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Santa Cruz County Land Use & Development Articles



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Working Together: TTCF and California Local

A conversation with Stacy Caldwell, CEO of Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation

Image caption: Unexplained land purchases surrounding Travis Air Force Base on three sides have raised national security fears among U.S. officials.
Why Is a Mysterious Company Buying Land Around Travis AFB?

Travis Air Force Base in Solano County is now surrounded on three sides by a Delaware company with millions of dollars and no public record of who is behind it. And the federal government hasn’t been able to solve the …

Santa Cruz Local logo LOCAL NEWS
Scotts Valley leaders map potential housing projects

Hundreds of new homes slated for Town Center, Scotts Valley Drive.

Image caption: Under a new bill, California's coastline could see an increase in housing development.
California YIMBY Housing Bill Threatens Coastal Commission Powers

The California Coastal Commission has broad authority to protect the state's shoreline. Now, some want to curtail its power over affordable housing proposals.

Image caption: Zoning for single family homes is at the heart of numerous urban and social problems.
Should Zoning Laws Be Abolished?

Zoning laws that restrict new housing development cause environmental damage, racial and class segregation, and force people into cars creating traffic. Now, a new movement wants to abolish zoning in the United States.

Good Times logo LOCAL NEWS
Painting for Justice

Almost two years to the day since the Black Lives Matter mural on Center St. was vandalized in an act of hate, the community is coming together to restore the mural. The road leading up to this day has been …

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Santa Cruz County Civil Grand Jury tackles housing crisis

A new report from the Civil Grand Jury takes square aim at the affordable housing crisis in Santa Cruz County and demands local planners do more to tackle the problem. The document, published June 2, finds that while municipal officials …

Image caption: 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 laws determine what can be built and where. These laws have shaped California, but are they really just tools for social engineering? The history of zoning is closely tied to racial segregation, as well as the state's shortage of …

San Lorenzo Valley Post logo LOCAL NEWS
County Launches Accessory Dwelling Unit Program

The County of Santa Cruz announced a program to assist homeowners in the unincorporated areas of the county with the process of adding an Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) to their property.

Image caption: Kara Meyberg Guzman and Stephen Baxter discussing a graph showing homeless spending.
Santa Cruz Local's Deep Dive on Homelessness Spending

A local newsroom follows the local, state and federal money spent on homelessness in Santa Cruz County and examines how effectively it was spent.

Image caption: In what appears to be a power play that worked, a developer proposed building 14 residential highrises with a combined 4,260 units in Santa Monica.
How California Developers Twist Affordable Housing Laws

A new interpretation of an old law gives homebuilders leverage over California cities and their zoning codes. They’re using it to push through thousands of new apartments around the state.

The Pajaronian logo LOCAL NEWS
College Lake work kicks off

Work has begun on the College Lake Integrated Resources Management Project on Holohan Road in Watsonville. The Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency (PV Water) Board of Directors approved contracts to construct the project on Feb. 1. Heavy equipment has been …

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Four-story Apartment Buildings Proposed at 1800 Soquel Ave. in Santa Cruz

Plans for a four-story, 84-unit apartment complex at 1800 Soquel Ave. were presented to residents in an online meeting Thursday. Neighbors express concerns about height, parking.

Santa Cruz Local logo LOCAL NEWS
Watsonville residents’ input wanted on housing plans

May 3 public workshop on city’s General Plan update.

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Eight-Story Apartment Complex Approved on Front Street in Santa Cruz

The Santa Cruz City Council approved a seven- and eight-story, 276-unit apartment complex at Front Street and Soquel Avenue in Downtown Santa Cruz.

Image caption: New housing construction in the Crocker Village neighborhood in Sacramento on Feb. 10, 2022.
CEQA Must be Changed

By almost any measure, the balance between advancing projects critical to California's future and environmental protection under the California Environmental Quality Act has been lost. The failure to reform CEQA is not for a lack of knowing what the solutions …

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Food Bin owners explain Santa Cruz housing proposal

Neighbors weigh parking, traffic and grocer’s future.

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New warehouse approved for Manabe-Ow property

WATSONVILLE—The Watsonville City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved the construction of a two-story industrial warehouse on the Manabe-Ow property that will allow an existing beer and restaurant supply company to move to a new location. Reyes Holdings, a national wholesaler, …

Santa Cruz Local logo LOCAL NEWS
Downtown Santa Cruz library project approved by city council

Plus: Bike lane to be added to Laurel Street, some parking removed.

Image caption: Caltrans has received $680,000 in federal funding to explore alternatives for reconnecting communities along the I-980 in Oakland.
Rerouting Past Wrongs

California lawmakers are exploring ways to reconnect urban neighborhoods torn asunder during the interstate highway construction boom of the 1950s and ’60s.

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 ‘Swamps’ 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 state’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.
California’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 California’s signature environmental law protect the state’s scenic beauty, or cause more problems than it solves?
CEQA: The Surprising Story of CA’s Key Environmental Law
54-year-old environmental law is often blamed for causing the state’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 California’s Farmland Works
More than half of California farmland is under contracts that prevent its development.