Mercury News
February 9, 2004
 
Coastal farms are an asset worth protecting
An Opinion Piece

By Craig Britton and Jack Olsen

Drive down Highway 1 as it snakes along the San Mateo County coastline and you can't miss it: rows of greenhouses, hillsides dotted with grazing cows and acres of Brussels sprouts and fava beans stretching to the horizon line. Today the farmlands that link us to the coast's rich agricultural past are swiftly becoming endangered, mirroring an alarming national trend. The good news is an initiative called the Coastside Protection Program can help save San Mateo County's agricultural heritage.

The county's agricultural roots can be traced back to early Irish, Japanese, Portuguese and Italian immigrants who found the mild coastal climate and rich soil ideal for growing artichokes, Brussels sprouts and other crops. Today the county ranks in the top five counties statewide for the production of cut flowers, potted plants, mushrooms and artichokes.

Yet in recent decades, encroaching sprawl and economic conditions have compelled many local land owners to sell their land and relinquish a way of life that has sustained some families for five generations. Urban development -- along with traffic congestion and air and water pollution -- are damaging the rugged character of the coast.

Now we have an opportunity to buck the trend. On Wednesday, the Santa Clara County Local Agency Formation Commission will hold a public hearing on the Coastside Protection Program, a proposal to extend the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District's boundaries so coastal land can be preserved for open space and farming. Because current district boundaries cross both Santa Clara and San Mateo county lines, hearings will be held in both counties, with the San Mateo commission having the final say.

Conservationists and farmers haven't always seen eye to eye, but we do on the Coastside Protection Program. It is simply the best way to guarantee preservation of San Mateo County's precious agricultural land.

Begun six years ago, the plan incorporates input from more than 40 public workshops and hearings and shares the responsibility for safeguarding the coast's future by expanding democratic participation for open space and agricultural land protection to communities from south of Pacifica to Pescadero.

In addition to preserving land as open space, the plan will preserve coastal farming by purchasing agricultural easements -- property agreements that set aside land for farming and ranching. In response to community concerns, the open space district has also agreed to permanently eliminate its power of eminent domain in the coastside protection area.

The Coastside Protection Program will be achieved without any additional taxes from residents of either San Mateo or Santa Clara County. Eighty percent of the cost of purchasing the land that the district is proposing to protect on the coast will be paid through gifts and grants. The remaining costs for land purchase and management are a modest average of $2.1 million per year over 15 years. The district's annual budget and bond sales can easily cover these costs.

This investment will help protect a national treasure, which is why the program has received unanimous support from every city council within the district in Santa Clara County, and the board of Supervisors of Santa Clara County.

California's population is the fastest growing nationwide, and much of that growth is expected to boom in agricultural regions. We believe this is a solid, far-sighted blueprint for protecting the economic and physical integrity of the San Mateo coast so it remains a vibrant agricultural frontier for future generations of farmers.

CRAIG BRITTON is general manager of the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District. JACK OLSEN is executive administrator of the San Mateo County Farm Bureau. They wrote this for the Mercury News.

Page last updated February 9, 2004 .