HMB's senior campus appeal has unlikely funder

An appeal has been filed in hopes of halting San Mateo County's plans to build new homes and a service hub for seniors. Costing $2,600, the appeal doesn't come cheap, and the party footing the bill might come as a surprise - San Mateo County.

County housing officials say they're helping fund the appeal of their own project because they're confident the proposed buildings meet all standards and they want the process to move along.

"It is an unusual situation," said county Housing Director Duane Bay. "Our interest is that it receives a full and fair hearing, and that the City Council be able to act on it as soon as possible."

Opponents to the project, mostly seniors at the subsidized Half Moon Village, say the high cost and complexity of filing an appeal made it impossible to complete.

Some of them came to the Half Moon Bay City Council last week to air their grievances publicly. Nearby residents Silvia Allen and Jo-Ann Ordano urged the council to waive the appeal fee and lend some help in filing the paperwork.

"No low-income senior at Lesley Gardens or Half Moon Village can afford (an appeal)," Ordano said. "A number of seniors are not happy about this project, and we'd like it to be further reviewed."

The project in question would be the first segment of a long-sought senior campus, which would include 160 new senior apartments that would wrap around the Lesley Gardens community on Arnold Way. The project would require the demolition of 60 homes at the county-run Half Moon Village. Tenants would be provided the first apartments at the new facility, but many longtime residents fear what they could lose in the tradeoff.

Earlier this month, the city Planning Commission approved the project unanimously over some complaints from seniors in attendance. They pledged they would appeal the decision to the City Council.

Half Moon Bay council members considered granting an appeal waiver, but they were warned by the city attorney such a decision couldn't be made until the item is put on a meeting agenda. That put the aggrieved seniors in a pickle, because the appeal window only gave them 10 days - ending at a deadline today - to file the paperwork.

City leaders indicated they could tentatively extend the window while they considered the waiver, but that began to raise concern among the project's supporters at MidPen Housing and the county.

Time is of the essence for the senior campus project, Bay said. He explained that he and other advocates were worried an appeal decision could be prolonged over multiple city meetings. Housing officials with the nonprofit MidPen Housing have set the goal to begin construction by the end of the year, which would allow the project to benefit from state housing grants.

Those grants are reportedly needed to finance as much as half of the estimated $60 million construction cost.