Looking Back at a Year of Local News

Last Friday, Half Moon Bay Patch on the Half Moon Bay Coastside from Montara to Pescadero. With the , the of a well-known surfer at Mavericks, two , and the of Half Moon Bay's police and recreation departments, the year was a notable one indeed.

But many more stories made 2011 memorable as well. Today, we conclude our two-part series by revisiting more top headlines.

Coastside horse ranches received a scare this spring when reports of a national outbreak of Equine Herpes Virus forced them to their charges for several weeks in May. Despite reported deaths in California and across the country, no cases in San Mateo County were ever reported.

In the same month, the local floriculture industry took a big hit when Nurserymen's Exchange, one of the city's top employers, . The company was purchased over the summer by Salinas-based company Monterey Peninsula Horticulture Inc.

The Cabrillo Unified School District continued to be faced with grim realities of budget cuts and a . Teachers and administrators were in May and parents expressed concerns about the quality of education with .

The district community was set back when board member Charles Gardner in August due to health issues, but acted quickly and by early October. School supporters cheered when the Cabrillo Education Foundation announced they had in endowment contributions, which will enable them to disburse up to $100,000 to district schools in the 2012-2013 school year.

Cougar sports teams had a standout year, including the football and baseball teams, which brought home Peninsula Athletic League Ocean Division championships to Half Moon Bay. (For more year-end Cougar highlights, click ).

2011 was a big year for land transfers and open space protection. In July, outdoor enthusiasts celebrated the of the Cowell-Purisima Trail south of the city. The following month, the city of Half Moon Bay through a three-way land swap between the Peninsula Open Space District (POST) and San Mateo County, and POST in Moss Beach after working to restore the land and improve its local wildlife habitat for several years.

Earlier in the year, POST announced the of Rancho Corral de Tierra to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Consisting of 4,000 acres of land near Montara — including Montara Mountain — the transfer will ensure protection of endangered species habitat for local residents such as peregrine falcons and the California red-legged frog.

Along the South Coast, the San Mateo County Resource Conservation District received for conservation projects in Pescadero, San Gregorio and Moss Beach.

South Coast-focused nonprofit organization spearheaded the opening of farmer's markets in and . The markets were the first in the relatively isolated area to accept food stamps. The organization also expanded their operations by opening an office in LaHonda.

In August, Pescadero residents were challenged for a few days when the town had to go due to a failed water pump.

Two major construction projects were initiated at Half Moon Bay's Shoreline Station: a controversial next to the city's police station and a $1.7 million expansion of the county's Coastside Clinic. The new clinic — which opened a few weeks ago — contains state-of-the-art medical equipment and anticipates rolling out dental services in February or March.

The Half Moon Bay community also initiated a construction project of sorts on its own at , arguably the city's most popular playground for young children and their families. When a playground structure was removed from the area in February after an inspector deemed it to be unsafe, the Coastside Mother's Club and the Rotary Club teamed up and spearheaded a to buy and install a replacement. The new play structure was in place by September.

Half Moon Bay's annual in October garnered much attention this year when the winning gourd (1,704 lbs.) broke the California state record. Winning grower Leonardo Urena of Napa was also named the by the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth for his achievements in Half Moon Bay and two additional weighoffs held in the fall. won the top award for heaviest Coastside pumpkin of the year.

Another farmer honored this year was of Giusti Farms, who won the Farmer of the Year award in Half Moon Bay at the city's annual Mel Mello luncheon.

In November, the San Mateo County Superior Court released information that two months earlier, a judge ruled in favor of former Half Moon Bay Planning Commissioner Jimmy Benjamin for his lawsuit against the city for clearing the Kehoe Ditch (located next to Kehoe Ave.) without a Coastal Development Permit. As part of its ruling against Half Moon Bay, the court agreed with Benjamin's allegations that the ditch was home to endangered species, that it qualified as a riparian corridor, and should have been protected as such. Half Moon Bay was fined a $1,000 per day penalty "for each day that the violation persists," according to the court decision. It is not clear at this time what the financial implications are for the city, but local residents have expressed about its potential impact.

Local runners triumphed by hosting their in September. The sold-out race won by Scott Dunlap also featured a half marathon, 10k and 5k. Runners wound around the coast from Princeton's over to the Mavericks blufftops and north to the , then south to the Ritz-Carlton before returning to the finish line back at the harbor.

In addition to the marathon, Pillar Point Harbor was the center of news throughout the year as well. The first — a partnership between Half Moon Bay fishermen and Google and the first of its kind in Northern California — debuted to great success. In the fall, November's two-week of Half Moon Bay's commercial fishermen for higher crab prices (that ended in San Francisco fishermen ) captured locals' attention, as did the arrival of a Hollywood film crew shooting scenes for a month earlier.

The film, which is about the life of now-deceased Mavericks surfer , was in production as far north as and as far south as , but spent most of its two-month stint on the Half Moon Bay Coastside. On-location filming included , Half Moon Bay's and , with final scenes shot at the surf break itself in December.

To receive news feeds about Half Moon Bay and the unincorporated Coastside between Montara and Pescadero, visit Half Moon Bay Patch on Facebook and "like" us here. Follow us on Twitter here.

Download the movie