555 Kelly

Sure, lots of other things need attention in Half Moon Bay, but everyone wants to talk about 555 Kelly, so let’s talk about it. 

I believe that project was so contentious because the citizens of Half Moon Bay were not heard. Because of something called the Density Bonus Law, city officials and citizens were not able to raise questions and ask for compromises over issues like parking and traffic and 5-story building height and public safety — and when people’s concerns are ignored or dismissed, they get angry. If 555 Kelly had gone through the normal process, those questions of height and parking and so on would have been addressed, there would have been some small compromises and the same approval timeline would have been met. The project applicants decided to go along a different path, one of confrontation, deception, and shaming. It’s too bad. Every other affordable housing project in this town has been embraced. But forcing this project through without engaging the questions about it, that just resulted in rancor and ill feeling. 

A couple of other important things: That lack of public input is on display again in the 940 Main project, also known as the Metzgar project. This time the applicant invoked something called “by-right process,” and “ministerial approval.” That means no public hearings. No City Council input, no Planning Commission input, no public input. 

Just to be clear, there is a reason why Half Moon Bay has already built a lot of affordable housing on its own, without prodding by the state — many of our citizens can’t afford to live here. We’re not a rich community, and affordable housing projects have been not only accepted but encouraged here. And the 940 Main project has a developer, MidPen, with a good track record. The project looks appealing. However… 

This dynamic of no public input sets a dangerous precedent. The state of California decided to bully Half Moon Bay and they got what they wanted — two housing projects where public input and project compromise is minimal. When a bully gets his way, he doesn’t suddenly become your friend. A bully comes back and wants more. My concern is that this dynamic will repeat itself with bigger projects. Hey, if you have 20% affordable housing, you can build whatever else you want — hotel, conference center, five stories tall, luxury homes, etc. — with no input from anyone who lives in Half Moon Bay. That is in our future, if we let it.

Two quick asides — sorry to go on, but it’s important: 

The state of California has singled out little Half Moon Bay as the poster child for its housing push. Are we recalcitrant NIMBYs who don’t like affordable housing? That just doesn’t track. We have been building affordable housing long before the state decided to push. As a community, we built Lesley Gardens senior housing, Main Street affordable housing, Stone Pine Cove farmworker housing, Half Moon Village senior housing. Moonridge Housing was a county project, but all of these major housing projects were proposed, approved and built with little resistance. There is no NIMBYism here. We are a town of modest incomes and modest means, and we understand the need for affordable housing and we have embraced it in our town. 

A lot of the housing we’ve already built has been for others. Lesley Gardens was supposed to address the dire need for low-income seniors here in Half Moon Bay. But those housing units went predominantly to the rest of the county and beyond — and we STILL have low-income seniors here who can’t afford to live here.

We need a Local Preference ordinance so that, when we build more affordable housing, the citizens living here get a chance at living there.

(When we approved and built Lesley Gardens senior housing, for instance, the community at the time saw that many seniors couldn’t afford to live here — but that project was not predominantly for local residents, it was predominantly for seniors from other areas of the county and state. So Half Moon Bay still has a problem, where our seniors can’t afford to stay here.)

I also think a Live/Work ordinance makes sense — so the people who work here and commute in from other places like Daly City also get a chance at housing. Living near your work cuts down on traffic and pollution, and fosters that sense of neighborliness we all love.