Letter from Bob Dooley

Dear Ocean Colony Neighbor,

I’m Bob Dooley. I grew up on the Coastside and live in Ocean Colony with my wife, Sharon. I started fishing as a boy and spent more than 40 years working fisheries from California to Alaska. If you make your living from the ocean, you ought to give something back. I’ve spent a lot of time helping fishermen understand the rules, take part in the process, and make sure the people doing the work have a voice. We volunteer with IDES, PCC, the Monterey Bay Fisheries Trust, and many other Coastside nonprofits and events. We strongly believe in the motto: “Show up, do the work, and leave things better than you found them.”

I recently invited Mayor Debbie Ruddock and our Ocean Colony neighbor Ron Kies to a Farm Bureau meeting so they could hear directly from local Coastside farmers about 555 Kelly, affordable housing, and their priorities for Half Moon Bay and how we could learn about the same from them.

Ron and Debbie bring very different experiences to the table. Ron spent four decades in the energy business, including senior roles at Chevron and later as a consultant to U.S. energy companies and Thailand’s national oil company. His work involved major energy projects, improving operations, controlling costs, and helping organizations make long-term decisions about energy resources and risk.

Debbie has spent her career as a legislative analyst and project manager at the Coastal Conservancy. Locally, she has been on the City Council a long time. Debbie led Measure A, Measure D, and General Plan updates that have kept Half Moon Bay special.

I was quite curious about what was at stake for the community regarding Measure Q and they were able to really give me some more clarity. Measure Q is about the City’s lease agreements with Mercy Housing for 555 Kelly, not the project approval itself. Ron supports the agreements as written. Debbie voted against them, citing unresolved concerns about financing, whether the housing would serve the local coastal workforce, the lack of earthquake insurance, the City’s long-term financial and liability exposure, as well as committing City-owned land under a 99-year lease before those issues were resolved.

A Yes vote lets the current agreements move forward. A No vote means those agreements do not take effect, and the City Council cannot reenact the ordinance for one year. The five-story project and its Coastal Development Permit have already been approved. That year gives the City a chance to sit back down with Mercy and decide whether the terms should change. The City could ask for stronger protections or changes to the project, but Mercy would have to agree, and some changes could require additional approvals.

A No vote does not kill 555 Kelly or housing for farmworkers. It stops the current deal and gives the City time to decide what comes next.

My takeaway is that however people vote on Measure Q, there will be plenty of work afterward. If it passes, the agreements for 555 Kelly take effect and it can move ahead. We will need to fix Kelly Ave and deal with parking around Shoreline Station. If it fails, the City will be able to hit pause and sit down with parties with interest in the project, Alas and Mercy, to address community concerns. We also have to have contingency plans for working with the State.

Whatever happens, we support Debbie because she has the know-how to get things done the right way. She led the efforts to get PG&E to commit to more reliable power for Ocean Colony and Canada Cove, work that has already kicked off.

I think we can all agree that this is particularly good news given the last few years of extended power outages here in the Colony and more so with the impending “El Ninõ” Storms predicted for this winter.

With all the headwinds our community faces, we need experienced people who understand the details and can get things done. That is why we support Debbie Ruddock, and I hope you will, too.

Yours sincerely,
Bob and Sharon Dooley