NEWS UPDATE
Protest against Open Space District expansion fails; decision delayed again

The coastal expansion of the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District - which was approved in April 2004 after seven years of work to protect coastal lands - has been halted by a lawsuit, the outcome of which has been rescheduled yet again. The outcome was expected from Judge Carl Holm by Friday, August 27, 2004, but days later, we are still awaiting a decision from the court.

Expansion will be a win for open space
The contentious boundary expansion will allow the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District (MROSD) to purchase land from willing sellers on the Coastside in order to protect coastal open space and agriculture.

Because expansion of the MROSD boundaries to the San Mateo County Coastside is the single best way we have to protect coastal open space, support of this program has been a high priority for Committee for Green Foothills over the past several years. We continue to work to ensure that the program is implemented successfully.

Protest attempt fell short
In an attempt to overturn the program's final approval by the LAFCo Board last April, opponents collected voter signatures on forms to protest the decision. Valid signatures from 25% of Coastside voters would have driven the issue to the ballot; signatures from 50% of voters would have overturned the decision completely.

However, on July 12 LAFCo officials reported that they had validated 3,443 protest forms, or 21% of the voters - not enough to overturn the approval of the expansion.

Lawsuit a second attempt to overturn approval of expansion
With the protest attempt falling short, Coastside activist Oscar Braun and the Half Moon Bay Coastside Foundation filed a lawsuit in another attempt to block the district expansion. In response, Superior Court Judge Mark Forcum issued on July 13 a temporary restraining order that required a recount and reevaluation of some of the rejected protest forms.

Once the recount had been completed, the hearing continued on July 22 and 23 under Superior Court Judge Carl Holm. At that hearing, County Elections Commissioner David Tom described the extensive process used to validate and review the signed protest forms.

He also described in detail the many forms that were considered invalid, either because they were duplicate protests, protests from non-registered voters, protests from those residing outside the annexation boundaries, or protest forms on which the voter information had been changed or added.

Even with the most liberal interpretation of the elections code guiding this process, the recount came up with 64 more valid signatures, but also identified 77 more duplicates - leaving the opponents still far short of the number required to drive this issue to a vote.

Opponents admit to ballot box stuffing
Also testifying was open space opponent Terry Gossett, who admitted in cross-examination that both he and his wife submitted at least two protest forms each.

At the conclusion of the hearing, the judge asked the attorneys on both sides to prepare extensive briefs, which he heard in a day-long hearing on August 5. The following day, Judge Holm ordered the County Elections Division to organize the protest forms and bring them back for his inspection by August 20.

He has promised to make a decision on the case after reviewing the numerous categories and sub-categories of the protests that the Elections Division found to be invalid. The judge will independently verify the Division's findings.

Ultimate outcome will be coastal protections
We remain confident that expansion of MROSD is the best way to protect our coastal resources and that this program enjoys support from the majority of Coastside voters.

CGF, Coastal Open Space Alliance and other supporters of MROSD's Coastside Protection Program will continue to be active on the Coastside to educate the public about the importance of this effort. We look forward to a time when MROSD preserves are open to the public on the Coast just as they are in other areas of San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties.