Half Moon Bay City Council projected for shakeup

Both Nagengast and Jonsson also posed suggestions that the city should roll back its expenditures and stop outsourcing consulting work in discussion on how to address the city’s upcoming budget deficit. 

Councilmember Deborah Penrose, whose seat was not up for reelection, put it plainly. “The reason the two candidates lost is because of affordable housing, and I think it is indicative of a trend of conservative approach taking over in Half Moon Bay,” she said. “I think it’s very sad because we have some momentum going with affordable housing, and 555 Kelly was not an ideal project, but it was at least affordable housing for retired farmworkers.” 

The five-story 555 Kelly Ave. project, approved unanimously by the City Council, raised a bevy of concerns around the size of the building, safety concerns from increased parking and traffic, the approval process and the local coastal land use plan. 

One of the appeals against the project came from Nagengast, a longtime city government employee and civil engineer, who cited dangers at the nearby Kelly Avenue intersection, including a cyclist who was killed there last year. 

Nagengast, who did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this story, said during an endorsement interview with the Daily Journal that he was concerned both about the last-minute nature of resident understanding of the project as well as traffic concerns. 

He said in that interview that the city would need to be creative with housing, including mixed-use development at the city’s large shopping centers along with a potential transit center in the area. 

“Folks that have been here generationally know Half Moon Bay as they lived it through their lives. New folks come in with a lot of energy, a lot of great ideas, and we use the general plan and its various elements to try to provide that balance,” Nagengast said previously. 

Jonsson cited his community-based work, including on substandard lot classifications, neighborhood speed bumps and the Planning Commission as helpful for residents to feel comfortable voting for him. 

He acknowledged the community’s need for affordable housing for all people, but also pointed to 555 Kelly as a project that might have been too much, too fast for residents when it came to size and location. 

“That kind of shocked people. Any development in this town, it’s treated like sacred land,” he said. “People need time to think about it, need to vote on it, need time to absorb it before we say we’re doing this, because it is cherished. Everybody cherishes Half Moon Bay.” 

When results finalize, Jonnson said he’d be committed to taking action wherever necessary to do what’s best for the residents of Half Moon Bay. 

Rarback said it was hard to know the exact cause of the election results —  “people are just sick of what’s going on, whatever the hell that means” — but that he, too, was concerned the town’s momentum on affordable housing might be squashed, though it’s nothing but predictive at this moment. 

“Our highest priority had been affordable housing. I think with the two newly elected members and Debbie Ruddock, I think that combo together again … my guess is they will not encourage more affordable housing,” he said. “I’m concerned.” 

He’s also concerned that the loss of Jimenez on the City Council could be a negative for the Latino and farmworker population, already potentially struggling with the recent election of Donald Trump. That’s a concern Jimenez himself previously stated, though he expressed optimism that Nagengast had a lot to offer the community.  

“I am concerned that one-third of the population of Half Moon Bay will not have the voice,” he said. “The farmworkers for sure will not have the recognition or the voice. There’s nobody else in the City Council, running for City Council, that knows about farmworkers more than I do.”