Jan McFarland-Brown of Farallone View Elementary School, in Montara, recently took her class to Año Nuevo to see the elephant seals. She kindly allowed me to film their trip. Warning/Guarantee: The video depicts large, sometimes violent mammals doing things that large, sometimes violent mammals do in the wild. Viewer discretion is advised.

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A sinkhole measuring 11 feet deep and 30 feet wide has opened below the sidewalk on Beach Blvd near Pacifica Pier, reports Julia Scott in the County Times.

Sinkholes are common along Beach Boulevard, although rarely do they go undetected for so long, according to Holmes. He said the city had already detected two smaller gaps developing under the sidewalk closer to Paloma Avenue, a quarter-mile away. The last big problem developed after the El Niño winter storms of 1998, when part of the seawall was so weak that it pulled away from the street and collapsed into the ocean. The water rushing in created a sinkhole about 30 feet north of the current one, according to Holmes.

...Public Works parks supervisor Ron Fasconda, explained that over time, the force of the waves had eroded the protective metal sheet at the base of Pacifica Pier. The water then worked its way behind the concrete-reinforced rocks piled up behind it and started digging the sand and dirt out from underneath the sidewalk. He said the repairs would only take a couple of days once begun.

Caltrans will begin excavation for the Devil’s Slide tunnel by late March or early April, reports the Mercury News. Caltrans expects to complete the bridge over Shamrock Ranch at the south entrance by the end of 2008.

Gulf of the Farallones and Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuaries Joint Advisory Council meets this Thursday, Feb. 15 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Our Lady of the Pillar Church, the Bell Building, 540 Kelly Ave., Half Moon Bay.

One of the most ominous threats to the health of the our ocean’s environment and marine life in the Mid-Coast is S.M. County’s continued approval of all of the inappropriate residential over-development of groups of Antiquated 25’ Sub-Standard Lots in East Hillside Areas & West Side Bluff Areas of Miramar that destroys Coastal/Ocean Viewsheds which is a Coastal Resource and where domestic water wells being allowed strains shared aquifers. All of the McMansions being constructed in these two fragile areas are a DIRECT threat to the ocean. 

It is especially concerning that the County’s so-called "LCP Update" is proposing that 3,500 sq.ft. or above yet under the 5,000 sq.ft. Zoning Lot Minimum Requirement for El Granada, Princeton, Moss Beach & Montara be considered, BUILDABLE AS A MATTER OF RIGHT and that anything rolled in & bolted down or constructed on the multitude of Antiquated 25’ Sub-Standard Lots (there are at least 800 of these tiny lots in the Granada Sanitary District Service Area alone)in singles or in groups that the County terms as being "Affordable" or "Market Rate" Housing won’t be included in their yearly Growth Rate Controls.

Keep in mind none of these tiny lots are even expressed in County’s old, over-estimated LCP Buildout Numbers from the 1980’s upon which they erroneously based all of their out-of-scale assumptions upon for water & sewer infrastructure expansions, plans for water supply additions, road expansion projects, urbanizing park/rec. projects. Note that the County’s LCP Update materials state that this Coastside’s schools will be run year around in order to accomodate all of the additional students.

You will be able to express your concerns about over-development at this meeting. And, it is also important that you fax letters of concern to the Coastal Commission c/o Rebecca Roth & Ruby Pap at (415) 904-5400 as they are examining the County’s LCP Update at this time and will benefit from your input.

Barb Mauz

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.

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• 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 |

Pacifica has moved one step closer to Calera Parkway Project—widening Highway 1 between Fassler Avenue and Westport Drive. The San Mateo County Transportation Authority has approved $1.2 million toward an environmental review.

The project has been in the works for 18 years.

The last step in what the environmental review process — which precedes the engineering process, the bidding process and eventually, the construction process — will focus on gaining approval from federal and state regulatory agencies, such as the California Department of Fish and Game, the California Coastal Commissionand U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said Transportation Authority spokesman Jonah Weinberg.

No doubt, many Pacificans are hoping that the review will jump-start the highway widening — but some wish that the regulatory agencies will put the kibosh on the proceedings. Leading the charge against construction is the Sierra Club, which believes that expanding Highway 1 will infringe upon a coastal zone inhabited by such endangered species as the red-legged frog and the San Francisco garter snake.

Opponents are also concerned that the highway widening will fuel development on Pacifica’s hillsides that will eliminate any traffic congestion relief.

The Farallones Marine Sanctuary is looking for volunteer naturalists to help promote ocean awareness in the sanctuary’s Visitor Center in the Presidio of San Francisco, or at community outreach events throughout the Bay Area.

An initial Naturalist Orientation will be held on Saturday, March 10th from 10am to noon at the sanctuary’s offices, Building 991 Marine Drive, on Crissy Field Beach in the Presidio of San Francisco, California 94129. RSVP to Joanne Mohr at 415/ 561-6625, ext 307.

By a unanimous vote, the Planning Commission of the City of Half Moon Bay on February 8 approved permits for the construction of the Coastside Adult Community Center, a joint project of Senior Coastsiders and the Coastside Adult Day Health Center.
 
The center will house current and expanded services that the two Half Moon Bay organizations will offer to the area’s growing population of seniors and disabled adults. The 23,000-square-foot building will be located on 1.4 acres of now vacant land at the corner of Main Street and Arnold Way in Half Moon Bay, adjacent to the Lesley Gardens senior residence. 

Beach Blvd in Pacifica, which is three blocks closer to the ocean than it was a century ago, continues to be battered by waves that seem to be getting closer all the time. Julia Scott has a disquieting article in the County Times about the imperative to build on the coast:

The length of Beach Boulevard is fortified by concrete sea walls bolstered by heavy rocks that line the beach, but recent events have proved once again how vulnerable the system is when faced with the ceaseless, heavy, pounding tides. Last week, city workers finished filling a 30-foot-wide sinkhole that developed under the sidewalk of Beach Boulevard when the sea wall was breached, giving the ocean access to layers of sand and soil behind it.

Residents of Beach Boulevard now make a habit of leaving their garage doors partially open so the pressure of the water washing into their driveways doesn’t break them open.

The Pacifica Planning Commission has approved a nine-unit condominium building with underground parking on Beach Blvd. The developer is adding to the existing sea wall and installing pumps in the garage.

There are some contradictory quotes from Pacifica’s director of public works. He says of a dozen homes on unstable dunes the city has had to buy: "That whole area should be a sand dune. The decision to develop it was made in 1906." But of developments 2007, he says,  "I don’t think you should restrict building. You just have to provide means to address these things. You can raise your foundation up or put your driveway on a side street. You design around it."