This project has proceeded from the pre-application reported here in Changes 102 (Sep. 28, 2024), and the City Planning Commission will hold a public hearing this coming Friday, July 17, prior to a vote on final planning approval and a demolition permit. See the staff agenda report here. It doesn't appear that the size or shape of the project have changed noticeably from the pre-application plans.
The new ordinance will reduce noise and air pollution from exhaust fumes, but does little to reduce particulate pollution from blowing all that stuff up into the air. To address that problem, I would support a ban on any type of leaf blower, it's unlikely that we'll see a return to rakes and brooms (or electric-powered leaf vacuums) anytime soon.
Thanks to new Lookout Santa Cruz reporter William S. Woodhams for alerting me to a change I hadn't noticed, even though I've walked past it a number of times. The image at right shows the new name of what has been the "Cocoanut Grove" (see 2024 image below) for decades.
Naturally, some people are upset, and I can empathize. Historic preservation sometimes extends beyond buildings to include the names of those buildings.
Other long-standing Santa Cruz place names have been changed (or not), with mixed results. Across the street from The Grove, the new La Bahia hotel chose to keep the name of the apartment complex it replaces, so the years-long controversy there was not about the name.
Up the hill, however, we may remember that in the early 2000s, The Dream Inn decided to change its name to the uninspiring "Coast Hotel Santa Cruz". After a few years, however, the name changed back (presumably after Coast Hotels sold the property). I doubt that anyone protested that reversion.
So name changes can be unpopular and/or temporary, and may be remembered or forgotten, but are usually (but not always) less-important than the building they are attached to.
* The senior housing project at 126 Eucalyptus Avenue (photo shows the former school building in the foreground, and the St. Joseph Shrine beyond) has broken ground (Changes 56: Feb. 11, 2023).
* The Santa Cruz City Council meeting agenda for June 24 includes hearing an appeal of the multi-use project approved at 530 Ocean Street (Changes 91: May 19, 2024)
* The "Clocktower Plaza" project (Changes 94: June 22, 2024) has been approved for construction (in its 8-story iteration), subject to resolution of a dispute about projecting balconies.
* The downtown Santa Cruz farmers market has completed its relocation to the parking lot next to the downtown library (Changes 127: May 10, 2025). Toadal Fitness has found a new home on Ocean Street. The gym's former home on Walnut Avenue, and the parking lots formerly used by the farmers' market, will be demolished to make way for the new library/housing/garage development (Changes 58: Feb. 25, 2023).
* Finally open (only 2 years late) is the segment of the Coastal Rail Trail from California Street to Pacific Avenue, where it connects to the existing segment that runs past the Boardwalk to the eastern bank of the San Lorenzo River (Changes 49: Feb. 19, 2022), crossing the river on the widened bike/pedestrian bridge completed in 2019 (Changes 33: Oct, 2, 2021). The rail trail is now complete from the river to the western city limit (and on to Wilder Ranch if you don't mind a dirt trail).
* Also: work has begun on the Murray Street bridge seismic retrofit, which will be snarling traffic through the harbor area for the next two years or more. The bridge will be closed entirely for the next 7 months.
As noted in the email copied below, at its meeting on Monday, June 9, the Santa Cruz Parks and Recreation Commission will be asked to approve the San Lorenzo Park Redesign Final Report. The redesign recommendations are still at the "concept" stage, so approval doesn't commit the city to any specific element (yet). Some of the report inclusions were expected (e.g. preservation of mature trees, lawn bowling, and Lorenzo), while others may come as a surprise, including:
The Parks and Recreation Department has completed the San Lorenzo Park Redesign Final Report which includes the vision, guiding principles, design goals, and design concepts. Staff will be requesting that the Parks and Recreation Commission recommend approval of the report on June 9, 2025. The San Lorenzo Park Redesign Final Report can be found here: https://www.cityofsantacruz.com/government/city-departments/parks-recreation/significant-projects/san-lorenzo-park-redesign-project.
The staff report for the June 9, 2025 Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting will be uploaded to the Parks and Recreation Commission webpage on Thursday, June 5, 2025: https://ecm.cityofsantacruz.com/OnBaseAgendaOnline/Meetings/Search?dropid=4&mtids=118
In the image above, the new arena is seen from what's now the corner of Spruce Street, across Front Street. It's worth noting that:
The City is ready to move forward with preparing the site for the long-planned library/garage/housing project (first described here in 2023: Changes 58) that will cover those lots, so the Farmers Market moves to a temporary location next to and around the current library, as shown below.
"Motion To:
1) Adopt a resolution appropriating $250,000 from the Economic Development Trust Fund to fund site furnishings to activate Lot 16 for the Farmers’ Market and $150,000 from the Infill and Infrastructure Grant approved budget to fund needed site infrastructure; and
2) Select Option 2 for re-use of the existing library site with a preference for affordable housing for city employee, seniors, and/or other sub populations identified in need of housing, to the extent legally feasible; and
3) Direct staff to seek developers that will contribute to the development of the public market space."
The mixed-use proposal has 245 residential rental units above street level commercial, with internal parking. No public presentation has yet been scheduled.
May 14 update: City Council approved SoLa expansion, but cut height limit to 85 feet (which is, coincidentally, the height proposed for this project).
May 28 update (from Santa Cruz Local):
Another recent article on this subject appeared in the Santa Cruz Sentinel on April 6, authored by local historian Ross Eric Gibson.
The W. H. Weeks-designed house will probably be demolished soon, and its story highlights the weakest link in the historical-structure-preservation chain: the property owners. Preservation of a structure requires full buy-in from the owners. Preservation and restoration is expensive, and even willing owners are often unable to afford and sustain the effort.
Nor is this a condemnation of the current Redman-Hirahara owners, who did not buy the property intending to preserve the house, and have made no secret of their intention to raze it. Preservationists had their chances, but a fund set up for that purpose went bankrupt.
Many other historical structures worthy of preservation in Santa Cruz County have disappeared, for a variety of reasons. Images and descriptions of many of those within the City of Santa Cruz can be found in The Sidewalk Companion to Santa Cruz Architecture. In some cases, we should probably be grateful for even partial preservation, as with the La Bahia Hotel project.
A Lookout Santa Cruz story reports that an online public meeting will convene next Tuesday, April 1, to present a development project proposal for a property located at 841 Capitola Road, just outside the Santa Cruz city limits. No link is available, but article author Max Chen provided a Zoom meeting ID: 873 6854 5479.
Above are several renderings copied from the Santa Cruz County project webpage. The building size and shape are familiar, but one factor makes this proposal different from most others we've looked at here: it intends to employ a provision in state housing law called the "Builder's Remedy".
Most of us who are interested in local housing policy have seen the term "Builder's Remedy", but what is it and how does it apply to Santa Cruz County? The term refers to a specific bit of state law, which is explained on a Santa Cruz County webpage (with my underlining added):
"To address the statewide housing shortage crisis, the State Housing Accountability Act establishes limitations on a local government’s ability to deny, reduce the density of, or make infeasible housing development projects, and includes penalties for noncompliance. (See Gov. Code § 65589.5). One of these penalties, referred to as the “Builder’s Remedy,” allows housing development projects that do not comply with local General Plan and Zoning standards, when a local jurisdiction does not have a compliant housing element."
There was apparently a brief window of time in early 2024 when the county housing element was not yet approved by the state. During that window, four project applications were submitted under the "Builder's Remedy" provision. The County webpage lists the four projects (including 841 Capitola Road). Another one of the four, on Graham Hill Road, was the subject of Changes 110, back in December.
