Write the Santa Cruz City Council before by 5 pm Monday, March 7 to express you do not think adding so much density to Water St. and Soquel Ave. with FDUs is a good idea. Water St. is too narrow for the type of density FDUs provide.
The Santa Cruz Planning Commission will be considering creating a new unit type called an FDU (flexible density unit). The city staff's recommendation is that they can be anywhere from 220 square feet up to 2 bedrooms at 650 square feet. The part to pay close attention to is that this would mean a zero density policy for both SROs and FDUs in large swaths of the city, along the corridors. The only constraint on density with this plan would be the "site standards".
If you look at how this change would interact with the State Density Bonus Law (SDBL), it is very alarming. The SDBL allows for density bonuses over the allowed maximum zoned density - for a result of 50% increase in density and up to 2X the height. It also allows for an infinite number of waivers to all of the "site standards" regulations that staff is proposing to be the official only elements dictating density maximums. Any waiver must be granted if denying that waiver would result in a lower density than proposed by the developer with the waiver. Santa Cruz has many small unit projects which have been approved. Do we want even denser buildings without standards?
We need to incentivize more affordability, as well as larger units and unit-type mix. There is money coming from the state of California for more affordable housing. Having units built with our existing densities makes more sense than removing the standards. However, creating a relationship between the new FDU/SRO zero density limit proposal and the State Density Bonus Law that would effectively give a carte blanche to development - is unacceptable - because it would effectively create zero density limits for large areas of the city. The city planner stated in the Planning Commission meeting on February 3 she did not feel there were enough building proposals coming in which mainly could be because of COVID. It would be wiser to wait to see if proposals come in as COVID decreases.
We cannot okay building-related policies without thinking through the possible consequences, and this agenda poses a significant impact on the community and our carrying capacity.
Write SC City Council today.
Mayor Donna Meyers dmeyers@cityofsantacruz.com
Sonja Brunner sbrunner@cityofsantacruz.com
Sandy Brown sbrown@cityofsantacruz.com
Justin Cummings jcummings@cityofsantacruz.com
Renee Golder rgolder@cityofsantacruz.com
Shebrah Kalantari-Johnson skalantari-johnson@cityofsantacruz.com
Martine Watkins mwatkins@cityofsantacruz.com
Thank you immensely for your work on this.