San Mateo Co.Planning Dept.
Attn: Camille Leung, Planner
455 County Center, 2nd Floor
Redwood City, CA 94063
[email protected]

Re:  Big Wave Project Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR)
 
While I support the needs of the developmentally disabled, I have the following concerns about the adequacy of the DEIR for the Big Wave Project:

•  Visual Impacts:  Without story poles showing the potential visual impacts of the project, it is impossible to determine the project’s impacts on scenic views.  Four 50-foot tall office buildings would be grossly out of scale with the surrounding natural setting and nearby buildings.

•  Traffic: The DEIR defers any traffic mitigations caused by the project’s 2,123 daily trips to some time after full occupancy.

•  Water and Sewer: There is no guaranteed source of water and no guaranteed disposal of sewage, even though the site is served by public water and sewer agencies.

•  Geology:  The DEIR defers analysis of potentially significant impacts of violent shaking during earthquakes, liquefaction, and differential settlement under the buildings until future studies.

•  Hazards: The housing for developmentally disabled people would be located in a Marine Industrial zone, where all but the most hazardous chemicals are allowed.  Additional hazards from flooding, tsunami inundation, and adjacent airport operations make this a problematic site for an at risk population.

•  Affordability and Economic Viability: There are no enforceable income or affordability restrictions on purchase of housing co-op shares or condos.  The project relies on shaky financial assumptions to support the “affordable” housing.

•  Phased Development: The Office Park’s estimated construction period of 30-36 months in the DEIR is not realistic, given the developer’s intent to phase each building’s construction after rental or sale of each previously constructed building.  Wetlands restoration would not be done until after all construction is complete, which would allow stormwater runoff to carry sediment and other pollutants into the Pillar Point Marsh.

•  Isolation and Employment: Wellness Center residents would be isolated from community resources with reduced opportunities to mingle with the community at large.  Many of the Big Wave programs such as raising organic crops do not depend upon this site being developed.

•  Wetlands destruction: The owners of the property have destroyed wetlands under the guise of agriculture. Over 90% of the State’s wetlands have been lost.  The wetlands at Big Wave should be restored.
 
Sign: ______________________________  

Print name: __________________________       Date: _______________

Address: ______________________________

      _______________________________________

Fax Your Letter of Support by 5 pm this Friday, December 4

After nearly 7 years of local public hearings and meetings, boxfuls of written testimony from citizens, and just plain hard work on the part of countless public officials and others, the California Coastal Commission will consider on December 10 whether to approve a major amendment to the Midcoast Local Coastal Program (LCP). This comprehensive planning document will shape the future of Midcoast for the next several decades.

Your help is needed to urge the Coastal Commissioners to adopt the recommended document prepared by the Commission’s professional planning staff. A sample letter that can be faxed to the full set of Commissioners for inclusion in their meeting packets can be found at the end of this article.

Anyone who cares about preserving California’s coast for future generations can and should weigh in, not just residents of the Midcoast.

The Coastal Commission staff’s recommendations include the following:

• An allowable growth rate for the Midcoast of 1 percent, as recommended by the San Mateo County Planning Commission on the basis of numerous local public hearings, and consistent with Half Moon Bay’s 1 percent growth limit.
• A requirement for traffic analysis and mitigation for new development.
• A prohibition against new private residential water wells and new private septic systems until San Mateo County adopts a comprehensive groundwater management plan for the Midcoast.
• A rezoning of the Burnham Strip in El Granada to allow public parking, trails, and public restrooms with an appropriate permit.

A December 2, 2009 article in the San Mateo County Times by Julia Scott describes how the County Board of Supervisors is objecting to the 1 percent growth rate recommendation. The Supervisors, acting in response to heavy lobbying by realtor/developer interests, are seeking to overturn the will of the people and the recommendations of the County’s own Planning Commission. This is wrong.

As stated in the executive summary of the 403-page Coastal Commission staff report:

"The County’s [namely, the Board of Supervisors’] proposal does not sufficiently address the significant public services issues that have arisen since original certification of the LCP in 1981, including physical changes to the environment resulting in significant adverse effects on public health and safety, coastal resources, and coastal access. These changes include significant cumulative development over the last 20 years; increasingly inadequate public works capacities; new water supply issues and constraints, including failed private wells in the urban area; systemic sewage overflows and water quality problems; and severe congestion on the major coastal access routes that is adversely impacting public access to and along the shoreline."
 
A sample letter follows.

There are two important items on the Board of Supervisors agenda.

The Board will consider their position on the Coastal Commission’s recommended modifications to the Midcoast LCP Update AND they will also consider an interim urgency ordinance prohibiting new groundwater drinking wells in most of the Montara and Moss Beach area.  However, Seal Cove is not included in this area, as somehow it was not included in the Kleinfelter Report study area. Seal Cove is one of the most critically short water areas of the Midcoast.

The Big Wave developers will be at the BOS meeting on Tuesday, December 1. And they will also show up at the Coastal Commission hearing in San Francisco on December 10 when they consider taking action on the LCP Amendments. Some of the Coastal Commission staff recommended modifications to the LCP will affect Big Wave, so they will be arguing against them.

There are two very important meeting to attend - next Tuesday at 9:15 at the Board of Supervisors and Thursday, December 10 at the Coastal Commission meeting at City Hall, San Francisco. The San Mateo County item is 18.a., and will be heard sometime in the afternoon.

Board of Supervisors December 1 Agenda

Coastal Commission December Agenda

sabrina brennan
http://www.thepelicaneye.com/

Erosion of Surfers Beach west of El Granada, California, and sedimentation at the adjacent Pillar Point Harbor are both serious problems confronting the Coastside community. Representatives from many interested agencies, as well as members of the public, recently had an opportunity to share an understanding of the history of the area and consider possible approaches towards a solution to these problems.

You can watch the entire 3-hour meeting, including a very informative slide presentation, on MontaraFog at http://www.montarafog.com/Public-Policy/a-solution-for-surfers-beach-in-sight.html

Here’s a brief historical summary:

For millenia before human intervention, ocean waves interacted with relatively soft marine terrace deposits focused by rock outcroppings at Pillar Point and Miramontes Point, forming Half Moon Bay. The wave energy eroded the shoreline and ocean currents moved sediments to form a nearly-perfect log-spiral bay. The shoreline was in stable equilibrium, with typical erosion rates averaging a few inches per year.

In 1959 to 1961, the Army Corps of Engineers constructed the outer breakwater that protects Pillar Point Harbor. The natural ocean dynamics were upset. Wave energy—especially during storms—was refocused just south of the breakwater, on the area known locally as Mirada Surf. According to studies by Ken Lajoie of the U.S. Geological Survey, blufftop erosion rates increased dramatically, at some points reaching five feet per year. One consequence of the manmade wave patterns is the near-total loss of the bluffs at Surfers Beach (and significant loss of sand from the beach itself), as well as continuing loss of the San Mateo County park on Mirada Surf itself.

Meanwhile, littoral transport of sediments out of the part of the ocean that is now Pillar Point Harbor was blocked by the breakwater. The result is gradual filling of portions of the harbor, especially around the boat launch area. At low tide the amount of accumulated sediment is particularly dramatic.

What To Do?

The obvious solution, it would seem, is just to move the unwanted sand inside the harbor to the other side of the breakwater, where it is needed to replenish Surfers Beach and reduce erosion of the Mirada Surf area. But such a simple solution faces seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Of course, just as a starter, no government agency has any money these days to fix problems. But even if money were no object, no one wants to try a quick fix that only results in other environmental problems later.

Experts from the Coastal Sediment Management Workgroup presented some ideas. Surfers Beach is within the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, as well as the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, and legislation prohibits disposal of spoils—i.e., the material that would be dredged from within the harbor—except at designated disposal sites. And Surfers Beach isn’t so designated. As one of the surfers noted, it would literally take an Act of Congress to allow an easy solution.

The group discussed possible approaches that might find support among all of the stakeholders, but as this was just an initial meeting to discuss the situation, nothing was decided.

The San Mateo County Harbor District convened this initial meeting of the Surfers Beach Shoreline Improvement Working Group for Pillar Point Harbor on Tuesday, November 10, 2009, at the Oceano Hotel, chaired by Peter Grenell, Harbor District General Manager. Attendees included representatives from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, California Coastal Commission, Surfrider Foundation, Coastal Sediment Management Workgroup, United States Geological Survey, San Mateo County, and the San Mateo County Resource Conservation District. Brian Overfelt, Bob Battalio, and others spoke on behalf of the Coastside community.

Unfortunately, CalTrans and the City of Half Moon Bay were not represented. Erosion of Surfers Beach threatens the portion of the California Coastal Trail falling within Half Moon Bay city limits, and severe erosion threatens Highway 1. Portions of Mirada Road—the old Coast Highway decades ago—have completely fallen into the Pacific Ocean as a result of significant coastal retreat since the construction of the breakwater.

The Harbor District has not announced the date or location of a follow-up meeting.

The draft Environmental Impact Report for the Big Wave wellness center and office park complex, which is currently being circulated in a formal comment period, lacks a crucial section.  Section IV-N, which deals with utilities (Sewer, Water, Solid Waste, and Energy) is missing from the printed report distributed to county and other government agencies, as well as the public.

The individual section can be downloaded from the county’s website, but it has not been distributed to anyone who is responsible for reviewing the EIR. Nor does the full, downloadable PDF include this crucial section.

The county only required the applicant to print 30 copies of the report, only one of which is available to the public in the Half Moon Bay Library. This was a source of significant concern to attendees at Wednesday’s Midcoast Community Council meeting. Citizens wanting a physical copy have to pay the county about $50 to cover printing costs.

Thanks to Montara Fog for checking the online copy.

The county Planning Department has extended the comment period for the Big Wave Draft Environmental Impact Report by 15 calendar days, citing the length and complexity of the document.

The public review period began on October 22, 2009 and will close at the end of the business day on Tuesday, December, 22, 2009.

The informational Planning Commission hearing scheduled for November 18, 2009 will occur as planned. All other Planning Commission and Board of Supervisor hearings tentatively scheduled to occur in February and March 2010 will be moved two weeks into the future.

The Big Wave draft Environmental Impact Report has been released for public comment.  The San Mateo County Planning Director is giving the Midcoast the minimum allowable CEQA review period, 45 days including the Thanksgiving holiday.  If you would like to request additional time to review the three telephone book thick volumes please go to the Stop Big Wave website.
 
Last week the Big Wave attorney delivered a letter to the County refusing to put up story poles during the CEQA public comment period.  It looks like the community may not see any story poles at all.

If you would like to read a printed copy of the DEIR please got to the HMB Library and ask the librarian for all three volumes. Or read the DEIR on the County website.

I hope to see you at the upcoming DEIR Community Meetings and the Planning Commission Hearing on Nov 18th.  

Sabrina Brennan
www.stopbigwave.org
www.thepelicaneye.com

MCC Special Meeting
Date and Time:  Wednesday, November 4, 2009 - 7:30pm
Location:  Granada Sanitary District
Avenue Alhambra, Meeting Room 504, El Granada
Speaker:  Lisa Grote, County Planning Director
 
MCC Meeting
Date and Time: Wednesday, November 11, 2009 - 7:30pm
Location:  Seton Medical Center, Moss Beach
Agenda:  Big Wave DEIR
 
Planning Commission Preliminary Hearing
Date and Time: Wednesday, November 18, 2009 - 9:00am
Board of Supervisors Chambers
400 County Center, Redwood City
 
End of 45 day Public Comment Period:  Monday, December 7

The MCC will hold a special meeting on Wednesday, November 4 to consider and discuss the committee formation and action plan regarding the Big Wave EIR.
Note that Planning Director Lisa Grote will attand and answer any questions about the EIR process. 

The meeting is at 7:30 at the Granada Sanitary District Meeting Room, 504 Avenue Alhambra, El Granada

The agenda can be found on the MCC website:
http://mcc.sanmateo.org/home.php

To receive agendas via email, subscribe to the Google Group “MCC-Agendas” here:  http://groups.google.com/group/mcc-agendas?hl=en

Pacifica Riptide has the details on 57 acres of hillside up for auction with a reserve of $940,000. From the listing:

The entire property is within the city of Pacifica and a prior owner submitted a plan in 2001 for an eleven-lot subdivision, with the balance of the property (47± acres) to be donated to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area to be used for a trailhead in order to improve public access to Sweeney Ridge. Other options for the property include development of several ocean-view, gated estate compounds with private trail system for hiking and riding horses. The combination of the property’s spectacular ocean views, location next to Golden Gate Recreation Area, proximity to San Francisco and residential zoning provides a new owner with opportunity to create both real estate and conservation values from the purchase of the property at a significant discount, with the added benefit of short-term seller financing. Please Note: Sketch plans are conceptual only. Neither the Seller nor its agents have submitted plans or made any applications to a public agency.

Threshold 2009 will be holding a "Community Conversation" about housing on the coast scheduled for Thursday, October 15 from 6 to 9pm, at the Train Depot, 110 Higgins Canyon Road, Half Moon Bay.

Bring Your Thoughts, Ideas to a Community Conversation on Housing

Every day, news headlines confirm what we all know ~ housing matters!  In fact, the quality of life in our community is directly linked to how we address the challenge of providing homes to people who work and grow up here. If you live or work in Redwood City, Threshold 2009 invite you to join a Community Conversation on long-term housing solutions in San Mateo County. This is part of an ongoing campaign to welcome all perspectives to the table and build a public voice for housing solutions. This is an opportunity to increase understanding, exchange perspectives, and express your views on county-wide housing choices. 

According to their website: "Threshold 2009 was formed to engage the public on housing issues and options in San Mateo County in order to ensure a better long-term quality of life for all who are affected by our housing choices. "

Register online for this event: http://conversation1015.eventbrite.com/