April 2021 Newsletter

At our March meeting, we encouraged everyone to check out, sign and promote our petition supporting 831 Water Street - the NIMBYs have one with 2000+ signatures! If you haven’t, done so, now is the perfect time.

We also discussed the growing trend for cities, like Berkeley and Sacramento, to end exclusionary zoning and legalize fourplexes everywhere. Why not here? 

Other highlights:

  • There are 100 bills related to housing currently in the legislative process! Check out the YIMBY Action position tracker. Let us know if you are a policy/legislative wonk and want to decide along with others in YIMBY Action which to endorse.

  • We discussed the California Coastal Commission (CCC), its effect on local housing production and what we can do to help them fulfill a relatively new mission of environmental equity.

  • Members noted that with the retirement of the Santa Cruz City Manager, there is an opportunity to chart a new and positive direction for city leadership.

Next Meeting  - April 8 at 5:30PM

Join us for our next meeting on Thursday, April 8 at 5:30PM. Register for the Zoom meeting via the button below. You will receive a confirmation email with the link after registering. If you can't attend, feel free to email your ideas by responding to this email.

Register for the April Meeting

Some Upcoming Events

Local Housing News

Graphic with title Objective Zoning Standards

The Santa Cruz City Planning Department has developed a handy document of terms and abbreviations: Housing 101 Guide - English (PDF download) and  Housing 101 Guide - Espanol (PDF download). One of the tools the City uses for creating more housing is Objective Zoning Standards.

Objective Standards

“Too tall!”  “Too ugly!”  “ Doesn’t respect neighborhood character!”  We hear these subjective NIMBY comments with every proposed multi-family housing development in Santa Cruz. 

The City of Santa Cruz has an active project to adopt Objective Standards which should make approval of housing development more straightforward and time-efficient. The purpose of the Objective Standards for housing development are to:

  • Set clear expectations for approval

  • Avoid subjective interpretations being applied differently

  • Streamline the review process

Objective Standards cover things like building heights, setbacks, landscaping, lighting, or other quantifiable, measurable features of buildings and property.  State law requires objective standards to hold communities responsible for allowing new multi-family housing.

On March 11th and March 24th, the City Planning Department held webinars to introduce and shared context for the project. City Planners did a fine job of outlining the history of racism and zoning, and what kinds of things can be done to right the wrongs. Recordings of the events: March 11th (English) and March 24th (Spanish)

City Planners will be developing the standards from now through summer with outreach throughout the process. Their goal is public hearings and adoption in the fall (November!).

SIGN UP to Stay Informed About Objective Standards

 Learn more about Objective Standards:

Alfred Twu drawing of housing on a block

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