Half Moon Bay officials are putting the finishing touches on an update of an expansive planning document that will guide growth in town over the next 20 years.
The updated local coastal land use plan, what’s referred to as the LUP, comprises the city’s policy approach for carrying out the Coastal Act and guiding review of coastal development projects through 2040.
The LUP includes updated requirements to protect wetlands, riparian corridors and other sensitive habitat areas; protect and maximize public access to and along the shoreline; concentrate new development in existing developed areas; and provide for certain priority land uses such as recreational facilities, visitor-serving uses and affordable housing, according to a staff report.
During a meeting Wednesday, councilmembers noted the updated LUP has been in the works for seven years and said they’re poised to adopt it at a meeting sometime in October.
“I think we’re there except for some tweaks,” said Councilwoman Debbie Ruddock during the meeting. “[The plan] lays the foundation for everything built on top so it’s very very critically important.”
According to the staff report, facilitating “a diverse range of housing that is more sustainable, affordable and appropriate for the needs of the local community is a cornerstone of the LUP update.”
To achieve that, the LUP increases the development capacity in the town center, includes a workforce housing overlay that creates affordable housing sites for agriculture, expands affordable mobile home park areas and encourages multi-family development in planned development land use designations.
Ruddock said the plan includes a “very strong vision and the town center is the focus of that.”
“If we want to protect our open spaces, if we want a more sustainable community, if we want to deal with wildfires and climate change and food supply then you have to concentrate development where it’s least impactful,” she said.
“[In the town center concept in the plan] we can serve diverse incomes, we can serve diverse commercial pursuits. It can all happen there and be close to transit and generate transit because of the footprint. And it gives us a chance to protect the open spaces we have,” Ruddock said.
Many residents during the public comment portion of the meeting expressed deep concerns about overdevelopment, traffic congestion and erosion in and around town. They feel the LUP fails to address those concerns.
“The concern is in the end of the process it’s going to end up we’re overdeveloping the coastside and the quality of life is going to suffer and we’ll be further burdened by traffic and basically the area is going to be ruined because we’re in a rush to develop,” said resident Brent Turner.
Many other residents echoed the sentiment and some blamed the council for the above problems. Councilmembers took issue with those accusations.
“Comments saying this council is only interested in development and maximizing income — I think that’s about as far from the truth as I could possibly imagine,” said Councilman Harvey Rarback. “We’re all interested in what’s in the first chapter of the LUP and that is preserving the small town character, the coastal nature, open space — that’s on all of our minds.”
The LUP includes a “maximum theoretical buildout potential” of 7,051 dwelling units by 2040, which is actually about 1,300 units fewer than the LUP adopted 20 years ago.
“So as people keep talking about the exponential growth in Half Moon Bay you’re actually saying this new plan is doing less for growth,” Mayor Adam Eisen asked one of the city’s planners. The answer was “yes.”
The plan also notes buildout projections “are theoretical as they represent an extreme scenario of development that is unlikely to ever occur.”
Residents of the Casa Mira neighborhood also raised concerns about restrictions in the LUP that fail to protect homes and a segment of the coastal trail from erosion.
“[These residents] are concerned that because the LUP update does not allow riprap or seawall to be placed to protect a collapsing bluff in front of their homes that they will lose their homes,” said Tom Roth, an attorney representing the Casa Mira Homeowners Association. “Second they’re concerned about the loss of one of the most scenic stretches of the coastal trail in the entire state of California — that’s going to collapse when that bluff collapses.”
He said the trail that would replace, as outlined in the updated LUP, “is simply not a coastal trail and doesn’t have views of the ocean.”
City Attorney Catherine Engberg said the updated LUP sought to provide those residents options as well as balance their interests with the protection of coastal resources.
“We believe the policies before you are designed to strike a balance between private property planning and at the same time protecting coastal resources,” she said. “Overall the changes staff has proposed here are intended to provide flexibility to the residents of Casa Mira and citywide.”
But Rod Young, a Casa Mira resident, said the LUP leaves him few options to protect his home and all are less than ideal.
“The proposed plan appears to allow us only three alternatives for protecting our homes,” Young said. “[Those options are] reinforce the homes, which doesn’t solve a problem with erosion of the bluff; relocate the homes, which is likely not possible; or remove the homes. ... We’ll either have to absorb the very considerable financial loss or file suit against the city of Half Moon Bay for illegal taking under the California/U.S. constitutions.”
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