Stop the Skyscrapers Community Meeting

Remember the outrageous 16-story Clocktower Center skyscraper that a development company called Workbench proposed last year? That 192-foot building was allowed in a 50-foot height limit zone because of the state’s new 100% density bonus law (Assembly Bill 1287), which allows developers to build much taller than the local zoning would normally allow. That skyscraper project is on hold for the time being, as it makes its way through the city process, but it still could be resurrected.

Now Santa Cruz city leaders want to increase the building height limits in the south of Laurel Street area (SoLa), even though they don’t need to raise them in order to meet state-required housing goals, or to build the proposed new Warriors arena. They are about to make a huge mistake.

By raising the zoning height limits to 85 feet, as proposed, developers will be able to come in and build skyscrapers twice or three times that tall. We’re talking 20-, 25- or possibly even 30- story buildings, and the city won’t be able to stop them thanks to new state laws like AB 1287 that override local control. The city does not need to raise the height limits. If they do, it will be an unnecessary, self-inflicted (and irreversible) wound that will forever change the Santa Cruz we know.

This is all part of the proposed Downtown Plan Expansion (DPE) project. It is likely the biggest, most impactful development proposal in the city’s history.

It proposes to significantly upzone 29 acres in SoLa to allow 1,600 to 1,800 new housing units in a series of 12-plus-story buildings. The city may argue that it is working to incentivize buildings that do not rise above 12 stories. But the city can’t force a developer to accept the incentive. In fact, with the new AB 1287 100% density bonus, developers would likely be more incentivized to go for that instead of the city incentive. The plan, by raising height limits to 85 feet, allows developers to build 25-plus stories if they want – and the city won’t be able to stop it.

The unintended consequence will be that buildings twice that tall (or more) would be allowed by the new state density bonus law. The draft environmental impact report (EIR) came out a couple weeks ago, with a comment period deadline of Friday, Feb. 21.

This draft EIR has many flaws, but probably the worst one is that it does not analyze (or even acknowledge) the impact new 100% state “stackable” density bonus provisions in AB 1287 will have in combination with the proposed upzoning.

This is a huge oversight.

EIRs are supposed to be “full disclosure” documents that evaluate the direct and secondary impacts of big projects like this one. The new state density bonus provisions in AB 1287 is one of those secondary impacts the EIR should evaluate, but fails to. Not only could the proposed upzoning result in much taller buildings than anticipated, but also far more housing units than the planned 1,600-1,800 units.

This would increase all of the project’s environmental impacts. The EIR must be rewritten to fully evaluate these impacts.

The most sensible approach is for the project to be downsized to keep the height limits where they are now – 35 to 48 feet – which will still likely result in buildings twice or more that height when the density bonus is applied. Those building heights will be big enough to accommodate the project goals of 1,600 new housing units and funding a new Warriors arena.

Please spend some time reviewing the DPE draft EIR and commenting on it by the Friday deadline. A hard copy is also available at the main library downtown. Also contact the mayor and city councilmembers and let them know how you feel about this.

The city doesn’t need to build like this.

We can meet development goals for SoLa without raising height limits. Tell your elected leaders. Get involved. Don’t let them make this huge, irreversible mistake that will change Santa Cruz forever.


Frank Barron has lived in the county since 1969, and in the city of Santa Cruz most of the time since 1980. He is a retired urban planner, with 30 years’ experience working in the Monterey Bay region. He holds a master’s degree in urban planning from San Jose State University (1992) and a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies from UC Santa Cruz (1985).