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Santa Cruz County Land Use & Development Articles



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Big Surā€™s Esselen Tribe Stands at the Forefront of a Movement

Sara Rubin here, thinking about how thousands of years before Monterey County as a jurisdiction even existed as an idea, it was inhabited by thousands of Indigenous people who called this place home. Numerous villages all over the region wereā€¦

Image caption: Valentin Lopez at the ceremony to remove the bell at Santa Cruz Mission Plaza. To see the full video, visit RemoveTheBells.org.
Loving the Land

The Amah Mutsun were the first people to care for this part of the Central Coast. Tribal Chairman Valentin Lopez talks about how the modern-day tribe is continuing that quest.

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City council places competing initiative against Measure U renewal

WATSONVILLEā€”When Watsonville voters head to the polls in November they will choose between two critical ballot measures concerning the future of the city. Should they extend outward growth restrictions determined 20 years ago through 2040, or determine a new, 30-year ā€¦

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Watsonvilleā€™s downtown plan includes ā€˜road diet,ā€™ around 4,000 new homes

WATSONVILLEā€”The addition of around 4,000 new housing units over the course of 25 years. Two-way traffic on Lake and Beach streets. A completely reimagined industrial district on Walker Street. A network of pedestrian ā€œpaseosā€ that provides safe walking paths. The ā€¦

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Council split on cityā€™s deal for Measure U extension, asks for own measure

WATSONVILLEā€”In a special meeting as unpredictable as it was tense, Watsonville City Council could not come to a consensus on a deal that would have made a minor alteration to a critical ballot measure for the Nov. 8 election. The ā€¦

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SV Council Defers Half a Million in Fees for Hotel

With building costs soaring, in order to get shovels in the ground, the owner of a previously-approved Marriott project in Scotts Valley looked to the city council for a break on the fee timeline.

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Santa Cruz City Council advances plan to reshape downtown

Expansion would add housing, connections to beach, new Warriors arena

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Animal habitat lawsuit stalls UCSC housing projects

Students pushed off campus, some to their cars.

Image caption: A railroad bridge on the Santa Cruz Branch Line as seen from Manresa State Beach in South Santa Cruz County.
Why I Oppose the Greenway Initiative

Three California transportation leaders explain why Measure D will ultimately kill much-needed rail service and slow progress on the Santa Cruz Rail Trail.

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City Council solidifies new development fee for public art

The Watsonville City Council at its Tuesday night meeting solidified its decision to implement a new fee on development projects that would fund the arts in Watsonville. Soon, developers seeking to create commercial and residential projects will have to pay ā€¦

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Ground Broken on SLVHSā€™ Tech-Ed Buildings

The SLV Unified School District is beginning construction on a pair of buildings to teach advanced robotics and agricultural skills in an effort to give students a leg up in fast-growing fields.

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Group to file complaint against Watsonville housing project

WATSONVILLEā€”A group is planning to file a complaint to the California Attorney Generalā€™s Office against the city of Watsonville and the County of Santa Cruz for advancing a housing project that they say will create an environmental hazard for its ā€¦

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ā€˜Embarrassingā€™: Planning commissioners accuse staff of ā€˜counting votesā€™

In a bizarre ending to a Tuesday night public meeting that puzzled and agitated a majority of the Watsonville Planning Commission, the body gave no recommendation on whether a Watsonville charter school should be allowed to continue to operate in ā€¦

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Circle Church housing group expects demolition by summer

Final map will need Santa Cruz City Council approval.

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Trying to Rebuild, CZU Fire Victims Face Red Tape, Costly Permits and Repair Mishaps

Despite promises of fast-tracked rebuilding, the struggles in Last Chance are a microcosm of challenges faced by CZU survivors around the county.

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UCSC Again Locks Legal Horns With City and County Over Campus Growth

The City of Santa Cruz wants UCSC to legally bind its enrollment growth with housing creation.

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Measure U apathy is troubling

At the moment, it seems that there is a very small number of Watsonville residents that have a grasp of the enormous question they will face in the November election. That is extremely troubling. Come Nov. 8, Watsonville voters will ā€¦

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Measure U extension placed on November ballot

WATSONVILLEā€”Should Watsonville expand outward in an effort to meet mounting housing and economic needs? Or will it continue to restrict its growth, and increase its housing density in favor of protecting every inch of the rich surrounding agricultural land? These ā€¦

Image caption: Miles Reiter, an opponent of rail and a board member for Greenway, walks the railroad tracks with a pole to show the width of the corridor.
GT Goes Deep on Rail Trail

In the spring of 2018, Good Times reporter Jake Pierce composed a five-part series on what was already a long-running battle over a complex issue.

Featured

Lighthouse Field in Santa Cruz, which might be a huge resort if not for the Coastal Commission.
The Public Shore Protectors
Born amid controversy, this public agency is responsible for managing some of the most precious real estate in the world.
Zoning laws tell you what you can and can't build on the property you own. How does government get away with that?
How Zoning Laws Shape California and Society
Zoning is everywhere, but is it a way to regulate development or a tool for social engineering?
How California reclamation districts turned millions of acres of wetlands into fertile agricultural land, starting in the earliest days of the Gold Rush.
Reclamation Districts: Turning ā€˜Swampsā€™ Into Farmland
From its earliest days as a state, California has been trying to turn marshes into productive land.
Since 1972, the California Coastal Commission has ruled over the stateā€™s shoreline.
California Coastal Commission: Where It Comes From, What It Does
How a nuclear plant, a real estate development and an oil spill led to a landmark law.
The Baldwin Hills area in South Los Angeles is one region where a state conservancy would keep open land accessible to the public.
Californiaā€™s 10 State Conservancies: How They Protect Parks and Open Land
Starting in 1976, the legislature began creating agencies to buy up open land, and keep it open.
Does Californiaā€™s signature environmental law protect the stateā€™s scenic beauty, or cause more problems than it solves?
CEQA: The Surprising Story of CAā€™s Key Environmental Law
54-year-old environmental law is often blamed for causing the stateā€™s housing crisis. Is it getting a bad rap?
The 1965 law known as the Williamson Act has been responsible for keeping about half of California's farmland out of the hands of developers.
The Williamson Act: How the Law That Protects Californiaā€™s Farmland Works
More than half of California farmland is under contracts that prevent its development.