PACIFICA — Three members of the Pacifica City Council are vying to replace one of the longest-sitting members on the California Coastal Commission when his appointment expires this July.
Julie Lancelle, Sue Digre and Jim Vreeland were all nominated in late May by both the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors and the San Mateo Council of Cities. If appointed, the lucky candidate would serve a four-year term on the commission, replacing Dave Potter, a member of the Monterey County Board of Supervisors who has served on the commission since 1997. He represents Monterey, Santa Cruz and San Mateo counties.
The three Pacifica officials are among six new candidates for the seat, four of whom are from San Mateo County — Menlo Park City Councilman Andrew Cohen was also nominated. All will receive interviews with state Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, who is charged with making the appointment by July 20. The seat in question, one of twelve seats on the Coastal Commission, must be represented by an elected official of some sort.
The fact that the seat is open at all is unusual. After being appointed in 1997 by then-Speaker Fabian Nuñez, Potter was reappointed twice without opposition. Potter is again running for reappointment, but a campaign by environmental groups across the state took issue with Potter's environmental record and persuaded Bass to consider other candidates, according to Burlingame City Councilwoman Terry Nagel, chair of the San Mateo County City Selection Committee. Other people are simply pushing for more local representation.
"It would be a giant feather in our cap if someone from San Mateo County were selected to fill that seat on the commission," said Nagel.
Menlo Park resident Steve Blank sits on the commission as a member of the general public and therefore does not necessarily represent the Central Coast.
Established in 1976 with the passage of the Coastal Act, the Coastal Commission has final say on a range of crucial — and often controversial — development proposals that affect beaches, parks and towns along the coast. Longtime local environmental advocate Lennie Roberts of the Committee for Green Foothills said he personally approached the three Pacifica council members about joining the commission, because all three have worked hard to protect important scenic landscapes in Pacifica and would likely cast votes that are "more sympathetic with what the Coastal Act is all about."
"We'll see a lot of issues having to do with energy facilities in the next few years — wave energy, wind energy, natural gas terminals ... we still have offshore oil drilling, and it's an incredibly hot issue right now. Desalination too," Roberts said.
Potter received a pro-conservation voting score of 24 percent in an annual ranking of the votes cast by coastal commissioners in 2008. He was criticized for voting in favor of such projects as a seaside condo development in Pacifica and the Poseidon desalination plant in Carlsbad, but praised for voting to protect marine mammals from U.S. Navy sonar experiments.
"I think it's really important to have someone from San Mateo County, since we have so much coastline," said Pacifica Mayor Julie Lancelle. "There's just a lot of unique problems that development on the coast faces, and when you've had experience looking at projects related to those issues, I feel I'm able to bring some knowledge of that to the table."
That local knowledge could be a blessing and a curse. Pacifica projects are frequently before the Coastal Commission, such as a recent case in which a resident appealed the city's approval of a local biodiesel plant. The commission ultimately approved the project.
Other proposals that may come before the Coastal Commission in the next few years involve development of the city's vacant rock quarry and a restoration plan for the Sharp Park Golf Course, both controversial issues that many of the council members have already taken a position on.
"I would imagine I would have to recuse myself if something was happening in Pacifica," said Lancelle. "I'd have a conflict."
Julia Scott can be reached at 650-348-4340 or julia.scott@bayareanewsgroup.com
