The private-equity fund Carlyle Group invested $42 million to bring in new manufactured homes to the 93-home site community, repair the streets and utilities and build a boardwalk overlooking the Pacific, after clearing out all the existing homes and upping the site rent considerably.
The city of Pacifica signed off on the proposal in 2013 after the state Department of Housing and Community Development Agency approved the permit. However, the Coastal Commission maintains the permit should not have been given because the “repair and maintenance” project Pacific Skies alleges it is doing is actually a form of redevelopment, requiring a permit from the Commission.
The Commission’s district manager, Nancy Cave, sent a letter to Pacifica’s city manager and to the MHC owners, saying, “We believe it is in the city’s and the public’s best interests to allow the process to be brought to resolution in a public hearing in front of the commission where you can state your case and members of the public can fully participate. We would hope that you would agree.”
The city maintains the Commission has no right to reconsider the exemption it granted to the community owners.
Additionally, while PSE offered up to $15,000 to residents for relocation expenses, several residents have not moved, saying $15k is not sufficient because rents in the area are so high. Stay tuned. ##
(Image credit: Pacific Skies Estates CRP/PSE, Seaside Pacifica Venture)
