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| Site 1 (purple color), Hotel/Restaurant Site 2 (yellow color), attached residential units Site 3 (blue color), future civic, library, retail Green color strip, limited access 2-way road |
City of Pacifica, 2212 Beach boulevard project. "Conceptual plan for the redevelopment of a 3.5 acre, publicly-owned property with a mixed-use development that would include a 36,000 square foot library, up to 84 attached residential units, a boutique hotel of up to 75 rooms, and a restaurant of up to 4,500 square feet. ... CEQA status: A Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR) has been prepared for certification," (page 1).
Reference - City of Pacifica, Redevelopment of the Beach Boulevard Property: Project plan and overview, and Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR), 56 pages.
56 comments:
The library needs to go. This site should be 100% commercial. Beside we can't afford a 30 million bond that will end up costing 3 times that much. The council can meet in the community center
The Library Stays. We need a landmark. I want a library. The city needs a bigger better library. We have outgrown what we have.
A landmark? We need a landmark? Last on the lengthy list of things we really need. Dead last.
Libraries are an anachronism. We don't need to waste so much money on a municipal dodo bird that will only be used by a few aging Luddites.
Luddites? Now that's funny.
We need a tax base not a landmark. Libraries are dinosaurs. Just keep the ones we have but don't dump 50 million into an extinct animal.
I like this plan minus the library. I would like to see a little more retail on the bottom Beach Blvd Side of the project.
A Hotel, restaurant and a couple stores to get some money to stay in town by the tourists.
Lots of empty space around town for a library. If you remember right the library was in Linda Mar Shopping Center over by Keri's and Western Auto. This was before the library was built on Terra Nova Blvd by Park Mall. Which ruined the rest of that parcel for development.
I also see the pump station stays. Great pay $200-$300 bucks for a room and have a poop pump station outside your window.
Only in Pacifica!!
The pump station has to stay. Yeah, that's right. Talk about a marketing challenge. It figures.
Half Moon Bay gets the Ritz, Pacifica gets the Shitz.
A library on that site is absurd. Just another example of the deep-rooted anti-growth sentiment that's run this town for too long. A fancy new library is not economic growth. It's an amenity added after you build an economy. We can only hope that no bond measure passes and a real developer promptly shows up with his very own plan unencumbered by revenue-eating public buildings. Probably mixed-use, well thought out commercial and some residential. Of course that would be real development which is the last thing the hare-brains want. Oh well, something to look forward to in another 10 years if the site isn't compromised by erosion. Sooner if the county ran the place.
@703 Ruining parcels for development is the oldest game in Pacifica. Played by those who understand land use, how to use the system, including the courts. If you can't give it away as with Mori Point, Sweeney Ridge and others, you weigh it down with a poison pill like the public vote requirement for housing in the quarry. And you welcome with open-arms the relocation of a highly-regulated sewage treatment plant. Who can forget the heartwarming way Pacificans united in that cause?
Do the rooms by the poop pump cost extra? Or are they going to give tours of the poop pump. Turf pump by the sea.
You mean like a poop premium?
Hotel and Convention Center.
Perfect spot. Great amenity. Lot's of cash spillover into Pacifica economy.
Hotel and meeting space makes sense. TOT, spending at area restaurants and stores. Make sure there's a decent coffee/breakfast/lunch place nearby. Beachy gift store.
I have strong doubts that any developer will get involved with this site until the Coastal Commission issues are settled.
Why would they invest large sums of money without knowing their project would be approved.
The rejection of The Big Wave project is still very fresh in most developers minds.
I heard the CC was already saying they would prefer a youth hostel over a hotel at the site. WTF are these people on?
For those who did not watch the meeting The Coastal Commission sent a letter restating their concerns just before the meeting started.
An old Navy man like me would call that a shot across the bow.
Tom, I have questions if you care to answer. Appreciate it. From what I read of the report, the CCC has identified an environmentally superior option which includes the library and restaurant but eliminates the hotel and increases the residential units from 84 to 112. How serious is this? Does this effectively kill the hotel, which to me is the only money-maker for the City in the deal? Also, how much of a partner is the San Mateo County Library System? They've hired an architect to design the library. Are they kicking in money to build the thing? Will the City be giving them the land the library will be located on?
If there is no hotel, as the Coastal Commish seems to prefer, I wonder what that does to the revenue projections made by this City? A hotel replaced by 28 additional housing units is not an even swap. Does the $500K annual projected revenue become $150K? Losing that TOT income would hurt. Makes the waste of a large piece of the site on a public library even more questionable. Oh no, not again.
The restaurant is only 4500 square feet? That's tiny. And the library is 36,000 sq ft? You guys need to reverse those two numbers. This project is supposed to generate tax money for Pacifica. The library generates zero just like the council meeting room.
This state is such a trip. Did they provide any reason for rejecting a hotel, other than "we are the great and powerful Oz"?
The CCC seems to be conflicted on the issue they like Alternative #2 because it reduces the overall size of the development and limits heights to 35 feet but Alternative #2 would eliminate the visitors serving hotel [which is a high CCC priority use under the Coastal Act], and increase the number of residential units [which are a low priority under the Coastal act.
Reading their Comments will make your head spin, but the bottom line seems to be that they want more open space and public access, fewer residential units no building over 35ft.tall and a lot more studies done.
I want to believe this is going to be worked out and this City makes the money it so desperately needs, but during 30 years in Pacifica, I've seen this movie before. Ends badly. The hotel made putting a library on ocean front real estate somewhat less insane. No hotel? We're left with insane. Oh, I so want to be surprised.
While they dick around with the hotel and the residential, they seem to love the library. Between the CCC and our City Council they will turn this into a lot less than $500K per year in projected revenue. And who will put a restaurant there if there's no hotel and the library has it's own café inside? The other restaurants on that street struggle to stay alive.
Can someone please post the coastal commission letter.
http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2013/07/15/is-detroit-headed-for-bankruptcy/
Is Detroit Headed For Bankruptcy?
July 15, 2013 7:33 AM
DETROIT (WWJ) – It’s expected to be a huge week in Detroit, as we expect to find out whether the city will file for bankruptcy.
In the meantime, the state Attorney General’s Office has until today to respond to one lawsuit filed last week. It seeks to block Governor Rick Snyder from giving Detroit’s Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr authorization to seek Chapter 9 bankruptcy. Many believe that’s where Detroit is headed, including community activist Helen Moore.
“It looks like it’s already bankruptcy the way they’re talking and the way they’re trying to get everybody to take a little portion of the money that’s owed. But really they’re not looking at the facts. The facts are that these people put us in the situation we’re in. They won’t give us our money back from the state,” says Moore.
Meanwhile, Orr continues looking for ways to restructure about $20-billion in city debt. If he can’t negotiate terms with all parties involved, the only other option is bankruptcy. Orr is asking some creditors to take pennies on the dollar.
But Moore believes the state helped put Detroit in financial crisis.
“They won’t do the things that we think will help the situation and they certainly haven’t really sat down and talked to the people, and that is lacking,” says Moore.
She adds, “You just can’t come in as a dictator and say I’m going to take all your rights, I’m going to take your right to vote and I’m going to tell you what to do, that’s so disrespectful.”
One consultant believes Detroit could still pull out a miracle and create a historic debt restructuring that keeps the city out of bankruptcy; another city official notably said the federal government should bail out the city, though the president has made no indication that’s a possibility.
More CCC comments:
Priority Uses:
Coastal Act Sections 30221 and 30222 protect the use of oceanfront lands to be used for recreational purposes and state that visitor serving commercial recreational uses have priority over private residential development and must be adequately provided for. The LCP states that visitors-serving facilities would give priority to commercial recreation and visitor-serving development on undeveloped oceanfront parcels for the benefit of attracting visitors and serving local residents (C-107) Similarly , the enhancement of public opportunities for coastal recreation also has priority over private residential or general commercial development. The EIR should evaluate The proposed project and projects alternatives for consistency with these policies.
But they didn't do this when they allowed the Ritz Carlton to be built in HMB.
Tom, any chance you, Steve or Kathy could post the CCC letter(s) regarding the WWTP EIR?
And to the 8:45 Anon, there was a hotel foundation laid in place on the site of the Ritz before the Coastal Act became law so the hotel was grandfathered in. The same thing happened with the Lighthouse Hotel in Rockaway. The Gust's poured a foundation before the Act was made final grand fathering in that hotel also.
There is no such pre-existing hotel foundation on the WWTP site.
They also poured the foundation cause the lending climate was really bad when the Gust family poured. They thought they could start so the permits will not expire and get work started before the Coastal Commission could stop them.
When they started we had a 20%+ prime interest rate and no lender private, bank, pension fund, or insurance company was loaning on Hotel construction.
Where can I find the latest letter from the CCC? Anyone?
What's the City's annual revenue projection minus the hotel? It was $500K to start with and I'm sure that was a rosy scenario.
Those who do their homework have seen the document.
Those who don't fail 60% of their classes.
City Planning has advised the 2-page Coastal Commission letter was received late yesterday afternoon. Planning has advised the link will be scanned and e-mailed to me. Upon receipt, either I will post the text or Steve "Blogmaster" Sinai will post the link.
No reason someone else could not have made this phone call for our advisement, right Anonymous 6:23 AM, 12:35 PM, 12:40 PM?
Kathy, I have two sources sending it to me Just to be sure I'll get it.
I also paid for a hard copy of the FEIR with the 7 page CCC comment letter included.
Tom, your copy will be needed. Planning had the resolutions, but not the coastal commission letter. (The Planner who has that file is out of the office today). Apparently the coastal commission letter was available in hard copy at the Planning Commission meeting last night, (and of course the Planning Commissioners have their copy).
After reading the CCC letter form last night I can see that the City is going to have an uphill battle to get this project passed the Coastal Commission. First I don't think that a study system yet exist that measures for all of the combined data they are looking for. High tide+ 100 year storm event+maximum wave up rush on an eroded beach, combined with sea level rise estimates. Creating such a data system is going to cost big bucks. NOAA could probable put together what is needed but it won't be happening soon.
The other comment that concerns me is "The Project site is publicly own. However, the proposed development consists mostly of private residential and hotel uses, except for the public library, which is not considered a high-priority public access or recreational use in the LCP or the coastal Act. Given the proposed development's location,priority should be placed on public recreational uses such as providing public access to a coastal natural resource that provides scenic ocean views and access to the beach."
This project is a bit closer then the Horizon's Building but that went through without a problem.
The Ritz Carelton Half Moon Bay wasn't built that long ago.
35,000 square foot library. Is the Sultan of Brunai going to live there. Too bad Hussein isn't alive this will rival his palaces.
$35,000,000 for a 35,000 foot public building. This would never be proposed in the private sector. You would be laughed out of every bank in the country.
The city should call Swenson and Beg he comes back.
Stick with 4-5 star hotel/convention complex. Great destination location with lot's of beautiful amenity. (trails, beach, waves, surf, pier, sunsets, whales, cool clean air.......)
This could anchor a revitalization of Palmetto with restaurants, galleries, walking connection to Golf Course and Country Club, bookstores, cafes, theater.........
Come on Pacificans raise your sites. There is no future in being dirty, grubbing, hippies.
The area is too ratty for 4 to 5 star. Would you pay 300 plus a night to see Palmetto zoning nightmare?
Pacifica will never be Carmel by the sea or Malibu.
4 or 5 star? Have you seen the surrounding area? Ratty with pockets of ok. Lacks charm. A solid 3 star at best and nothing wrong with that. An alternative to high-priced SF. We can be that. Let's set our sights on some actual money instead of these grandiose visions. Actually, from the Coastal Commission response any hotel at all may be nothing but a vision. I wonder if this is all just part of the process or if we were poorly served by the consultants? Not optimistic at all about the hotel and that's the worst possible news for Pacifica.
No doubt a silly question that might have already been previously answered, but, " what is the current hotel occupancy rate in Pacifica?" Seems to me that building additional beds and filling them will be tough to do if the occupancy rates are already too low. Perhaps "rent-by'the-hour" rooms stand a better chance for success in our town.
Occupancy rate? Our city councils have a long tradition of using no facts and figures to make decisions. Speculation and projection and fairy dust guide them in their holy work. And consultants. Don't forget the invaluable role of consultants in guiding this economic juggernaut. We couldn't possibly ask loaded questions on our own or come up with a project the CCC must have found highly amusing. Maybe those occupancy rates justify a hotel. If City Hall did happen to stumble across a revenue-producing idea, well, it's like granny used to say...even a blind hog finds an acorn now and then.
At least the hog knew what to do with it.
How is it possible that this city screws up each and every thing it touches? How?!!!
You would think they'd get something right by accident once in a great while, but nope, total failure. Way to go.
The key phrase in the final bullet point is: "The Project site is publicly owned."
The C.C.C. does not want publicly owned beachfront property turned into privately owned residential or commercial property.
If the City had sold the property to a private developer and let them bring forward a project of their own the C.C.C. would have less leverage.
Hi, Tom,
Thanks for providing your insights into this process. Can you chime in on a question I have?
Are the CCC issues something a consultant doing their due diligence ought to have planned for and built into the project?
OR
Is a back-and-forth dialogue of this type between the CCC and the project developers just a normal and expected part of of the build process along the coast?
Thanks!
So true, Tom. But you know city hall had a vision. Actually, visions. First a fancy city hall and then a fancy library. Tacked on a hotel, restaurant, and housing to the library vision because the natives were chanting economic development. Spent a fortune on these visions. Neither vision is or was economic development. In fact, the irony is that the pursuit of both of these schemes by this City for more than a decade has pretty much guaranteed no revenue will ever come from that site. It's time for a fire sale of that property. Get it on the market and pray that some developer who knows what he's doing decides to grab a bargain from a flat-ass broke city. Take the cash Pacifica! If the city hangs on to it so "it's developed right" the best we can hope for is SMC Libraries splitting the late book fines with us. Get out of the game!
Occupancy rate probably about 10-35% on the weekdays
Probably closer to full on weekends probably 65%-85%.
During the summer probably a bit higher.
The only nice place is the Newer Hotel in Rockaway.
Anyone placing bets on when the Horizon building gets knocked down. I have 2016!
Lots of people will be very happy with a big new library and a nice public park. Roll out the local artists. Maybe the City can have a hot dog cart? Frozen treats when it's hot? Haagen Daz and gluten-free, of course.
@203 sure hope it's sooner. we need that additional TOT income and anything else that falls out of guests pockets. the HIE is the only nice hotel in this town. glad they're expanding.
The only reason why the "gang of no" are in support of this project and are not screaming in city council chambers, and the tribune office, is they library.
the library is either too much angel dust or fairy dust or some kind of magic dust these people are smoking.
Chris,
that is a hard question to answer.
I believe the consultant provided what the City could afford and maybe a little more,but if you compare the EIR for the Oddstad Assisted Living Center to Beach Blvd. EIR you get an idea of the difference between bare bones and first Class.
There is almost always back and forth with the C.C.C. The City Manager spent at least six months talking with the C.C.C. after they sent the first comment letter with out getting much if any movement.
Chris - I think the answer to your question is "Yes." It's not an either/or thing. It's both/and.
It's nothing but a money pit. This town can't develop snot. Lose the ridiculous yuppie plans, slap a price on it, and try to get it sold. Somebody out there has the money, the ego, and actual expertise. Let them have at it with no city restrictions on use. Clearly, the CCC will look out for Pacifica!
Now the UUT makes perfect sense!
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