I was there with my wife and two friends from Pacifica (who have seen it three times!). This excellent film is an eye opener, and clearly illustrates the arrogance and ‘money above all else’ attitude of some developers and landowners along with the tireless passion and drive of the people who strive to protect the coast. It has inspired us to pay even closer attention to our local coastline to prevent the outrageous ‘homes on the beach’ set up in some places in Southern California. Coastsiders pay close attention! Five miles of private beach anyone? Cheers.
We live in the fruit and vegatable garden of America, why buy imported produce from a supermarket?
My wife and I buy a lot of our produce from Sweetpeas, it’s local and we love it!!!
Kim, I agree with you on all your comments.
But like I said, do the math, this slot of land would support at a minimum 200 houses (you know the realtors and developers are going to push for maximum numbers of new builds which could be much higher) this would mean even if each house has an average of two people (again, a higher figure is probably more likely) and that means the same amount of vehicles.
How many house-holds in Montara, or anywhere in the Bay Area have no vechiles at all, come on! So I don’t think my comment is that ‘wild’ really.
I whole-heartedly agree with you, work as a community, this land should be open space. Sign the petition, email for details. The Montara Post Office has more details posted on the wall.
If we all pull together it will not be an issue, let’s make it so.
You bring up some very good points Paul. I feel confident this land will remain as it was intended to be used, open space for Montarans. But we need to be vigilant and make our community voice heard to the ‘Supervisors’ who seem to have taken it upon themselves to decide the fate of this land. I have heard ‘rumors’ of 200-400 houses being built on this land, imagine that, that’s 800-1000 additions to the 2000 exisiting Montara population and the same addition in vechicles. You do the math, that’s almost a 50% increase in the size of our town. There is no way that the infastructure could even come close to supporting those figures.
My wife and I attended the LCP Update meeting this morning in Redwood City. There was a large turn out on both sides, over 80 people registered to speak. I had to leave at Midday but I believe the session lasted well into the afternoon. There was a very large local Montara turn out in support of the move to re zone the Caltrans land back to open space. We even had some construction and realtor support! A lot of attention was focused on the 1% issue, many points of view were heard across the board. Very passionate pleas were made to add more pedestrian safety/crossing areas on Highway 1. I heard this morning on descission has been made yet. The fight continues…
This is an extremely important issue, if you live in Montara I urge you to make your voice heard. More houses? Or protect the land untouched for our future generations to enjoy? We need more housing, that’s a fact. But if we continue to chip away at our open space, there will no more open space left one day. Our community here in Montara is unique, it’s small size is part of it’s charm. If we build and build we will just become part of the urban sprawl. Take a look at Daly City, that’s what happens when developers are allowed free rein. Don’t let it happen here on the coast.
I’m very interested to find out Caltrans plans as far as traffic diversion while the tunnel is being built. Anyone heard anything? I, like thousands of other coastsiders, commute to the city every day. I know the tunnels going to be a good thing, but in the 5 years they say it’s going to take to build, how many years/months will we have serious disruption as commuters?
In response to CoastalPlans comment:
Can I ask you a question? Do you live in Montara? I doubt it, what you are proposing about ‘targeting Montara’ would totally destroy one of the most charming, beautiful, unspoiled towns on the coast. We have immense diversity in our housing and inhabitants, surfer shacks to multi million dollar properties, police officers to lawyers, families and single people. Montara is a unique community and you will come up against huge local resistance if anyone tries to change it by building areas to house a ‘high density workforce’ in ‘low density monster houses’ (whatever they are!). Of course we need affordable housing, I totally agree with you, but the sort of housing you are talking about gets built in places other than the premium valued coastal areas, it’s not right, it’s just an economic fact because the land is cheaper.
Regarding The Mid Peninsula Open Space District (or do you mean POST, the Peninsula Open Space Trust?) it’s there to protect open space, not exploit it for development. Montara is surrounded by POST land, this land is protected for it’s natural beauty, it’s not for exploitation by profit seeking developers.
And lastly the tunnel, I’m sure Caltrans considered a rail track of some sort, it makes sense, I’d use it every day. But there is nowhere for the track to be laid, it would have to cross the POST land somewhere, and where would the track go after Montara? Highway 1 is sandwiched in tight as it is, where would you build stations?.
Our coast is a precious resource, it’s beautiful and fragile. If we let go of the strict development controls you will no longer be able to see the ocean as you drive the coast on Highway 1, it will be obliterated by housing developments, hotels and shopping malls. You want that? I don’t.
Thanks Barry, I’ll look forward to that article. I’m opposed to any development that might change Montara.
Sorry, my question is for Bob not Barry!
Barry,
In your article you quote:
In a letter to the county Board of Supervisors, the San Mateo County Association of Realtors said that it opposes designating the old Caltrans freeway bypass in Montara as open space because “being adjacent to the new tunnel, these properties would be ideal sites [for homes] given their proximity to transit.”
Where exactly do they mean? Are they proposing to build on the old Devil’s Slide? That’s insane. Do you have any more information on this?
Go Barry! I’m with Steve!
John and Clarence Arata, you are heros for no selling this land to contractors! The Coastsiders salute you!
That would look great on our wall!
It matters not if it’s a rat, bird, fish or whatever, it’s an endangered species and it’s protected for a good reason. If these people destroyed it’s nest and habitat they should be punished to the full extent of the law.
It is truly amazing how many houses sprang up in a little over thirty years.
It is a problem. We have two pretty big pines in our yard which we have been told by a ‘tree specialist’ will have to come down within a year or two (at the cost of $3000), the reason is ‘Monterey beatle’, he said it is rampant in Montara. Weird though, I can’t find any information on this bug anywhere. Also people cut or trim trees to improve their views. You can have power lines buried in your street it only costs between $5-8,000 per house! Surely a tree can only be taken down if given a permit by the authorites? Maybe a careful photographic record should be kept?
The idea for the Montara Beach Coalition came about after a Save Our Shores beach clean up we attended at Montara. We were chatting with one of the organizers after the event and telling them how we picked litter up on a regular basis ourselves at the beach, and how we were fed up of the trash left behind by the party goers who had fires on the beach late at night (broken glass, pallet nails, beer cans, fast food wrappers, etc.).
Our goal is to hopefully rally local people to get involved and become stewards of Montara Beach (and the surrounding areas) come to the site and join one of the on-line forums to share ideas and views, our motto is to’ Protect, Preserve and Enjoy’ Montara State Beach. The State Parks do not have enough resources to patrol the beach and pick up litter, so we figured we would try to do something to help out. What we hope to achieve is a collaboration between the local Sheriff Dept., The State Parks, SOS, Fire Dept., and local people and businesses to try and control the trash and party fires to make this stunningly beautiful beach a cleaner safer place for all to enjoy. And through on-line education and articles try to promote better litter and pollution awareness.
Thanks to our friends at Coastsider for the support!
Cheers
Montara Beach Coalition
This is great news, much tighter controls are need to monitor what gets dumped in the ocean along our shores.
KJS
POST breaks ground for new and improved trails at Pillar Point Bluff, Aug 27 8:20pm comment by Jack Sutton, I frequent the Pillar Point bluff area both on bicycle and on foot and in its current configuration, both experiences…
Quarry Park presentation at MCC tonight, Aug 27 1:12pm comment by Sabrina Brennan, Currently Quarry Park is the ONLY developed park on the Midcoast. The unincorporated Midcoast should have approximately 111 acres of…
Quarry Park presentation at MCC tonight, Aug 27 12:18pm comment by Sabrina Brennan, What's the hurry in giving Quarry Park to the county? Quarry Park is the only community park in unincorporated Midcoast…
Quarry Park presentation at MCC tonight, Aug 27 12:00pm comment by Sabrina Brennan, Neighbors organize cleanup in El Granada By Greg Thomas [ greg@hmbreview.com ] Residents near Balboa Circle in El Granada are…
Quarry Park presentation at MCC tonight, Aug 27 11:55am comment by Sabrina Brennan, Quarry Park Offered To County By Mark Noack [ mark@hmbreview.com ] The Midcoast Park Lands has taken the first step…
POST breaks ground for new and improved trails at Pillar Point Bluff, Aug 26 4:41pm comment by Carl May, Jim, I'm guessing you do not know about the specific state project known as the California Coastal Trail (CCT) and…
POST breaks ground for new and improved trails at Pillar Point Bluff, Aug 26 3:56pm comment by Jim Sullivan, The Coastal Trail is multi use, every inch of it. If one desires a walking only area to recreate, one…
Tonight: Clear, with a low around 62. West wind between 4 and 7 mph becoming calm.
Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 81. Calm wind becoming west between 4 and 7 mph.
Thursday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 62. West wind 5 to 7 mph becoming south.
Friday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 74. SSW wind between 5 and 9 mph.
Friday Night: Patchy fog after 11pm. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with a low around 54. WSW wind between 6 and 8 mph.
Saturday: Patchy fog before 11am. Otherwise, mostly sunny, with a high near 65.
Saturday Night: Patchy fog after 11pm. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with a low around 55.
Sunday: Patchy fog before 11am. Otherwise, partly sunny, with a high near 64.
Sunday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 55.
Labor Day: Mostly sunny, with a high near 66.
Monday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 54.
Tuesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 66.
Tuesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 54.
Wednesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 65.
PFC: 1:46pm; AFD: 4:58pm
