I’d like to invite you to join me in a experiment in “donation dollars” and “zoning accommodation.”
The experiment is to see if political election donations accompanied with a verbal request will change the outcome of a painful zoning conflict.
The situation is Don Heinz wants to run a 1-man auto repair business on his agriculturally zoned coastal lot south of Half Moon Bay. He is a persistent dreamer and he has built a work area and he lives on the lot in a trailer. He has been seeking a zoning accommodation for years. The city will not allow him water, sewer or a use permit.
What I suggest you do is find any Half Moon Bay council man or elected County Supervisor and make a politicial donation. Give a donation check to the candidate in person and clearly tell the candidate “I want you to figure out an accommodation for Don Heinz. Find a way to let this man have his property and do his work.”
And I ask everybody that makes a donation with the verbal request to email me via my Coastsider.com link.
What is the exchange rate in political donation dollars for a zoning accommodation that probably amounts to no more than 1/3 the market value of one of the huge houses being built on exactly the same kind of land 1000 feet to the south?
The ideal of coastal preservation has been greatly advanced by the recent sale of Wavecrest. The adverse environmental impact of allowing a 1-man auto repair business is small compared to the development that has just been avoided.
The Half Moon Bay government and planning people are “prisoners of consistency”. Denying a small use exception is easy. I think the south of HMB coastal community will be culturally, socially and ethically enhanced by allowing a very small scale automotive repair artisan to live and enjoy the fog and climate, same as the fine people a few thousand feet down the road.
Last week Don Heinz appeared before the Half Moon Bay City Council and asked the council to accommodate his request for sewer, water and permission to continue to live and work on his lot that is on the ocean side of Highway 1 somewhere near the Little League fields.
There actually is an issue of suffering here as Mr. Heinz dreams of continuing his work on this lot which he owns. Suffering is to be held by something. The zoning accommodation delays are being played out against his declining health and dwindling years and dwindling resources as he is blocked from self-employment on his own land. He is a bit stubborn and he may have disobeyed some rules. So why can’t our zoning people accommodate this fine man?
I got to know Don in 2004 when I delivered auto parts to Heinz Auto Repair on Highway 92 near Firewood Farms. His work and his gift to us is useful vehicles repaired well and working a few more years.
This proposal is not approved or reviewed by Don Heinz in any way.
