Environment Report missing key chapter in both printed and online versions

County Planning director responds to concerns of missing chapter in Big Wave report.

  
Montara Fog: WRITTEN BY DARIN BOVILLE:  FRIDAY, 06 NOVEMBER 2009 

  
A key chapter on water issues is missing from the Draft Environmental Impact Report for the Big Wave project, in both the print and online versions, raising doubts about the legality of the current review period.

The Big Wave development, which includes a 225,000 business park and an adjoining 75,000 sanatorium, is currently in a public comment period. A small number of printed copies or the report have been distributed to the coastside for public review and copies have been given to elected officials involved in the approval process. None of these copies appear to contain the missing chapter.

At Wednesday's Midcoast Community Council Meeting, Paul Perkovic, a member of a local water board, pointed out that a key chapter on water issues was missing--making the report impossible to review.

Lisa Grote, the County Director of Planning and Building who was making a presentation to the MCC on the Big Wave proposal, expressed grave concern and said that the missing chapter might require that the current review phase be re-started from the beginning once corrected versions were made available.

Her relief was visible when meeting participants saw that the missing chapter was available online.

However, further investigation by Montara Fog has shown that the missing chapter is only available in the chapter-by-chapter download section of the county web page. The all-in-one pdf file for the whole report--the version most likely to be utilized by citizens and officials wanting to review the project--is also missing that key chapter.

The Big Wave project appears to be in the MWSD water district, which has no water available to the project.

The public comment period on the environmental impact report began October 22nd and is currently scheduled to end December 22nd.

  

Midcoast Community Council Special Meeting: Nov 4 2009

Watch the video of Lisa Grote, San Mateo County Planning Director outlining the Big Wave approval process and timeline.


video: Montara Fog

It was discovered later in the meeting that the printed DEIR is missing a major section: IV. Environmental Impact Analysis, section N. Sewer, Water, Solid Waste and Energy. Based on the table of contents the missing section is over 51 pages long.

Big Wave won’t show size of project during comment period, only afterward

Montara Fog: WRITTEN BY DARIN BOVILLE - WEDNESDAY, 04 NOVEMBER 2009 11:52
  
UPDATED: Click here for text of Big Wave's refusal to build story poles. 

The Big Wave developers want to show you how big their project is--but only after it is too late for you to do much about it.

Opponents of Big Wave, the large commercial development under the bluffs behind the airport, have been waiting to see the story poles--the wooden frame and oranges mesh “buildings”--for this project, convinced that once the general public sees the Big Wave story poles towering over all of the other structures in the area they would realize how far the developer was over-reaching. They expected an outcry from the public when it was plainly obvious that the project would have large, negative impacts on the community.

Negotiations with the County over the story poles ended today with the developer refusing the build the story poles until after the public comment period is over. Instead, they will build them just prior to the County decision-making hearings in early 2010.

The developer cites four reasons for their refusal:

1) The cost of building the poles (which they estimate at $80,000) is too high.
2) Building the poles will disrupt the planting of the winter crop.
3) There is no legal mandate requiring the story poles.
4) The computer renderings in the environmental impact report are a good substitute.

The developer did not indicate how or why any of these factors would be any different two months later, in February of 2010, when they have offered to build the story poles. The only difference appears to be that by building them then versus now they avoid revealing the size of the structures during the public comment period of the environmental impact report. The comment period ends December 7th.

We need story poles for Big Wave

Half Moon Bay Review: Published on Wednesday, Nov 04, 2009 

Dear editor:

The Big Wave development plan is open for public comment through Dec. 7. Normally, when a development plan is reviewed, story poles are erected with bright-colored plastic webbing. That gives the public a real visual impression of the location and cubic dimensions of the proposed development. Now is the appropriate time for those story poles, and the poles are not there.

Cost cannot be an excuse. A few 50-foot pieces of pine and some bracing pine buttresses are really not going to break the bank on a multimillion dollar development project. Certainly there is enough engineering prowess on hand to get the poles erected atop the marshy bog that is the current proposed location of the Big Wave development.

Big Wave should be required to show the public the story. By analogy, there’s a big difference between reading about a trillion dollars on paper versus what it looks like to see one trillion dollars stacked into the sky. The story poles would allow the public to comprehend the real scale of Big Wave.

Big Wave is large and unusual for its remote and wild location next to the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve and Pillar Point Marsh. The affected public needs to see what is proposed so that it can comment and be mobilized to learn about other significant environmental impacts of the project including traffic, water and sewage. The story poles should be up well in advance of the Dec. 7 public comment deadline.

The Half Moon Bay Library has the three-volume Draft Environmental Impact Report. It’s the size of three large telephone books. The DEIR document is also available online at the county’s Web site. Community members interested should review the DEIR and send their comments to the county before Dec. 7.

Aimee Luthringer
Moss Beach

Ask for more time to review draft EIR

Half Moon Bay Review: Published on Wednesday, Nov 04, 2009 

Dear editor:

The Big Wave Environmental Impact Report is 2,266 pages, the Pelosi Health Care Bill is 2,112 pages and the Bible is 1,824 pages.

The San Mateo County planning director is giving the Midcoast the minimum allowable review periods for the Big Wave Environmental Impact Report. It’s up to the community to request more time to review the three telephone-book-thick volumes.

At the Planning Commission meeting on Oct. 28, Lisa Grote summarized Section 15105 of the California Environmental Quality Act guidelines which spells out the CEQA review timelines — not less than 45 days nor more than 60 days unless there are “unusual circumstances.” Planning Director Grote said “unusual circumstances” usually relate to failure to notice, but obviously there is lots of discretion as to what this term means.

Grote stated the Planning Director has the authority to extend the deadline, not the Planning Commission. She said staff will agendize a discussion of the extension of time for the Nov. 18 Planning Commission hearing. Planning Commissioner Gail Slocum tried to get the discussion scheduled for the next meeting, which was Tuesday, but Grote said that agenda was already published and could not be changed.

Please e-mail Planning Director Lisa Grote (lgrote@co.sanmateo.ca.us) and request the full 60-day CEQA review period.

Sabrina Brennan
Moss Beach

Why would San Mateo County put developmentally disabled youth in the path of this?

Tsunami Risk for West Coast Higher Than Expected
Earth Science: By Hadley Leggett: July 20, 2009  www.wired.com

“California, and particularly San Francisco, is most vulnerable from tsunamis originating from earthquakes in the Aleutians, among all possible tsunamis emanating from the different subduction zones around the Pacific,” said geologist Costas Synolakis, director of the Tsunami Research Center at the University of Southern California, who was not involved in the research. 

A multi-segment earthquake like the one described in the paper could generate foot-high waves off the San Francisco coast, Synolakis said, and small waves on the open ocean become huge waves as they get close to shore. For example, the massive 2004 Sumatra tsunami, which killed more than 300,000 people, had a height of only about two feet on the open ocean. “A 30-centimeter (11.8-inch) tsunami a few miles offshore the Golden Gate is something to worry about,” Synolakis said.  “What’s new here is the evidence that Sumatra-style events are not only possible but likely.”

Extension of Big Wave Public Comment Period

After careful consideration of all the requests from the public to extend the comment period for the Big Wave Draft EIR, I have decided to extend it by 15 calendar days. This will allow the full 60-day review period noted in the California Environmental Quality Act. The review period is based on calendar days, not working days. The public review period began on October 22, 2009 and will close at the end of the business day on Tuesday, December, 22, 2009. This extension is granted based on the length and complexity of the document.

The informational Planning Commission hearing scheduled for November 18, 2009 will occur as planned. All other Planning Commission and Board of Supervisor hearings tentatively scheduled to occur in February and March 2010 will be moved two weeks into the future.

Thank you,
Lisa Grote

Big Wave Traffic & Parking

Letter posted on Coastsider by Lisa Ketcham Nov 4, 2009

Do you wonder why the Big Wave daily trip estimate dropped from 3,787 to 2,123 between the 2008 and 2009 Traffic Analyses? Trouble getting your project approved due to too many cars? Just relabel your Office Park “mixed use” and add in an assortment of other uses that don’t produce so many cars. Whose gonna enforce the percentage of use types in the building anyway?

40% general office, 25% R&D, 15% storage, 20% light manufacturing—and voila! 225,000 sq.ft. of office space becomes 158,513 sq.ft. equivalent office space for purposes of specifying daily trips and parking requirements.


225,000 sf office space requires 1125 parking spaces
  
158,513 sf equivalent office space requires 737 parking spaces
  
BW Parking exception request results in 635 parking spaces

In spite of all these cool angles and the new lower daily trip estimate, the Traffic Analysis (still using the original traffic counts from 2007) still predicts Cypress/Hwy 1 east-bound left turn LOS “F”, with no improvements possible other than signalization.

If you lived over here and depended on that intersection you might think well, at least we’ll get a traffic signal, but don’t leap ahead. The EIR proposed mitigation schedule looks like that might take 10 years. The project takes 3 yrs to build if all goes well, then developer submits bi-annual reports re need for signal, then if it’s determined we’ve all been sitting in traffic long enough, developer pays their “fair share” for signal within 5 yrs of date of report.

Status of the Story Poles

Despite requests and recommendations by the Planning and Building Department to place story poles on the Big Wave site during the public review period for the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR), the project applicant has declined to erect them at this time.

The applicant cites the cost of the poles (he estimates the cost at $80,000), the disruption of planting the winter crop, lack of legal mandate requiring such poles, and the fact that visual renderings are included in the DEIR as the reasons for it decision not to erect the poles at this point in the review process.

The applicant has indicated that it will erect the poles on the site prior to the decision-making hearings currently scheduled to take place in February and March 2010.

Camille M. Leung
Planning and Building Department
455 County Center, Second Floor
Redwood City, CA 94063
Phone: (650) 363-1826
Fax: (650) 363-4849

CLeung@co.sanmateo.ca.us

Big Wave is bigger than health care, bigger than Moby Dick

WRITTEN BY DARIN BOVILLE  MONDAY, 02 NOVEMBER 2009 10:33

The Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the controversial Big Wave project has been released for public scrutiny and comment--and its size is staggering.

You can download the entire report in a single pdf file here. (Warning: It is a big download. Very big.)

Big Wave is the project designed to add a quarter million or more square feet of office and R&D space--essentially doubling that of the entire San Mateo Coast--in a difficult-to-access lot in back of the airport. The project’s proponents boast that they will also support a small number of developmentally disabled people with the proceeds from the business complex, the largest development ever in the region.

The report sprawls well over two thousand pages, may of them dense charts and maps.

The public is supposed to read all of this material, digest it, and make their comments to the County by December 7th, just six weeks after the report was released. And if you want to offer your thoughts directly to Rich Gordon and the other Supervisors you had better be ready by their November 12th meeting in Redwood City.

Citizens better get busy. At the average adult reading speed it would take a full-time worker two and a half weeks straight to read through the document. At this speed they would not be able to pause long to study any of the complex tables or photographs included as evidence.

If staring at your computer screen for two and a half weeks makes you dizzy just to think about it why not have a look at a printed copy? Unfortunately there are only two copies on the entire midcoast--one at the Half Moon Bay library and the other in the custody of the Midcoast Community Council.

Given the commitment required to read this massive tome there will only be time before the end of the comment period for four citizens, two on the Midcoast Council and two in the general public, to read the printed versions through.

Perhaps we should print out more copies at home?

Not at my home. My HP Laserjet 1200 would take three and a half hours running non-stop to print it, assuming all of the pages are text, which they are not. (Graphics, like maps, charts and photos are much slower to print.) If I upgraded to Amazon.com’s top selling laser printer I could cut that time to two hours (again, text only), using four and a half reams of printer paper for each copy.

The Big Wave EIR is big. Bigger than the bill to overhaul the entire health care system of the United States. Bigger than Moby Dick. The Big Wave EIR is bigger than the Bible.

SIGN THE LETTER: Request the Full 60 Day CEQA Review Period

This Saturday, November 7th community members will setup tables at the Moss Beach and El Granada post offices.  Local residents will be asked to sign a letter requesting more than 45 days to review and comment on the DEIR.

The letters are addresses to Lisa Grote, County Planning Director and specificaly request the Full 60 Day CEQA Review Period.

Big Wave DEIR Community Meetings

MCC Special Meeting

Date and Time:  Wednesday, November 4, 2009 - 7:30pm

Location:  Granada Sanitary District

Avenue Alhambra, Meeting Room 504

El Granada

Speaker:  Lisa Grote, County Planning Director

MCC Meeting

Date and Time: Wednesday, November 11, 2009 - 7:30pm

Location:  Seton Medical Center, Moss Beach

Agenda:  Big Wave draft EIR

Planning Commission Preliminary Hearing

Date and Time: Wednesday, November 18, 2009 - 9:00am

Board of Supervisors Chambers

400 County Center, Redwood City

End of 45 day Public Comment Period:  Monday, December 7

Public Works AIRPORT Letter

Department of Public Works

COUNTY OF SAN MATEO

555 COUNTY CENTER

5TH FLOOR

REDWOOD CITY, CALIFORNIA

94063-1665 

PHONE (650) 363-4100

FAX (650) 361-8220

December 5, 2008

Ms. Camille Leung

Planning and Building Department

455 County Center 2nd Floor

Redwood City, CA 94063

Dear Camille:

RE: Notice of Preparation of on Environmental Impact Report for the Big Wave Wellness Center and Office Park.

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the Notice of Preparation of an Environmental Impact Report for the proposed Big Wave Wellness Center and Office Park (Project) located on Airport Street adjacent the Half Moon Bay Airport.

The proposed Project is located approximately 300-feet from the Half Moon Bay Airport (Airport) runway. The Airport is open year-round 24-hours a day and has approximately 40,000 to 60,000 aircraft take-offs and landings per year. The proposed Project area is subject to single-event aircraft noise impacts from aircraft take-offs, departures, overflights, arrivals and pre-flight run-ups at the Airport.

The Project is located directly across from the beginning of Runway 30. Prevailing wind conditions at the Airport dictate that Runway 30 be used for take-offs and landings approximately 80 percent of the time. Due to its proximity to the beginning of the runway, the project area is also subject to extended single-event propeller, jet and engine noise impacts as aircraft apply full take-off power and begin to accelerate for take-off.

The requirements, guidelines and recommendations in the California Airport Land Use Planning Handbook from the State Department of transportation should also be considered as they relate to specific land uses in the vicinity of airports as well as aircraft noise impacts and the safety of aircraft occupants and people and property on the ground.

Please give me a call at (650) 573-3700 if you have any questions or I can provide any additional information.

Very truly yours,

Mark Larson

Airport Manager

Cc:
Jim Porter, Director of Public Works
Dave Carbone, County Airport Environs Planner

Link (page 131): http://www.ccag.ca.gov/pdf/aluc/043009%20ALUC%20minutes.pdf

Caltrans Letter

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
DIVISION OF AERONAUTICS - M.S.#40
1120 N STREET
P.O. BOX 942873
SACRAMENTO, CA 94273 -0001
PHONE (916) 654-4959
FAX (916) 653-9531
TTY 711

November 17, 2008

Ms. Camille Leung
San Mateo County
455 County Center, 2nd Floor
Redwood City, CA 94063

Dear Ms. Leung:

San Mateo County’s Notice of Preparation of the Draft Environmental Impact Report for the Big Wave Wellness Center and Office Park; SCH# 2008102109

The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), Division of Aeronautics (Division), reviewed the above-referenced document with respect to airport-related noise and safety impacts and regional aviation land use planning issues pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The Division has technical expertise in the areas of airport operations safety, noise and airport land use compatibility. We are a funding agency for airport projects and we have permit authority for public-use and special-use airports and heliports. We offer the following comments for your consideration.

The proposal will include "housing and employment opportunities for low-income developmentally disabled (DD) children and adults." The two primary components include a "Wellness Center” and "Office Park." The project site is located immediately adjacent to southwest boundary of the Half Moon Bay Airport.

Half Moon Bay Airport provides a variety of emergency service and response functions including: Air-Ambulance and Medivac flights; law enforcement and homeland security patrols; Coast Guard sea-rescue operations; and use as a disaster relief staging site for the airlifting of emergency supplies in the event that roads are closed during a disaster or emergency. Half Moon Bay is an active airport, with approximately 80-based aircraft, over 60,000 annual operations and several aviation related businesses.

A portion of the project site appears to be within the Approach Protection Zone (APZ) for Half Moon Bay Airport as designated in the San Mateo County Comprehensive Airport Land Use Plan (CALUP). The CALUP recommends against residential uses and business uses within the APZ. Protecting people and property on the ground from the potential consequences of near-airport aircraft accidents is a fundamental land use compatibility-planning objective. While the chance of an aircraft injuring someone on the ground is historically quite low, an aircraft accident is a high consequence event. To protect people and property on the ground from the risks of near-airport aircraft accidents, some form of restrictions on land use are essential. The two principal methods for reducing the risk of injury and property damage on the ground are to limit the number of persons in an area and to limit the area covered by occupied structures. This should be addressed in the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR).

The northern third of the project site also appears to be within an area identified as "extremely noise sensitive areas" on the Half Moon Bay Airport-Noise Abatement Procedures. It is likely that some future residents and tenants will be annoyed by aircraft noise in this area. A thorough airport-related noise analysis should be included in the DEIR.

The proposal should also be submitted to the San Mateo County Airport Land Use Commission (ALUC) for a consistency determination. The proposal must also be coordinated with Half Moon Bay Airport staff to ensure that the proposal will be compatible with future as well as existing airport operations.

State Public Utilities Code Section 21659 prohibits structural hazards near airports. In accordance with Federal Aviation Regulation, Part 77  "Objects Affecting Navigable Airspace" a Notice of Proposed Construction or Alteration (Form 7460-1) may be required by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Form 7460-1 is available on-line at https://oeaaa.faa.gov/oeaaa/external/portal.jsp and should be submitted electronically to the FAA.

Business and Professions Code Section 11010 and Civil Code Sections 1102.6, 1103.4, and 1353 address buyer notification requirements for lands around airports and are available on-line at http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/calaw.html. Any person who intends to offer subdivided lands, common interest developments and residential properties for sale or lease within an airport influence area is required to disclose that fact to the person buying the property.

The protection of airports from incompatible land use encroachment is vital to California's economic future, Half Moon Bay Airport is an economic asset that should be protected through effective airport land use compatibility planning and awareness. Although the need for compatible and safe land uses near airports is both a local and State issue, airport staff, airport land use commissions and airport land use compatibility plans are key to protecting an airport and the people residing and working in the vicinity of an airport. Consideration given to the issue of compatible land uses in the vicinity of an airport should help to relieve future conflicts between airports and their neighbors.

These comments reflect the areas of concern to the Division with respect to airport-related noise and safety impacts and regional airport land use planning issues. We advise you to contact our Caltrans District 4 office concerning surface transportation issues.

Thank you for the opportunity to review and comment on this proposal. If you have any questions, please call me at (916) 654-5314.

Sincerely,

SANDY HESNARD
Aviation Environmental Specialist

Cc: State Clearinghouse, Half Moon Bay Airport, San Mateo County ALUC

Link (page 126): http://www.ccag.ca.gov/pdf/aluc/043009%20ALUC%20minutes.pdf

AIRCRAFT OWNERS AND PILOTS ASSOCIATION: Letter

AOPA

www.aopa.org

421 Aviation Way

Frederick, Maryland 21701

T. 301-695-2000

F. 301-695-2375

December 4, 2008

County of San Mateo, Planning and Building Department

Attn: Camille Leung, Planner

455 County Center, 2d Floor

Redwood City, CA 94063

Re: Notice of Preparation (NOP) of an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the Big Wave Wellness Center and Office Park

Dear Ms, Leung:

The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) represents the general aviation interests of 415,000 members, more than two-thirds of the nation's pilots - including 49,809 of our members in the state of California. On behalf of our membership, AOPA is committed to ensuring the future viability and development of general aviation airports and their facilities as part of a national transportation system. ln that regard, we appreciate the opportunity to comment on the Notice of Preparation of an Environmental Impact Report for the Big Wave Wellness Center and Office Park, proposed for a site adjacent to the Half Moon Bay Airport (HAF).

AOPA is opposed to this development because such a project would be an incompatible land use adjacent to an airport. The EIR must look at the impact of this project on the airport's current and future operations and mitigation should not penalize the airport. Rather, a more compatible use should be sought for the property. As the airport sponsor, the County has the obligation to ensure compatible land uses around the airport under both the quit claim deed from the Federal government and the receipt of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) airport improvement funds.

The proposed site location is located within several airport safety zones for runway 30 that should preclude residential development. The first safety zone that impacts the project area is comprised of the FAA mandated runway protection zone which is a trapezoid shape extending from 200 feet east of the displaced threshold on Runway 30 out 1000 feet with a base width of 500 feet widening to a width of 1000 feet. The 2002 California Airport Land Use Planning Handbook prohibits any dwelling units within that zone.

In addition, the Approach Protection Zone overlies a portion of the property, and the state of California recommends limiting development to one dwelling unit per 10 to 20 acres. This precludes placing any of the proposed 45 residential units in this area.

The majority of the property is within the traffic pattern zone, which allows residential uses but discourages schools, day care centers and nursing homes. Despite the allowance for residential use within this zone, AOPA contends residential uses adjacent to the airport are incompatible and should not be permitted. The County should identify a more compatible land use for this property.

Again, we appreciate the opportunity to share comments and look forward to reviewing the EIR in the future.

Sincerely,

John L. Collins 
Manager

Airport Policy

link to letter, page 129:
http://www.ccag.ca.gov/pdf/aluc/043009%20ALUC%20minutes.pdf

No Story Poles during the CEQA public comment period

Last week the Big Wave attorney delivered a letter to the County refusing to put up story poles during the CEQA public comment period. 

Big Wave plans 4 office park buildings that are 46.5 ft plus 4 ft of solar & wind turbines on the roof and raised grade. For size comparison, the warehouse building at 850 Airport St. just north of the Pillar Ridge community and easily seen from Hwy 1, is 24 feet tall. 

Big Wave is double the height of the building at 850 Airport St and would be the tallest buildings on the Midcoast.