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| Farmer pursues permits for housing laborers By David F. Smydra Jr.--[ david@hmbreview.com ] Published/Last Modified on Wednesday, August 15, 2007 2:05 PM PDT The San Mateo County Agricultural Advisory Committee recommended Monday night that permits be approved for Cabrillo Farms to develop more housing units for farm workers. The application was submitted to the county's Planning and Building Department by the farm's owner, David Lea, but was also supported by the owner of the land, the Peninsula Open Space Trust. Cabrillo Farms is located off Highway 1 just north of El Granada, and is part of the 4,200-acre property known as Rancho Corral de Tierra, which POST purchased in 2001. The nonprofit states that Cabrillo Farms is the only agricultural tenant on the property. On a project description filed with the county, Cabrillo Farms reported that it currently grows Brussels sprouts, peas and beans. Project managers on staff in the county's planning department said that the proposed new structure would be a three-bedroom unit; the existing structure would be converted into a two-bedroom unit. Both structures would sit behind a tree line that is more than 2,000 feet from Highway 1, and are categorically exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act, according to the project description. Jack Olsen, executive administrator of the San Mateo County Farm Bureau, said that Lea wanted to build a unit for his foreman and decided to bundle his paperwork by seeking legalization for an existing structure that could also be used for housing workers. Four farm labor housing units currently exist on Cabrillo Farms. "Since we're going through the process, we might as well do it all at once," Olsen said. Olsen maintained that no one is living in the structure now, which he described as a trailer that is possibly 50 years old. "David's kind of used it as an office," Olsen said. Cabrillo Farms did not return multiple calls seeking comment by press time. Adequate and plentiful housing units for farm workers are steady issues on the Coastside, which has many farms and businesses that rely on the labor. Chris Detwiller, a conservation project manager with POST, said that the impetus to develop the housing came from Lea. "He approached us and said it was something he needed for his farm laborers," Detwiller said. "We gave it the OK." A POST spokeswoman declined to comment on any questions regarding the nonprofit's knowledge of farm labor issues on a tenant's property, such as whether POST would require its tenants to keep structures up to code, or whether it had enough housing for its workers. Nonetheless, housing for farm workers and all agricultural workers remains a concern. Fatima Soares, executive director of Coastside Hope, guesses that there are as many as 200 farm workers around Half Moon Bay and the Midcoast, not counting those who work in nurseries. Kerry Lobel, director of Puente de la Costa Sur, a nonprofit in Pescadero that monitors the situation of agricultural workers, said that many workers do indeed live on land operated by a farm or nursery. "And there are few resources available to upgrade that housing," Lobel said. |