Today the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors, led by Chair Zach Friend, adopted in principle a pilot program to reduce the fees levied on new ADU owners as a means of encouraging more ADU development. ADUs (Accessory Dwelling Units), also known as “Granny Units”, have long been sought after in both the unincorporated area of […]
The Next Chapter of Affordable Housing in Watsonville
What if I told you that Watsonville could develop a brand new, 150 unit mixed income housing project with 20 percent affordable housing in place of an automobile junkyard that has been polluting the local waterway for 60 years? Now what if I said that project would have essentially zero impact on traffic in the […]
Balancing Affordable Housing in Watsonville
Last week the City of Watsonville held a study session to review potential options for their inclusionary zoning ordinance. Now we’ve covered inclusionary zoning (IZ) extensively in other blog posts, but essentially IZ is when a jurisdiction requires a certain percentage of new housing to be deed restricted to only be available to those earning […]
Density Bonuses and You
Last week we announced that the Business Council would be working with other community partners, including Affordable Housing Now, MBEP, and the Chamber, to advocate in favor of a model density bonus program to be adopted at the County level. As part of that discussion we promised to provide a deeper dive into what a […]
Why AB1506 Was Bad for Housing
If you have been following the issue of housing in the California State legislature for any significant period of time then you have probably heard of the Costa-Hawkins Act, otherwise known as the Rental Housing Act, or “Rent Control” Act. Costa-Hawkins is a piece of legislation enacted in 1995 that regulates how local jurisdictions (Cities […]
Public Correspondence: Amendments to County Housing Policy
The following is letter written in part by Business Council staff, in concert with other housing and community leaders, regarding the County’s proposed amendments to it Inclusionary Zoning Ordinance. The current list of signatories may not reflect the final number of people who have signed in support of the letter. [Proposed Amendments Under Item 59 […]
Santa Cruz Shows Up for Housing
On Tuesday night the Santa Cruz City Council passed the latest iteration of the Downtown Plan, increasing the zoning densities along lower Pacific Avenue and Front Street, and clearing the way for potentially up to 800 new units of housing. It was the single largest increase in zoning density within the City since the 1989 […]
County Updates – Developer Option in Jeopardy, Inclusionary Rental?
The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors recently gave direction to Planning staff to once again amend the County’s Affordable Housing Program (second time in 3 years), despite the process and economic concerns laid out by representatives the Business and Development Community. The proposed amendments appear to be staff driven, and include the elimination of […]