Santa Cruz Changes 95: UCSC East Meadow housing underway

The Santa Cruz Sentinel published the photo above on June 20. The caption reads:

"A drone photo taken Thursday morning shows the grading that has taken place in the East Meadow at UC Santa Cruz as construction has begun near the intersection of Coolidge and Hagar drives for a project UCSC is calling Student Housing West. According to the university, the project will provide housing for about 3,000 students at two sites, which will be constructed in two phases. The first phase, known as the Hagar Development, will take up about 120,000 assignable square feet on 17 acres in the East Meadow. The development, which is intended for students with families, will include 140 two-bedroom apartment units in 35 two-story, four-plex buildings, a childcare facility, community building, a maintenance building and a wastewater treatment plant. The second phase of the project, known as the Heller Development, includes approximately 950 housing units in six, five to seven-story buildings spanning 780,000 assignable square feet that are a mix of apartment and communal style units and a new wastewater treatment plant. University staff and faculty were joined by a coalition of community members who fought unsuccessfully to stop the project, saying that the East Meadow should be preserved as a natural landscape. They also challenged the university’s promise to offer affordable rents. (Shmuel Thaler – Santa Cruz Sentinel)"

As noted in the caption, this is a two-phase project on two widely-separated sites on the UCSC campus. The Hagar Development, located at one of the most open and prominent street corners on the campus, will replace the view below:

 

Santa Cruz Changes 94: The Clocktower is ticking

Local developer Workbench has taken the lead in applying recent state law changes to local project proposals, especially in regard to building height. 

The state has taken the position that increasing the housing supply (especially "affordable" housing) takes precedence over local zoning rules. 

The latest proposal by Workbench (actually a pair of proposals), tentatively named Clocktower Center, pushes the new state law envelope to its limits, envisioning a building up to either 8 or 16 stories in height, while contending that the city can do little to limit height.

The proposal is still in the pre-application phase, and a community meeting (Zoom only) is scheduled for June 26. More info available on the city project page. 

There will no doubt be substantial local opposition, and there likely will be additional posts here as the proposal progresses. It will be interesting to watch how this plays out. 

Another Workbench project, the Food Bin replacement building, is farther along in the planning/permitting process (see an intro in post #85). More info on that project is available on the city's project page. 

Santa Cruz Changes 93: City Seeks Public Input on South of Laurel Plan

The City of Santa Cruz Planning and Community Development Dept. is moving along on potential rezoning to promote its South of Laurel redevelopment vision (Downtown Plan Expansion). 

As reported last August in Santa Cruz Changes #67, the plan aims to facilitate some big changes to the area surrounding the Kaiser Permanente Arena. 

The overhead view above-right shows the project study area outlined in red. Laurel Street is the top limit line. KP Arena is the large white rectangle near the river at upper right. The Depot Park soccer fields are the green area at far left, outside the red boundary line. 

The City is now asking for public review and comment on the latest version of the plan. From the project website:

"Public comments are welcome on the Downtown Plan Expansion from May 31 to July 10, 2024.

The plan consists of two equally important parts: a New Appendix 8 for the Downtown Plan. Proposed amendments to the existing Downtown Plan, Chapter 4, Development Standards and Design Guidelines.

The two pieces work together to create the public and private spaces that will evolve over the coming decades within this neighborhood. Comments welcome via email to Senior Planner Sarah Neuse."

Santa Cruz Changes 92: Preserving and Repurposing

A shout-out to Housing Matters, a local non-profit whose mission is to find solutions to local problems of homelessness. The organization's presence in the Harvey West neighborhood has grown steadily over the past nearly 40 years, most visibly with the Rebele Family Shelter that opened in 2005 at the corner of River Street and Coral Street. 

Santa Cruz Changes 55 noted the Housing Matters project at 119 Coral Street.

A more-recent acquisition, in 2023, was the nicely-preserved Victorian at 801 River Street. The former single-family-residence has now been repurposed as Casa Azul, described as "Housing Matters . . . first permanent supportive housing project". 

The transformation was accomplished without sacrificing the structure's historical integrity, and the colorful results can be seen below.