Housing
Affordable Housing on the River
The lack of housing, and affordable housing specifically, is something Santa Cruz residents know all too well. Not only is housing expensive, but the houses are old too. These issues can at least be marginally addressed with the help of the RiverFront Project – a density bonus housing development beginning on the northern corner of…
Read MoreRIP 50 (for now)
Unfortunately for most California residents, SB50, a bill that would have prioritized new housing development near job centers and high quality public transit–but was contingent upon providing higher levels of affordable housing–died last month in the state senate. There were two “groups” that were vocally opposed to the bill: folks who are generally against new development, but hide…
Read MoreSB50 – Back in Action
Last year the Business Council worked extensively on SB50, an update to the State’s Density Bonus Law that allows for higher density development and expedited approval processes for eligible parcels near high quality transit corridors and job centers. We even wrote an extensive article about the bill, and made the trip to Sacramento to lobby…
Read MoreTo Beat A Dead Horse, or Camel? Whatever it’s about Housing Stupid
If you watched last week’s Santa Cruz City Council meeting you may have unknowingly seen a perfect example of everything that is wrong with housing politics in Santa Cruz. For just a brief moment, you saw elected leaders literally say one thing, and then in the exact same set of remarks, admit that it wouldn’t…
Read More190 West Cliff: 5 Biggest Takeaways
Last week the Santa Cruz City Council took an important step in our community’s housing future by approving 190 West Cliff, a density bonus project that will provide 79 new condos, 10 deeply affordable units, and a local market–combined with public open space–on what used to be an inefficient surface lot. The Business Council has been working…
Read MoreKilling the Corridors Plan, or Did They?
It’s been about a month since the current Santa Cruz City Council decided to kill the famous Housing Corridors Plan, which would have allowed for taller, mixed use buildings along the four main transportation corridors throughout the City: Ocean, Water, Soquel, and Mission Street. This is basically urban planning 101: when you are constrained based upon available land, it’s both more efficient and…
Read MoreChase What Matters
At the end of August, I had the honor of being invited as a guest to the Chase Center’s open house for employees of the Warriors Franchise. For the Chase Center’s first guests it was only right that they invited the employees that make the experience possible. It felt like I was in a…
Read MoreHousing, Just What the Doctor Ordered
California legislators have been busy this month approving and reviewing legislation to help support Governor Gavin Newsom’s plan to focus on addressing California’s homelessness issue. In regards to creating more housing, Assembly Bill 101 involves stronger incentives to encourage more housing production throughout the state. Whereas, Assembly Bill 516 focuses on alleviating the stress of…
Read MoreLeadership as Deference
About two weeks ago a member of my Board alerted me about an item that was coming up before the Santa Cruz City Council related to overnight parking on community college campuses. “That’s peculiar” I thought, because the City of Santa Cruz doesn’t have a community college. I was already attending the meeting for a…
Read MoreBecause We Can’t Build It Yesterday
Senate Bill 330 By SCCBC’s new Policy and Programs Intern, Kaia Partlow The “Housing Crisis Act of 2019” ,introduced by Senator Nancy Skinner on February 19th, 2019, declares a statewide emergency to be in effect until January 1, 2030. Governor Gavin Newsom has called for the creation of 3.5 million units within the next seven…
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