Coastal Commission appeals county’s OK of the tunnel

The California Coastal Commission has filed an appeal of the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors coastal permit decision of July 6, 2004, which approved the development and mitigation permits for the Caltrans Devil’s Slide tunnel. According to Save our Bay, which appealed the tunnel to the commission, the commission’s appeal blocks the issuance of permits for construction of the tunnel.

So far, the only information on this comes from a Save Our Bay press release. I’ve called the Coastal Commission for more information. Click on "read more" to see the Save Our Bay press release.

July 28, 2004

COASTAL COMMISSION BLOCKS DEVIL’S SLIDE TUNNEL PROJECT

Half Moon Bay, CA.  The California Coastal Commission has filed an appeal of the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors coastal permit decision of July 6, 2004, which approved the development and mitigation permits for the proposed Caltrans Highway 1 Devil’s Slide Tunnel Project.

In an appeal filed on July 23, 2004, the Coastal Commission’s action, through Chairman Mike Reilly and Commissioner Meg Caldwell, effectively blocks and delays the issuance of permits for the inland realignment and the construction of two parallel 4,000-foot long tunnels on Highway 1 in the San Mateo County Coastside area known as Devil’s Slide.  During the pending appeal, San Mateo County is precluded from issuing permits to Caltrans required to commence construction on the tunnel project.  [Chairman Mike Reilly can be contacted at the Coastal Commission’s North Central Coast Office at 45 Fremont Street, Suite 2000, San Francisco, CA 94105-2219; Telephone: (415) 904-5260].

Following the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors decision approving coastal mitigation permits for the Devil’s Slide Tunnel Project, local press and media predicated that work on the Caltrans project would be delayed by legal appeals.  The focus of this speculation was mainly directed to Oscar Braun, Executive Director of the Half Moon Bay Coastside Foundation aka Save Our Bay, an outspoken advocate for compliance with state and federal environmental requirements.  Ironically, the Coastal Commission’s staff today informed Save Our Bay that its appeal was being reviewed for compliance with technical administrative requirements while the Coastal Commission’s appeal has been officially accepted.  [Appeal A-2-SMC-04-011 (Devil’s Slide Tunnel)].

In response to learning about the appeal of the Devil’s Slide Tunnel Project, Braun applauded the Coastal Commission for making the hard decision to look into important environmental issues despite the many controversies relating to the project.  As a local San Mateo County Coastside resident, Braun is very cognizant of the need to mitigate Devil’s Slide landslide hazards.  Braun hopes that public officials will now act decisively in complying with the law as they promised when the project was first proposed by the Sierra Club and Committee for Green Foothills in 1972: "Sooner, safer and cheaper."  (Over 30 years later and a $300 million budget, the "Tunnels Freeway Project" is still unfortunately an unfulfilled fantasy.)"