Important actions you can take tonight, Jan 8 & tomorrow Jan 9, and at the upcoming City Council Meeting Tuesday, Jan 10, 2023, at 5 PM.
*** Mayor Fred Keeley has made a proposal to the City Council to lower the height of buildings in the Downtown Expansion Plan from 17 stories to 12 stories. in Santa Cruz.
His proposal will be presented and taken up at the City Council meeting 1/10/2023 at 5 PM. Agenda Item 24 (24.1 and 24.2).
View Meeting - Agenda https://ecm.cityofsantacruz.com/OnBaseAgendaOnline/Meetings/ViewMeeting?id=2018&doctype=1
It is extremely important that the City Council receive written comments on the proposal (deadline: Monday at 5 PM), and that City Council chambers be filled with citizens concerned about the massive development being planned. PLEASE COME IN PERSON if possible.
Please join by Zoom if that is not possible and speak.
(Zoom Link for 5 PM meeting: https://zoom.us/j/94684401344
1. The current proposal includes one 17-story building and three 15-story buildings in the South of Laurel project area.
2. Mayor Keeley's proposed revision would reduce the maximum height to 12 stories, but, it would not place a limit on the NUMBER of massive 12-story buildings that could be built. This is a problem.
3. Given that the whole of the South of Laurel area could be covered with hugely out-of-scale and bulky high-rises, twice as tall as the huge building going up at the old Taco Bell site, now is the time to write or appear at the city council meeting Tues., Jan 10 at 5 pm.
4. The overall impact of the proposed revision would be worse than the current proposal if a motion is not made by the city council to limit the number of 12-story buildings. This can be done and it is why your emails and appearance are important.
5. It is very important to voice your opinion on limiting the number of 12-story buildings allowed in Santa Cruz and ask for more projects with state funds to build a larger number of affordable units rather than allowing buildings with all market-rate units.
6. There are many projects already in the pipeline to be built. We need to limit the number of 12-story and higher buildings in Santa Cruz.
Here are the emails to write the city council. You can copy and paste information from this post.
<sbrunner@cityofsantacruz.com>, <sbrown@cityofsantacruz.com>, <rgolder@cityofsantacruz.com>, <mwatkins@cityofsantacruz.com>,
snewsome@cityofsantacruz.com
<sKalantari-Johnson@cityofsantacruz.com>, <dmeyers@cityofsantacruz.com>
Your time to write matters. Thank you for caring. It is your right to speak up and write!