Half Moon Bay council overturns Planning Commission, approves 102-room Hyatt Place at south gateway

The Half Moon Bay City Council voted 4-0 on a motion to grant an appeal and approve the Hyatt Place Hotel project, reversing the Planning Commission's denial. The motion, moved by Vice Mayor Redick and seconded by Council Member Penrose, certified the Environmental Impact Report, adopted CEQA findings and a statement of overriding considerations, and approved PDP-072-13 for a 102-room, 66,268-square-foot Hyatt Place hotel with associated site improvements and a four-lot tentative parcel map on Seymour Street.

The project site is between Main Street and Highway 1 near Higgins Canyon Road. Staff described the approved design as "Modified Alternative 2" from the EIR: two hotel buildings totaling 102 rooms, approximately two acres of publicly accessible open space and wetland buffer enhancements adjacent to Highway 1, and a four-lot subdivision north of Seymour Street that could allow up to 16 residential dwelling units under R-2 zoning. Senior planner Doug Garrison said the Planning Commission's denial "was based on three land use plan policies" related to visual resources and aesthetics and warned the council that, if it approved the project, it would need to certify the EIR and adopt the statement of overriding considerations because the EIR identified one significant and unavoidable visual impact.

Why it matters: Council and supporters said the project will provide transient occupancy tax (TOT) revenue, visitor-serving accommodations and midweek meeting space, public trail and interpretive improvements, and local jobs. Opponents focused on existing hotel occupancy figures and visual impacts along Highway 1 and nearby trails. Because the EIR identified a significant and unavoidable visual…