[San Mateo County] LAFCo report recommends dissolving Harbor District

Blog note: This article references a 2013-14 San Mateo County Grand jury report.

The San Mateo Local Agency Formation Commission circulated a municipal service review on Friday that recommended the dissolution of the San Mateo Harbor District. LAFCO proposes that San Mateo County serve as the successor agency.

The Harbor District operates Pillar Point Harbor in Princeton and Oyster Point Marina in South San Francisco. It was originally formed in 1933 to build a harbor at Redwood City, which never came to fruition. And since the implementation of Proposition 13 in 1978, the Harbor District has received a share of the countywide 1 percent property tax, which the recent report estimated at $5.5 million in the current fiscal year.

The study comes at a critical time for the troubled Harbor District. It follows a scathing civil grand jury report in 2014, staff resignations and a reorganization of the Harbor Commission this week.

LAFCo or the Harbor District itself could formally initiate dissolution. There’s also the option for the Harbor Commission, county or any city, district or school district sharing territory in the county to file a resolution of application to dissolve. A petition of 10 percent of the eligible voters in the county could also begin the dissolution process, although this would require 25 percent of countywide voters to submit protests to cause an election, according to the report.

If the Harbor District initiates dissolution, there is no opportunity for protest or election. If LAFCo initiates, there will be a protest hearing and a protest that gains 10 percent of the eligible voters in the county would cause an election. If an application to dissolve the Harbor District comes from any other agency, a protest hearing would be held and an election would be called only if 25 percent of the county’s registered voters submit written protest.

LAFCo has asked that affected agencies, residents, property owners or others send comments by June 26 to Executive Officer Martha Poyatos by email at mpoyatos@smcgov.org or by fax at (650) 363-4849. Comments and recommended determinations will be presented at the San Mateo County LAFCo Commission meeting at 1:30 p.m. on July 15 at the Board of Supervisors Chambers, 400 County Center, Redwood City.

May 29, 2015

Half Moon Bay Review

By Esther Hahn