Long path ahead for Big Wave project just north of Pillar Point Harbor

Though county officials unanimously approved changes to the design, timeline and requirements for the wellness center and office park development Tuesday, they also weighed the steps those behind the project still need to take to obtain approval of its final map. Though these items were not up for review Tuesday, Steve Monowitz, the county’s Community Development director, noted the Big Wave project is required to provide evidence it has bonded for the water and sewage utilities to the satisfaction of the Montara Water and Sanitary and the Granada Community Services districts’ satisfaction before a final map can be recorded and must also ensure the necessary utilities are in place before a construction permit can be issued.

Jeff Peck, president of the Big Wave Group, a nonprofit formed to oversee the operations of the Big Wave Community Center, acknowledged the efforts of county planning staff to ease some of the restrictions included in the project’s development agreement, which Monowitz said included the elimination of a requirement to construct a bicycle path on Airport Street and a reduction of the requirement that the project follow Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design building standards.

But Peck wasn’t confident those changes would make much of a difference if the project’s timeline is tied to approval from the other utilities as well as connection to off-site sewer and water main systems. Noting many families with developmentally disabled adults have waited some 19 years since the project was first imagined, Peck worried the delays and additional costs involved in arranging for the utilities after so many years of planning might make the project financially infeasible for the community that has supported it.

Weighing the concerns of those in support of the project as well as the rules regulating the development, board President Carole Groom acknowledged Supervisor Don Horsley and Monowitz’s pledge to continue working with the Big Wave Group and the relevant utilities to ensure the project can continue to move forward.

“We want this too, we want this project to go forward,” she said. “But it has to be done legally and it has to be done technically correct.”

Peck explained the project was set in motion some 19 years ago when he and his wife Valerie joined another couple, Steve and Jamie Barber, in pooling some $8.5 million toward building a community for developmentally disabled adults. In the years since the Big Wave Group has shaped plans for the development — which is also set to include five buildings for industrial and office use — Peck said the group has developed the day programs and a flower business they hope to one day situate within the development. With the support of some $1.5 million raised by parents of developmentally disabled children as well as funds contributed by other nonprofit and for-profit organizations, the Big Wave Group has been focused on bringing the project to life, but has run into unexpected obstacles with its plans along the way, explained Peck.

As the parent of a son who could live in the development, coastal resident Julie Shenkman voiced deep concerns about the lack of affordable housing for those with developmental disabilities. She said her son was born the year the Big Wave was founded and is now 18 years old, adding many parents in the community have become increasingly concerned about how their children will be taken care of as they age.

“Our goal and our hope is that he can continue to stay on the coast in the environment that he knows, in the community that he knows,” she said, of her son.

Shenkman said she has watched as affordable and senior housing has been approved along the coast, and wondered why housing for developmentally disabled residents hasn’t been built on the coast yet.

Monowitz explained county staff are obligated to comply with the state’s Subdivision Map Act and the county’s own regulations in issuing the building and construction permits. Though the plans for the site initially included on-site wells and sanitation for the water and sewer services, those plans were later appealed and county officials subsequently approved revised plans with the understanding the development will connect with off-site utilities, he said.

Monowitz agreed to facilitate a meeting between the developer and the utility districts to see how they can best move forward, and Horsley added that he would join those conversations to see if they could come to a conclusion on how utilities could best be provided to the site. Acknowledging the Montara Water and Sanitary and the Granada Community Services districts need to ultimately sign off on the plans, Monowitz said he would work with Big Wave to see if there are other ways the project could move forward while those conversations take place.

Though Horsley said he was willing to work with the Montara Water and Sanitary District to see if any concessions could be made for the project, he acknowledged county staff have also worked over the years to chart a path for the development.

“I know a number of people have really extended themselves to try and work on this project,” he said. “But there were a lot of issues to this project in the first place that have to be addressed.”

anna@smdailyjournal.com

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