August 5, 2021: We made the news again!
Thanks to Ida Mojadad at the San Francisco Examiner:
July 28, 2021: Developer has withdrawn their application for entitlements.
We have just received word via Daly City Planning that Sand Hill Properties has withdrawn their application for entitlements and that therefore no ENGEO geotechnical report will be released for review. We will report back here any other new developments as we receive additional news.
We applaud this decision and will shift our efforts towards working with the landowners, community members, Daly City and other county, state and federal agencies to preserve this land for open space use by the public.
We would like to thank CA State Parks, the California Coastal Commission, our advisors Lennie Roberts at Green Foothills, Bob Battalio, and David Sondergeld, Sam Casillas and the many, many others in the community, in public service, in advocacy groups and in spirit who helped us navigate to this point.
July 15, 2021: Initial Study being finalized proposing mitigated negative declaration under CEQA
Daly City Planning has informed us that they are waiting to receive the ENGEO geotechnical report from Sand Hill Properties and then will finalize their Initial Study for the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Despite significant reasons to require an Environmental Impact Report for this project, they will recommend a mitigated negative declaration. We will have 30 days to comment on this recommendation during the public comment period. A public hearing will then be scheduled.
Please email us with any names of anyone you wish to be alerted about the public hearing.
TBBP is preparing to fight this recommendation of MND with professional expert reviews and legal arguments against this position.
Please write the members of Daly City Council voicing your objections to a mitigated negative declaration for the project under CEQA.
Juslyn Manalo: Mayorjuslynmanalo@gmail.com
Dr. Rod Daus Magbual: councilmemberrod@gmail.com
Glenn Sylvester: dalycitycouncilsylvester@gmail.com
Pamela DiGiovanni: pameladigiovanni.dalycity@gmail.com
Raymond Buenaventura: raybesq@gmail.com
Group email: citycouncil@dalycity.org
Our request for Public Records Act access to project files has finally been accepted and we are in receipt of documents and correspondence regarding this project including the concerns raised by both the Coastal Commission and by California State Parks about this project. We are continuing to seek support from other non-profit open space, conservation, recreation and community groups who oppose this project. If you know of organizations who would be candidates, please reach out to us at info@thorntonbeachbluffpreserve.com.
Finally, a local photographer, Chris Newsom has generously shared some of his photos of the wildlife and birds thriving on Thornton Bluff. Check them out in our photo gallery!
June 7, 2021: Daly City Project Proceeds with Parking Expanded for Olympic Way Retreat Center
Sand Hill Properties has updated the project to increase parking. See the revised project plans submitted in May 2021.

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- “The private property north of the Thornton State Beach access road shall be designated for commercial recreation uses.”
- New development of properties referred to policies 3, 4, and 5 above, if permissible, shall include the following: a) Improved vehicular access and extension of public services to the site shall be allowed only as necessary to serve permitted development; b) Location of development within the site shall be in the least hazardous and least visually obtrusive configuration feasible. c) Land coverage shall be compatible with the open space character and shall be less than 10% of the site area. d) Structural mass shall be compatible with the open space character and shall be less than 20 feet in height or one-story above grade, whichever is less. (Goals 1 & 3 and Sections 30250(a) & 30253)


We plan to alert the media once the testing process breaks ground. The birding nesting season has begun and disruption of nesting is a CEQA violation. The nesting period extends from February 1st to August 31st. We will continue to monitor how Sand Hill Properties proceeds.
Public comment voicing opposition to this project should continue at all Daly City Council meetings (the second and fourth Monday nights at 7pm) and with the Coastal Commission:
- Email the Council (by 4pm the day of the meeting): citycouncil@dalycity.org
- Email the California Coastal Commission: julia.koppmannorton@coastal.ca.gov
- Subject Line: Public Comment on Olympic Club Retreat Center
- Instructions for attending the Council meetings via Zoom (register by 5pm the day of the meeting at the link in the instructions) and provide public comment at the end of the meeting.



- Email address: NorthCentralCoast@coastal.ca.gov
- Subject Line: Public Comment on March 2021 Agenda Item Friday 15a – Appeal No. A-2-DYC-21-0001 (Sand Hill Property Company, Daly City)
At 10:30, you’ll see a great shot of the cliff collapse right next to the Thornton Vista. We have…











We have just received word that Sand Hill Properties is finalizing their CEQA proposal and their revised plans to develop the 48,650 square foot Olympic Way Retreat which would be built on the vacant land to the south of Mar Vista Stables. A sign has just been posted on the property as a notice to begin geophysical evaluation of the land for construction. The evaluation includes boring holes and trenches right next to the Marvista Stables corral holding 20 horses and on the land providing access to the trail for public rides to the beach. Per the Coastal Commission 5-1-2020 letter: “We anticipate that a supplemental exploration would include at least two 300- foot-long exploratory trenches extending from the top of the bluff, and a number of continuous-core borings extending to depths of approximately 200 to 300 feet below ground surface. Selected deep-core borings would be logged with a downhole televiewer camera system to measure in-situ bedding and joint inclinations. In addition to these explorations, we anticipate that additional shallow borings will be required for the design of building foundations and improvements, based on a detailed development plan…” |
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Sand Hill Properties has submitted a formal application to Daly City Planning for an “Olympic Way Retreat Center” to be built on the vacant lots to the south of Mar Vista Stables. This area is heavily used by hikers, dog walkers, fishermen, photographers, surfers as well as by trail riders and equestrians, many parking at the southern Thornton Beach Vista overlook and walking down the sole beach access trail to the Thornton State Beach. This area is also used by the Fire Department, Park Rangers, Police Department to access the bluff and beach. This application includes a request for rezoning and a CEQA/EIR review (requesting a mitigated negative declaration e.g. “no environmental impact”) and an amendment to the Daly City Local Coastal Plan. This project would require a new use permit and Coastal Development Permit. The CDP can be appealed to the Coastal Commission. The two geological reports cite the seismic instability of the Thornton Beach Bluff land. (ENGEO, February 2019 and Cotton Shires, April 2019) Daly City Planning has responded to the pre-application request from Sand Hill with this letter including: Our next steps will be to meet with DCP and the Coastal Commission again to understand the process, next steps re public hearings and their perspectives. Stay tuned. In the meantime, please sign our petition if you haven’t already.
July 11 2019: Did you catch this insightful article in the Los Angeles Times about the effects of climate change on the California Coast? A great read!
June 28 2019: It’s official! The landowner’s and developer’s deal to purchase the land at the Mar Vista Stables did not go through. We are hopeful that the landowners will ultimately take us up on our original proposal to buy the land so that we can protect it and our beloved barns forever. May 8 2019: Earlier in April we met with Daly City Planning: As of our meeting date, our petition was at 1,356 signatures on Change.org. To date, Daly City Planning has not had a formal application from either developer for a CEQA Review or LCP Amendment (local coastal plan). The 2 amendments the developers want to the Local Coastal Plan are alleviation of the 10% maximum building allowable on the land and the height restrictions (20 feet or one story, whichever is less) currently permitted. Planning staff confirmed that a categorical exemption to CEQA (environmental) review is not possible for these parcels. They also noted that the parcels might require rezoning due to the parking requirements in existing codes vs what the developers have planned. Rezoning also requires Coastal Commission review. For our plan, they said we would need to present any renovations to the Building Dept to see if demo permits and building permits were required. Ditto for a possible Coastal Development Permit (which also requires land owner consent of course) and would need to be reviewed with the Coastal Commission. Maintenance/refurbishment of existing structures is typically pursued without the need for building/demo permits. We obtained the Torgon Group documents and are now reviewing these. A public meeting for our supporters is to be scheduled most likely in June. Date to be announced shortly.
March 26 2019: Members of our Organizing Committee met with Coastal Commission staff on March 25th to review the requirements the developers would need to satisfy from a CC perspective to proceed with their projects (CEQA/EIR, amendment to LCP, CDP permit etc.). We also clarified the current extent of recreation taking place at Mar Vista Stables and provided data supporting this to the Commission. We further relayed our specific concerns with the proposed development proposals vis a vis the Coastal Act. Staff confirmed that they would typically not review a project until the full application for a development is submitted, however, as in the Torgon Group’s case, this review could be requested earlier. The Coastal Commission has some concerns that Daly City is moving rapidly to try to simultaneously request to amend the LCP and issue a Coastal Development Permit. This cannot occur, however, without the CEQA recommendation and we will be staying on top of Daly City Planning regarding the status of that environmental review. Meanwhile, the developer, Harbinger, awaits their geological study. Our petition to the Coastal Commission was also delivered to staff. We have 835 signatures in 3 weeks.
February 26 2019: The two developers, Harbinger Development and Sand Hill Properties, shared their proposals with Daly City Planning staff and the Coastal Commission who then reviewed the process for project review. Coastal staff recommended that the applicants conduct community outreach early in the process. They did not take a position on the proposals. They confirmed that the developers’ proposals both require an amendment to the current Daly City Local Coastal Plan (LCP). Here are the steps the developers will need to take if they decide to move forward: The applicants will then need to conduct various technical studies such as a biological assessment, geotechnical study, and traffic and parking studies to determine the feasibility of the proposals on the subject sites and to guide site planning and design. In addition, Coastal staff conveyed that this will help them understand the constraints on the sites from a Local Coastal Plan (LCP) perspective. The CEQA environmental analysis on the Mar Vista/Palomar sites as well as Sand Hill Properties project on the vacant lot (for a conference center) will be processed concurrently.
- The projects both include a building height and lot coverage in excess of the maximum (10%) permitted under the Daly City General Plan’s Coastal Element (i.e. Daly City LCP). Coastal staff stated a Local Coastal Program (LCP) Amendment would be required to increase the maximum height and lot coverage permitted on the properties.
- Daly City staff indicated they would present both a proposed LCP Amendment and environmental document to the Daly City Planning Commission for a recommendation and subsequently to the City Council for approval of the LCP Amendment and certification of the CEQA environmental document at the same time.
- At this point in the process, a public hearing would be required. If necessary, we plan to challenge recommendations to proceed with the projects.
- If a zoning change is requested for either or both of the properties, this would require certification by the Coastal Commission.
- If the LCP Amendment is certified by the Coastal Commission, the applicants would then apply for a Coastal Development Permit (CDP), Design Review Permit (DR), and Zone Change (if a Planned Development (PD) is proposed) through the City for each project.
- If a zoning change is requested for either or both of the properties, this would require certification by the Coastal Commission.
- And if a Coastal Development Permit is issued by Daly City, this can be appealed to the Coastal Commission.