Petition drive aims to kill open space district expansion Petition drive aims to kill open space district expansion (May 05, 2004)

By Marion Softky
Almanac Staff Writer

The battle over expanding the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District to help preserve open space and agriculture in 220 square miles of the San Mateo County coast has entered a new phase, and the stakes are high.

Opponents have until June 11 to collect signatures protesting the expansion from the 16,077 registered voters living in the area, from the southern boundary of Pacifica to the Santa Cruz County line, and west of the existing district boundaries near Skyline. Signatures of 25 percent of the registered voters will force an election on the issue in the area proposed for expansion. Signatures of 50 percent of the registered voters -- 8,039 -- will kill it.

Opponents and supporters of the expansion are pushing their cause at shopping centers and community gatherings until June 11, the official deadline for turning in protests.

Opponents, many from the rural South Coast and forests, are asking people to sign the protest petition so that residents can vote. "This is a Community Petition that will Permit the Affected Residents to Vote on the Annexation," one flier states.

Proponents are warning residents that enough signatures could kill the annexation. They are circulating "Decline to Sign" fliers and forms allowing voters to rescind their signatures. "Their deceptive protest campaign will kill our best chance for protecting coastal open space and farmland," the flier states.

The protest hearing is the last step in a process that started more than six years ago to expand the district -- called "Mid-Pen" on the coast -- so that it could buy and manage Coastside lands for open space and low-intensity recreation. Since it was established in 1972, Mid-Pen has preserved almost 50,000 acres in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties in the Baylands, foothills, and mountains, from Los Gatos to San Carlos.

The six-year process started with an advisory election in 1998 on whether Coastside residents favored expanding the district. Measure F passed 55 to 45 percent, although it lost in the rural south coast. Since then, the district has held over 40 meetings and workshops with interested people and groups. It prepared extensive environmental studies,which were approved last summer after several public hearings.

On April 7, the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCo) approved the annexation on a 6-1 vote, following nine hours of public hearings in March and April, when more than 80 speakers argued passionately for and against the district's Coastal Expansion Program. LAFCo is charged by state law with the responsibility for deciding local government boundaries, subject to detailed legal requirements.

LAFCo will hold its protest hearing Friday, June 11, at 3:30 p.m. at the Ted Adcock Community Center, 535 Kelly Ave., in Half Moon Bay. At that hearing the seven-member commission will receive the written protests. If 25 percent of registered voters, or owners of 25 percent of the assessed value of land, in the expansion area protest, an election will be held. If less than 25 percent of either protest, the annexation will be completed; if more than 50 percent protest, it will not happen.

Vote vs. protest

While opponents are asking people to sign petitions in order to be able to vote, every signatures is legally a protest.

"This argument is very deceptive, but very appealing," said Zoe Kirsteen-Tucker of the Coastal Open Space Alliance, which supports the district's expansion to serve the coast. "This isn't about voting; this is about killing the Coastal Protection Program. If they collect enough signatures, the program is terminated. Period. No one gets to vote."

Citizens for Responsible Open Space, based in Half Moon Bay, did not return a phone call from the Almanac. Their petition argues that farmers, ranchers, and nurserymen are good stewards of land; it asks people to sign in order to vote. It gives no names as sponsors.

In an action alert, the Committee for Green Foothills warns people not to sign the "misleading protest form." It charges, "Misinformation campaign could kill open space protection."

The Citizens for Responsible Open Space web site, www.the-peoples-voice.org, contains many of the charges leveled by opponents during the LAFCo hearings. Some are out of date or inaccurate. For example, the Web site argues the district retains the power of eminent domain -- the power to force the sale of private land. In fact, the district sponsored a new state law that removes that power in the expansion area. The governor signed the law in April.

Meanwhile, Menlo Park became the 15th of 16 cities in the district to support the Coastside Protection Program. Only Woodside is holding out, because of some local issues. According to Menlo Park's resolution, the program "will allow orderly development while preventing urban sprawl."

On the Coastside, the expansion is supported by the cities of Half Moon Bay and Pacifica, the Half Moon Bay Chamber of Commerce, and the San Mateo County Farm Bureau.

For more information, contact the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District at 691-1200 or www.openspace.org; LAFCo at 363-4224, or www.sanmateolafco.org; Citizens for Responsible Open Space at 728-2135, or www.the-peoples-voice.org; or the Coastal Open Space Alliance at 728-2823, or www.coastalopenspace.org.

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