April Vargas will be covering the county’s proposed updates to its Local Coastal Program (LCP) at tonight’s Midcoast Community Council (MCC) meeting. The LCP is the county’s plan for the unincorporated Midcoast. It is required by the Coastal Act and must be approved by the Coastal Commission.
MCC will meet at 7:30 pm at the Seton Medical Center Coastside, Marine Boulevard & Etheldore, Moss Beach. Take Highway 1 to Marine Boulevard and follow hospital signs uphill. Attendees must park in upper parking lots per hospital policy (turn left just before the end of the main driveway).
The county will be holding a hearing on the update at Half Moon Bay High School on June 16 at 5pm.
Coastal Commission staff rasised a number of significant issues with the county’s proposal. Some that were identified by the county as significant are listed below, but I’m sure there’s more that other folks in the Midcoast are interested in seeing covered.
- The scope of the proposed changes, which revise the amendments approved by the Board, as well as policies of the LCP that were not proposed for change.
- New policies that require demonstration of adequate public service capacities and restrict the allowable capacity of public works projects.
- A recommended prohibition against individual private wells and septic systems within the Midcoast urban area.
- Replacement of the County proposed 75-unit annual limit with a population growth rate of 1%, and application of this limit to secondary dwellings units.
- New policies that replace Countywide stormwater pollution control requirements with detailed construction, erosion control, drainage, and treatment standards.
- Deletion of a policy that would enable the County to resolve conflicts between LCP policies in a manner that is on balance the most protective of coastal resources.
- A prohibition against the formation or expansion of special districts until public service capacity issues are resolved.
- New traffic mitigation, monitoring, and reporting requirements.
- New requirements for the provision of coastal access trails and related studies.
- Deletion of a proposed incentive to provide affordable housing units.
- Requirements to designate the Devil’s Slide bypass alignment as a Linear Park and Trail and rezone this area to Community Open Space.
- Changes to land use designations and allowable uses on the Burnham Strip.


Accident between car and cyclist has closed Hwy 1 southbound at Devil's Slide, Mar 17 7:30pm, Kevin Barron — “Any word on how the bicyclist is doing?” Here you go… your updates can be found here: http://cad.chp.ca.gov/ but, perhaps you don’t care if the car, after hitting a reckless cyclist (for the sake of assume, which I assume you are doing, as is ...
Accident between car and cyclist has closed Hwy 1 southbound at Devil's Slide, Mar 17 5:40pm, Jim Sullivan — Any word on how the bicyclist is doing? ...
Congresswoman Jackie Speier in Pacifica, Saturday, Mar 16 2:11pm, Barry Parr — I’m not interested in debating the issue here, but Kevin’s use of the quotes around the word “need” reminded me of these awesome charts from http://fivethirtyeight.com Gallup provided the verbatim responses of the rationales given by people who ...
Congresswoman Jackie Speier in Pacifica, Saturday, Mar 16 1:46pm, Kevin Barron — This should be interesting. I’m guessing she’ll pull her best Ginger Rogers, dancing in synch with the “need” for health care reform, and sashaying skirting around the “way” Obamacare is being pushed by Congress. I’m curious where she REALLY ...
Pacifica examines widening part of Hwy 1 to six lanes, Mar 15 9:49pm, Carl May — No, Route 1 does not become a freeway north of Reina del Mar in Pacifica. There is side traffic from the police station, the orchid nursery/GGNRA trailhead, Mori Point Road, and, especially, the dangerous intersection of Westport after RdM. Then ...
Pacifica examines widening part of Hwy 1 to six lanes, Mar 15 6:16pm, Barry Parr — We use the vet on that stretch of Hwy 1. A couple of years ago, we took Fireball to the vet. Julia was six and as soon as she got out of the car, she put her hands on her ears. I don’t blame her. I’ve been keeping track of sound levels in my ...
The Coastside's uninsured need your help, Mar 15 5:51pm, Suzanne Black — Excellent article, Cheryl. It brings home the national argument over health care reform. So much misinformation in the media and blogs! But it boils down to how we treat our neighbors—and our own and our families’ futures. Your advice is our best ...