|
||
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Half Moon Bay Review By Jim Welte For two long days last week, the tumultuous struggle over control of the California Coastal Commission held the undivided attention of both supporters and
opponents of three monumental development projects facing the Coastside. With Wavecrest Village and the Coastside County Water District's pipeline project seeking commission approval in the coming months, and the Pacific Ridge
development mired in lawsuits against the commission and the city of Half Moon Bay, the key players involved in all three projects had their ears and eyes locked on the commission's meeting last week in San Francisco. In the
span of just a few days, the mood of coastal protection activists transformed from shocked sadness to unbridled relief to cautious optimism. The battle was waged over who would hold the chairperson's seat on the commission and
manage the powerful state panel's monthly meetings, which dictate the fate of proposed development along California's 1,100-mile coastline. At the outset of the meetings, Malibu engineer and Commission Chairwoman Sara Wan, long
regarded as a beacon for the coastal protection community and members of the local League for Coastside Protection, stepped down as chair. In doing so, she alleged that Governor Gray Davis and State Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson
were trying to oust her in favor of a more development-friendly chair, although representatives of Davis and Wesson vehemently denied the charges. Several Wan supporters, including Mark Massara, the Sierra Club's Director of
Coastal Programs, echoed her sentiments, saying that Davis was looking to repay some of the developers who served as major financial backers in his campaign for re-election in the November gubernatorial race by easing the path to
approval for some key coastal development projects. And that included the Coastside. The implications of such a move by the governor revealed direct implications for the Coastside. The Plumbers & Steamfitters Local Union
467, for instance, is the majority investor in the 279-home Wavecrest Village project. The union has donated $100,000 to the Davis campaign in the past two years - more than a third of the union's campaign contributions during
that time - and has also hosted big-ticket fundraisers for Davis. At the end of the week, Massara said he had plenty of reasons to be hopeful. "It's been an exhausting week," he said. "But given the potential
downside, coastal activists have to be hopeful with the resolution of all this. There has been so much public scrutiny that the folks in Sacramento had very little hope of pulling a fast one in this case." Many coastal
activists said they were tipped off to a potential political shakeup on the horizon by the recent developments in the lawsuit brought against the commission by Ailanto Properties, the developer of the Pacific Ridge subdivision.
In that case, the commission and Ailanto were reportedly very close to a settlement under which the commission would have retreated on two major conditions it had applied to the project's approval. Wan had reportedly fought hard
for those conditions at the time of the project's February 2001 approval. Five days after the terms of the settlement were briefly revealed on the commission's Web site, however, a San Mateo County Superior Court judge ruled in
favor of the commission, leaving many confused as to why the commission would be ready to settle a case in which it prevailed. Following Wan's decision to remove herself from the fray, Sonoma County Supervisor Mike Reilly -
regarded as a Wan supporter - and Commission Vice Chair and Monterey County Supervisor Dave Potter were nominated to be her successor. But then the commission deadlocked, 6-6, between the two, and did so on a second vote as
well. Two Davis appointees and all four Wesson appointees backed Potter, while the other two Davis appointees and the ones appointed by Senate President Pro Tem John Burton all backed Reilly. The dramatic day was capped off by
an emotional speech from Wan about the need to protect the coast. "I have managed to accomplish things that may make some people angry, but also may help to protect and preserve this place for future generations," she
said. Wan was given a standing ovation by the rest of the commission and the audience following her speech. At the conclusion of the day's meeting, it seemed that the chairmanship would not be determined in December, leaving
many onlookers confused and frustrated at what appeared to be a political mess. On Thursday, however, despite not being an item on the agenda, the issue came up again at the meeting and Potter, who had been demonized by many Wan
supporters as being too friendly with developers, dropped out of the contest before another vote could take place. "This is a family," he said. "This is a good mission that we have, and we have no disagreements
about the importance of protecting the California coast." Reilly was unanimously elected to succeed Wan, and commissioner William Burke, who some environmentalists accused of vigorously working the phones during the
previous day's votes and Wan's speech, was voted vice chair. Massara said he believed that once Wan stepped down, Davis and Wesson were satisfied with whomever would succeed her. He said the controversy largely boiled down to
the decision by Vote the Coast, an environmental coalition in which Wan is active, not to endorse Davis' re-election this year. Once the battle over the gavel subsided, Massara said, each commissioner seemed anxious to
re-establish their environmental credentials, and the commission denied several environmentally sensitive projects, including the Arco Dos Pueblos Golf Links in Santa Barbara and the expansion of the Duke power plant on Morro Bay.
"Once the logjam over control was broken, we saw the greening of the Coastal Commission," he said. "This has been a dramatic turnaround. I'm very encouraged for what this could mean for 2003 with projects like
Wavecrest coming up." While the battle over the chair was rife with tension, most insiders said that the commission's political bent won't change unless Davis chooses to replace environmentally friendly Commissioner
Christina Desser, a Davis appointee whose term is up and who is the only Davis appointee not to have been reappointed. Although all 12 commissioners consider themselves environmentalists, many coastal activists say the
commission is generally split evenly between conservationists and developer-friendly appointees. That balance won't change unless Desser is replaced by a pro-development commissioner, according to Half Moon Bay City Councilwoman
Deborah Ruddock, who also serves as an alternate commissioner for Potter. "As long as the makeup of the commission remains the same, nothing will change," Ruddock said. "So far, the balance on the current
commission has worked pretty well." Davis has not yet indicated his intention, but environmentalists said they remain on guard for such a possibility. According to longtime Committee for Green Foothills legislative
advocate Lennie Roberts, "The entire balance of the commission could be altered just by changing one appointment." Coastsider Pat Fitzgerald, who as Wavecrest Partners General Partner has tried to steer the proposed
development through a minefield of criticism from environmentalists, downplayed the importance of the battle over the chair of the commission to his long-delayed project. "We will be seeking the votes of the majority of the
commission," he said. Roberts said that power plays on the commission have occurred throughout the panel's 25-year history. "It's distressing to see the Governor or the speaker try to manipulate things on the
commission, but it's nothing new," she said. "It is unseemly, however." City Councilman Mike Ferreira, a vocal advocate of coastal protection, said that the week's events, particularly on the heels of the
developments in the Pacific Ridge case, opened his eyes about the politics at play on the statewide commission. "As a City Councilman, we are long past the days when the Coastal Commission was seen as the older brother
watching over us that will take care of everything," Ferreira said. |
|
|
|
||||
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|||
