MidPen’s plans for coast housing have some seeing red

The coastside group Resist Density opposes the project as too big for the site and too far from services for the people who will live there.

The property has been designated for affordable housing since 1980 and existing zoning allows for 148 units, a San Mateo County staff report said.

Karen deMoor, a board member of Resist Density, said Monday that “on the surface it seems like, ‘Wow, this is great.’”

But much bigger roads and other infrastructure was planned for the coast 40 years ago, deMoor said.

Moreover, the housing in the community of about 3,400 residents would be in the wrong place, she said.

“It’s so isolated,” deMoor said.

Resist Density, in an email Sunday, said more information and scrutiny is needed.

“This isn’t just a zoning change,” Resist Density said. “It’s to streamline approval of the entire project without adequate environmental review.”

A MidPen Housing representative could not be reached Monday for comment.

The nonprofit’s website describes the development as a thoughtful site design that will “preserve a significant amount of open space on the site and integrate the community with the existing neighborhood.”

The project respects and honors the coastal character and enhances the range of housing options available to local workers, according to MidPen Housing.

Dave Cresson, a past president of the Half Moon Bay History Association, said the vacant site proposed for the 71-unit development has almost no vestiges of the World War II military camp once located in Moss Beach. Some concrete foundations remain, Cresson said.

Artillery training took place about a half-mile from the site of the proposed development, Cresson said.

“World War II was a presence here,” he said. “The coastside was considered a potential battleground.”

Sixteen one-bedroom, 37 two-bedroom and 18 three-bedroom homes would be built, according to MidPen Housing. About 210 people are expected to occupy the units, which will be rented to households earning less than 80% of the area median income — which in 2019 was $124,000 for a family of four.

Amending the planned unit development zoning allows a maximum of 71 units, all of which will be affordable and “help meet the need for affordable housing, minimize development impacts and generate fewer vehicle trips,” a county staff report said.

The first step in development is to amend the county General Plan, local coast plan and zoning to “allow a smaller and less impactful project than the one previously envisioned for the site,” the staff report said.

The second step — a subject of future public hearings — will be for MidPen Housing to obtain permits required to construct the project, the report added.

Resist Density representative deMoor said the controversy surrounding the proposal isn’t about “not in my backyard” forces opposed to providing homes amid the Bay Area housing crisis.

“It’s painful when this gets positioned as a bunch of NIMBYs against affordable housing,” she said. “It’s much more about how do we deal with this crisis in a way that doesn’t destroy neighborhoods.”

DeMoor cited a 2017 letter from Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter in Palo Alto to MidPen Housing stating that “there could hardly be a much worse location for affordable housing in the urbanized Mid-Coast.”

The site is remote from supermarkets, shopping and medical practices, the Sierra Club chapter said.

Resist Density advocates for conservation of coastal land and sensible development.

Historian Cresson said major development proposals on the coastside, such as the 71 housing units, spur spirited responses from opponents and supporters.

“There’s always a push and pull,” he noted.

The San Mateo County Planning Commission meets 6 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 22, in the Half Moon Bay Library, 620 Correas St.