Coastal Commission stops disking at Wavecrest

Wavecrest’s owners attempted to disk the site of their proposed development on Friday.  They didn’t get very far before a letter from the California Coastal Commission stopped the disking.

The property has been under review since late August, when the US Fish and Wildlife Service found endangered frog habitat on it. The Coastal Commission removed Wavecrest from its September agenda on after the US Fish and Wildlife Service said the development would result in a "taking" of an endangered species. The Fish and Wildlife Service is working to determine what should be done next.

Julie Baigent, attorney for property owners Concar Enterprises, says that the mowing and disking is a return to the agricultural use of the property,  "The owner had entered into a lease with a farmer. The land was being farmed as it had been in the past."  The property has been traditionally used to grow hay. "It hasn’t been farmed in a couple of years. But it has been taking longer than anticipated to get the permits to build," said Baigent. Baigent says the owners tried to be sensitive to the habitat:  "We had a biologist survey the land and he was there the entire time to avoid killing frogs. We were trying to be extra-specially careful."

But the disking was a surprise to the city of Half Moon Bay and the Coastal Commission. In a letter to the developer [PDF] that was copied to the school district, city planning director Jack Liebster, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and the California Department of Fish and Game the Commission said:

Commission staff is concerned that disking this site at this time could compromise future habitat assessment by damaging or removing existing habitat. In addition, disking may result in direct mortality of the frog and/or snake, both of which are more likely to be active at this time due to the substantial rainfall that has occurred over the past several days. As such. we request that you delay any further actions that may result in damage or removal of environmentally sensitive habitat on the Wavecrest site pending review of these activities with the California Department of Fish and Game, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Commission’s staff biologist. I have left messages for you on your office and cell phones stating these concerns, and we have contacted the USFWS and CDFG staff. Please call me at (831) 427-4863 to discuss this matter as soon as possible.

Baigent says, "When we received a call from the city attorney, we called the farmer and asked him to stop."

Because the area being disked is the projected site of the new middle school, I talked to Deputy Superintendent B.J. Mackle at the Cabrillo Unified School District today.  She was with Superintendent Bayless on Friday and is covering for him while he is out of the office this week. Neither she nor the superintendent knew of the disking or the letter from the Coastal Commission on Friday and she had not see the letter from the Commission as of this morning.

It’s unclear how this incident will affect the review process that is still underway at the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the city’s endorsement of Wavecrest to the Coastal Commission, or the Commission’s eventual review of the development.