Directors at the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District approved a $1.4 million purchase of a chunk of scenic land adjacent to Highway 92 and Santa’s Tree Farm and Village at a district board meeting Wednesday night.
Billed as the “gateway to the San Mateo Coast” by the Association of Bay Area Governments, the 160-acre property is viewed as a priority for land conservation, said district spokeswoman Leigh Ann Maze.
The scrubby landscape, situated about four miles east of Half Moon Bay, is defined by steep canyons and scenic ridge tops providing sweeping views of Half Moon Bay, the ocean and the Santa Cruz Mountains.
The parcel also encompasses part of Santa’s Tree Farm and Village – the first establishment drivers headed west on Highway 92 see coming into Half Moon Bay. But holiday tree-hunters are not losing out. The parcel under discussion includes only a 1.7-acre sliver of the 60-acre farm – about 50 of the farm’s 100,000 trees – and the district is offering to lease that land back to the current owners for continued farming
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