Pacifica

City, San Mateo County

© McCormack's Guides

 

Zip Code: 94044

On the Pacific. Great views of the ocean. Warm in the winter. Often cold and foggy in the summer. On the map, Pacifica looks like it has loads of land for housing but a great deal has been locked up in parks and watershed. Remainder is often hilly (expensive for building). Population 39,616. www.mccormacks.com

In many parts of California, homes on or close to the coast are built large and grand and command very high prices.

But there are exceptions and Pacifica is one. It has a few large homes but the great majority of its housing tends to middle class tract, three and four bedrooms, and many homes are smaller. Pacifica also has, right on the ocean, a modular home tract, a park for recreational vehicles, and rather plain clusters of apartments.

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This description makes the town sound ordinary.

It isn’t. Pacifica also has many small and medium homes built to custom designs. These homes usually are placed among tall trees that add to the beauty of their neighborhoods.

Pacifica has a pretty setting and long sandy beaches. The Pacific, especially on the south side, crashes the shore in waves of foamy white caps. On clear days, the views stretch for miles over the azure ocean. Tall cypresses grow on many of the hills and many homes border open land. www.mccormacks.com

In some sections near the ocean, the town has built coffee shops, stores and restaurants and created pleasant places to stroll and dine. The town’s pier is famous for its fishing and its whale watching. Trails and a promenade skirt the ocean; many people take to the shore for a walk or run.

Every city claims special charms and intimate neighborhoods. Pacifica, thanks to its setting and its history, may have both in abundance.

The down side, which also influenced the development of Daly City and San Francisco, the fog and blustering winds. And if you like fog and bluster, it’s not a down side at all. Or it might be a reasonable trade for great views and a commute that for many is short.

San Francisco developed from the Bay toward the ocean and not, as might seem logical, the opposite way because of the fog and winds. San Mateo confined almost all of its development to the Bay for the same reason. There were other factors, foremost hills and ravines. There are fewer on the Bay side and this made it easier to build the railroad and roads and housing.

But even the terrain ties into the fog. The hills and mountains stop or impede the flow of cold air and fog to the Bay cities. In fact, it makes these cities all the more enjoyable because enough cool air eases over the ridges to soften the summer heat. www.mccormacks.com

Pacifica started as unincorporated hamlets separate from one another — Rockaway Beach, Vallemar, Linda Mar, among the most important. Pacifica is divided by steep hills and ravines that made lateral roads expensive to build. These villages were connected by a railroad, which went out of business in the 1920s, and Highway 1, opened in 1938.

Each village built its own stores and “downtown” and had its own identity. Many of the first residents were retirees or people who, nevermind the fog, liked the ocean and privacy of the towns and probably their charm. Parts of these villages come across almost as artists’ colonies

In the 1920 and 1930s, San Francisco built its western neighborhoods, the Sunset and the Richmond districts. Then World War II intervened.

After the war, developers poured into Pacifica, which was under the jurisdiction of the county government. Enthusiastic about growth — many people were in those days — the county supervisors green-lighted the projects and imposed few controls. The reaction came quickly and in 1957 the hamlets — 11 in number — banded together into the legal city of Pacifica and took over their own planning and governing.

Pacifica started the 1960s with about 21,000 residents and in that decade added about 16,000 people. It began the 1970s with about 36,000 residents and then, possibly short of land or more in tune with the anti-growth sentiments of residents, it curtailed housing permits. Over the next 20 years, it inched up to 37,000 residents and by 2000 reached 38,678. Since then, it has added about 600 people. Very little new in the way of housing. www.mccormacks.com

Pacifica built from its shore east into its hills. The higher the hills generally the newer the housing, new being circa 1970 (with exceptions, a small tract of modern two-story homes off of Terra Nova Boulevard.) Many homes come across as logical extensions of the 1930s homes built in San Francisco’s Sunset District — two-story, living room sitting atop the garage facing the street.

Although the terrain is hilly, many homes and apartments don’t have views. These units were built on fairly flat land near the beach or in the ravines. Or they weren’t designed with view vistas. The later hill homes (drive Monterey-Hickey Boulevard and Terra Nova Boulevard) paid more attention to views, orienting in design to a back yard or balcony that looks to the Pacific.

San Pedro Terrace on the south side, an old neighborhood, probably has the best views in town and some of the nicest old custom homes. For more old charm, drive Reina Del Mar, Linda Mar Boulevard and Rockaway Beach Avenue.

Residential units in 2008 totaled 14,439, of which 10,410 were single homes, 791 single-family attached, 3,140 multiples, 98 mobiles. Most of apartments located on north side, near ocean.

Median age of residents is 38. Kids under 18 account for 23 percent of inhabitants; over 55 years, 19 percent. Rounded town, not too many old or young. www.mccormacks.com

Served by Pacifica Elementary District, five elementaries, kinder to 5 or 8, one middle school and an education center with about 60 students. Elementary rankings range from about the 50s to the 90s. Two private schools.

Teens attend schools in the Jefferson Union High School District, which also serves Daly City. Oceana High and Terra Nova High are in Pacifica. Scores about the 80th percentile, the top 20 percent in state. See Schools.

Voters, for the high schools, in 1995 approved raising taxes and spending $30 million on improvements and in 2006 passed another bond, for $137 million, for renovation and technology upgrades.

In 1997, Pacifica district passed a $30 million bond to make improvements. The district in 2007 was turned down by voters when it tried for parcel tax to pay for salaries and programs. Needing two thirds, about 67 percent, the measure won 58 percent of the ballots cast.

Skyline Community College just over the border. Big plus. Community colleges offer many activities, classes. In 2001, the college district passed a $207 million bond to renovate its campuses. www.mccormacks.com

Closed elementary was converted into Sanchez Art School (private). Many artists in Pacifica.

Fishing pier that sticks out far enough into Pacific to catch salmon and striped bass. Beach promenade and trail, public golf course (right on the ocean), 14 parks, 12 playgrounds, one public swimming pools, two libraries, tennis, bowling, riding and hiking trails, archery and shooting range. Community center — arts and crafts, bocce, day care, seniors activities. Skateboard park. Arts center, home to 40 artists, and a performing arts center. Little theater, including kid productions.

One of only two cities in county (San Bruno the other) that allows fireworks on the Fourth of July, as long as they are “safe and sane,” a fire marshal rating. Helps raise funds for schools, sports and other community activities.

Many of the schools do double service as playing fields for baseball, soccer and football. On Saturdays, it looks like the whole town has taken to the schools and the sports leagues, especially soccer.

Pacifica celebrates itself with Fog Fest. Event draws about 50,000 and includes Fog Dance, Fog Jog. www.mccormacks.com

Fog pattern: Often absent in winter. Present in summer, cold and overcast often to late afternoon when sun burns through. Some days fog disappears. See weather. One bonus: no need for air conditioners.

Supermarkets, restaurants, hotels, small department store. But nothing big and super productive in tax revenues. Pacifica is frequently wringing its hands over funding for cops, potholes and recreation. But it doesn’t want just any kind of project.

For years the city has been arguing over developing a former quarry. In 2006, the voters shot down a plan that would have brought in 355 homes and commercial buildings.

Commute fairly good. San Francisco and Interstate 280 are a few miles up the road. Sharp Park Road also leads to I-280 and down to Highway 101. Highway 1 goes from freeway to four-lane road. Although traffic moves, Pacifica would like Highway 1 improved but many don’t want to turn it into a freeway, which would spur development.

Crime rate low. Zero homicides in 2005, one each in 2004, 2003, zero in 2002 and 2001, one in 2000, zero in 1999. The counts for previous years: one, zero, zero, one, one, two, zero, one, zero. See Crime. www.mccormacks.com

Chamber of commerce (650) 355-4122.

• In the storms of 1998, some homes fell into the Pacific, one of the perils of building close to the shore. Pacifica has built a sea wall to slow beach erosion.

• Noise from planes taking off from San Francisco International, which has put up money for sound insulation.

• Highway 1 to south of town occasionally washes out. Permanent fix to Devil’s Slide coming about 2011. When Highway 1 is open all the way down the coast, traffic increases along the road and causes delays. Except for a small stretch, Highway 1 through Pacifica is signal lighted. Otherwise, residents would wait a long time to get across the highway. Some residents would like another lane on the highway as it travels through town.

• Pier supports being eroded. City is trying to find money for fixes. The pier may be the town’s biggest tourist attraction. Another attraction, the shore section of Rockaway Beach (hotels, shops, restaurants).

• City nourishes neighborhood identities. The local shopping and the location of schools also anchor the neighborhoods. But not all neighborhoods have their own schools and in some neighborhoods the stores and services are few. For big ticket items, Daly City and San Francisco. www.mccormacks.com

• So much land has been placed into parks that Pacifica almost comes across as a country town. The steep hills and ravines have spread out the housing. Many people can look from their front and especially their back doors and see a lot of greenery but it’s tough hiking — steep or deep.

• Some neighborhoods on north side shop in Daly City and are within a short drive to Interstate 280. SanFrancisco International Airport is just over the hills; short drive for many who work at or near SFO.

City web site: www.cityofpacifica.org