Half Moon Bay High School defeated Monterey 24-12 to earn a slot in the Central Coast Section title game.  This is the first time the Cougars have played for the title, according to the County Times.

But in Saturday’s Small School Division playoff semifinal at Foothill College, fourth-seeded Half Moon Bay surprised everyone with a new wrinkle — the short passing game. Senior quarterback Nick Trautman threw for 167 yards and two touchdowns — including 94 yards and a score to Ricky Simms — as the Cougars beat Monterey 24-12 to earn a berth in the CCS title game for the first time in school history.

Half Moon Bay will play No.2 Seaside (10-2) on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Foothill College.  Both teams are 10-2. From the Chronicle:

Half Moon Bay High football coach Matt Ballard uses many words to describe his team—tough, hard-nosed and ornery, among others—but after Saturday’s game, he gave his players the ultimate compliment.

"They’re undersized, they look slow, but you can’t put a price on their competitiveness," Ballard said.

Crab fishermen have come to an agreement with processors, $1.75 per pound, and crab fishing has begun, according to the Chronicle. Although the story mentions only San Francisco, the Half Moon Bay fleet is included.

Last year, the processors paid crabbers $1.75 a pound. The harvest yielded 23.7 million pounds.

Pete Kalvass, a marine biologist for the California Department of Fish and Game, said this year’s catch may not be as abundant.

"It’s pretty safe to say that coming off back-to-back record years, this season’s catch will be smaller,’’ Kalvass predicted.

Still, he said, the take for local fishers may prove bountiful. The start of the crab season north of Mendocino and into Oregon and Washington has been delayed until at least Dec. 15. And fishermen who come into the Central California waters and make a landing would see the start of their season delayed even longer, under government regulations set up to protect local crabbers.

Kevin J. Lansing is a planning commissioner for the City of Half Moon Bay. The views presented in this article represent his concerns as an individual Coastside resident. The Board of Supervisors is set to resume public hearings on the Midcoast Local Coastal Program (LCP) update on Tuesday, December 6 from 2pm to 5pm at a Coastside location to be announced. Coastsider encourages you to attend this meeting and tell the supervisors what you think. The real estate and construction industries are expected to be there in full force.

UPDATED: Coastsider now has updated PDF’s of all three letters from the Coastal Commission to the Board of Supervisors.

Imagine the Midcoast (El Granada, Miramar, Moss Beach, and Montara) with 3400 additional houses—-a figure that would just about double the number of housing units that exist today. Figuring at least two cars per household (a conservative estimate), now try to imagine a 4-lane version of Highway 1 (think Pacifica) running past Surfer’s Beach in El Granada, with daily bumper-to-bumper traffic during commuting hours (again, think Pacifica). This is the future envisioned by San Mateo County Supervisors Richard Gordon and Jerry Hill, who comprise a special subcommittee making planning recommendations to the full Board of Supervisors.

After a 6-month hiatus, the Board of Supervisors is set to resume public hearings on the Midcoast Local Coastal Program (LCP) update. The next hearing will be held on Tuesday, December 6 from 2pm to 5pm at a Coastside location to be announced. Residents can provide comments to the Board either in writing or in person. You can download the staff report and subcommittee recommendations that will be discussed at this meeting from Coastsider.
Covering 23 Key Issues involving residential buildout numbers, annual growth limits, and infrastructure expansion plans, the subcommittee’s recommendations include the following:

• Allow an additional 3000-3400 housing units beyond the approximately 3700 units that exist today.

 

• Establish an annual residential growth rate of 1.9%, or about 75 new units per year. This figure is lower than the currently-allowed rate of 125 units per year, but substantially higher than the historical average rate of 52 units per year.

 

• Encourage the construction of "affordable housing" on hundreds of nonconforming, substandard lots by: (1) providing a bonus floor area ratio, (2) reducing the requirements for providing off-street parking, (3) waiving permit fees and expediting processing, (4) allowing access to priority water and sewer connections, and (5) pre-approving a set of standard house designs.

 

• Exempt new affordable housing, second-units, and caretaker’s quarters when figuring the annual growth limit.

 

• Widen Highway 1 to four lanes "within the urban Midcoast" to accommodate peak commuter traffic.

 

• Expand the water supply system to "Phase 2" to accommodate the Midcoast buildout vision.

The above recommendations, if adopted and carried out, would dramatically accelerate the loss of the unique rural and agricultural character of the Coastside. Many of the subcommittee’s recommendations appear to have little or nothing to do with the balanced principles set forth in the California Coastal Act, but rather are designed to help the County meet its objectives for providing new housing in the Bay Area over the next several decades. Policies for encouraging new housing belong in the Housing Element of the County’s General Plan, not in the Midcoast LCP (which is the local implementation of the California Coastal Act).

The idea of exempting several categories of new housing units from a higher-than-historical growth limit subverts the whole purpose of a limit; it would allow construction of an unlimited number of exempt housing units that impose just as much stress on Coastside infrastructure (roads, schools, water, and sewer) as any other type of residential housing unit. It’s also worth noting that the proposed growth limit applies only to residential units; it does not in any way restrain the rate of commercial development that can also impose great demands on the infrastructure. A perfect example is the "Harbor Village" project now under construction in Princeton, which will accommodate up to 450 cars.

While it is true that an annual residential growth limit provides some relief to the overburdened infrastructure, any proposed growth rate that leaves the final buildout numbers unchanged will only serve to postpone the day of reckoning when gridlock sets in for the Midcoast. Good planning for the future requires that decisions about infrastructure expansion be closely integrated with decisions about land use and development. No such integration is apparent in the subcommittee’s infrastructure recommendations. Instead, they appear to be saying "If we build it, they will come."

Regrettably, the subcommittee’s recommendations mostly ignore the detailed input provided by the California Coastal Commission staff in three lengthy letters [Download February 16, March 7, and March 28 letters from Coastsider] sent earlier this year to the Board of Supervisors. Some relevant quotes from those letters include:

 

• "[W]e do not agree that affordable housing units and second units should not be counted under the annual growth rate limit."

 

• "[W]e recommend that the LCP language clarify that the buildout estimates are the planned theoretical maximum buildout of the community, assuming consistency with all other LCP policies. In other words, the LCP should acknowledge that the buildout estimates…are therefore not an entitlement to a particular density or intensity of development."

 

• "Plans for expanding the capacity of public works such as sewer and water that can be potentially growth inducing and lead to greater traffic should only proceed after roadways capacity has been increased sufficiently. However, we realize that the potential to significantly improve Highway 1 and 92 are extremely limited, therefore, the more realistic solution for easing traffic congestion in the area is to reduce total demand on the roadways. Policies should prohibit potentially growth inducing public works projects and reduce the amount of available opportunities for new development."

 

• "Prohibit new subdivisions until such time as there is adequate infrastructure capacity to support such development."

Before becoming part of the Midcoast LCP, the subcommittee’s recommendations must first be approved by the full Board of Supervisors and then ultimately certified by the California Coastal Commission. Citizens who are concerned about the future of the Coastside have the opportunity (and perhaps the obligation) to participate fully in each phase of the approval process.

Crab fishermen and processors may be near an agreement that will end the tie-up at the docks.  The County Times says that fishermen are hopeful they’ll come to an agreement with the processor who has been holding out.  The paper says that fishermen are looking for $1.85 per pound, but the highest offer is still $1.75, and that fishermen were being paid $1.75 per pound for crab 20 years ago.

The season in the north California coast, Oregon and Washington has been put off by at least two more weeks because the crabs aren’t mature yet.

Sonrisas Community Dental Center in Half Moon Bay provides service to low-income families on the Coastside.  The County Times has a nice story by Julia Scott about the good work they do. Sonrisas sees 1,900 kids a year. Seventy percent come from Spanish-speaking families; many are children of farmworkers.

The story points out one interesting consequence of development that has outstripped our water system: these kids are getting water from wells that has not been fluoridated.

A heroic El Granada man boarded and stopped a driverless minivan going in circles in reverse on Avenida Portola. A four-year-old was strapped into a carseat aboard the out-of-control car.  A nanny had left the car running and the child in the seat, says the County Times.

The Mavericks big-wave surf contest will be held on the Coastside again in 2006. Twenty-four of the best big-wave surfers will be on 24-hour call between January 1 and March 31. The organizers have added a gimmick this year, allowing fans to vote on who gets five of the coveted slots to compete. From the press release:

When Mavericks roared through Half Moon Bay last March, 30,000 spectators and two million television viewers in 70 countries watched the best big-wave riders on the planet conquer waves that crested at nearly 50 feet, frigid waters, dangerous currents, jagged rocks and the ever-present threat of the Great White Shark. Last year’s contest was dominated by 20-year-old local surfer Anthony Tashnick, who will be one of the key threats in this year’s contest. According to Contest Director Jeff Clark: “Anthony was rock-solid all day long, consistently riding the best of the big waves. He’ll definitely be a contender again this year.”

That’s right, the great white shark will be adding to this year’s excitement.

Click "read more" to see the press release.

The Examiner looks at the December 6 county Board of Supervisors meeting to discuss proposed revisions to the Local Coastal Program (LCP)for the unincorporated Midcoast (Montara, Moss Beach, El Granada). The proposal will reduce the number of new houses that can be built each year from five percent to three percent of total homes.  Over the course of thirty-three years, the number of houses will increase from 3,700 to about 7,000. Both of the Midcoast’s two water systems are already at full capacity.

The Examiner talks to Montara Water and Sanitary District directors Scott Boyd and Kathryn Slater-Carter. Both say that Montara and Moss Beach have already reached the limits of the their water supply.

Boyd, who can remember the area’s former water utility having to truck in water a little more than a decade ago, said the proposal is unrealistic. Much of the water and sewer system currently in place — including many privately owned lines — are so old and dilapidated they can hardly handle the current demand, Boyd said.

“I guess I’m disappointed,” said Kathryn Slater-Carter, vice-chairwoman of the Midcoast Community Council and director of the Montara Water and Sanitary District, of the proposal. “They’re making decisions on buildout numbers and groundwater capacity before they even have their groundwater report.” The county’s groundwater report is due in December, but officials couldn’t say Tuesday if it will be complete by Dec. 6.

Meanwhile, the more growth-oriented Coastside County Water District, which serves El Granada, says, "Bring it on."

“The district believes that as the community’s future need for water supply is identified, it will be able to satisfy the requirement of all applicable regulatory agencies,” Schmidt said. “The current CCWD Board of directors is committed to providing a safe and reliable supply of water to meet the communities’ future needs as identified by the County of San Mateo and the city of Half Moon Bay.”

As long as it can make more improvements to its infrastructure, of course. CCWD already buys 70% its water from San Francisco.

Neither MSWD or CCWD has new connections to sell.  New homes in MWSD must use wells.  New home builders in CCWD must either dig wells or buy connections on the open market, which currently sell for about $35,000.

Crab season, wich has been delayed on the Coastside by disputes between fishermen and processors, has now been officially put off until at least December 15.  Fisheries officials in California, Washington, and Oregon have delayed the season for three more weeks because the crabs are no ready to harvest, according to the County Times.

The larger Northern California fishery, which runs from Mendocino County to the Oregon border - along with fisheries in Oregon and Washington - will remain closed at least until mid-December. Tests conducted in Northern California found that most crabs would meet state standards calling for meat to make up 25 percent of body mass by Dec. 1, but populations near Crescent City and the Oregon border would not be ready in time, said DFG marine biologist Peter Kalvass.

Central coast fishermen are meeting Friday to discuss their tie-up, which is a response to low prices from processors.

Patrick Worden, the Santa Rosa man accused of killing two Coastside teens while driving drunk, plans to plead guilty, reports the County Times. He is charged two counts of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated. His car struck Ashley Prather, 16, and Jihan Abdel-Gawad, 18, when they were waiting for help at the side of the road.

Abdel-Gawad lived in Half Moon Bay’s Mirimar community and was attending Skyline College, where she played for the women’s soccer team. Friends said Abel-Gawad had a turbulent youth marked by gangs and substance abuse, but turned her life around to become a model student-athlete. She was Serramonte Del Rey High School’s 2005 valedictorian.

Prather was a longtime friend of Abel-Gawad who recently had moved from Half Moon Bay to Seaside in Monterey County.

The deputy district attorney requested the plea be delayed until more of the victims’ family members could be present.