Mercy Housing, a non-profit housing provider, is seeking coastal development permit approval from the Half Moon Bay Planning Commission to build a new five-story building at 555 Kelly Avenue with 40 residential units for senior farmworkers. The units will be deed restricted and affordable to extremely low and very low-income households. Ayudando Latinos A Soñar (ALAS) is co-applicant with Mercy on the project. 

The Planning Commission held a public hearing on Tuesday, April 23 to consider the project. More than 200 community members attended, with many providing valued and productive input to the Planning Commission. The City wishes to thank each of you who took the time to attend and participate. Following the lengthy public comment period, the Planning Commission began their deliberation; however, due to the lateness of the hour, Commission members decided to continue consideration of the project.

Consideration of the project application is now scheduled for a special meeting on Tuesday, April 30, 7:00 p.m., at Ted Adcock Community Center, 535 Kelly Avenue. The written and verbal comments provided earlier are now part of the public record and will be considered by the Planning Commission as part of its deliberation. This is a public meeting and the community is encouraged to attend. A coastal development permit is the mechanism for entitling private and public development in Half Moon Bay pursuant to the City’s certified Local Coastal Land Use Plan and the California Coastal Act. The agenda for this meeting is available online. 

Background

In late 2021, the property at 555 Kelly Avenue and the adjoining City parking lot were identified by the City Council as an opportunity site for affordable housing. Following this designation, staff prepared a Request for Qualifications seeking potential affordable housing developers for the site. After City review of the Mercy Housing/ALAS joint proposal, in late 2022 the Council authorized staff to execute agreements authorizing use of City Affordable Housing Funds for project predevelopment costs. These funds were later supplemented by County of San Mateo funds.   

The project coming before the Planning Commission includes 40 affordable senior farmworker rental units (six studio, 26 one-bedroom, and eight two-bedroom units). The building contains on-site property management offices for Mercy Housing as well as a 2,658 square foot Farmworker Resource Center operated by ALAS, to serve the building residents and the coastside farmworker community. The project includes an 18-space ground-floor parking garage for residents of the project, and the redevelopment of parking near and adjacent to the Ted Adcock Community Center for 28 more parking spaces.

Please visit the City’s 555 Kelly Avenue Project web page for background information, application materials, and updates about the project.