Special Notice / Hearing: 10 day notice/500 foot radius
Vote Required: Majority
To: Honorable Board of Supervisors
From: Steve Monowitz, Director of Planning and Building
Subject: Consideration of the California Coastal Commission’s suggested modifications to the County’s LCP amendments for the Pescadero Fire Station Replacement and CSA 11 water line extension.
County File Number: PLN 2021-00056 (County of San Mateo)
RECOMMENDATION:
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Adopt a resolution acknowledging receipt of the California Coastal Commission’s conditional certification of the County’s Local Coastal Program (LCP) amendments for the Pescadero Fire Station replacement and County Service Area No. 11 (CSA-11) water line extension, incorporating the California Coastal Commission’s suggested modifications; and directing submittal of the modified LCP amendments to the Executive Director of the California Coastal Commission for final review.
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BACKGROUND:
Report Prepared By: Michael Schaller, Senior Planner, mschaller@smcgov.org
Applicant: San Mateo County
Location: County Fire Station No.59 located at 1200 Pescadero Creek Road; replacement County Fire Station No.59 and La Honda Pescadero Middle/High School located at 330 Butano Cut Off.
Public Notification: Ten (10) business day advanced notification for the hearing was mailed to property owners within 500 feet of the project site and interested parties, and a notice for the hearing posted in a newspaper (San Mateo County Times) of general public circulation.
Environmental Evaluation: On November 1, 2022, the Board of Supervisors adopted a Mitigated Negative Declaration for the proposed project in order to facilitate the processing of a Sphere of Influence Amendment and Annexation by the San Mateo County LAFCO. However, for the LCP amendments, the Coastal Commission is the lead agency for the purposes of CEQA. As such, the CCC determined that the proposed amendments, as modified, will not result in any significant adverse environmental impacts for which feasible mitigation measures have not been employed, consistent with CEQA Section 21080.5(d)(2)(A).
DISCUSSION:
On November 1, 2022, the Board of Supervisors approved proposed amendments to the County’s LCP that enable the construction of a replacement fire station for the Town of Pescadero (to be constructed adjacent to the Pescadero Middle/High School) and extension of CSA-11 water lines to the school in order to provide potable water to both the school and fire station. The Board directed Staff to submit the subject amendments to Coastal Commission for certification.
Per State law, amendments to the County’s Local Coastal Program (LCP) cannot take effect until they are reviewed and certified by the California Coastal Commission. The Coastal Commission considered the County’s amendments on December 15, 2023, and conditionally certified the amendments (see Attachment B), with the following modifications to proposed Policy 2.60 and Table 2.16:
Policy 2.60 - Pescadero Fire Station
As proposed by the County:
No provision of this Local Coastal Program shall be interpreted in such a manner as to prohibit, or effectively prohibit, the construction and use of a fire protection facility and related uses at 350-360 Butano Cut Off in the Town of Pescadero, subject to conditions of a permit under Policy 5.6(b)(6) that achieves maximum compliance with Local Coastal Plan policies.
As modified by the Coastal Commission:
The construction and use of a fire protection facility and related uses at 350-360 Butano Cut Off in the Town of Pescadero shall be allowed provided it achieves maximum compliance with Local Coastal Plan policies, including that all of the following requirements must be met:
1. No less environmentally damaging feasible alternative site exists for the facility and related uses.
2. Clearly defined buffer areas are provided between the facility/related uses and adjacent agricultural uses sufficient to ensure no loss of adjacent agricultural viability and/or productivity.
3. The viability and/or productivity of any adjacent agricultural land will not be diminished.
4. Any related public service expansions will not impact agricultural viability and/or productivity, including by increased assessment costs or degraded air and water quality; and
5. The conversion of prime agricultural land is mitigated on at least a 2:1 basis.
Staff believes that there is sufficient information in the record to make these required findings, including evidence that there is no feasible less environmentally damaging site available for the fire station replacement, as documented by the extensive alternatives analysis performed by the Fire Station Replacement Steering Committee. The project’s compliance with the criteria included by the Coastal Commission will be detailed in the forthcoming staff report on the coastal development permit application for the fire station replacement project.
The only other modification required by the Coastal Commission is to the amendment to Table 2.16 proposed by the County, which incorporates the additional water consumption of the school and fire station into the CSA-11 annual water budget. The Coastal Commission modification is to one of the footnotes for that table, as follows (new language underlined and italicized):
County Fire Station No. 59 average daily (CSA-11) potable water use is estimated at 326 gallons per day (gpd) for the proposed replacement station located at 350-360 Butano Cut Off (data based on actual use for the existing fire station facility at 1200 Pescadero Creek Road). Total gpd demand in this Table includes the proposed fire station at Butano Cut Off (326 gpd) and removal of the barracks and continued emergency staffing of the apparatus bay at 1200 Pescadero Creek Road (8 gpd). Source: Todd Groundwater, Town of Pescadero (CSA-11) Water Supply Yield and Sustainability Study, Final, March 31, 2021.
These changes are non-substantive, in that they simply recognize that the current status of the fire station replacement projects is “proposed” until the permits required to construct the project have been approved, and construction completed.
In order for the provisionally certified LCP amendments to take effect, the County Board of Supervisors must acknowledge receipt of the Coastal Commission’s action, accept and adopt the requested modifications as certified by the California Coastal Commission, and agree to issue coastal development permits subject to the modified policies. Staff has prepared the necessary resolution for this action, which is included as Attachment A.
FISCAL IMPACT:
None.
ATTACHMENTS:
A. Resolution Acknowledging Receipt of the California Coastal Commission’s Conditional Certification of the County’s LCP Amendments for the Pescadero Fire Station Replacement and CSA Water Line Extension; Incorporating the California Coastal Commission’s Modifications; and Directing Submittal of the modified LCP Amendments to the Executive Director of the California Coastal Commission for Review.
B. Coastal Commission Staff Report on San Mateo County LCP Amendment Number LCP-2-SMC-23-0002-1 (Pescadero Fire Station and School)