POST dedicates 'Mel's Lane' to coastal savior Mel Lane POST dedicates 'Mel's Lane' to coastal savior Mel Lane (November 16, 2005)

By Marion Softky

Almanac Staff Writer

At last, Mel Lane, who played a unique role in saving both San Francisco Bay and the California coast from rampant development, has a monument dedicated in his name.

"Mel's Lane," a quarter-mile segment of the California Coastal Trail just south of the Pigeon Point lighthouse, honors Mr. Lane, the former co-owner of Sunset Books and Magazines, who served as the first chairman of the California Coastal Commission in 1972.

Nearly 100 people journeyed to Pigeon Point on the San Mateo County coast on November 4 as the Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) dedicated Mel's Lane.

"Mel has devoted much of his life to preserving California's coastline," said POST president Audrey Rust. "This is the perfect time and place."

Ms. Rust was standing on the site where a nine-unit motel was under construction in 2000, when POST bought the three-acre scenic bluff with tide pools, known as Whaler's Cove, for public use.

The "Lighthouse Inn" bed and breakfast, along with its water treatment and sewage plant, is now gone. Mel's Lane includes a trail along the bluff, a deck overlooking the cove, a kiosk at the lighthouse entrance, and a ring of stone benches known as the Council Circle to recognize major donors to POST's campaign to "Save the Endangered Coast."

POST has already preserved 18.3 square miles adjoining Pigeon Point through this $200 million campaign, Ms. Rust said.

Last summer, with POST's help, the lighthouse and Whaler's Cove were trasnferred to the California State Park system. They are now "Pigeon Point Light Station State Historic Park."

Also speaking at the dedication were representatives of other organizations and agencies that contributed to saving Whaler's Cove and other properties along the coast: San Mateo County; the state parks department, the Coastal Conservancy; and the Coastal Commission.

Sam Schucat, executive director of the Coastal Conservancy, hailed Mel's Lane as one of the most visible segments of the California Coastal Trail. This is being created piecemeal along the whole California coast, he said, "inch by inch, permit by permit, ribbon-cutting by ribbon-cutting."

Mr. Lane, a longtime resident of Atherton and supporter of POST, basked in the tributes and walked out the boardwalk.

Susan Hansch, chief deputy director of the Coastal Commission, credited Mr. Lane with establishing the model for the Coastal Commission when he chaired the original Bay Conservation and Development Commission, which reined in the wholesale filling of San Francisco Bay.

Mr. Lane was able to get conflicting people and interests to work together, Ms. Hansch said. "It was how he led meetings, how he pulled the public in. He made people feel welcome.

"I view Mel as a California and national treasure," Ms. Hansch concluded. "He led the commission through its first difficult days. He made the democratic process work."

INFORMATION

For information, call POST at 854-7696, or go to openspacetrust.org.

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