04.14.10
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Wednesday, April 14, 2010 Editorial a 4A | Weather & Tides a 5A | Police Log a 5A | A&E a 2B | Sports a 5B | Real Estate a 1C | Classifieds a 3C Volume ııı Number 5ı | 75 cents Serving the entire San Mateo Coastside since ı898 www.hmbreview.com a n d p e s c a d e r o p e b b l e FIRING UP THE AUCTION MAKE IT SO The recently formed Califuegos plan to Rock the Casbah > 1B Cunha counselor engages students with her love of all things Star Trek > 12A CITY DISCOVERS $ 14 MILLION MIRAGE By Mark Noack [ [email protected] ] In a way, the city of Half Moon Bay has just lost $14 million. Actually, the money wasn’t lost or mishandled, city officials say, but rather mis- reported. Last week City Manager Michael Dolder in- formed elected officials that the city Public Works Department had incorrectly reported last month that Half Moon Bay had $14.6 mil- lion in its sewer reserve fund, the cash account the city would draw from to perform sewer construction or repairs. But that amount was wildly overstated. In actuality, the sewer reserve balance is about 4 percent of what was earlier reported and is more like $607,000. The problem stemmed from misreading the city budget. City officials now say they wrongly reported net assets for the city sewer system as cash held in reserve. Those assets may not be liquid and include the value of the city’s net- work of sewage pipes and gutters along with other calculations. “It’s net assets. It’s not cash. It never was cash, and this is not a loss of cash,” Dolder said on Thursday, explaining the correction. “We were reviewing this and felt this didn’t look right, and we wanted to make sure everyone understands what this budget means.” Nevertheless, Half Moon Bay’s report that it had millions more in reserve than it really did has created some problems. For example, the city’s Midcoast partners in the Sewer Authority Mid-coastside had been pointing to the $14.6 million reserve fund as evidence that the city had been withholding funding from Coastside sewer projects. Just last month city leaders were preparing a series of sewer rate increases they said were OFFICIALS MISREAD SEWER BUDGET, INFLATING RESERVES See SEWER a 7A City hungry for larger tax slice HIGH-VALUE HMB PROPERTY PRODUCES POOR REVENUES By Mark Noack [ [email protected] ] As Half Moon Bay officials scrounge for more revenues, they often grumble about their take of local property taxes. It’s not that they’re too high or too low — it’s just that the city doesn’t get enough of the pie. In the trickle-down govern- ment tax system, Half Moon Bay is getting relative crumbs off the table in comparison to other local agencies. The city receives only about 6.5 percent of the property taxes paid by lo- cal homeowners — among the smallest percentages of any city in San Mateo County. In the state-mandated sys- tem of property tax allocations that was cemented in place [ taxes ] [ ridge trail ] Landowner wins judgment over Coastal Commission By Clay Lambert [ [email protected] ] Dan Sterling is one big step closer to building his dream home on a hilltop overlook- ing Pillar Point. On Friday, a San Mateo County Superior Court judge ruled the Califor- nia Coastal Commission over- stepped its bounds when it re- quired Sterling turn over most of his property as an agricul- tural easement if he wanted to build on the land. “I’d like to think that it’s over,” Sterling said. Sterling has been locked in a decade-long battle to get a permit to build a home on land he purchased in 1997. He said it took seven years to get a county permit to construct a 6,456-square-foot home on the land. Then the Coastal Commission took his plan un- der review and ultimately re- quired he agree to turn over all but 10,000 square feet of the property for an agricultural easement, meaning use of the property surrounding his new home would be limited. The Sterlings filed suit against the Coastal Commis- sion in 2009. On Friday, San Mateo County Superior Court 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 East Palo Alto Foster City Redwood City Belmont Colma Daly City Hillsborough San Mateo Burlingame South SF Brisbane Millbrae San Bruno San Carlos Menlo Park Atherton HALF MOON BAY Woodside Portola Valley Average % 6.65% Percentage of property taxes returning to cities [ property ] JUDGE RULES EASEMENT WAS ‘UNCONSTITUTIONAL TAKING’ See LANDOWNER a 7A See TAXES a 7A Half Moon Bay is stuck with one of the smallest returns on its prop- erty taxes in San Mateo County. Cities throughout California have al- most no ability to increase their share of property taxes. ge ge ge e e Sweeney Ridg dg ge By Mark Noack [ [email protected] ] The Coastal Trail has the visitors, but the Ridge Trail has the vistas. Champions of the Bay Area Ridge Trail, the lesser-known hiking, biking and equestrian trail that will go along the crest of coastal hills, are making steady progress toward completing a continuous stretch along the Penin- sula. Trail supporters say a new two-mile extension will be opened later this year north of Highway 92, which will provide the Coastside with a new ac- cess point for a continuous 20 miles of trail up to Pacifica. Like its coastal counterpart, the in- land Ridge Trail is a large-scale plan to install hundreds of miles of pub- lic recreation pathways. But where the Coastal Trail would hug the Pa- cific shore from Oregon to Mexico, the Ridge Trail would loop around the hilly inland of the nine Bay Area counties to form a 550-mile circle. Progress is slow, and advocates have to work continuously, segment by segment, with dozens of landown- ers and government agencies to se- cure the corridor. So far, the project has opened about 310 miles of trail around the bay, but supporters say that was the easy part. Last week Trail Director Bern Smith turned his sedan off Highway 92 and drove through Skylawn Me- morial Park, the 40,000-grave cem- etery situated in the hills above Half Moon Bay. The new trail segment would go right along the acres of graveyard lawns, and head north until it joined up to the start of an old service road managed by the San Francisco Public Utility Commission. The Bay Area wa- ter utility manages the Crystal Springs Reser- voir and has miles of barely used roads through the sur- roundings forest and hills. SFPUC occasionally offers guided tours, but, for the most part, the trails are closed to the general public. The Ridge Trail plan would open that service road and build public parking so that people can easily set out for a day hike or bike ride from the cemetery. “We’re doing this one step at a time,” Smith said “It’s going to be as nice a trail as you can have.” At the top of the coastal hills, the Ridge Trail gives an unsurpassed view of both the Coastside and the Bay Area to the east. On the clear day Smith was leading the tour, Oakland and the East Bay were easily visible, and some have even claimed they can see the Sierra Nevada Mountains from there, he said. Driv- ing back south, Smith pulled his sedan onto Skyline Boulevard, where another long stretch of trail would run parallel about 100 feet off the road. Advocates say they already have secured $200,000 for planning for a new five-mile stretch south of Highway 92. Planners hope that trail construction could begin in Supporters make slow strides toward Ridge Trail 550-MILE PLAN MAKES HEADWAY ON COASTSIDE Two sections of the trail in San Mateo County are currently planned. Lars Howlett / Review Bay Area Ridge Council trail director Bern Smith walks along a stretch of road near Skylawn Memorial Park. He hopes the trail will be open to the public within the next year. See TRAIL a 7A
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Transcript of 04.14.10
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Editorial a 4A | Weather & Tides a 5A | Police Log a 5A | A&E a 2B | Sports a 5B | Real Estate a 1C | Classifi eds a 3C
Volume ı ı ı Number 5ı | 75 cents Serving the entire San Mateo Coastside since ı898 www.hmbreview.comVolume Number | 75 cents Serving the entire San Mateo Coastside since ı898 www.hmbreview.com | 75 cents Serving the entire San Mateo Coastside since ı898 www.hmbreview.com
a n d p e s c a d e r o p e b b l e
FIRING UP THE AUCTION MAKE IT SOThe recently formed Califuegos plan to Rock the Casbah > 1B
Cunha counselor engages students with her love
of all things Star Trek > 12A
CITY DISCOVERS $14 MILLION MIRAGEBy Mark Noack
In a way, the city of Half Moon Bay has just lost $14 million. Actually, the money wasn’t lost or mishandled, city offi cials say, but rather mis-reported.
Last week City Manager Michael Dolder in-formed elected offi cials that the city Public Works Department had incorrectly reported last month that Half Moon Bay had $14.6 mil-lion in its sewer reserve fund, the cash account
the city would draw from to perform sewer construction or repairs.
But that amount was wildly overstated. In actuality, the sewer reserve balance is about 4 percent of what was earlier reported and is more like $607,000.
The problem stemmed from misreading the city budget. City offi cials now say they wrongly reported net assets for the city sewer system as
cash held in reserve. Those assets may not be liquid and include the value of the city’s net-work of sewage pipes and gutters along with other calculations.
“It’s net assets. It’s not cash. It never was cash, and this is not a loss of cash,” Dolder said on Thursday, explaining the correction. “We were reviewing this and felt this didn’t look right, and we wanted to make sure everyone
understands what this budget means.” Nevertheless, Half Moon Bay’s report that it
had millions more in reserve than it really did has created some problems. For example, the city’s Midcoast partners in the Sewer Authority Mid-coastside had been pointing to the $14.6 million reserve fund as evidence that the city had been withholding funding from Coastside sewer projects.
Just last month city leaders were preparing a series of sewer rate increases they said were
OFFICIALS MISREAD SEWER BUDGET, INFLATING RESERVES
See SEWER a 7A
City hungry for larger tax sliceHIGH-VALUE
HMB PROPERTY PRODUCES POOR
REVENUESBy Mark Noack
As Half Moon Bay offi cials scrounge for more revenues, they often grumble about their take of local property taxes.
It’s not that they’re too high or too low — it’s just that the
city doesn’t get enough of the pie.
In the trickle-down govern-ment tax system, Half Moon Bay is getting relative crumbs off the table in comparison to other local agencies. The city receives only about 6.5 percent of the property taxes paid by lo-cal homeowners — among the smallest percentages of any city in San Mateo County.
In the state-mandated sys-tem of property tax allocations that was cemented in place
[ t a x e s ][ r i d g e t r a i l ]
Landowner wins judgment over
Coastal Commission
By Clay Lambert[ [email protected] ]
Dan Sterling is one big step closer to building his dream home on a hilltop overlook-ing Pillar Point. On Friday, a San Mateo County Superior Court judge ruled the Califor-nia Coastal Commission over-stepped its bounds when it re-quired Sterling turn over most of his property as an agricul-tural easement if he wanted to build on the land.
“I’d like to think that it’s over,” Sterling said.
Sterling has been locked in a decade-long battle to get
a permit to build a home on land he purchased in 1997. He said it took seven years to get a county permit to construct a 6,456-square-foot home on the land. Then the Coastal Commission took his plan un-der review and ultimately re-quired he agree to turn over all but 10,000 square feet of the property for an agricultural easement, meaning use of the property surrounding his new home would be limited.
The Sterlings fi led suit against the Coastal Commis-sion in 2009. On Friday, San Mateo County Superior Court
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6.65%
Percentage of property taxes returning to cities
[ p r o p e r t y ]
JUDGE RULES EASEMENT WAS ‘UNCONSTITUTIONAL TAKING’
See LANDOWNER a 7A
See TAXES a 7A
Half Moon Bay is stuck with one of the smallest returns on its prop-erty taxes in San Mateo County. Cities throughout California have al-most no ability to increase their share of property taxes.
Sweeney RidgeSweeney RidgeSweeney RidgeSweeney RidgeSweeney RidgeSweeney RidgeSweeney RidgeSweeney Ridge
By Mark Noack[ [email protected] ]
The Coastal Trail has the visitors, but the Ridge Trail has the vistas.
Champions of the Bay Area Ridge Trail, the lesser-known hiking, biking and equestrian trail that will go along the crest of coastal hills, are making steady progress toward completing a continuous stretch along the Penin-sula.
Trail supporters say a new two-mile extension will be opened later this year north of Highway 92, which will provide the Coastside with a new ac-cess point for a continuous 20 miles of trail up to Pacifi ca.
Like its coastal counterpart, the in-land Ridge Trail is a large-scale plan to install hundreds of miles of pub-lic recreation pathways. But where the Coastal Trail would hug the Pa-cifi c shore from Oregon to Mexico, the Ridge Trail would loop around the hilly inland of the nine Bay Area counties to form a 550-mile circle.
Progress is slow, and advocates have to work continuously, segment by segment, with dozens of landown-ers and government agencies to se-cure the corridor. So far, the project has opened about 310 miles of trail around the bay, but supporters say that was the easy part.
Last week Trail Director Bern Smith turned his sedan off Highway 92 and drove through Skylawn Me-morial Park, the 40,000-grave cem-
etery situated in the hills above Half Moon Bay. The new trail segment would go right along the acres of graveyard lawns, and head north until it joined up to the start of an old service road managed by the San Francisco Public Utility Commission.
The Bay Area wa-ter utility manages the Crystal Springs Reser-voir and has miles of barely used roads through the sur-roundings forest and hills. SFPUC occasionally offers guided tours, but, for the most part, the trails are closed to the general public.
The Ridge Trail plan would open that service road and build public parking so that people can easily set out for a day hike or bike ride from the cemetery.
“We’re doing this one step at a time,” Smith said “It’s going to be as nice a trail as you can have.”
At the top of the coastal hills, the Ridge Trail gives an unsurpassed view of both the Coastside and the Bay Area to the east. On the clear day Smith was leading the tour, Oakland and the East Bay were easily visible, and some have even claimed they can see the Sierra Nevada Mountains from there, he said.
Driv-ing back south, Smith pulled his sedan onto Skyline Boulevard, where another long stretch of trail would run parallel about 100 feet off the road. Advocates say they already have secured $200,000 for planning for a new fi ve-mile stretch south of Highway 92. Planners hope that trail construction could begin in
Supporters make slow strides toward Ridge Trail
550-MILE PLAN MAKES HEADWAY ON COASTSIDE
Two sections of the trail in San Mateo County are currently planned.
Lars Howlett / Review
Bay Area Ridge Council trail director Bern Smith walks along a stretch of road near Skylawn Memorial Park. He hopes the trail will be open to the public within the next year.
See TRAIL a 7A
