Resist housing density or consider quality planning, one coastside editor to another

Half Moon Bay Review Opinion/4/6/16.  "Resist density, put housing where it belongs" by John Maybury

"Thanks for Publisher Bill Murray’s opinion piece about the MidPen high-density housing proposal (Review, March 30, 2016).

Everyone I know here in Moss Beach and Montara already hates the traffic on Highway 1. No one wants more housing and traffic on the Midcoast. MidPen’s proposal belongs where it won’t impact the highway, where residents can use public transit, find jobs and shop. We have none of those things in Moss Beach and Montara, which is why most of us choose to live here. We like it the way it is: small-town friendly. And we resent the county trying to take advantage of our unincorporated status to force this housing project on us.

Supervisor Don Horsley and his allies in Redwood City are pushing this growth agenda on the Midcoast. Stop the bulldozers! Resist Density!"

Proposed MidPen all Affordable Housing, Moss Beach.
Off Highway 1, 11 acre site, 80 units, medium density. 

When it comes to development,
NIMBIES seem only to hear NO.

Referenced opinion.  Half Moon Bay Review/Opinion/Editorial/Bill Murray, Publisher, 3/30/16. "Preserving our paradise might mean compromise ."  "I am a Montara resident. If I had to choose between developing the property along Carlos Avenue on the border of Moss Beach and Montara or keeping it untouched, I choose keeping it untouched. I suspect that feeling is pretty unanimous among us North Coastsiders.  Nobody who lives here wants more development. More cars on the road? No thanks.  But it's just fantasy to think the Coastside can remain in stasis forever. This is one of the most beautiful areas in the world surrounded by 7 million people in the greater Bay Area with an enormous housing demand. There are simply too few homes for too many people.

The Resist Density organization has its heart in the right place. They want to protect this place that we call home, a place that is special to all of us. They don't want a development that might jeopardize our way of life. They believe that this is simply the wrong place to put a development that could contain upwards of 80 units. They might be right.  But, unfortunately, there are not a ton of options for the kind of affordable housing development that the nonprofit MidPen Housing is proposing. If not in Moss Beach, then where? Could you afford to buy your home today? I certainly could not. Nor could I afford to rent a home here and raise two children. Maybe giving those who don't earn $150K per year a chance to live here is not the worst idea. If anyone was going to build on that spot, I guess I'd pick MidPen over anyone else.  Develop our Coastside or leave it alone? I'd choose to leave our paradise alone. But at some point, something's got to give. And if it means more folks who work here can live here, I'm ready to at least hear them out."

Reference, unincorporated Town Council. Midcoast Community Council, "MidPen considers Moss Beach 11-Acre site."Local non-profit MidPen Housing has an option to purchase the 11-acre former Navy barracks site at Carlos/Sierra in Moss Beach. They are considering a potential affordable housing development giving preference to residents with Coastside jobs. They would develop the site at the same medium density as the surrounding neighborhood, even though the zoning allows for medium-high density. Instead of the 148-unit mixed affordable/market-rate project approved for this site in 1986, MidPen proposes no more than 80 units, with all rental units affordable to families earning 30-60% of county median income (currently $103,000 for family of four). The one- and two-story duplexes and triplexes would be clustered so that a significant portion of the site could be dedicated to permanent open space. MidPen is committed to community outreach and engagement to craft a thoughtful proposal that is compatible with the surrounding neighborhood."

Reference, MidPen Housing. About. "MidPen Housing is one of the nation’s leading non-profit developers, owners and managers of high-quality affordable housing. In the 45 years since MidPen was founded, we have developed over 100 communities and 7,600 homes for low-income families, seniors and special needs individuals throughout Northern California. Our developments are award-winning and nationally recognized."

Note photographs. NIMBY The Bold Italic,"If nothing else, San Francisco is a 'voicey" city."  Aerial land site from the referenced Midcoast Community Council link above.

Posted by Kathy Meeh