Planning the development of these two properties has vexed Half Moon Bay for a generation. Without underestimating the obstacles, Coastside Community First sees great potential in an integrated resolution that employs a three-fold approach:

1. Renegotiate the Pacific Ridge agreement.The 2004 settlement agreement offers solutions to the two main legal issues (permanent access and lot retirement) that would render the development a detriment to the public. Terrace Avenue – with or without a stoplight – is unacceptable as permanent access for Pacific Ridge, a conclusion the City and Coastal Commission rightly reached in their prior approvals of the subdivision. The lot retirement program – with only $45,000 allocated per lot purchase – would not mitigate either the traffic or cumulative growth impacts of the development, and has a raft of unresolved implementation difficulties. The City should reconsider the lot retirement and Terrace stoplight provisions, instead requiring construction of Foothill Boulevard, including a 92/Foothill stoplight and road-widening to integrate with the 92/Main project, as originally planned. The increased costs ($5-6 million by DEIR estimates) can be recouped through a combination of County/State roadway funds for the 92 improvements, an increase in the value of the Pacific Ridge houses through enhanced access, or a modest increase in the number of houses.

2. Settle the Beachwood lawsuit.The property was previously approved for a subdivision by the Commission, which determined that Bayview Drive was the best site for a stoplight at Highway 1. Beachwood should not be in court, but in tasteful development. Not only is Foothill/Bayview needed to accommodate existing and future visitor and commuter traffic, the Coastal Act (§30007.5) states, where wetlands conflict with urban infill, that "broader policies which, for example, serve to concentrate development in close proximity to urban and employment centers may be more protective, overall, than specific wildlife habitat and other similar resource policies."

3. Integrate the Pacific Ridge and Beachwood resolutions.Because of the need for alternative through-access between Highways 92 and 1, neither of these developments can mitigate traffic without the other. Planned together, using the "fair share" cost principle articulated in the City's 1999 Pacific Ridge approval, they would benefit a variety of public interests: the school and water districts, Boys' & Girls' Club, Community Park, 92/Main improvements, and neighborhoods east and west of Highway 1 accessible from a Bayview stoplight. Summit meetings conducted by the City could organize stakeholders and beneficiaries into a broad-based leadership coalition to help bring a unified project to completion. The project would include planned developments at Pacific Ridge/Beachwood mitigated by Foothill/Bayview, with stoplights and related improvements at Highways 92 and 1 fine-tuned to the needs of the various beneficiaries. The bottom line for the project: cooperative community-building.