Good judgment is not a prerequisite for the San Mateo County Planning Commissioners Ranken, Dworetzky & Wong

On Tuesday morning three San Mateo County Planning Commissioners approved the overblown Big Wave office park project next to the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve and Maverick's surf break. The County Planning Commissioners make decisions on projects located in unincorporated areas.

Three County Planning Commissioners with poor judgment:

• Chris Ranken, 3rd District     
• Steve Dworetzky,  5th District     
• William Wong, 1st District 

After the Planning Commission hearing Chris Ranken of Pacifica said, "The eight subdivisions of existing land indicate the land owner is planning to sell parcels." Ranken said he approved the project because, "It will bring tax revenue to the coast." When it was pointed out that tax revenue would go to the County not the unincorporated coastside Ranken looked confused as if he was thinking of his days on the Pacifica Planning Commission. 

The Board of Supervisors should require that County Planning Commissioners live in an unincorporated area. 

County Planning, Public Works and the Board of Supervisors have a long history of failing to providing basic infrastructure for the unincorporated Coastside. Very little tax revenue goes towards projects in the unincorporated areas of the County. If a neighborhood needs a road replaced, street lights or storm-water drainage improvements Jim Porter the Director of Public Works meets with the community and tells folks they will have to pay for an assessment district. The Board of Supervisors is happy to allow new development but neglects to put money back into roads and infrastructure.

San Mateo County Planning Commission approves Big Wave project

The Planning Commission approved a huge Turkey of a project this week. 

The Big Wave project is not consistent with the General Plan, the LCP and the Industrial/Waterfront zoning. The airport incompatibility and potential for losing federal airport funding should have been reason enough for denial. The decision is disappointing. The Developmental Disabilities community put on a full court press, and the sympathy factor trumped years of established planning principles.

By Julia Scott . San Mateo County Times . 11/23/2010

REDWOOD CITY -- The San Mateo County Planning Commission narrowly lent its support to a controversial proposal to build a 57-bed sanitarium for developmentally disabled adults in Princeton-by-the-Sea, although everyone knew the Tuesday morning vote is not the last word on the project.

Opponents are certain to appeal to the Board of Supervisors in December, as well as the California Coastal Commission...It's a development opponents say is totally out of proportion to the rural Coastside, and their impassioned testimony clearly swayed two planning commissioners, who voted against awarding a development agreement. The final vote was 3-2 to certify the environmental impact report, award a coastal development permit and grant a 20-year development permit.

"I think there's going to be large amounts of litigation on this, and I want to make sure the county doesn't end up losing money," said Commissioner Gail Slocum, who called the development proposal "completely inadequate."

The project, which would be situated between Half Moon Bay Airport and the ocean, has been in the works for 10 years but has run into objections from neighbors, as well as local, state and federal agencies...Studies by project contractors indicate that Big Wave, at build-out, would substantially add to the traffic problem in Princeton to the south and Moss Beach to the north, making some intersections all but impassable at peak times without installing a traffic light. The project would be located in a vacant field within a few hundred feet of the ocean, near Mavericks, and is only accessible via narrow secondary roads off Highway 1.

The site is well within a tsunami zone, and the Sheriff's Office of Emergency Services sent a letter to the Planning Department calling attention to that fact.

The Federal Aviation Administration, the California Department of Transportation and the county's Department of Public Works Airport Administration all wrote to the Planning Department to say that having a sanitarium within feet of the Half Moon Bay Airport would be "incompatible" with airport uses. The FAA says building Big Wave could jeopardize crucial federal grant funding for the airport, an issue the Planning Commission glanced over Tuesday.

An unusual decision by Big Wave developers to support the project using their own private source of water, and to treat and recycle all wastewater on-site rather than contract with the local public sanitary district, is also likely to receive further scrutiny from the Coastal Commission.