Keeping our coastal development scarce and high cost

There goes our pristine coastal wilderness again.  This time near downtown Half Moon Bay. 

Finding Oak killing spores at the creek

From Half Moon Bay Review/Mark Noack, 6/14/12.  "City OKs 12-home subdivision." 

... "Overriding some public concerns, elected leaders unanimously approved a new subdivision map that could create a 12-home subdivision on land bordering Pilarcitos Creek."   Gibraltar Capital, Inc.(the funding development corporation) with environmental studies completed  "assured the city council that this project is complying with local coastal protections, pointing out that two-thirds of the property would be kept in open space." 

....  "Half Moon Bay resident Jimmy Benjamin, who is currently embroiled in legal action against the city for allegedly ignoring watershed protections, warned that the new housing community would be built directly on a recognized endangered species habitat. He recommended the city consider mitigation measures if it went forward with this development."

Where's the creek?

“This exact area is a location where the San Francisco garter snake, a federal and state endangered species, occurs,” he said, referring to a 2009 biological report. “It really is there; it’s not a maybe. These things don’t go stale.”  Read Article. 

Reference - Wikipedia, Pilarcitos Creek, Half Moon Bay.

Related - top picture with article, .San Francisco Chronicle/Peter Fimrite, 7/24/09, picture by Michael Macor. "How oak death spores survive baffles scientists"  "UC Berkeley researcher Catherine Eyre collects samples along Pilarcitos Creek in San Mateo. The pathogen that causes sudden oak death has been found in waterways after all known sources of the disease have been cleared."  

Related - bottom picture with anouncement -  Coastsider/Jo Chamberlain, 1/19/11, Coastside Land Trust "Habitat restoration day at Pilarcitos Creek, Saturday 1/22/11". "We’ll provide gloves and trash bags. Wear layers and sturdy shoes."

Posted by Kathy Meeh