This week, there was a DUI arrest in La Honda, a Skyline resident discovered that over $4,000 in checks were written against his account, and a boat at Princeton was broken into.

Click "read more" for details.

Highway 1 at Montara was closed around noon on Sunday, January 1, at Montara after a fire on a power pole at the old Charthouse restaurant left a gaping hole.  PG&E crews worked to shore up the pole and the road was reopened about 2pm.

You can see daylight through the break in the power pole.  Click image for larger size.

The election is over.  The election was not a direct choice between Bonnie and I.  Rather,  Bonnie was the third highest vote-getter in a field of six contesting for three seats, and I was the fourth.  The margin between third and fourth place ended up being excruciatingly small but the recount has confirmed that the reduced margin (unofficially, eight votes) is nonetheless a margin in her favor. There’s no rule that modifies the result because of the closeness of the result.  She’s our Councilmember for the next four years.

Let’s think back to the campaign.  Bonnie did not engage in the divisive rhetoric that various spearchuckers and promoters revelled in.  She kept her message positive.  That wasn’t easy for her given all of the factions that were looking for punch/counterpunch.  Her restraint should be recognized for the strength that it took to maintain it.

There is also political merit in her restraint in that it means she hasn’t publicly committed herself to any radical changes.  Which means she has the flexibility to assess issues on an "as new" basis. Sure, she has a point of view that will affect those assessments. But she also has had a career in government and administration which gives her an inclination toward consensus, not confrontation.  That governmental experience could also be a benefit to the Council’s interaction with City staff.

So, let’s give Bonnie a chance by observing her interaction on the Council on a variety of issues.  By letting her make a number of decisions before we draw any conclusions - we’ll be drawing more accurate conclusions.

Mike Ferreira
Half Moon Bay

Tuesday, January 3, the Half Moon Bay City Council will take up reducing the size of the Planning Commission from seven members with staggered terms to five members whose terms run concurrent with the city council member who appointed them.

To change the ordinance, the City Council is required to vote in two separate meetings.  After the second vote, the citizens who have promised a referendum on the ordinance have 30 days to gather enough signatures to put the measure on the ballot.

Reprinted from California Coastwatcher

For years North Pacifica LLC and the City of Pacifica have tried to develop a sand dune and wetlands into a 43-unit residential subdivision, claiming the project was not appealable to the Califnornia Coastal Commission despite the wetlands. After years of litigation, which the City and the developer lost, the Commission voted 9-0 on December 16, 2005 to validate the appeal and accept the matter for future resolution, assuring permanent protection of the significant wetlands onsite and placing any future development of the site in jeopardy. 

On December 16, 2005 the proposal by the City of Pacifica and North Pacifica LLC to build 43-residential units on the property known as the "Pacifica Bowl" came before the Coastal Commission for a determination of whether the project is appealable to the Commission.

Since the City first approved the project in 2002, and throughout the subsequent years of litigation, the developer and the City have argued that the Coastal Commission cannot review the project despite its proximity to the ocean and the existence of wetlands on the property.

Subsequent analysis has shown at least four wetland areas on the property. The permit approved by the City allows grading and vegetation clearance within 100-ft of at least three of the wetland areas, which would violate both the Local Coastal Plan (LCP) and the Coastal Act. Other evidence indicates that the developer has already engaged in unlawful, unpermitted removal of vegetation on the property.

Finally the project came before the Commission on the appealability question on December 16. Dozens of local residents attended the meeting to speak to the Commission regarding the well established wetlands on the site.

In addition, coastal staff in their analysis supported the Commission’s right to hear the appeal, as well as the existence of the wetlands and the permit’s failure to protect the wetlands. The entire staff report can be downloaded at coastal staff report.

The Commission made quick work of the issue, finding that the wetlands onsite are well documented and the project’s appealability to the Commission obvious and certain.

Following the Commissions unanimous support for appealability, one wonders why the developer spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and years litigating the question when simply allowing the appeal in 2002 would have rendered the project reviewed and finally decided years ago. Now the developer is starting over, having invested way too much money in a project that will have to be significantly altered, if it can be approved at all.

In the end the Commission voted 9-0 to hear the appeal, with Commissioners Shallenberger, Wan, Caldwell, Kruer, Reilly, Neely, Clark, Secord and Potter all in support.

Thousands of rare red phalaropes, many of them hungry, are looking for refuge in Half Moon Bay, reports the Mercury News. The birds normally live many miles offshore and are rarely seen on land. But, apparently driven by the storms that are churning our coast, they’re showing up around the Bay Area, especially on the Coastside, and a flock of 1,200 has been spotted in Half Moon Bay.

Weather may be to blame. The birds float and eat by skimming sea life from the surface of the water. Smaller than a robin, they are easily tossed and turned by turbulent ocean waves and can’t eat under those conditions.

"There are storms across the entire Pacific, from China to the west coast of California. It’s a steady stream of storms, with no break in between them,’’ said Steve Anderson, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Monterey.

Gail Slocum, past mayor of Menlo Park and one of the most dynamic Democratic activists in San Mateo County, will help attendees sharpen their political skills at the next meeting of the Coastside Democrats. In addition to helping clubs maximize their effectiveness, Gail is a proponent of accessible and honest voting systems and energy conservation through plug-in hybrid cars. She is an energy efficiency / regulatory attorney.

The meeting will be held on Thursday, Jan 5th, at 7:30pm at the Lesley Gardens Community Room, 701 Arnold Way, in Half Moon Bay. Lesley Gardens is just north of Grove and Main St.
It is free and open to the public.  For more info, call 712-0498

We will post important and breaking stories as they come to us, but posting will be light until after the new year.

CORRECTION:  The original version of this article said the deadline for both seats was Friday.

Only three days remain to apply for the an open seat representing central and southern San Mateo County on the SamTrans board. The deadline for the seat representing the Coastside is January 20. These seats are vitally important for an area that is poorly-served by the county transit system. The first deadline for applications is Friday at 5pm.

The Coastal Commission is trying to deal with an increasing number of requests to build McMansions on previously open agricultural land on the Southcoast, reports the LA Times. The article describes the struggle Mike Polacek, a professed environmentalist, to build a nearly 5,000-square-foot house on Bean Hollow Road, half a mile from the beach.

"The dot-com boom really changed everything," said Peter Douglas, executive director of the commission. "People with wealth buy 50 or 100 acres just to put a starter castle on it; technology allows them to live remotely and commute electronically.

"We have a history of speculators buying ranches for subdivision; but this is a new phenomenon," Douglas said. "Our farm and remote scenic lands are under pressure by people who want to build these mega-homes."