The city of Pacifica says Coastside Scavenger, which also serves the Midcoast, may have overcharged Pacificans, and dumped green waste without a permit for years, reports Julia Scott in the County Times.

At issue is whether Coastside Scavenger, along with its sister recycling company, Seacoast Disposal, overcharged residents $634,200 over a five-year period while raising its rates almost yearly.

More than half of that money — $387,000 — was charged to ratepayers as the price of trucking an unknownamount of organic yard waste to the Picardo Ranch at the outer edge of Pacifica’s Linda Mar neighborhood. At the time, the ranch was held in trust by Louis Picardo, the owner and founder of Coastside Scavenger.

[Coastside Scavenger general manager, Chris] Porter said the company dumped the yard waste at the ranch in 2001-05 to pioneer a worm-composting program. The goal was to distribute the compost to residents to use in their yards, she said.

But the company could not produce records of ever dumping anything at the Picardo Ranch, according to the audit. Coastside Scavenger charged residents higher user rates each year for the price of trucking material to the site.

The city also says that Coastside Scavenger charged residents a quarter million dollars for items that should have been billed to Seacoast Disposal.

Because of a resignation, the Midcoast Community Council (MCC) now has an open position. Residents from the unicorporated areas of Montara, Moss Beach, El Granada, and Princeton who are interested in joining the council should contact Gael Erickson at 726-4416 or [email protected] for more information.

Oral communications got a little hot on Tuesday.  George Muteff and a couple of others protested his treatment by members of the city council at the previous meeting.  He resented the assertion that he speaking on behalf of developer "Chop" Keenan (Beachwood and other developments). Council member Grady distributed Muteff’s last campaign finance report with contributions from Keenan and related interests marked with stars.

The Half Moon Bay City Council reaffirmed its decision to allow the city’s planning director to issue Coastal Development Permits at his discretion, and formally repealed the ordinance of the previous city council removing the administrative CDP option.  Council member Jim Grady expressed his astonishment that city staff had allowed the ordinance languish unenacted after the California Coastal Commission had requested more information.

The City Council also decided to recall Chapter 3 of its Local Coastal Program from the Coastal Commission so that its definitions could be made more consistent. Consistency has been an ongoing theme of the new city council and invoked in support of several decisions already.

The midyear budget review was punctuated by discussions of the greatly increasing cost of the police department and the city’s legal bills. Council members made obligatory statements on the importance of public safety and blamed the police increases on the police department’s state retirement fund.

• Oral Communications, announcements, proclamations, city council reports, staff reports, consent calendar | Quicktime | Flash |
• Coastal Development Permit procedures | Quicktime | Flash | Documents |
• Recall of Chapter 3 of city’s Local Coastal Program | Quicktime | Flash |
• Midyear budget review | Quicktime | Flash | Documents |
• Association of Bay Area Governments report on "Taming Natural Disasters" | Quicktime | Flash | Documents |

On Monday evening, February 26 from 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm, a public meeting on health insurance reform will be held in the Community Room at Lesley Gardens, 701 Arnold Way in Half Moon Bay.

The meeting will feature a presentation and discussion of the California Universal Healthcare Act (CUHA). CUHA will establish universal health care in California by creating the California Health Insurance System, a single payer for all health care in the state. CUHA is designed to provide affordable health insurance coverage with an extensive benefits package, while controlling health care costs and improving health care outcomes. Recent studies have shown that a single-payer system like that proposed in CUHA can provide health care coverage for all state residents and still save money on overall health care expenditures. CUHA was introduced as Senate Bill 840 during the last legislative session and passed both houses of the legislature, but was vetoed by the governor. It has been re-introduced this year.

Richard Watters, Co-Chair of the Peninsula Chapter of Health Care for All, will speak about the inadequate quality of health care and what to do about it. He will also describe challenges that patients and medical professionals encounter in the current system of care.

The meeting is sponsored by the Coastside Democrats and the Peninsula Chapter of Health Care for All-California. The public is invited and admission is free.

For additional information, call Dennis Paull, 650-712-0498

Applications are being accepted for membership in the 2007-2008 county grand jury. The deadline is April 13.  You must be a resident of San Mateo county for more than a year, a citizen of the United States, 18 years of age or older, of "ordinary intelligence, sound judgment and good character", and have "sufficient" knowledge of the English language. Elected public officials are not eligible to serve. Application forms can be obtained by writing Grand Jury Clerk, Court Executive Office, 400 County Center, Redwood City, CA 94063 or telephoning (650) 599-1711.

For those of you who were unable to attend the water board meeting held 02/15/07, or could not view it on MCTV, the Montara Water and Sanitary District board adopted the resolution to increase water rates as prescribed in their December 2006 communication under prop 218.
 
There were approximately 40 letters received by the board from Moss Beach and Montara parcel owners voicing opposition to the rate increases from the approximate 1950 parcels, to which the board mailed letters to, 

This does not sit completely right with me, seeing since 80 percent of these owners actively participated and voted to take control of the water system as a way to contain costs and have more of a say in their precious resources. 

I can only surmise that those 1900 parcels that did not send their concerns to the board are in either completely in favor of the rate increases; and agree that it is a necessary evil, or that the owners of those parcels did not take notice to the, seemingly, camouflaged 218 communication contained in the monthly news letter sent during the Holiday Season. 

While I was opposed to the rate increase, I realize the need for the for the cost increases, and can only hope that the board will do their best to communicate these, and the other increases required, under prop 218, better to us.

It would make me rest easier to hear what other rate payers think about this matter, being that they and the board are members of the community too. I would like to see politics and community working in unison, and not have to second guess if the neighborhood had been hoodwinked in order to advance an agenda no matter how valid the need is.

I look forward to reviewing your posts.

Thank you

Joel Colletti

At Tuesday’s meeting [Agenda], the Half Moon Bay City Council had a light agenda, but it was marked by the appearance of more than 100 supports of Coastside Gourmet Coffee.

Two items were removed from the consent agenda for further discussion and a separate vote: the removal of the mandatory seat for a Midcoast resident on the Parks and Recreation Commission and the second reading of changes to the campaign finance ordinance changes.

• Proclamations and presentations | Quicktime | Flash |
• City Council reports | Quicktime | Flash |
• Staff reports | Quicktime | Flash |
• Oral communications | Quicktime | Flash |
• Consent agenda | Quicktime | Flash |
• Treasurer’s report | Quicktime | Flash | Documents |
• Permits for Poplar Beach parking lot | Quicktime | Flash | Documents |
• Elimination of required Midcoast resident on Parks and Recreation Commission | Quicktime | Flash | Documents |
• Second reading of campaign finance ordinance changes | Quicktime | Flash | Documents |

Since our last post about the sale of property on Cabrillo Highway to Coastside County Water District (CCWD) director Ken Coverdell, a couple of additional details have emerged about the value of the property, how it was sold, and the review process.

According to the purchase agreement [pdf] betwen the city and Coverdell, the property was last sold in 1982 at a price of $100,500. The current price, negotiated between Half Moon Bay and Coverdell, is $180,000. During the HMB Planning Commission meeting of last week two members cited nearby, similar-sized properties advertised to the public in the range $275,000 to $350,000. Coverdell is quoted in the County Times as saying that he was unable to sell his adjacent parcel for $150,000 because the land is zoned for visitor-serving commercial development, not residential. Ken Coverdell is the owner of the Half Moon Day landscaping firm Blue Sky Design.

The deal between the City and Coverdell was negotiated by the prior City Council in June of 2005 in a closed session. It was to expire on July 13, 2006, but was extended by the current city council. This property was the subject of another closed-door session on December 20, 2005 attended by then-Mayor Marina Fraser, current Mayor Naomi Patridge, David Gorn (since replaced by John Muller), Jim Grady, and Bonnie McClung. According to minutes of that meeting the price and terms of payment for the property are still under negotiation [pdf].

The Planning Commission’s efforts to look into the circumstances of the sale may be in vain. The resolution passed by a 4-3 vote last Thursday failed to include a deadline for city staff. Without an explicit deadline the resolution, and city staff’s obligation to respond to the questions of the Planning Commission, expires after forty days.

Coastsider had the only camera at the commission meeting, which is one of the most dramatic local board meetings we have seen in some time.

Full meeting (1 hour) | Quicktime | Flash |

Highlights (about 10 min) | Quicktime | Flash |

Who knew? I looked at the January 11th Planning Commission (PC) Agenda prior to the meeting. There were two items on it; both had staff recommendations for postponement to a future PC meeting. It should have been a 15 minute meeting (Pledge of Allegiance, couple of light hearted jokes, attention to each item, and adjournment), leaving everyone time for a beer after the meeting before going home. I decided not to go. Little did I know.

Although I don’t condone the berating of our Planning Director by two of our PC Commissioners, where instead Robert’s Rules of Order, decorum in debate, should have prevailed, they exposed more than a few very important points. I commented on these at the January 25th PC meeting. I’d like to share those concerns with a broader audience.

First, the Planning Director works for the City Manager, who serves at the pleasure of the City Council. He does not work for the PC. He is there as a resource, and to help guide the PC; that’s it, period! In addition, the Chair of the PC is charged with maintaining order at the meetings; he did not. Our Planning Director did nothing knowingly wrong and civility and respect is a required component at all public meetings.
 
I was present at the City Council meeting a year ago when the Administrative CDP process was discussed. The purpose was clear to everyone. It was intended as a means of reducing the PC workload. That might include replacing a sidewalk in one’s front yard, or perhaps replacing a balcony, or building a dog house in one’s back yard. I don’t recall a $22 Million project, in the center of town, being part of the deal. I think it’s fair to say that the Administrative CDP process needs clarification and hopefully will get that attention shortly, as a result of this action. That’s a good thing.

The sale of land by the city of Half Moon Bay to an elected water district director has set off a controversy in the city’s planning commission.

In April 2005, in a closed session, the City Council agreed to sell a lot on Highway 1, just north of the former Ono Grill [Google map], to Ken Coverdell, the owner of an adjacent lot. Coverdell is a director the County Coastside Water District (CCWD). Coverdell plans to merge the two lots in order to build an undisclosed visitor-serving project. The sale came before the planning commission because the city still hasn’t completed the sale, which it must do before Coverdell can apply for a permit.

Planning Commissioner Kevin Lansing has raised concerns that the selling price of $180,000 was significantly less than the property is worth.  Citing advertisements for similar property in the most recent Half Moon Bay Review, some commissioners suggested that value was closer to $275,000 to $300,000. Lansing was also concerned that the city agreed to pay half the closing costs for the sale when the usual practice is for the buyer to pay.

Several questions were raised at the meeting that remain to be answered. City staff contend that the planning commission has no right to question a sale that was decided by the city council and that because the decision was made in a closed session, the city doesn’t have to reveal how it came to a price.

In one dramatic moment, after a motion was seconded and just before the mattter came to a vote, city staff produced a letter from the city attorney that it offered to share with the commission during a recess on as privileged basis.

The plannning commission voted to continue the item, with direction to staff to bring back evidence to show whether the City had received fair value for the property and whether the land had been offered in a way that would allow other members of the public a chance to make an offer. The motion passed 4 to 3. Voting yes: Kevin Lansing, Jack McCarthy, Linda Poncini, Doug Snow. Voting No: Thomas Roman, Patric Johnsson, Jeff Allis

This is not a simple partisan squabble of the type that the Coastside is used to.  The deal was made by the previous city council majority (council members Mike Ferreira, Jim Grady, Marina Fraser, and David Gorn were in the closed meeting) to Coverdell, a CCWD director and political ally of the current city council majority.  Lansing was nominated to the planning commission by David Gorn.