by Kevin Lansing and Steve Terry

Kevin Lansing is a resident of Half Moon Bay. Steve Terry is a resident of El Granada.

On Tuesday October 17 at 11am in Redwood City, the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors will hold what could be the final public hearing on the Local Coastal Program (LCP) Update Project for the unincorporated Midcoast. This wide-ranging project has the potential to shape the quality-of-life of Coastsiders for the next 50 years or more.

For Tuesday’s hearing, County planning staff has distributed a packet that includes a 20-page staff report of the remaining key issues of the LCP update project, along with the main project resolution to amend the LCP and enact County policy. The package also includes letters from the Committee for Green Foothills (on Burnham Strip uses), land use attorney David Byers (lobbying for priority water to serve the Big Wave project), and County Counsel Thomas Casey (on the LCP certification process).

This information has been compiled into a single pdf file from document files provided by County Planning staff. It very closely represents the printed packets mailed out by the Planning Department and includes bookmarks and hypertext links to facilitate navigation and comprehension.

Among other things, the new County ordinances reflect and would implement the Supervisors’ buildout vision for the unincorporated Midcoast. This vision includes a near doubling of the number of housing units on the Midcoast in coming decades and a proposed Midcoast residential growth rate of 2 percent plus numerous exemptions.

The Midcoast Community Council held a forum for candidates for the Cabrillo Unified School District board Wednesday night.

For scheduling reasons, only Ken Johnson and Pam Fisher appeared at the event. Former board member Marina Stariha read statements on behalf of the missing candidates. According to MCC board member Kathryn Slater-Carter, who chaired the event, all the candidates will appear at a forum sponsored by the American Association of University Women at the Methodist Church in Half Moon Bay on October 30.

Click the image to see the video.

Sunday La Honda Volunteer and CDF/County Fire personnel responded to a single car accidentin a rural stretch of Highway 84 west of La Honda. The accident took place at about 12:15pm.

Firefighters found a Jeep SUV had left the road and landed upside down in heavy brush. Air bags and the Jaws of Life were needed to get to the victim. As the Lifeflight helicopter stood by in a field across from the accident paramedics determined that the driver was dead. The cause of the accident is being investigated by the California Highway Patrol.

Capt. C. Whitney, La Honda Fire Dept.

Capt. C. Whitney, La Honda Fire Dept.

Sunday, the Half Moon Bay Fire District answered a call to the garage of a multi-unit building on the 400 block of Oak Ave. They were joined by the HMBFD volunteers and the El Granada and Point Montara engine companies. A neighbor and Half Moon Bay Police Department officers helped control the spread of the fire pending the arrival of the fire department.

Preliminary investigation revealed the fire started in the area of some charcoal briquettes on a shelf in the garage. The fire grew to involve the back wall of the garage and cabinets. Preliminary damage is estimated at approximately $35,000.

Update:  CHP has announced that highway 92 is now open.  The road was shut down in both directions after a collision between a tanker truck and four vehicles.

According to CHP reports, an overturned tanker truck at Highway 35 and 92 has resulted in traffic being stopped in both directions.  The CHP states that the closure is indefinite and there is currently no estimate as to when the road will re-open.  Traffic on Highway 1 into Half Moon Bay is backed up to Pillar Point Harbor in El Granada.

Stay off Highway 92 if you possibly can.  That’s always the best advice for October on the Coastside, but thanks to Caltrans and the League for Coastside Protection, we know just how bad the pumpkin-related traffic is.

The LCP is generating traffic charts [live chart] based on the live travel time estimates from Caltrans.

Sunday, it took about an hour for cars to reach Half Moon Bay from Highway 280 between noon and 4pm, and close to 30 minutes in the other direction.