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| Council vows to support Yee's Beachwood plan By Clay Lambert [ clay@hmbreview.com ] Published/Last Modified on Wednesday, August 20, 2008 1:01 PM PDT The Half Moon Bay City Council Tuesday night indicated unanimous support for the compromise state Sen. Leland Yee offered as a road map out of the financial nightmare known as Beachwood. The City Council met for nearly an hour in closed session before announcing support, in concept, for Yee's proposal. Late last week, Yee said he would author a bill that would shuttle $10 million from a pot held for suburban parks to Half Moon Bay. The city would then use that money to offset the $18 million it would need to pay Beachwood developer Charles Keenan. Beachwood, which languished for decades, now seems to grow more complicated by the day. Yee's bill follows a sour reception for an Assembly bill that sought development rights for Keenan as part of a settlement agreement that negated a $41 million judgment issued last year. After initially indicating he would support that bill, AB 1991, Yee quickly pulled away when it became apparent environmentalists opposed it. Yee now has days to push through his counter proposal, which would tap parks funds attached to Prop 1C, which primarily deals with affordable housing. After many privately fumed that Yee declined to support AB 1991, Tuesday night City Council members praised Yee for his work crafting a compromise. "I really feel the clouds are lifting, These have been a very difficult 231 days," said City Councilman John Muller, referring to the number of days since a federal court judge awarded Keenan the potentially ruinous sum. Yee representative Jon Kessler said the council's support will help in the coming days. "We're pleased to hear what we heard tonight," he said. |