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UPDATE: The San Mateo County Parks Foundation is helping raise the $3 million necessary to complete the purchase of Mirada Surf for a community park.

Mirada Surf – Community park emerges from long battle
by Lennie Roberts

For 25 years, coastal activists have worked to protect a jewel known as the Mirada Surf property. Comprising 49 acres, this parcel reaches from the coastal bluffs just south of Surfer's Beach to a forested slope behind El Granada and Miramar, in the Mid-Coast area of San Mateo County. Residents and visitors alike have enjoyed walking along the bluffs, picnicking, or viewing the ocean as they drive by.



Back in 1978, the Mid-Coast Community Plan designated this site as a community park. The Mid-Coast has a deficiency of local parks, but until now, there haven't been the necessary ingredients to make this park a reality. Last December, in a rare moment of harmonic convergence, the landowners agreed with CGF's suggestion that they should cooperate with the County in seeing that this site be acquired as a park.

Here's how it happened. For several years, the land has been owned by a partnership that sought to develop the property. The owners first proposed a large hotel and 86 homes, which they soon revised to a 263 unit RV park, tent-camping sites, and a driving range. Massive community opposition stopped the projects. Eventually, the owners proposed 35 houses on part of the property, but discovery of extensive wetlands on the site halted this plan as well.

Since any development proposal would require rezoning and changes to both the General Plan and Local Coastal Program designations, there was no guarantee that the owners would succeed in their plans. The owners also announced they would bring an inverse condemnation suit against the County - on the grounds that for 24 years the land had been designated as a park, and the owners had been deprived of the use of their land, since the County had failed to purchase it. Either way, it was clear that a long and difficult battle would lie ahead, and once the battle began, there would be little incentive to find middle ground.

Last December, one of the partners in the project approached CGF and asked if we would support a reduced development proposal, plus dedication of the beachfront area to the County. We replied that this was a step in the right direction, but that the whole site should be purchased as a community park by the County, nothing less. We agreed that the County would need to have an independent appraisal, and that the County should pay fair market value based on that appraisal.

To our surprise, the owners were interested in this idea. We next approached Supervisors Rich Gordon and Mike Nevin, who were supportive of this positive solution. In August, the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to authorize the County Manager to negotiate to purchase the property.

Mirada Surf's significance to the community and the region cannot be underestimated. Its wide expanse of beach and bluff area west of Highway One could provide desperately needed parking and other amenities for the thousands of users of Surfer's Beach. The Coastal Trail is already informally in place, as many people walk through the area now. The meadow and wetland area east of the highway is large enough to allow for playing fields and passive recreation.

Many people need to be thanked for this fortunate turn of events. The partnership that owns the land is at the top of this list. Right up there with the owners is the County Board of Supervisors, the County Manager, and the Parks and Recreation staff. Without their cooperation and enthusiasm, this land would remain a battleground for many years - and the ultimate outcome would be very different from what the community had been promised. The prospect of Mirada Surf at long last becoming a community park is tremendously exciting for Coastal activists and everyone who appreciates open space.