Developers Invoke Builder’s Remedy for 1K Homes in Pacifica

A coalition of international developers have invoked the state builder’s remedy to push through plans to build more than 1,000 affordable homes atop a former limestone quarry in Pacifica.

The owners of the Rockaway Quarry have filed plans to build 1,021 homes west of the Pacific Coast Highway and Reina del Mar Avenue, the San Francisco Business Times reported.

The 86-acre abandoned quarry is owned by Preserve at Pacifica, a limited liability company not listed in state business records, and Michigan-based Paul Heule, who said the city has been battling housing at the site for three decades.

The project, dubbed Coastal Crest Residences, is backed by the Paul Heule-owned Eenhoorn, based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Zeist, a multifamily developer based in the Netherlands.

Plans call for workforce housing, or affordable homes geared toward middle-class families that include cops, firefighters and teachers, and would comprise 80 percent of the homes. Another 20 percent would be set aside for low-income households.

The developers didn’t say what kinds of homes they planned to build, such as condominiums or apartments. A cost and timeline for the project were not disclosed.

“We are in a housing crisis, so this project feels long overdue,” Heule told the Business Times.

The builder’s remedy, a decades-old loophole in state housing law, allows developers to bypass local zoning rules in cities and counties that failed to certify their state housing plans, provided they include 20 percent affordable housing.

The coastal city of Pacifica must plan to build 1,892 homes by 2031. The deadline to have certified its state-mandated housing element was Jan. 31, 2023 — more than 26 months ago. The gap has opened the door to builder’s remedy applications.

Pacifica, in San Mateo County, has a population of 36,500, with a typical home value of $1.2 million, and median monthly rent of $3,100.

The project is part of a broad plan to address a housing shortage in San Mateo County. In March, county officials discussed plans to develop affordable housing on up to a dozen properties from South San Francisco to Redwood City, according to the Business Times.

Heule has for years tried to redevelop the Rockaway Quarry, between Vallemar and Rockaway Beach.

In 2016, he pitched a plan to build 200 apartments, plus a 200-room hotel, offices, shops and restaurants and a concert amphitheater, which was rejected by voters. Pacifica voters previously turned down plans to build homes on the site in 2001 and 2006.

Last month, the State Mining and Geology Board rejected an appeal by Heule of a decision by the Pacifica City Council to reject development plans for the Rockaway Quarry site, according to Coastside News.

In November, the city denied the permits for the project, which would fill the 200-year-old quarry with hundreds of thousands of cubic yards of dirt.

— Dana Bartholomew