Santa Cruz Changes 82: a bridge to nowhere?

 

Those of you who travel on Highway 1 between Santa Cruz and Capitola have seen the new pedestrian bridge under construction at Chanticleer Avenue (shown above). 

The original intent seems to have been to provide a walk/bike connection between the health care hub north of the freeway (around Dominican and Sutter hospitals) and developing health care-related facilities on the south side. The bridge approach on the south side begins in front of the County Sheriff facility, which opened in 2014. 

That development was to have been led by health-care giant Kaiser Permanente, which showed plans for a large new facility on Soquel Avenue (Hwy. 1 frontage road) near the corner of Chanticleer. The County planned to chip in with pedestrian/bike safety improvements to the northern segment of Chanticleer Avenue, a chaotic stretch where there are now no sidewalks or bike lanes.

But Kaiser abruptly changed its plans in May 2023, deciding to abandon the development plan. And now it appears that the County has put northern Chanticleer Ave. improvements on indefinite hold. Without those improvements, how many people are going to be brave enough to walk/ride on the street (Google Street View below)? We'll keep an eye on this one.  

Santa Cruz Changes 81: Zoning changes things

In the news recently: state efforts to encourage (or force) more housing density in single-family neighborhoods. A big obstacle to increased density is local zoning that limits how many housing units can be built on a parcel of a given size. Asking a city/county for permission to exceed the zoned density will almost always be answered with a big NO. 

When those cities/counties themselves decide that more density is desirable for  a certain neighborhood/area, they do it in a more planned manner - by changing the zoning to a designation that allows greater density. 

A couple of recent multi-family projects on a short section of May Avenue were probably facilitated by such a zoning change - from R-1 (one unit) to R-L (multiple units). The project at 448 May (above), now completed, replaced one residence with four attached townhomes, which is about the maximum number that can be fit onto a ~5,000 sq. ft. lot like this one.

A similar project (below) nearby is now working its way through the planning process, for a double-wide lot of ~10,000 sq. ft.  The double width allows a project that basically doubles the one at 448 May. Because the two buildings share one driveway, however, there's more than twice the area available for building footprints. Also, the units are smaller than those at 448 May, giving a total unit count of 16.

Note: across May Avenue from these two small projects is the site of the largest Santa Cruz multi-family project proposal in recent memory. That 400+ unit development application is still on hold after a couple of rounds of planning review, and will be described here when its fate becomes clearer.

Santa Cruz Changes 80: Lighthouse Field Improvements

 

Anyone who walks in Lighthouse Field during the rainy season knows that there are places where the path is likely to be underwater after recent rains. In January of 2024, State Parks has nearly completed weatherizing and accessibility upgrades to the main pathways. The map above, which can currently be found posted at the Pelton/Laguna path entrance, shows the extents of the program.

Low lying sections of paths have been given gravel surfaces and raised above the vernal pools that typically form once the ground becomes saturated with rainwater. The photo below, looking south toward West Cliff Drive (the lighthouse is out-of-frame to the left) shows one such raised path section, with a vernal pool beyond. In past years, this would have been one of those muddy spots. 

In addition to the pathway improvements, path entrances from Pelton Street and from West Cliff Drive have been given concrete curb-cut-style entrances to improve accessibility. One curious omission - which one hopes will soon be corrected - is where the new path paving should connect with the paved area in front of the Steamer Lane Supply food concession. There's a gap of about 20 feet between the two, which is currently a large mud puddle. 

Santa Cruz Changes 79: San Lorenzo Park redesign

Back in 2020, the Santa Cruz City Council approved a future-planning document called the "Parks Master Plan 2030". Part of that master plan is a redesign of San Lorenzo Park. Developing an actual redesign proposal began in earnest in 2023, and continues into 2024. 

On Monday, January 8, the Parks and Recreation Commission meeting will be devoted to finalizing Commission recommendations to the City Council. The site plan shown above is the redesign version recommended to the Commission by staff. A complete agenda packet can be found here. 

The Parks and Rec decision will not be the final word, just a recommendation to the City Council, although staff recommendations are not often rejected. In this case, there is another redesign-plan option that will also remain available for consideration. That other option has more riparian restoration and less community-park-type amenities.

No doubt there will be more to say about this as 2024 proceeds.

Santa Cruz Changes 78 - 2024: It's gonna be wild!

 As noted in the last post, multiple downtown-area projects area will be completed in 2024. At least one other major project previously noted here - known as Pacific Station North - is scheduled to begin construction next year. Because part of that project is a rebuild of the Metro Center, Metro bus loading/unloading will be moved to a temporary on-street site for the 2 years until the new facility is ready. 

Thanks to Lookout Santa Cruz for publishing the map below, showing how that will work. The 3 bus stops A, B, and C surround the CVS drugstore south parking lot on River Street, Soquel Avenue, and Front Street. Those are very busy streets, so we could be in for 2 (more) years of very slow downtown traffic. I plan to avoid driving in that area as much as possible.

Santa Cruz Changes 77: End of 2023 Development Updates

Only one of the development projects previously reported in this blog was completed in 2023, but a number of them are under construction and scheduled for completion in 2024. 

Those include:

• Beach Street - two projects. The Marea Sol hotel opened in 2023 (see photo). The La Bahia hotel hopes to open later in 2024.
• 530 Center Street Mixed-Use project: announced opening in February, with its adjacent paseo, but likely later.
• Pacific-Laurel-Front mixed use project: announced opening in February, but likely later.
• Aptos Library. Move-in is expected to begin soon.
• Rail Trail. The segment from California Street to Pacific Avenue is expected to open in 2024.
• Pacific Station South mixed use project: announced opening in April.
• 418-508 Front Street mixed use project: demolition completed and site work underway, no announced completion date. 

Construction may begin in 2024 on:

• Cruz Hotel. The project had a Dec. 21 City Council hearing to approve its demolition permit, but that approval has been postponed until at least February because of amendments to the project that need approval from the Coastal Commission. 

A previously planned project was canceled in 2023:

• Kaiser Medical Offices on Soquel Avenue in Live Oak.

Santa Cruz Changes 76 - 136 River Street

The Google Maps 3D view above looks from the south to the area around the former site of Outdoor World, which closed its store at the corner of River and Lindberg streets in 2021. It's the big building in the center of this view, with a cream-colored roof and a parking lot to its right. Surrounding the site, moving clockwise from Lenz Arts at 9 o'clock, there's N. Pacific Avenue at 10 o'clock, El Rio Mobile Home Park at 11 o'clock, Riverwalk Apartments at 12-3 o'clock, the Riverwalk and San Lorenzo River at 1-2 o'clock, adjacent retail and parking lot at 4 o'clock, and the condo complex across River Street at 6-7 o'clock. 

The City has received a development project proposal for the site, and a public online meeting will be held on Monday, Nov. 13. Below is the city's Project Description:

The proposed single building is similar in height and shape to other projects now under construction, such as 524/532/538 Center Street (see "Changes" #50). Unique to this project are 1) its location outside the downtown core, and 2) that no onsite car parking is proposed. Instead, there's a large indoor bike parking room on the ground floor. Required car parking has been cited as a major obstacle to building new affordable housing, and a 2019 state law exempted 100% affordable projects from any onsite parking requirements, so we'll see how the public process plays out for this project - which I believe is the first in Santa Cruz to test the relaxed parking law.

Below is an architect's rendering of the project in its River Street setting, which shows how the proposed height is much greater than the surrounding existing buildings. That height, although consistent with downtown projects previously approved and under construction, is likely to be an issue in public debate:

  

Santa Cruz Changes 75 - Model Trains Headed For the Roundhouse

Five or six years ago, while walking on Ocean View Avenue, I noticed an unusual feature of one residence. The entire yard - front, back, and one side - was filled by an F Scale (1:20.3) model railroad layout. 

Seeing a news item saying that Sunday, October 8, would be the final chance to see the Fern Creek & Western Garden Railroad in operation before it is dismantled. That motivated me to again take a walk over there, joining a considerable crowd of other model-railroad-watchers.

The FC&GR website explains the circumstances necessitating the dismantling of the layout:

"Eric Child, the owner of the property upon which the FC&W sits, passed away on June 19, 2023. Without his involvement, the railroad cannot go on in its current form. Do not miss this last opportunity to see the FC&W in operation before the layout is gone forever."

I hope the trains will soon find a new home.

Santa Cruz Changes 74 - ebike-share (again)

Santa Cruzans will remember the first attempt by the City of Santa Cruz to create a fleet of shared rental ebikes. From its 2018 inception, the bright red Jump bikes were a common sight. 

But too many were found abandoned with dead batteries in the middle of sidewalks, or in remote locations, before the City abandoned the program in 2020.

In June of 2023, the City tried again, with a different vendor, Wisconsin-based BCycle (Wisconsin?!) Santa Cruz Mayor Fred Keeley and transportation planner Claire Gallogly were among the first to try out the BCycle e-bikes (photo credit: Kevin Painchaud / Lookout Santa Cruz).

So far, this system seems to be working better, with equal popularity and plenty of bike locations. 

If all goes well, the program will expand next year into other parts of the County. 

Santa Cruz Changes 73 - 900 High Street

Peace United Church, at 900 High Street, is proposing a development called "Peace Village Housing".  The City project page has this description: "Project Size: Large Development Project; Project APN: 001-022-40; City of Santa Cruz Project Number: CP22-0164

Minor Land Division, Design Permit, Slope Development Permit, and Density Bonus Request to divide a lot into two lots and construct a 40 unit (including 4 Low-Income units and 5 Very Low-Income units), four story apartment building within 20 feet of a 30 percent slope, with a concession for stories/height, on a site with an existing church in the R-1-10 (Single Family Residence) zone district.

On October 4th, 2023, this item will be agendized at the Zoning Administrator meeting. 

• October 4, 2023 Zoning Administrator Meeting 

Contact: Senior Planner: Brittany Whitehill: (831) 420-5134; bwhitehill@santacruzca.gov"

The proposed housing location is uphill from the upper parking lot of the existing church facilities, as shown below (High Street runs left-right at the bottom of this view):