Farmworker housing spotlight for controversy in Half Moon Bay

The local officials in question have told growing crowds of development proponents the delays are to allow commissioners adequate time to hear from the community and deliberate on the development. 

During their meetings, planning commissioners have voiced burgeoning concerns about how state density bonus law contradicts their local coastal land use plan — regulations set in place to protect coastal resources — and the downtown character, with some residents voicing similar worries.

“Our job here, the primary objective of the [Local Coastal Land Use Plan], is to protect coastal resources, full stop,” Commissioner Rick Hernandez said at an April 30 Planning Commission meeting. “A second consideration, the second-tier consideration, is to provide affordable housing.” 

Hernandez is in favor of farmworker housing, he’s affirmed repeatedly, but thinks the project could go through design changes to meet coastal and community needs — “we want everybody on board,” he said at the previous meeting. 

The governor doesn’t seem to think there’s much time for nuance, although there could be a place for potential litigation if it isn’t approved by the commission’s upcoming meeting. 

“The state’s Housing Accountability Unit is reviewing the city’s actions and will take all necessary steps to hold Half Moon Bay accountable if the project does not move forward as the state law requires,” Newsom’s statement read. 

The law

State density bonus law grants housing developments like these, which are 100% affordable to extremely low and very low-income households, a “super density bonus,” meaning unlimited density, up to three stories of additional height and no parking requirements.

The city’s workforce overlay plan grants the same site only 10 housing units. 

Now for the complication: The Planning Commission may still technically deny the project if it finds it conflicts with the city’s LCLUP, although it isn’t allowed to consider any factors preapproved by the density bonus law, including “specific density, height, parking, open space and setback requirements.” 

“[We] still have other areas for the Planning Commission to consider,” Steve McHarris, interim Community Development director, said. “Compatibility, particularly visual compatibility.” 

City staff’s recommendation to commissioners is to approve the project’s coastal development permit and architectural review, McHarris said, finding that the project doesn’t violate visual compatibility or coastal access standards. 

But if commissioners don’t agree and choose to reject the project’s coastal development land use permits, project applicants can appeal the decision to the City Council, McHarris said. 

The Coastal Act’s authority over land use is under further fire with the introduction of a recent Assembly bill that would entirely void coastal protections afforded to housing development in the coastal zone, entirely prioritizing density bonus projects if passed. 

But, for now, fans, detractors and the state alike will need to wait for the upcoming May 14 Planning Commission meeting to see where the project lands. 

Project inception 

The proposed development at 555 Kelly Ave. had been in the works since 2022, months before a deadly shooting at a mushroom farm in Half Moon Bay took the lives of seven farmworkers and subsequent investigation revealed squalid and untenable farmworker living conditions in the area. 

“We started the project the year prior to the horrible tragedy,” Amy Bayley, Mercy Housing California vice president of Community Planning, said. 

Mercy Housing, along with Ayudando Latinos A Soñar, a Latino cultural arts and programming organization, are co-applicants for the affordable housing development. 

While plans for the senior farmworker housing project began before the tragedy, community revelations around a dire need for livable farmworker housing post-shooting did serve as a motivator to pursue work on the project expediently, Bayley said. 

It’s propelled work on other farmworker housing projects as well, including 46 units of affordable housing at 550 Stone Pine Road that recently received $6 million from the county. 

Throughout the project-planning process, Mercy Housing took feedback from community members, they said, incorporating “coastal, eclectic vernacular architecture,” rearranging the courtyard, expanding to larger numbers of two-bedroom apartments and scaling the building from four stories to five, Mercy Associate Director Kelly Hollywood said. 

Considerations and criticisms 

An integral element of the proposed development is an ALAS-run farmworker resource center on the first floor, set to feature a community kitchen, gathering spaces and a centralized location to be connected with services like health care providers. 

“Farmworkers are part of who Half Moon Bay is,” ALAS Assistant Director Enrique Bazán said. “This would make … a central space for interacting with farmworkers and contributing to who we are, and for people to understand this is a town for farmworkers, as well as feeling proud of that history.” 

Feedback from planning commissioners has included suggestions that the first floor, which would contain the resource center as well as a property management office, could potentially be eliminated so that the project’s size better suits downtown.  

“One-hundred percent affordable housing is phenomenal. We’re so glad you’re doing this project, and the city is so glad you’re doing this project,” Commissioner David Gorn said at an April 30 Planning Commission meeting. “One-hundred percent affordable housing does not mean one floor of office space … I get the housing is 100% affordable. It doesn’t mean you need to have a floor of administration.” 

Other concerns around the development from community members include the potential for traffic and congestion and suggestions that the project would be better suited on a larger piece of land outside the immediate downtown. 

But for proponents of the project, suggestions that the scope or height doesn’t fit in with the city’s aesthetic or that services can be removed from the development imply that senior farmworkers don’t deserve to take up space. 

“There is a perception that because people are poor farmworkers, they deserve the least that we can give them. Probably that’s not what they mean, but that’s what [we’re] hearing,” Bazán said. “That, to me, is underlying all the comments.” 

Funding and government

The deadline for the applicants to apply for federal low-income tax credits, which will be needed to fulfill the development’s $43 million price tag, is July 2. Mercy Housing cannot submit its application without land use permits, which hang in the balance of the Planning Commission’s upcoming decision. 

The project has other funding sources, including $2 million from the state secured by state Sen. Josh Becker, D-Menlo Park, and funding from the Department of Housing and Community Development. 

San Mateo County Supervisor Ray Mueller, who represents the coastside, said he’s been attempting to mediate challenges raised for the complex project.  

“Since objections were raised by the Half Moon Bay Planning Commission to this project, I have been working to try and mediate the issues raised between city stakeholders and the project applicant,” he said. “Housing for senior farmworkers is a tremendous issue not just in San Mateo County but the entire state.” 

And although the process is undeniably frustrating at times, it’s one the city must go through to achieve high-quality housing for vulnerable communities, Mayor Joaquin Jimenez said. 

“We have a priority to build low-income farmworker housing and we are doing that,” he said. “We have to be within policies of building, architectural design of our community, and making sure we set a precedent for future development.”