The Coastside’s middle school site is in play again

Podesta can be seen on the map here:

Podesta and surrounds. Click on “Satellite” to see the overhead photo.

Comment 2 by Jonathan Lundell  on  May 13  at  4:12pm  •  All my comments • 

Your spreadsheet says 67 (not 64) for Podesta. I’d knock Wavecrest and Podesta down a bit on availability, just because of their uncertainty.

Here are the current state evaluation forms, including some guidance on coming up with the numbers.

Site Selection Evaluation

Comparative Evaluation of Candidate Sites

Those are part of a more general discussion of site selection criteria.

Comment 3 by Barry Parr  on  May 13  at  5:00pm  •  All my comments • 

Thanks for the link to the Google map. I was wishing Dr. Bayless had put those in his overheads instead of the confusing maps he had used.

The typo in the story has been corrected. The links to the criteria are very welcome. It’s interesting that under the new point system that Wavecrest does a lot better if you use the same scoring they used in 1996.

Comment 4 by Barry Parr  on  May 13  at  5:03pm  •  All my comments • 

Also, once you play around with the point allocation and scoring you realize how arbitrary these kinds of systems are and how they tend to make your analysis look more objective than it really is.

I agree with the point Bayless made at the meeting that ten-point differences are probably not terribly significant due to the limitations of the methodology.

Comment 5 by Jonathan Lundell  on  May 13  at  5:05pm  •  All my comments • 

This would make Podesta a potentially easy solution to a sticky political problem in Half Moon Bay.

What would be the easy solution? A road through the school site?

Comment 6 by Barry Parr  on  May 13  at  5:12pm  •  All my comments • 

Not so much through the site as beside it. There would presumably be a road, a light, and a widening of the highway for the school. It might be more expedient to connect Pacific Ridge to that road than to connect it to Terrace Ave.

It never occured to me, but the folks in Highland Park have appararently figured it out and seem to love the idea. Assuming, of course, they are properly insulated from our offspring.

Comment 7 by Jonathan Lundell  on  May 13  at  5:39pm  •  All my comments • 

I’ve been assuming that the school access would be off Main, perhaps using the Foster ROW. But who knows?

[partial repost from Midcoast list]

I don’t mean to throw a wet blanket on the Podesta site, but with all due respect, I think we are looking at a Wavecrest-waiting-to-happen. For starters:

1. The school district does not own the land and it is far from clear how the district would get the money to pay for it. I would prefer not to use taxpayer-supplied funds to buy real-estate at current elevated prices.

2. The project would presumably require a costly and time-consuming Environmental Impact Report (EIR). This could easily take 2 or more years to complete. After that, the project would still need to obtain a Coastal Development Permit.

3. There is a distinct possibility of endangered-species habitat and wetlands issues on the site. A full biological study would be needed before we know for sure. That will take time and money.

4. The induced traffic circulation problems will cost a fortune to mitigate. Putting in a single traffic light alone will cost over $1 million, not to mention the need for lane widening, etc.

5. The project would result in the loss of productive farmland, which seems to go against section 30241 of the California Coastal Act.