Mid-Peninsula Housing, a nonprofit provider of affordable housing across the Bay Area, has entered into an option to purchase nearly 11 acres in Moss Beach that local skateboarders remember fondly as “Spotti” and the “Moss Beach Ruins.”
More recently, the land has been fenced and the ad-hoc skateboarding ramps dismantled. The California School Employees Association, which has owned the land as an investment since 1969, announced it was putting the land at 1 Sierra St. up for sale for $4.9 million.
On Tuesday, MidPen Housing Director of Business Development Felix AuYeung confirmed online reports that the Foster City developer had an option to buy and was working through due diligence before going through with the purchase.
He noted that the land is approved for 148 units and that, if MidPen purchases it, the organization would seek to operate within those limits.
MidPen seeks to provide housing for people at 60 percent or less of the median household income. AuYeung said there is a great need for such housing and that he had heard anecdotally that teachers on the coast might be among those most in need of housing.
He also stressed that the company is aware that the land has been used as quasi-public parkland through the years.
“We understand that there is a value in this property to local residents,” he said. “We would want to work with the neighborhood.” He indicated there could be room for a public space within an eventual development design.
AuYeung said that other developers were interested as well and that if MidPen backed out for any reason the land would likely be developed by another entity, perhaps one less focused on the public good.
Sale of the property would have to be sanctioned by CSEA’s board of directors. While it was zoned for about 148 residential units in the 1980s, a prospective new owner would need to obtain a coastal development permit from the county, a process that involves public input.
(10) comments
"...this could reduce commute period traffic" is not true.
Adding more housing to the coast will increase traffic. The net result of all housing and businesses proposed for San Mateo County coast will add to coast traffic, will remove the scenic quality of coastal living, becoming just another megalopolis, like Los Angeles.
Given predicted flooding and ongoing rapid erosion due to global warming, building on the coast -- whether high density or just one building -- is a disaster plan in the making.
The big issue here is the impact on the coastside community from the traffic that would be generated. We already know that we can't go to the grocery store on weekends. We know that the jobs that these people are supposed to be working at are actually in Redwood City and San Mateo, not Moss Beach and Montara. This will result in even MORE traffic that everyone who already lives here would have to bear.
The idea of affordable housing is good, but it needs to be near the jobs. They should relocate this project to San Mateo, Redwood City or even Half Moon Bay as the current proposed location is a disaster waiting to happen for so many reasons.
Most people I've polled don't even realize that Big Wave was already approved (the big development near the airport). Those buildings and parking spaces and hundreds of new cars aren't even on the road yet, so we're not feeling that impact yet. Adding this on top of it would make it impossible to live on the coast.
You are right. Traffic *is* the big issue. However, there is a chance this could reduce commute period traffic, because a lot of people who work on the coast can't afford to live here. MidPenn is quite willing to give extra preference points to people who work in the area.
I believe that improving transit is the only possible solution to coastside traffic issues. Rather than fighting the project, we might be better off asking MidPenn to find a way to help subsidize improved transit connections.
Half Moon Bay to Montara does not need any more development. It needs transportation infrastructure. Until traffic problems have been solved, do not attempt to increase populations.
Short of somebody buying up all the vacant lots, and putting conservation easements on them (or similar methods), the development *is* going to occur. The question is how to manage it (ideally, reduce it), and how to reduce traffic and other impacts. The county is thinking about requiring some lot retirement programs, and that would help, but probably not enough by itself.
Low cost, low carbon footprint buses which provide real middle class driver jobs for local residents -- not a freeway down the coast, as has been proposed in the past at least twice.
So what is the median income on the coast probably over $75,000 a year. Low income housing as stated above will be a damn disaster. If this project is going that way than GGNRA and the Sierra Club and everyone from half moon bay to montara should be against this. We have low income housing in Half Moon Bay. Here is my question is someone going to ask for citizenship papers to the tenants or has the coast been a "illegal free zone". I have no problem with hard working people but frankly I am sick and tired of house values dropping so we can help the poor people of the world. Who is going to help us.
Aggreed with above statements. But if you mean what you say, do something about it and submit a public comment expressing actual concerns in addition to your social media comment.
I will put it like this..If this is going to be a development for low income and illegal Hispanics like the other developments on the coast, we don't need or want it. In the summer, I invite you to pay attention as the San Mateo County gang task force who will be working on the coast and watch as they pulls guns, drugs and norteno gang members out of places like Moon ridge. If you want that in quiet, crime free moss beach then go for it. A development for seniors would be perfect for that quiet, safe part of town. I dont want lines of rusted out gardening trucks and speeding illegal DUI drives rolling through my neighborhood where kids are safe to play all over....
Sounds awfully biased to me. Very few hispanics are members of gangs (just like few caucasions are members of gangs). I see plenty of rusted trucks right here in El Granada, and they aren't owned by poor people...
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