The Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District is picking up a 160-acre chunk of scenic land situated along Highway 92 about four miles east of Half Moon Bay at the base of the incline leading to Skyline Boulevard.
At a board meeting last week, district directors approved $1.42 million for the land, which constitutes part of what the Association of Bay Area Governments calls the “gateway to the San Mateo coast.” As such, district managers view the land as a priority for land conservation, said district spokeswoman Leigh Ann Maze.
 The Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District has purchased land near a popular tree farm on the Coastside. |
The parcel also encompasses a small piece of Santa’s Tree Farm and Village — the first establishment drivers see when they reach the base of the hill headed west on Highway 92 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.
Dan Sare, who owns the tree farm and the property being bought, did not return phone calls for this story. The land has supported a Christmas tree farm for about four decades, district managers say.
The purchase adds to more than 57,000 acres of the district’s protected land.
The property sits as an island surrounded by private property, one mile north of the district’s 992-acre Mills Creek Open Space Preserve. District managers are closing off the new purchase to visitors, with hopes of accumulating the surrounding land and stitching together a massive corridor for trail users.
— Greg Thomas
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