Santa Cruz Changes 149: Openings and zoning changes

One of the images in Changes 148 was a photo I took from the top of the wide steps at River Row, the now-opening mixed-use project on Front Street. The photo at right is from farther back in the courtyard.

This Thursday, March 12, there will be an opening celebration from 11 am to 1 pm. Other openings include five new downtown businesses that have opened since the beginning of 2026. The City of Santa Cruz newsletter for March gave this list:

* Anthropologie – 1134 Pacific Ave.
* Alley Oop [bistro] – 320 Cedar St.
* Switch Bakery – 1016 Cedar St.
* Rock Salt Pilates – 1106 Pacific Ave.
* Palmetto Super Foods – 1335 Pacific Ave. 

One more notable recent opening: the Murray Street bridge over the harbor has reopened to 2-way traffic. For now, traffic will be alternating directions in the one open lane.

In zoning news, Santa Cruz will be considering a zoning overlay for the Coral Street area, in support of the temporary housing services provided by Housing Matters. The city's plan for this move can be found here. 

Out in Capitola, the city is slowly working toward a rezoning of the Capitola Mall that will allow mixed-use development, as described in the linked Sentinel article. More info can be found in Changes 141.

Santa Cruz Changes 148: The View From Here

For many years now, when developers submit proposals for public review, they often include sun studies - renderings of the shadows cast by proposed structures at various hours of the day and times of year. These studies are required because virtually all newly-proposed buildings are now much taller than the existing structures they will replace, and neighbors are rightly concerned about their loss of solar access.

A less-studied aspect of new development is its effect on view corridors. In the past, this topic mostly came up when residents protested potential loss of their ocean views, but downtown areas also have views. These are often restricted to corridors above streets, narrow canyons between tall buildings on either side. But those narrow corridors can also provide surprisingly-pleasant views, just as a camera focuses attention on a view by restricting the framing of a scene.

Those accidental corridor views, however, are often temporary. The photo above (from Pacific Avenue) shows what's happening to the view on the Lincoln Street corridor as the new central library project goes up. The existing view of historical and picturesque Calvary Episcopal Church (granted, it's the less-interesting rear of the building) is gradually being blocked as the new building rises.

However, view corridors can also be created and/or enhanced. The pedestrian areas of the soon-to-open mixed-use project on Front Street are new connections between downtown and the levee-top Riverwalk. The photo at left, taken from the top of the steps leading down to Front and Cathcart streets, shows the new view from there.

And, at the other end of short Cathcart Street is another of the new paseos that are another part of city planning to increase walkability. See Changes 57, which describes the changes at both ends of Cathcart.

Santa Cruz Changes 147: South of Laurel apartments public presentation

 

A proposed 8-story apartment tower will have a public Zoom presentation on Monday, Jan. 26 (the linked article has meeting info). The image at right is a rendering supplied by the developer.

The building will replace 10-units of 1-story motel-style housing called "Neptune Apartments", and two commercial buildings currently located at 407-413 Pacific Avenue.

The city website has more information about the proposal. One interesting wrinkle is that this development will have 100% below-market-rate-rent units. That's happening because of a recent city rule that allowed the development proposed for 201 Front Street (see Changes 126) to be 100% market-rate, in return for 100% below-market-rate in another location. 

The image at left shows the current appearance of 407-413 Pacific Ave. 

Santa Cruz Changes 146: A New Neighbor for Dominican Oaks

This week, the Santa Cruz County Planning Commission (agenda here) is expected to approve an application to replace a single-family residence at 3500 Paul Sweet Road with a 6-story apartment building. 

There's a link in the agenda to the Planning Dept. Staff report, which includes the developer's plan set.

Three sides of the parcel not fronting on the road are abutted by the Dominican Oaks retirement community. The image above right is a rendering submitted by the developer. Below is a similar view of the property, as seen today from Paul Sweet Road.

Update: The Planning Commission did not approve the application on Jan. 17, as expected, but instead delayed consideration of the application to a future date TDB.