Santa Cruz County Land Use & Development Digest

Read on to learn more about a Pajaro Valley Unified School District proposal to relocate Renaissance High School in La Selva Beach to make room for the Ceiba Prep charter school.

The largest marine sanctuary in the continental U.S. starts at the ocean’s edge in San Francisco. It’s bigger than Yellowstone National Park. And it could use a little help.The Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary stretches from Marin County to the southern end of Big Sur and has a host of volunteer opportunities, from water quality monitoring to on-the-water kayaking naturalist, according to a press release Friday.

Read on to learn about the collaboration between UC Santa Cruz and Cabrillo College to build a joint student housing facility on the Cabrillo Campus and recent progress in moving the project forward.

COME VISIT THE SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (usually called SLAC), on the edge of the Stanford University campus, to learn about the inner workings of its 2-mile-long accelerator, which is used to smash atoms and now makes new discoveries about the universe.SLAC’s accelerator is so long that it crosses under Interstate 280.

State Farm, which already has rate increase requests pending, asked state officials to approve more insurance price increases.

Read on to learn about the obstacles encountered by residents trying to rebuild in the aftermath of 2020's CZU Fire in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

In the wake of the fire earlier this month at Vistra Corporation’s Moss Landing Power Plant and Energy Storage Facility, the California Public Utilities Commission has proposed new standards for battery energy storage facilities.

Damages in the ongoing Southern California wildfires are topping $250 billion, on track for the costliest disaster in US history. Read on to learn more.

The president’s order has no immediate effect on offshore wind leases already authorized, including two large areas off California’s coast. But it sends a current of uncertainty through the fledgling renewable energy industry, which relies on federal and state support.

With President Donald Trump bound for Los Angeles today and once again threatening to withhold wildfire aid to California unless the state abides by his water policies, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed two bills Thursday to provide $2.5 billion in state funding for wildfire response and preparedness.

It would be impossible to overstate the complexity of water supply management in California.

At the Pasadena City College disaster resource center, the long, methodical work of putting lives back together is underway.

A look at how the rebuilding effort is going in the California town of Paradise, wiped out in a 2018 fire, and how it offers insights for the tough road ahead for residents in neighborhoods destroyed in the fires of Southern California.

Emergency infrastructure repairs are slowly transitioning into permanent upgrades in the unincorporated Monterey County community of Pajaro, where two years ago a series of torrential storms caused a pipe to fail and a road to collapse.

Some schools destroyed years ago in the Sonoma and Butte fires are just now reopening. The long, expensive process of rebuilding in LA may eat up much of the money voters approved in November for school repairs statewide.

An update of the continuing soil impacts of the CZU Fire in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

Read on to learn how the fire at the Moss Landing battery storage facility is causing second thoughts about a battery storage development proposed for Santa Cruz County south of Watsonville.

Read on for the latest progress in the B.F. Sisk Dam Raise and Reservoir Expansion Project to raise the dam at the San Luis Reservoir to add storage capacity.

As wildfires ravage southern California, state mandated defensible space requirements legislated in 2020 haven't been encoded into enforceable regulations. Read on to learn why.

The wildfires sweeping through Los Angeles County communities have destroyed at least 10,000 homes so far and more are in the path of still-uncontrolled flames.

The LA fires have left domestic workers and day laborers jobless. They may soon be hired for wildfire cleanup work, where they can be exposed to ash and other toxins.

A deadline for resolution of the issue of mobile homes encroaching on the path of the Santa Cruz Branch Rail Line is approaching. Read on the get the details about what's being done to solve the issue and determine who's responsible for next steps.

In their January 14 meeting, the Santa Cruz City Council heard an update of information about the collapse of 150 feet of the Santa Cruz Wharf and that a determination on how to proceed would be made in April. Read on to learn more about the options under consideration.

Read on to learn more about a $200 million battery energy storage system planned for development near Watsonville.

Read what UCSC professor Gary Griggs has to share about the rich history of wharves in Santa Cruz County.

Learn about how the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission plans to utilize the $19.5 million in federal funds to continue work on the rail trail.

The state’s plan to fix the insurance crisis had barely rolled out when the Los Angeles fires began. Can the market recover and stabilize?

Public comment is open on the environmental impact report for the Santa Cruz Downtown Plan Expansion. Read on to learn how you can access and comment on the draft report.

As climate change warms the planet, wildfires have become so unpredictable and extreme that new words were invented: firenado, gigafire, fire siege — even fire pandemic. California has 78 more annual “fire days” — when conditions are ripe for fires to spark — than 50 years ago. When is California’s wildfire season? It is now almost year-round.

Read on to learn about the two new California National Monuments to be declared by outgoing President Biden.

Following the collapse of a 150 foot section of the Santa Cruz Wharf, questions about contributing factors are raised. Who or what is to blame? Read on to learn more.

After closing in anticipation of the historic swells which damaged the Santa Cruz Wharf, an inspection revealed the Capitola Wharf had withstood the storm with minor damage and it reopened on December 30.