A couple of days ago, I ran Save Our Bay’s press release saying that the Coastal Commission was appealing San Mateo county’s approval of the Devil’s Slide Tunnel.  That press release implied that Oscar Braun’s lawsuit was the reason for the appeal.

According to the San Mateo Times, the Coastal Commission is appealing the tunnel to hold up final approval until Caltrans transfers the bypass right-of-way to state parks in accordance with Measure T and the LCP. This is being accomplished by Senate Bill 792, which is on its way to the governor. According to the executive director of the commission,  "Once the legislation gets to the governor’s desk—and we’re told the governor will sign it—that takes care of it". The Pacifica Tribune also has a very good account of the situation.

The San Mateo Times says that Braun’s appeal was described as "patently frivolous," by the commission’s executive director.

The Cabrillo Unified School District has signed a new agreement with Wavecrest Village LLC. 

The purchase agreement, summary, and report from its closed session on July 29 have been posted on the District Web site. You can also view or purchase signed copies of the agreement at the District office. The terms of the agreement have shifted in favor of the developer:

• The amount of land the District receives drops from 25 specific acres to 23 acres that are less clearly defined. There is no estimate given in the summary for the value of two acres of developable land at Wavecrest.
• The District’s cash payment (in addition to its trade of real estate in El Granada) to Wavecrest Village LLC has increased from $1.0 million to $1.2 million.
• The District’s share of street improvements increases from 21.5% to 23.5% and drainage from 17.0% to 23.5%

The three documents were posted at 12:52 pm today on the District’s Web site. Although the links on the Board’s page are broken, here are working links to the three documents.

Report of its closed session

Amended purchase agreement

Summary of main points and changes to the agreement

I’ll post more on this as it develops, but I wanted to make sure everyone had access to the documents right away.

The California Coastal Commission has filed an appeal of the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors coastal permit decision of July 6, 2004, which approved the development and mitigation permits for the Caltrans Devil’s Slide tunnel. According to Save our Bay, which appealed the tunnel to the commission, the commission’s appeal blocks the issuance of permits for construction of the tunnel.

So far, the only information on this comes from a Save Our Bay press release. I’ve called the Coastal Commission for more information. Click on "read more" to see the Save Our Bay press release.

Plans for Mirada Surf West project will be discussed at a public workshop August 10, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., at the Ted Adcock Center, 535 Kelley Avenue, Half Moon Bay.  The San Mateo County Parks and Recreation Division will host the workshop. The county recently acquired the Mirada Surf Parcel in El Granada with funding from The California Coastal Conservancy. The conservancey will also fund site improvements.

Plans include a paved pathway from the intersection of Coronado Road and Highway 1, and Magellan Avenue between Highway 1 and Mirada Road [map]. This path will help complete the portion of the California Coastal Trail which extends from Half Moon Bay through Princeton Harbor.

For more information contact Senior Park Planner Sam Herzberg at (650) 363-1823 or [email protected]

With the deadline for filing coming on Friday, San Mateo County has released the names of those who have filedfor candidacy.

So far, six candidates have filed for the three open seats on the County Harbor Commission. No candidates have yet filed for the two open seats on the Cabrillo Unified School District. Three candidates have filed for seven open seats on the Pescadero Municipal Advisory Council.

Click "read more" to see the list of candidates as of Friday July 30.

The judge in the MROSD petition case has implied that the county elections commission was not impartial in its counting, and extended the deadline. San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Carl Holm will hear oral arguments in the case August 5. Apparently he must reach a decision by Aug. 6 to place a measure on the November ballot. Holm gave the lawyers until next Friday July 30 to file briefs on the case.

Neither the Mercury News, the San Mateo Times, nor the San Francisco Chronicle gives enough information to really understand this case, although the Merc has the most detail. I think this has become too arcane for baysiders to be interested. I’d like to hear more about this hearing from people who were there, but most will probably keep quiet while the case is up in the air.

MROSD’s opponents are taking two approaches, attempting to have some 650 invalidated petitions declared valid and trying to get the judge to order LAFCO to call for an election regardless of the outcome of the petition review.

The Mercury News reports that the judge expressed his concern that the county elections commission was not impartial, referring to county elections manager David Tom:

"I was led to believe Mr. Tom was trying to do things objectively’’ rather than helping the annexation cause, Holm said.

 

FOR OTHER VIEWS: See comments on this story for a pro-annexation account of the hearing. See comments on an earlier story, for an anti-annexation account.

As of yesterday, the court has reached no conclusion in the MROSD petition count appeal and the judge is continuing the hearing. So far, County Elections Manager David Tom has found 64 additional valid signatures, including those with only post-office-box addresses and those with residential addresses written in by a third party. Petitioners were about 640 short of the number needed to force an election in November.

I’m looking forward to getting some first-hand accounts of the hearing from the participants.

It’s possible to find out your neighbors’ political contributions, how much they contributed and to whom the contributed it. Take a look. You’ll probably recognize some names. It’s no surprise that most of the donations were made to Democrats, but the degree of the tilt may be startling.

Click on the links below to see the results, which Fundrace is continuing to update. The zip codes in the southcoast are very small, and for some reason the results here consist mostly of stuff from Atherton and Los Altos hills. But you can pick out locals in the list.

Pacifica

Montara

Moss Beach

El Granada 

Half Moon Bay 

Pescadero

San Gregorio

La Honda

Loma Mar

It seems invasive, but it does serve an important public purpose. Fundrace.org uses information in the public record and provided by the Federal Election Commission.  Anyone who contributes "hard money" to political campaigns must provide personal information. This requirement limits the political influence of wealthy, anonymous individuals and allows the public to track financial contributions that may influence the political process.

The Half Moon Bay and Point Montara fire districts are getting together to discuss consolidation and their existing contract.

The special joint meeting of the Half Moon Bay Fire Protection District Consolidation Committee and the Pt. Montara Fire Protection District Board Of Directors will take place Monday, July 19 at noon. The location will be the HMB District Board Room, 1191 Main Street, Half Moon Bay.

The San Mateo Daily Journal features . There’s a lot of interesting information about search and rescue (more than 100 operations per year), and the harbor’s relationship with commercial fishermen.  Pillar Point’s search and rescue team has Honda personal watercraft on a donated lease/loan program, for about $1 per year that make it to perform rescues at Mavericks.