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Planning staff outlines Midcoast coordination, Seal Cove update and upcoming workshops
Summary
Planning and Building Department staff reported on three correspondence items about the Burnham Strip and Pillar Point Harbor, an upcoming Seal Cove community meeting, a Plan Princeton workshop and pending general plan conformity items including a proposed transitional housing acquisition at 3335 Spring Street and a SFPUC pipeline replacement.
Planning and Building Department staff gave the commission an extended director’s report on Sept. 10, summarizing recent correspondence, interagency coordination on Midcoast projects, a community meeting on a Seal Cove landslide, and several upcoming public workshops and agenda items.
Steve Manowitz, speaking for the department, described three letters received since the last meeting. The first came from the Midcoast Community Council and concerned overlapping proposals on the Burnham Strip near Pillar Point Harbor, including a proposed Granada Community Services District park and recreation center, a Caltrans Highway 1 repair and bike‑lane project that will remove some shoulder parking, and a Pillar Point Harbor District proposal for overflow parking. Manowitz said the Coastal Commission required Caltrans to replace parking lost to the Highway 1 project, and that Caltrans, the harbor district and other agencies are discussing whether a Burnham Strip parking proposal would satisfy that requirement. He said the department supports the Midcoast Community Council’s effort to convene stakeholders and "will be a welcome participant as part of those discussions."
Manowitz also summarized two other pieces of correspondence: a Menlo Oaks resident writing about a drainage issue (the department forwarded the concern to Public Works) and a North Fair Oaks tree committee member who initially questioned an oak tree removal but later acknowledged the tree had died and removal was to address a hazard.
Upcoming meetings and agenda items
Manowitz told commissioners the department will convene a Seal Cove community meeting to present an updated geotechnical report related to a long‑running landslide concern; the meeting is scheduled for Sept. 17 at the District 3 office but the department noted the report delivery schedule may require rescheduling. He said a Plan Princeton public workshop on rezoning and sea‑level adaptation is scheduled for Sept. 30 at 10 a.m. at the District 3 office.
He previewed the Sept. 24 commission agenda: two general plan conformity items (a county acquisition of 3335 Spring Street in North Fair Oaks for transitional housing, and the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission’s Crystal Spring pipeline replacement project) and a use permit for a catering kitchen and takeout restaurant on Middlefield Road in North Fair Oaks. He also told commissioners the department will ask the Board of Supervisors on Sept. 23 to support a grant application for the Moss Beach Highway 1 improvement project.
Budget and staffing
Asked about the county budget, Manowitz said the department secured funding for long‑range planning projects and had no current staff reductions but remains prepared for fiscal contingency planning. On recruitment for a fifth planning commissioner, staff said interviews were underway with a final selection handled by the county executive’s office and board of supervisors, not the Planning and Building Department.
Manowitz closed by reminding commissioners of an upcoming consultant field trip tied to housing‑element rezonings. He said the department will continue to update the commission as these items and interagency discussions progress.
