Mercury News
January 12, 2004
 
Groups unite to save coast
Coalition to support land agency's growth

By Marilee Enge

A new organization will work to protect open space on the San Mateo County coast, starting with an effort to extend the boundaries of a local open space agency to the ocean, a coalition of conservation groups announced Monday.

The Committee for Green Foothills, Sierra Club, Surfrider Foundation and several other groups said they will combine forces through the Coastal Open Space Alliance, a new initiative to prevent Silicon Valley-style development on the coast.

"We feel it's just a matter of time before piecemeal sprawl claims the San Mateo coast if we don't act now to enact protections that will last well into the future,'' said Zoe Kersteen-Tucker, a Pacifica environmentalist.

"This really is an opportunity for us to connect with people in this community to help them understand the land simply cannot protect itself,'' she said.

The committee's first project will be backing expansion plans by the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District, a public agency that works to preserve the Peninsula's remaining wild places. The district, which protects nearly 50,000 acres between San Carlos and Los Altos, is seeking to extend its reach to the ocean. If the boundary change is approved by Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, the district would gain the authority to buy land on the coast and manage it for recreation.

Some private landowners and the county farm bureau have opposed the expansion in the past, fearing farmland could be seized for parks and trails through eminent domain proceedings. But the district specifically gave up the right to seize land on the Coastside when it filed an application to expand. The board of the San Mateo County Farm Bureau is scheduled to vote next week whether to endorse the expansion plan.

The alliance will launch a letter-writing and public-outreach campaign to back the boundary expansion, Kersteen-Tucker said. It also announced a new Web site: www.coastalopenspace.org

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