ANOTHER BIG PROJECT PLANNED
Remember the outrageous 16-story Clocktower Center skyscraper that a development company called “Workbench” proposed last year? That 192-foot-tall building was allowed in a 50-foot height limit zone because of the state’s new 100% density bonus law (AB 1287), which allows developers to build much taller than the local zoning would normally allow. That skyscraper project is on hold, but it could be resurrected.
Now Santa Cruz city leaders want to increase the building height limits in the South of Laurel Area (SOLA), even though they don’t need to raise them 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. 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 likely the biggest, most impactful development proposal in the city’s history. It proposes to significantly upzone 29 acres in the SOLA to allow 1,600 to 1,800 new housing units in a series of 12-story plus buildings. The Draft Environmental Impact Report came out a couple of weeks ago, with a comment period deadline of Feb. 21. You can find it by searching downtown plan expansion at cityofsantacruz.com
—Frank Barron
CORRECTION
In the Feb. 5 issue, an article about John Clarke Mills contained some biographical errors. Mills is from the suburbs of Manhattan in Westchester County and grew up restoring houses with his father. He started the Watch Duty app in 2021 after the LNU Lightning Complex fires in 2020.
