to restore affected wildlife and habitats.

Has anybody else seen the whales playing in the water at the end of Fourteenth Street?  I first spotted them Sunday afternoon, and they were there again Monday afternoon. I’m no expert, but shouldn’t they already have migrated?  They looked to be gray whale size and were swimming in circles.  Any info is greatly appreciated.

Jeani Kessler

Chet Bardo, the new superintendent of State Parks for the 30 parks from San Mateo County to the Pajaro Valley, is a resident of Montara.  Bardo’s responsibility includes more than 64,000 acres of parklands and 40 miles of coastline. There’s in interview with Bardo in the Santa Cruz Sentinel.

Q What do you see as the biggest issues facing local parks?

A Funding. ... If things were to really go south, it would be difficult. We’re charged in this district with just an incredible amount of historical structures and culturally sensitive areas. To look at that and try to figure out where to focus funding is a challenge. That’s probably one of the biggest challenges, and hence why we have a deferred [maintenance] backlog statewide.

Staff is doing a great job of keeping things up and running and dry, but it’s a constant thing. And as you know, when you work on a historic structure it takes a whole different level of repair. You just don’t go put something on it that’s not supposed to be there and call it a fix.

...

Q What is your background and how do expect to put that to work here?

A I’ve been with the department for about 26 years, going on 27 in August. I’ve done the full range of duties from a seasonal park aide at an entrance station to a field ranger to a supervising ranger to most recently a sector superintendent. My background is in wildlife biology.

And I love teaching. When I was a field ranger, I was very active in local schools. I always had a lot of fun doing that.

Q What is your favorite park?

A The coastal parks are great. I was pretty much born and raised in Half Moon Bay. I tell people before I had to get responsible and get a job, I used to spend my days at the beach all summer, swimming and fishing—I never took up surfing—mostly fishing and just dinking around. I haven’t spent a lot of time in the redwoods. Big Basin is new to me. Henry Cowell is new to me. And I’m sure I’ll love them just the same.

The deputy director of the Coastal Commission writes to Capitol Weekly that the commission’s policy of protecting maritime chaparral from clearing and development is not the problem in Big Sur. He says the commission’s critics are trying to focus attention onto the commission’s policies, rather than the problem of building homes in hazardous areas where it is not possible to clear enough brush to create a zone of safety.

He notes that maritime chaparral has evolved a need for periodic fires to compete with other plant communities.

Given its limited distribution, we estimate that less than 0.1 percent of the more than 200,000 acres in the Big Sur Coast area could potentially involve conflicts between this sensitive habitat and developable residential building sites. But protecting this habitat doesn’t prevent us from taking reasonable measures to reduce the risk of fire.

The Coastal Commission does not require permits for necessary brush clearance around existing buildings in Big Sur; nor has it interfered with brush clearance that may be ordered by fire officials. In fact, Commission staff worked closely with Monterey County and Cal Fire on an emergency approval for clearing dead oaks from Big Sur last year to reduce the risk of catastrophic fire.

But no amount of brush management can save rural, inaccessible homes when massive wildfires rage out of control. That is why the Commission is focusing more on approaches that require new development to avoid hazardous areas. Unfortunately, many property owners are reluctant to fully acknowledge the severe dangers of building in high fire risk areas. Rather than locating a new home in a less hazardous place, they attempt to create a defensible space around their new buildings within the hazardous area. In these circumstances, the Commission has requested that applicants record a legal document acknowledging that they are locating their new house within a known hazardous area and that they assume this known risk.

The disease known as “sudden oak death” has hit trees near the Coastside particularly hard, reports Julia Scott in the San Mateo Daily News.

For reasons nobody quite understands, the disease known as sudden oak death has colonized the forests surrounding Crystal Springs Reservoir with greater brutality than other areas of the county that also contain trees susceptible to the disease, such as Woodside, Portola Valley, or the county parks in the hills above Pescadero. Biologists have detected only a handful of affected trees in those areas, whereas hundreds of trees are visibly affected throughout the Crystal Springs watershed - and absent a cure, the number continues to increase.

Experts have noticed the problem gaining momentum in San Mateo County this year in particular, Moore said. The results are there for all to see.

“When you’re in there on the trail and you see a dead tree, that’s one thing. But if you’re on Highway 280 and you’re looking at the watershed, you see pockets, patches of dead trees. It’s summer - it’s not like they’re supposed to be dropping their leaves,” he said.