Pacifica wants to widen Highway 1 north of the Devil’s Slide Tunnel

Comment 1 by Kevin Stokes  on  Mar 05  at  10:37am  •  All my comments • 

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?

Comment 2 by Kevin Stokes  on  Mar 05  at  10:39am  •  All my comments • 

Sorry, my question is for Bob not Barry!

Comment 3 by Barry Parr  on  Mar 05  at  11:13am  •  All my comments • 

I’ll field that one, since Bob got it from me. I added it to the story to give the midcoast a little perspective on the project.

The property that Caltrans was going to use for their original freeway bypass of the Slide runs through the back of Montara. It is a large area of land (the width of a freeway) that has not been built on. The Midcoast Community Council has recommended that it be zoned as Open Space. SAMCAR wants it reserved for building houses .

I’m going to be writing more on this later, but it seemed really pertinent to Bob’s story, so I dropped it in.

Comment 4 by Kevin Stokes  on  Mar 05  at  11:35am  •  All my comments • 

Thanks Barry, I’ll look forward to that article. I’m opposed to any development that might change Montara.

To prove diversity here, I would vote with the realtors. The sad truth is, we must do as much possible to create housing opportunities for our fire fighters, police, teachers, and other public safety personnel. Increasing the housing supply, even if its low density monster houses, is the way to go, because typically some of the rooms in those monster houses get rented out to fire,police, teachers, etc. Targetting these areas of Montara for high density “workforce” should be considered. Not hundreds of apartments, but perhaps scores could be built there.

An interesting juxtaposition of photos, Daly City vs. S. Pacifica. Pacifica, as a municipal corporation is in dire straights financially. New commercial development is a must in order to maintain police and fire services. Over the years there has been frequent discussion in Pacifica about the possibility of “going back to the County” or disincorporating. The sad truth, due to geography and existing development patterns, is that as things are, commercial development is not too feasible in S. Pacifica. Just look at the Park Mall or the Fitness Center shopping center. You have nothing but struggling tenants there. In order to boost the feasibility of commercial development there, you have to put more housing. Somehow then, it pencils out. In order to do either, housing or commercial, you need to widen that road. Would Mid Peninsula Open Space District be intersted in expanding here….perhaps. Anyone?

About this tunnel, I’m wondering if any of the regional planners have envisioned light rail going through those bores. Not BART, but something like muni metro, that could run in the median. Is light rail discussed in the EIR’s as a future possibility? Close minded ness about “workforce housing” is a dead end. If you have a lack of “workforce housing”, then your local businesses can’t work, and your public safety and education will suffer. 20 million people will be moving to California in the next couple of decades. Where will they go? Many will be coming to the coast, one way or another.

CoastalPlan.

Comment 6 by Barry Parr  on  Mar 15  at  12:44pm  •  All my comments • 

The price of housing on the coastside is set by supply and demand for the entire bay area. We can’t make housing affordable by increasing the supply because the demand is so huge.

Housing needs to be smaller and denser if it’s going to be affordable. This also helps create the critical mass necessary to support retail. However, it’s a mistake to take land that should be kept open for housing. Montara and Moss Beach need parks, not just open space. I’d like to see the bypass property turned into a park. Besides, if it’s open to developers, we’ll get more low-density, high-price houses if this land is dveloped.

Montara is likely to lose its semirural character in the next ten years if we don’t protect our open space and large trees.

Comment 7 by Kevin Stokes  on  Mar 15  at  3:54pm  •  All my comments • 

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.

Come on, guys… It’s not April 1st yet. What? This is real???

I didn’t really expect the realtors to adopt anythning other than a pro-growth agenda, but come on! What next, housing on the face of Devil’s slide? The north end of Devil’s slide through the POST land next Montara is an area of the coast that shouldn’t be touched for any reason.

Housing is an very important issue, not only in San Mateo County, but throughout California. We need to find creative ways to offer lowercost housing, but disrupting and forever changing dwindling acreage along the coast isn’t the answer.

Hasn’t Southern California taught us any lessons?

Visit El Segundo sometime. Man, those floating oil rigs are beautiful around sunset!

Montara Mike