UPDATED with Windows Media files

The big dispute the Tuesday’s Half Moon Bay City Council meeting was over whether the council should accept an administrative Coastal Development Permit for the renovations of the the Cunha Middle School. This item was taken off the Consent Agenda and moved to the end of the meeting to allow for discussion.

Several speakers said that the hearing was poorly publicized over the holidays and that it was inappropriate for the city’s planning director to grant a CDP for what will be the largest downtown project in the city’s history without a hearing before the Planning Commission.  Planning Commissioner Kevin Lansing filed a protest with the council that raised several questions about the process [PDF]. Council members Grady and Muller voted to refer the matter to the Planning Commission, but were overruled by Patridge, McClung, and Fraser who accepted the CDP as granted. The permit is likely to be appealed to the Planning Commission.

The council also voted to make the Midcoast membership on the Parks and Recreation Commission optional rather than required.  Council members Patridge, McClung, and Fraser voted yes. Muller and Grady voted against.

The meeting also marked Naomi Patridge’s first city council meeting presiding as mayor in this term—this is her fifth term as mayor.

The clips of the Parks and Recreation Commission and CDP discussions are both worth watching if you’re too busy to watch everything.

The agenda is posted on the city’s web site.  Individual items below are linked to supporting documents on the city’s site.

• Mayor (incoming/outgoing) comments   | Quicktime | WMP |
• Presentations/Proclamations   | Quicktime | WMP |
• Oral Communications   | Quicktime | WMP |
• Council Member Reports   | Quicktime | WMP |
• Staff Reports   | Quicktime | WMP |
• Consent Calendar   | Quicktime | WMP |
• Making Midcoast member of Parks and Recreation Commission a optional rather than required position   | Quicktime | WMP |
• Appointments to boards and commissions   | Quicktime | WMP |
• Mayor’s Appointments   | Quicktime | WMP |
• Proposed Transient Occupancy (Hotel) Tax Rate Ballot Measure   | Quicktime | WMP |
• Measure A Phasing Agreement for an Affordable Housing Project at 501 Church Street   | Quicktime | WMP |
• Granting mayor selection authority   | Quicktime | WMP |
• Approval of administrative CDP for Cuhna renovations (removed from Consent Calendar)   | Quicktime | WMP |

The following article is from a January, 1947 issue of the Half Moon Bay Review

Can anyone give a me a definitive answer on just what exactly is going on with the tree cutting near the hilltop store/goat pen? I am definitely out of the loop but I am surprised that there is so little talk about what is going on. Most of the pine trees are gone and now several Eucalyptus trees are gone. What else is going to disappear? I heard two explanations. Either this is part of the widening of 92 @ Main street project or this has to do with giving the power lines freedom from the encroaching Pine trees.

Where can I get answers concerning the the HMB municipal infrastructure? Like the big golf ball that appeared without advanced notice, it seems as though some highly visible projects commence with very little advanced notice and then some projects which are highly anticipated (proposed community park/recreation area behind Stone Pine)that just seem to languish without any update as to progress (or lack of) on the issue.

P.S. I appreciate the Coastsider for giving us some kind of public forum for our community concerns.

John Marshall
Half Moon Bay

The Half Moon Bay reported incorrectly in last week’s interview with David Iverson that the League for Coastside Protection evolved from Neighbors’ Alliance.  I would like to clear up a few of the articles misconceptions and add some history to the January 3, 2007 article.   

Neighbors’ Alliance was primarily founded to oppose the development of North Wavecrest so naturally its membership was composed of people from Arleta Park and Alsace Lorraine.  The rest of the Coastside was not included in the Neighbors’ Alliance.  Realizing the entire Coastside needed an opportunity to voice their concerns on the decision making policies of both the Midcoast and the city of HMB, the Coastal Alliance came into being, none of the founders being members of Neighbor’s Alliance.  This new organization was formed to include the entire Coastside in all political and environmental deliberations and actions but the members were all separate organizations making voting difficult under one umbrella.

About this time, David Iverson started leaning towards developing North Wavecrest, putting the middle school there and essentially changing the philosophy and mission statements of this group.  Speaking as one of the former Vice-Presidents of Neighbors’ Alliance, the foundation of this organization’s mission statement made a complete, unilateral turn around. So, it is a correct statement by the Review to say that the Alliance gave a lot of assistance to the increase of membership in organizations like The League for Coastside Protection which better reflected our vision. The Neighbors’ Alliance fell into inactivity a long time ago due to the course it took, specifically around the ongoing Wavecrest issue.  

According to the article, Mr. Iverson concludes that we activists no longer need Political Action Committees in place or "legal actions or measures" since there no longer are any growth issues on the Coastside.  One can conclude then that we have no wetland debates, all endangered species are protected, zero lawsuits are pending and there are no more questions on land use issues.  One could also interpret these statements that the citizens of Half Moon Bay all vote the same way and the League for Coastside Protection doesn’t have to ensure that the Coastal Act is upheld.  Measure D did get the growth rate down to 1%, but since it hasn’t been implemented yet, there is no basis for any type of activism shift. as is suggested. It is crucial that the Measure D growth limit be established. The California Coastal Commission needs watchdog organizations to help them be aware of and understand local land use policies and be informed when voters pass measures which sit unheeded for years.  Coastside activists should still continue to be ever vigilant of large developments and we will always require fundraising efforts to support these endeavors.

There are many land use issues outstanding on the Coastside in which the League for Coastside Protection is actively involved. Front page news includes Wavecrest, bluff-top antiquated subdivisions, Princeton’s Big Wave project, The Ailanto Property Settlement Agreement, Beachwood, the Community Park, The Boys’ and Girls’ Club and 92/Main Street Improvement.  There is always a lot of work ahead of us to maintain the character of our Coastside so in reality, no era ended at all, just the demise of an organization that changed its politics midstream.  It remains clear that growth related issues are not a thing of the past. 

Even though many people were saddened and disappointed by David Iverson’s ideological change, he is recognized and applauded for all the good achievements he helped accomplish prior to the changing of his politics. I think I can speak for the many people who moved their membership from the Alliance to the League for Coastside Protection that we prefer to remember the times when he was with us.

Dana M. Kimsey
Half Moon Bay`

The county Parks Department will hold a series of meetings on the Midcoast to discuss the development of an implementation plan for Midcoast parks.

At the meetings, the county will be looking for two members from each Midcoast community (Montara, Moss Beach, Princeton, and El Granada) to service on the planning committee, which will also include representatives from Half Moon Bay Parks & Recreation Commission, Cabrillo Unified School District, Midcoast Community Council, and Midcoast Parklands.  The county hopes to have the planning team established by the end of January.

The planning team will "help synthesize public input and prepare for public meetings".  The public meetings will begin in February, completing by July a prioritized implementation plan, an implementation organization, and funding sources.

In October 2002, the San Mateo County Parks Department completed a Mid-Coast Recreational Needs Assessment. 

On December 18, 2006, San Mateo County Parks Department held a public meeting at Seton Hospital to outline a process for completing an implementation plan to provide for the Midcoast’s recreational needs. [PowerPoint presentation and meeting notes from County]

Coastsiders with questions can contact Senior Park Planner Sam Herzberg at 650/363-1823.

Moss Beach
January 11, 2007
7:00 – 8:30 p.m.
Seton Medical Center, Fireside Room, 600 Marine Blvd., Moss Beach

Montara
January 16, 2007
7:00 – 8:30 p.m.
Seton Medical Center, Fireside Room, 600 Marine Blvd., Moss Beach

El Granada
January 17, 2007
7:00 – 8:30 p.m.
El Granada Elementary School, Multipurpose Room, 400 Santiago Street, El Granada

Miramar/Princeton
January 29, 2007
7:00 – 8:30 p.m.
Harbor House Conference Room, 107 Broadway, Princeton-by-the-Sea

Once again, two people exhaled at the same time, and the power went out again on the dark side of Montara.  For those of you outside the immediate area, the dark side of Montara is anything east of Birch Street, extending almost as far as Etheldore Street in Moss Beach.  My wife has lived here for over 30 years, and she says its always been like this.  The power goes out between 4 and 12 times every season, often for no discernable reason.  We can look across the lots in front of us, and one block to the east on Birch Street, the power is ALWAYS on when ours is out.

So far, it’s been out four times this season, including about 22 out of 26 hours from 6:15PM on Tuesday, December 26 to 10:00 PM December 27.  Tonight, January 3, it went out for 45 minutes, with no sign of rain or wind anywhere around this home.

I’d like to know more about what the problem is.  Is it always the same place, or are there multiple places around the wooded areas where branches keep knocking the trees down?

I read other stories from earlier in the year about hearings being held, and nothing being done, as usual.  I wrote a letter to the PUC after the Dec 26-27 fiasco, but what else can we do?

Is there anyone in the community with the energy to take this on?  I’ve been working on the stormwater drainage problem, and that’s as much as I can or want to take on.

Is there enough community will to raise enough hell to get somebody’s attention?  Or do we each head to Home Depot, each get a generator, and each add our little bit to global warming?

Stephen Lowens

The state Supreme Court will probably have to decide which old subdivision maps are legal, reports the Chronicle.  For example, one landowner wants to subdivide prime agricultural land in Solano County for houses.

Ferrari, however, claims in an October Superior Court case that he has a detailed drawing that shows his land was subdivided nearly a century ago into roughly 10-acre rectangular parcels. County officials say the map, filed with the county recorder in 1909, has no legal effect.

"Either it’s a real map or it isn’t,’’ said Ferrari, the owner of a Mountain View engineering firm whose family bought the farmland on Abernathy Road as an investment two decades ago. He quit farming it over the last three years because it lost money, he said.

Ferrari’s case could have enormous statewide development implications because the number of so-called antiquated subdivisions or ghost lots shown on historic maps is estimated in the hundreds of thousands.

This case and others in three more counties may have to be eventually decided by the Supreme Court. Some counties don’t accept maps drawn before 1929, about the time counties began to decide land use.  Landowners’ attorneys argue that maps going back to the state’s first subdivision maps laws in 1893 should be valid.

San Mateo County Parks Department is holding a public meeting to discuss implementation of its Mid-Coast Recreational Needs Assessment [pdf’s]. The Needs Assessment was completed in October 2002 by the Parks Department.

Dave Holland, the County Parks and Recreation Director, and resident of Half Moon Bay, and Sam Herzberg, the Senior Parks Planner will be on hand. Holland’s presentation will cover the needs analysis with specifics on what has been done and what the plan.

December 18, 2006
7:00pm
Seton Medical Center, Fireside Room
600 Marine Blvd, Moss Beach
 
 

For many years, an 80 foot dish antenna atop Pillar Point was a Coastside landmark.  Then it disappeared.  Recently a smaller new antenna was installed.  According to a staff member, by Christmas a dome will be covering the new antenna to protect it from the salt air.

This tracking station on Pillar Point is part of Vandenberg Air Force Base.

UPDATED Saturday 12/2: Streaming video of the entire workshop is now online from Coastsider

Tuesday November 21, the Half Moon Bay City Council considered a draft environmental impact report for the Terrace Avenue stoplight [Background and draft EIR]. You can download a PDF of the PowerPoint presentation made to the city council by its consultants.

The plan would involve adding a traffic signal at Terrace, realignment and widening Highway 1, stop signs, retaining walls, a barricade at Silver Avenue, and pavement removal.  Click on the photo for a larger view.

The residents of Terrace Avenue have been fighting this plan for some time. As a result of numerous requests from Terrace Avenue residents, council members Bonnie McClung, Marina Fraser, and Naomi Patridge supported the exploration of what came to be known in the meeting as the "no light alternative".  The city council voted unanimously to ask the City staff to explore the implications of putting no light at the intersection of Terrace Avenue and Highway 1. One of the more complex issues is that the proposed light would be paid for by Ailanto Properties, the developers of Pacific Ridge, which would use Terrace Avenue to connect to Highway 1.

The public still has until the December 15 deadline to comment on the draft Environmental Impact Report.

• Opening: Public comment, staff and council reports [ Quicktime | WMP ]
• Workshop, Part I [ Quicktime | WMP ] (about 60 min)
• Workshop, Part II [ Quicktime | WMP ] (about 60 min)
• Council members’ discussion [ Quicktime | WMP ] (about 60 min)