Wavecrest resumes farming on Thanksgiving

Disking resumed at Wavecrest on Thanksgiving Day shortly after 9am.  Work continued at least through sunset on Friday and included seeding this time. They had two tractors—one disking and one seeding, a tractor trailer for seed, several pickup trucks, and one security vehicle and guard from Bay Cities Patrol.

The development of the land has been held up for years with the California Coastal Commission, most recently when the land was found to contain endangered species habitat by the US Fish and Wildlife Service in 2004.  Wavecrest’s owners attempted to get the Army Corps of Engineers declare jurisdiction over the wetlands on the property, but have canceled formal delineation of wetlands three times in the last two years.

After disking was resumed in September, the city of Half Moon Bay said that it had told Wavecrest’s owners in May that agricultural uses of the land is legal. But the development has been before the Coastal Commission for years, and the commission has asked Wavecrest’s owners some pointed questions about the agricultural activities on the land.

The resumption of agricultural activity at Wavecrest has raised questions about the owners’ plans for the site, as it appears to put them on a collision course with the Coastal Commission.