Planners Green-Light Creek Fence, Brew Pub Spirits in Busy Session

The Half Moon Bay Planning Commission moved on two fronts Feb. 10 — unanimously approving a 1,000-foot security fence to protect the battered Pilarcitos Creek riparian corridor and clearing the way for a new downtown restaurant to serve cocktails alongside its meals. Behind both votes, commissioners signaled a community trying to balance environmental stewardship, small-business vitality and the practical realities of homelessness along the coast.

• 1,000-foot chain link fence along Pilarcitos Creek approved 4-0 with conditions to explore extending it further toward the Belleville neighborhood

• Half Moon Bay Brewing Company wins use permit for distilled spirits at 730 Main Street in a 3-0 vote, bolstering the heritage downtown dining scene

• Housing element conditionally certified by HCD — but the city is immediately out of compliance until required rezoning is completed, an estimated four-month process

• RFP for implementation plan update consultant due Feb. 23, with selection expected in April

• Commission opens with moment of silence for a young community member killed in a Highway 1 accident

The basics: The city sought a coastal development permit to replace a dilapidated, largely missing chain link fence along roughly 1,000 feet of the boundary between the Straw Flower Shopping Center parking lot and the Pilarcitos Creek riparian corridor — a designated environmentally sensitive habitat area (ESHA). The project carries a CEQA categorical exemption under Section 15301.