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| Residents discouraged by traffic changes By MATT KAPKO Published/Last Modified on Wednesday, August 25, 2004 1:11 PM PDT Half Moon Bay Review For some in neighborhoods adjacent to Wavecrest, the California Coastal Commission's decision to postpone discussion of the project was a stroke of luck. They want changes to the traffic plan and are trying to get the commission hearing scheduled |at a location they can easily attend. Such requests are granted at times but, because of the commission's workload, there must be compelling reasons to do so, a commission spokesman said. "The reality is that hearings are often held not close to the location of a project - that's unavoidable," said Chris Kern, the commission's coastal program manager. The latest tentative agreement between the city and developer for Wavecrest pins traffic access for the project entirely on Seymour Street, which funnels into Arleta Park and Alsace Lorraine. The revision has residents in these neighborhoods concerned. Prior to the agreement, reached in early July, the plan was for access to flow directly into the new hamlet, leaving pre-existing neighborhoods undisturbed by increased traffic. But that all changed when the city met with the developer in closed-door negotiations prior to announcing the settlement - much to the chagrin of Arleta Park and Alsace Lorraine residents. City officials, who initially claimed they would get another shot at the plan after the Coastal Commission considered it, pursued the compromise after developer Pat Fitzgerald sued. Instead of heading into costly and uncertain court battles, the city tried to exert some control before the proposal went to the Coastal Commission. The city now claims the development will be largely out of its hands once the commission rules. Still, depending upon what happens at the commission, the city's endorsement of the deal may change, according to Half Moon Bay Planning Director Jack Liebster. "We did not come to a settlement. We had a limited stipulation that we agreed to," he said. Arleta Park resident Jeff Corbett said he and most of his neighbors oppose the changes made on traffic access to the development. Furthermore, he's taken issue with the fact that the concessions were made in closed-door negotiations without the public's involvement. "The City Council, behind closed doors, completely reversed the position in the previous Wavecrest plans," he said. "This is a cheap and easy solution for them. Why can't they put the light there where they originally planned?" The traffic light was originally planned to go in at the intersection of Highway 1 and a new road that would have been the only access route to Wavecrest. Corbett is suspicious of the whole deal - from how it was pursued, to why changes were made to the previous agreement reached between both parties in 1999. He said residents were caught off guard when the agreement came out and that it took time for word to filter into the community. "We elected those officials and they are obligated to represent our position," Corbett said. "The neighborhood was there first. We live there. We pay taxes." He and other residents are pulling together to argue their case against the changes. "There's basically unanimous opposition to this," he said. And the popularity of their cause will undoubtedly fall into the open arms of Terrace Avenue and Highland Park residents who face an almost eerily similar fate. Residents in that neighborhood are waging a similar battle with the city over access to a proposed development adjacent to their homes. The Pacific Ridge development, like Wavecrest, is 20 years in the making and has been through many changes. To compel the city to agree to some development, the Pacific Ridge developers eventually sued the city, much like the Wavecrest developers did. And as if those parallels weren't enough, city officials met with the Pacific Ridge developers in closed-door negotiations that ended with a call for access directly through a pre-existing neighborhood. "I think given the handicaps it wasn't a bad negotiation," Mayor Mike Ferreira said referring to Wavecrest. "The process isn't finished. "It was very ambitious to think all the pieces could be put together from that meeting." He added that concessions given to the city by the developers outweighed whatever the city gave in the negotiations. Those concessions call for more than two-thirds of the 206-acre property to be dedicated as open space, a significant reduction in the amount of homes and total deletion of commercial development in the plan. The city will also be given ownership of the ball fields at Smith Field and $1.5 million for development on the fields and a new corporate yard. Alsace Lorraine and Arleta Park residents have pleaded with the City Council to reverse the traffic access concession and to keep the public more involved in the process. But at this point, their requests are falling on deaf ears. The council is telling these residents it's out of the city's hands and that the future of the project rests in the Coastal Commission's hands. |