Santa Cruz Changes 58: Downtown library/housing/parking

Following the November 2022 defeat of a referendum seeking to stop this city-proposed project, the Planning Commission (whose composition also changed after the November elections) seemed poised to move ahead with approval of the latest version of the project at its Feb. 23 meeting. The agenda packet includes this staff description of the project:

"The project proposes demolition of both the existing City surface parking lot at 119 Lincoln Street and the commercial building currently occupied by Toadal Fitness at 113 Lincoln Street, and encompasses construction of a new, approximately 273,194 square-foot, eight-story building integrating a three story, approximately 38,069 square-foot City library featuring two floors double heighted with elevated ceilings; three story parking garage with capacity of 243 parking spaces; five story, 100% affordable housing component comprising 124 residential units; three story, approximately 9,598 square-foot commercial tenant space; one story, approximately 1,231 square-foot. childcare facility and adjoining 674 square-foot outdoor play area; open-air roof deck; new landscaping, and associated improvements to the subject site and surrounding public right-of-way.  Development would span the entire block of Cedar Street between Lincoln and Cathcart streets."

An informative article by Christopher Neely in Lookout Santa Cruz gives a good summary of how we got here. The article includes a pair of elevation renderings showing the block-long building from both north and south along Cedar Street. Since its original conception by Public Works as simply another multi-level parking structure, the project morphed in 2019 to include a relocated main library. After receiving public input, the concept expanded again to include rental housing and other facilities. The latest iteration has expanded in size even further, to include the Toadal Fitness building site that faces Lincoln Street (the existing north-south alley remains). 

Objections to displacement of the Farmers Market that uses the existing surface parking lot have been addressed with a city proposal to create a permanent Farmers Market site on Front Street (a conceptual rendering is included in the agenda packet). Those plans are still at a very preliminary stage, but if carried forward will merit a separate post at some future date. 

Santa Cruz Changes 57: más paseos, por favor

Previous posts have called attention to a number of individual development projects now taking shape in downtown Santa Cruz. Several of them include one of my favorite wish-list features: wide pedestrian-only walkways between streets, and/or between Front Street and the Riverwalk. These "paseos" will make downtown much more pedestrian friendly and connected. Santa Barbara has a number of paseos providing pedestrian access from its main commercial street (State) to parallel streets. Carmel also has paseos.  

A recent article by Lili Belli in Lookout Santa Cruz, titled "Paseos to the future?", describes how three Riverwalk-adjacent projects along Front Street will create up to ten new restaurant spaces facing the river, connected to Front Street via steps on three wide new paseos. Excerpted above from that article is an artist's rendering of the paseo that will align with the end of Cathcart Street.

None of those projects have yet broken ground, however, so the first paseo we'll see - maybe before the end of 2023 - will be the one connecting Center and Cedar Streets along the south side of the 530 Center Street project that is now under construction. That paseo will connect the other end of Cathcart Street to Center Street. The rendering below, included in post 50, looks at the project from Cathcart, across Cedar Street. The paseo can be seen to the left of the building with the "Retail" signage. Previously, that walk was possible - through a parking lot.

   

Santa Cruz Changes 56: 126 Eucalyptus Ave

This project is proposed for the former Gateway School property, behind the St. Joseph Shrine property on W. Cliff Drive, with vehicle entry from Pelton Avenue. All on-site parking is accessed from the entry driveway.

The city planning description includes: "...demolish two existing school buildings (approx. 28,417 square feet) and construct a 76 unit (including 15 full dwelling units) senior housing facility..." (city webpage here)

The developer's renderings make it look up-scale, which would fit in with that neighborhood. 

Santa Cruz Changes 55: 119 Coral Street

The top image is a conceptual rendering of the finished project. Below it is a current view of the site. Both views are from where Highway 1 crosses the RR tracks. Below the images is an excerpt from a description included on the City of Santa Cruz project page. Plans, more renderings, and other info can be found there. 

Santa Cruz Changes 54: 130 Center Street

 

Another tall mixed-use project has been approved, at 130 Center Street, shown in the rendering above. Given the preliminary name "Calypso", this is another Swenson development, and includes 233 small (295-400ft2) "affordable" rental units. The location is opposite the end of Washington Street, by the Depot Park soccer fields. The overall design follows the familiar recent pattern: street-front retail w under-building parking behind, and multiple levels of apartments above. The U-shaped single building has its open end facing south.

The new building will replace two existing auto-related businesses: a body/paint shop and a rental agency. The photo below shows what the location looks like now, from approximately the same direction. The rendering and photo both include the hotel immediately beyond the project site, although the rendering makes the hotel look much farther away. The large tree shown in the rendering just beyond the end of the new building is fictitious. The line of much smaller street trees (and wider sidewalk) are shown in the project plans, which can be viewed/downloaded here. Other renderings show green spaces on either end of the building along Center Street - also fictitious.

It would be nice if the project included undergrounding the utilities (the existing utility poles/lines aren't shown in the rendering), but that's probably also fictitious. The submitted plans show the existing overhead lines remaining, although undergrounding could have been added as a condition of approval. 

It's odd that the third auto-related business in this row (another body shop, partially-seen at far left in the photo) will remain, with its wall hard against the new adjacent building. On the other side of that lone remaining commercial business is the Blackburn House apartments. It's hard to know whether residents there will appreciate the preservation of their sunshine more than they would enjoy losing the noise and paint fumes.

Santa Cruz Changes 53: Rivermouth Culvert

 

A newly-completed city engineering project is designed to regulate high summer water levels in the lower river lagoon, caused by the annual sand buildup that blocks the rivermouth. It will do that by pumping backed-up lagoon water past the blockage and out to the beach through a 24" culvert (top photo) whenever it rises above a certain level. That level is low enough to prevent flooding, but high enough to protect the lagoon habitat for its inhabitants. The outflow water will presumably stop being so rusty once the culvert rinses out.

The lower photo shows the construction scene shortly before completion. The culvert is the bright horizontal line in the middle distance, below the bluffs. 

Santa Cruz Changes locations can be found on this Google Map.

Santa Cruz Changes 52: 2019 state law affects local development rules

 

After noting many of the changes happening around Santa Cruz this year, especially along Front Street (aerial photo by Kevin Painchaud / Lookout Santa Cruz), I took a break to watch them progress. 

In the meantime, let me direct our attention to a very interesting article in Lookout Santa Cruz (in itself a notable recent change in Santa Cruz journalism). Written by Christopher Neely, "A design standards vote turns into a last grasp for local housing control in Santa Cruz" looks at recent changes to the local general plan/zoning process. 

Although the article begins by noting an upcoming City Council vote on building design standards (an important subject it itself), the most interesting part of the article to me is a description of how a 2019 state law has changed local development decision-making. The law flipped the previous local pecking order between current zoning rules and the longer-range general plan, essentially accelerating the 2030 General Plan goals into current zoning. Opponents to those goals will likely now have to pivot from opposing individual project re-zoning applications to supporting broader General Plan amendments.

Santa Cruz Changes 51 - The spring has sprung

The stop-and-go demolition of the Casa del Rey Apartments on Beach Street (better known as La Bahia) has been halted for weeks since removal of one of the last courtyard foundations caused a hidden spring to bubble up. An earth berm was pushed up to contain the flow, and now holds a good-sized pool. 

Resumption of work presumably awaits design changes to deal with the unexpected groundwater.

To anyone who has read about the history of La Bahia, however, finding the spring is not such a surprise. According to a 1928 Santa Cruz Evening News article, the spring was a well-known source of drinking water in the pre-development days of Beach Hill. 

The spring was also known to architect William C. Hayes, who designed the apartment complex that opened in 1927. The layout included two interior courtyards, one of which enclosed the spring, and directed its flow into a rock-lined pool in the courtyard named El Fuente de los Marineros (Fountain of the Mariners).  

Santa Cruz Changes locations can be found on this Google Map. 

Santa Cruz Changes 50: 530 Center Street Mixed-Use

Many previously-reported changes are now under construction, but this one somehow came in under my radar. A new mixed-use development has broken ground at 530 Center Street. That site was a big, underutilized public parking lot, next door to the Calvary Episcopal complex. 

There are usually a lot of empty spaces, so this lot was probably the best downtown candidate for asphalt removal - good riddance.

As can be seen in the photos, the large parking lot fronts on both Center and Cedar Streets, and is right across Cedar Street from the lot where the Farmers Market happens every Wednesday, which is also where the City Council wants to build the controversial library/housing/parking structure. 

A non-binding referendum on that project has qualified for the November ballot, so we'll see how that turns out.

The under-construction photo above left is from last week's Sentinel, and to the right is a conceptual rendering from the developer's submittal to the city. The viewpoint is from the corner of Cedar and Cathcart, approximately the same spot as in the Google Street View image at top right. To the left of the new building can be seen the 25-foot-wide public "paseo" that will run through from Cedar to Center.

Like most of the recent mixed-use downtown projects, this one has retail/commercial spaces on the ground floor and apartments above. Unlike most of the others, however, this building has no internal parking for residents, and only 12 on-site parking spaces. 

Santa Cruz Changes locations can be found on this Google Map.

Santa Cruz Changes: 49 - Rail Trail 2022

The Rail Trail project is progressing steadily, being now complete from Wilder Ranch to Bay Street in Santa Cruz. Also in place is the short segment along Beach Street, from Pacific Avenue to the recently-widened pedestrian bridge across the San Lorenzo River. In between is the segment from the corner of California and Bay to Pacific Avenue.

Construction on that segment is scheduled to begin later this year. Above right is a rendering of what the completed California Street end will look like. The roadway at left is the entrance driveway into the sewage treatment plant. To the right of the driveway, at center-left in the rendering, is the plant's sign.

That same sign is in the photo at left, taken today, looking in the same direction along the railroad tracks. The new trail will be to the right of the tracks. The other end of this segment will connect with the existing paved trail from Depot Park, following the tracks under the wooden West Cliff Drive bridge to Pacific Avenue, next to the Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary museum.

Santa Cruz Changes locations can be found on this Google Map.