November 2021 Newsletter

Written By Janine Roeth

At our October meeting, we lamented the Santa Cruz City Council decision to deny the SB35 project at 831 Water St. What a mess. We also started the discussion on initiatives, candidates and our SC YIMBY member endorsement process for 2022 elections.

We are excited about The Student Housing Coalition, a group of students, faculty and staff advocating for solutions to the housing crisis.  This coalition is being re-energized by Zennon Ulyate-Crow, a student at UCSC.  Follow them on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and thestudenthousingcoalition@gmail.com 

Next SC YIMBY Monthly Meeting - Nov 11th @ 5:30pm

Location: Shanty Shack on 138 Fern St in Santa Cruz.
(We’ll switch to Zoom if weather threatens)
We plan to get more into local issues and some of our emerging policy positions.
If you are someone with an opinion, join us!

Local Housing News

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Choosing politics over AFFORDABLE HOUSING, the Santa Cruz City Council voted 6-1 to deny the 831 Water St project, stating it did not meet objective standards. This was contrary to recommendation by the staff and likely against the law. Housing project at 831 Water St. blocked by Santa Cruz council (Santa Cruz Local)
📣 Guest Commentary | Council, Sentinel miss the boat on 831 Water Street (Santa Cruz Sentinel) 📣

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Meanwhile, Watsonville is approving affordable housing..... how's that? A tale of two affordable housing projects: Contentious in Santa Cruz, smooth in Watsonville (Lookout Santa Cruz)

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State Tax Credits are critical for funding affordable housing - a huge amount of $$ to Pacific Station South! Tax Credits Valued at $22.6M Awarded to City-Led Affordable Housing Project, Construction to Begin in Spring 2022 (City Newsroom)

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The County added design standards, residency and parking requirements to ADUs. We actually think these will make it more expensive to build them. Rules loosened for in-law units in Santa Cruz County (Santa Cruz Local)

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By a 5-2 vote, the Santa Cruz City Council moved ahead with an ordinance to ban overnight parking by oversized vehicles. Read our full position on the ordinance here. Those who live in their RVs and cars deserve safe parking places and services. Amid outcry, Santa Cruz City Council bans overnight parking for RVs, aims to create alternatives (Lookout Santa Cruz)

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The Santa Cruz rental market is tighter than ever. We need more housing! Rental housing market squeezed by pandemic, wildfire in Santa Cruz County (Santa Cruz Local)

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The cost of living is a good reason to rally for 3x the grad student housing stipend. UC Santa Cruz grad students demand increased housing stipend, recognition of UC student researchers union (Lookout Santa Cruz)

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The Watsonville Airport is a big constraint on building more housing and the WPA is willing to sue to keep it that way. Watsonville Pilots Association Sues City Over Housing Project (GoodTimes)

Coast Futura Demo running on tracks by Santa Cruz Boardwalk.

Mark Your Calendar

This Week:

🔴 Tues, Nov 2, 2021 @ 6PM - Community Meeting on Local Coastal Program (remote). Learn and provide feedback on the City of Santa Cruz Local Coastal Program (LCP). Learn More.

🔴 Wed, Nov 03 - 05, 2021 ($) - Rural Housing Summit (virtual) Learn More.

🔴 Thu, Nov 4, 2021 @ 7:00 PM - City of Santa Cruz Planning Commission. On the agenda: Objective Development Standards, Affordable Housing Impact Fee, Proposed Flexible Density Unit (FDU) Ordinance, Projects Status. Learn More.

🔴 Fri, Nov 5, 2021 @ 6:30 PM ($) - Fifth Annual Bay Area YIMBY Gala. An in-person evening of food, drinks, and revelry in celebration and support of the pro-housing movement in the Bay Area. Learn More

Later in Month:

🔘 Wed, Nov 10, 2021 @ 7:00 PM- Community Meeting on Draft Objective Standards for Multi-Family Housing (Virtual) Learn More.

🔘 Wed, Nov 10, 2021 @ 6:00 PM - AMBAG Board of Directors (Virtual) This is the meeting where they are expected to decide the RHNA allocation methodology. Register for the remote meeting here.

🔘 Thurs, Nov 11, 2021 @ 5:30 PM - Santa Cruz YIMBY monthly meeting. Shanty Shack, 138 Fern St.

🔘 Sat, Nov 13, 2021 @ 10:00 AM - Downtown Plan Expansion: Community Workshop (Virtual) Learn More.

Housing and Transportation Header

by David Van Brink, Santa Cruz YIMBY member and public transit fan

The "imby" part of YIMBY refers to our enthusiasm for inclusivity in our "Back Yard". But let us turn our attention briefly to the Front Yard. When we each look out our front door, what do we like to see? Perhaps gardens or plant life and other coexisting nature. Perhaps a peek at the mountains in the distance. Happy friendly people who, each with their own marvelous story, have become our neighbors. They walk with the toddlers and the dogs. A passing cyclist nods, as they do.

Nobody says: "I want to see hundreds of other people's cars."

Just as we need a variety of housing densities available (endless Single Family zoning doesn't scale), providing a matching transportation density is essential for reining in sprawl and inefficiency.

Cars - can we call them Single Family Vehicles? - will always be part of the mix. But to address housing, we must also address transportation. As we address housing sprawl, we must address vehicle sprawl in parallel. Fortunately they go together, if we let them! More compact mixed-use neighborhoods lend themselves to active transportation (walking, cycling) and public transit (buses, streetcars) wonderfully. We can and must reduce vehicular traffic and improve our safety and quality of life, increase equity, and while we are at it literally help save our planet.

Let us step into our Front Yard, say Yes, and stroll down the street to the transit stop.

From YIMBY Denver, Myth: New housing will make traffic worse

One of the biggest concerns about new housing is that it will make traffic worse. After all, more people must mean more drivers, right? That doesn’t have to be true – and whether it’s true depends on where we let people live, what we let them build, and what the city’s roads and sidewalks look like.

 

Letting people live close to the things they need means that more people can get what they need through shorter car trips, biking, walking, or taking a bus. City planners call this infill in a city. If the city makes new buildings come with parking spaces, that causes people to drive more. If we let new homes be built without parking, that will keep traffic down and make housing more affordable.

There is no one best way for everyone to move every time they go somewhere – some people can’t walk far and must drive, some people can’t drive and must walk.

A great city builds infrastructure that provides safe options for your own needs AND moves most people around quickly. Because we all share the road with each other, you won’t be able to drive very fast if lots of people are taking up space on the road – that’s what traffic is. 

The quickest way to move everyone around will change as a city grows. Bigger roads don’t actually make traffic better! City planners call this induced demand. So, what you drive becomes less important than how well we can all share space. More people riding the bus, or taking smaller vehicles like a motorcycle or a bike, makes everyone’s commute better. 

(Thanks to our friends at YIMBY Denver for this myth-busting piece. See more myth-busting here.)

What We Are Reading (Housing & Transportation) 📚

What We Are Streaming 🎧

Janine Roeth
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The criminalization of car homelessness? How oversized vehicle ordinance could affect Santa Cruz’s unhoused
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Tell the Santa Cruz City Council You Don't Support the Oversized Vehicle Ordinance