 Do we know if Commissioner Spellman will be joining us? He will not. Did you I sent an email out earlier? He's not I'm sorry. I sent an email email out earlier. He's He's not gonna be with us this evening He's what? He will not be with us this evening Okay, something pressing came up and it's seven o'clock. So if you want me to start the webinar, I can go ahead and do that Would you please? Okay Now we're live. It's the meeting ready to be called to order to call the September 3rd meeting of the Sanctuary City planning a regular meeting of the Sanctuary City Mission to order we have a roll call, please Commissioner Conway Here Nielsen Here Greenberg I can see you Commissioner Greenberg is muted. Sorry. I thought I did that on my phone. I'm here. Thank you Commissioner Dawson Here Maxwell here Bellman share shifrin Here and look to absolute with notification. I Commissioner Spellman is There's an item here that says staff. What's supposed to happen with that item? Is the staff going to identify itself? No, staff is supposed to have taken that off and did not so you can skip over that. Sorry about that No problem. Are there any statements of disqualification? We'll now move to oral communications. This is the time for anyone to speak on an item that is not on the Commission's agenda for tonight, but is appropriately before the Commission and I asked that you identify yourself and You'll have three minutes to provide testimony. Are there people on the call who would like to Testify during oral communications, please raise your hand For the members of the public, this is the clerk if you'd like to speak at oral communications, please press star nine now This is for oral communications Okay, I see two members of the public have indicated they wish to speak at oral communications I'll start with the first one Forward if you give us your name that be appreciated I don't think that mr. Lawler wanted to speak at oral communications, but he has his hand up So unless he wants to speak at oral communications, I'll move on. Oh there it went down. So there's one other person and Speaker you're on the line. You have to unmute yourself and To start speaking so we can hear you we can hear you now speaker go ahead I Can you hear me now? Hello Hello Yes, go ahead Okay, I think I'm getting double sound. That's what it was mine I'm wanting to call to speak on behalf of the 418 project as a Really vital part of the riverfront of downtown Santa Cruz That is on the agenda for tonight When we discuss the have the public hearing on the 418 French Street project So you'll have an opportunity to speak during that item So if it's I ask you to wait until then since this is oh, yeah, no no problem I was confused there. Okay great there anyone else who wants to Speak during rural communications I Do not see any of their members of the public that raised their hand Okay, see Seeing and hearing no one will move on to announcements one of the realities with Zoom Technology is I think we have to be flexible about all communications because sometimes people get on the line and they come late So I'll ask the clerk to let us know if anybody can't Communication what are there any announcement? That is on the agenda Um the the caller is not on view One-two is still not up there we go. Thank you Hearing about none Someone just raised their hand. Would you like me to allow them to speak? Okay as long as they know it's oral Communications go on mute yourself and start talking. Please give us your name and you have up to three minutes For an item that's not on the agenda Speaker with your hand raised you need to unmute yourself so we can hear you Okay, they've lowered their hand Sorry chair, please continue Let's moving right along Let's go over the minutes, but there aren't any minutes. I don't think I don't remember seeing them. No So we'll go past the consent agenda because there are no consent agenda Items will move on to general business and have a public hearing on 418 428 440 504 508 front street We please have a staff report Yes, good evening chair share friend members of the planning commission. Just give me one second while I can share my screen Can everyone see the slides? So thank you. This is the Project that we refer to as the front riverfront mixed-use project This is a project that requires approval of a non-residential demolition authorization Permit a tentative map a design permit a special use permit an Administrative use permit the coastal permit a revocable license for an outdoor extension area a heritage tree removal permit And then approval of tree tree removal also It requires a recommendation of approval from the Historic Planning Commission historic preservation Commission and a recommendation from the Planning Commission and then final approval by the city council Projects yellow on the east side of French Street between French Street and the San Lorenzo River. It is in the downtown area So it's surrounded by other buildings of significant height The Palomar is seven stories and nice five feet with 10 10 Pacific that is six stories and 68 feet 1547 Pacific is five stories and 50 to 60 feet And then most recently we've approved The building at the corner of Pacific front Street and Laurel Street that is up to 85 feet at the mezzanine level And this map here is intended to show you the areas of the additional height zones downtown This project site is an additional height zone B, which allows heights up to 70 feet under specific conditions across A so that allows up to 85 feet under specific conditions as well And so this is a project that would provide 175 residential condos That includes 53 studios to 89 one bedrooms 33 two bedrooms These are maps condos, but they're likely to be rented according to the applicant The project also includes 11,500 square feet of commercial space That was front on front street and face the river walk And the creation of a publicly accessible landscape to open space area between the building and the path It also includes two pedestrian passageways that connect front street and the river And we'll create outdoor courtyard areas and gathering areas These are long desired connections between the downtown core front street and the river walk The building is proposed to be seven stories. So six stories above the ground floor commercial at front street and then Commercial at the river walk frontage The total height is 77 feet nine inches The project doesn't include any disturbance On the river side of the levy or in the river channel All the disturbance would be on Still would be located The pedestrian passageways Essentially break up the building into three separate buildings and you can see from the rendering here that they Provide a unique but compatible architectural style The buildings are actually all connected by a basement and ground level parking garage So this project complies with all of the requirements in the downtown plan with the exception of some site standards That are requested here as incentive concession waivers I'll describe those in just a moment And then also one standard that's requested as a design variation, which is allowed in the downtown plan and Requires a recommendation of approval from the planning director and approval by the city council I'm having to move this around a little Um This stand this is the design variation This standard has to do with the location of the south pedestrian passageway So the downtown plan requires that these publicly accessible connections are located within 50 feet of the front street intersections At the terminus of cathart street and the extensions of maple and elm street So um maple street is much further south and so it's not perpendicular to the project site The north pedestrian passageway is located at the terminus of cathart. So it is in line with these plan requirements But the south pedestrian passageway is not within 50 feet of the future extension of elm street So I have here on this aerial photo elm street shown in a red dash line We're assuming that Uh an extension of elm street would just be a straight path to front street But it's it's really unclear at this time if that would be located further north or south um, but assuming a straight path, uh it would um Result in the south passageway being located about 80 to 100 feet from the extension rather than 50 feet um If that path was relocated south To meet this requirement the results would be a much larger center building and then sort of a tall narrow southern building um, they would also have to relocate the direct To the garage and which would located sort of right in the middle of a row of commercial spaces. So um, for these reasons we find that the proposed location of the south passageway is adequate um, the project located directly across the street from um, the metro center and within walking distances distances of every all these other areas. So um, the design variation is supported by the Planning director and we're also recommending that the planning commission recommend approval of the design variation to this There we go. Um, this is a view project site from the Laurel Street bridge So, um, as I said, this is the additional height zone b It allows for buildings to exceed the base height of 55 feet up to 70 feet And five floors above ground floor commercial subject to specific criteria in the downtown plan Um, this project, however, is also eligible for a density bonus. Um, there's no commercial business district zone district or the rvc general plan designations But there's perfect development standards that regulate the size of the building and so the number Within this area is Standards um, so the applicant submitted plans um, that portrayed a project that was consistent with all of the development standards for the site Including the height that's permitted in the additional height zone and those plans established a base number of Constructed without any requests for incentives concessions or waivers Now this project is being complete before the adoption of the current ordinance So it falls under the prior inclusionary requirement of 15 Um, so the project is required to provide 15 or 20 units as inclusionary units at the low income level of 80 percent ami the project is eligible for a density bonus because the applicant is electing to provide 11 percent of the 133 units of 15 units at the very low income level 50 percent ami And then the remaining five units would be maintained at the low income level required by the inclusionary ordinance Um, and so a question that's often raised is if The required inclusionary units can also be counted as the affordable units for the purposes of the density bonus eligibility And the answer to that is yes, they can be double counted and I believe that we provided you with a memo that outlines the case law on that issue as well as The opinion of two different attorneys on the matter and so we do feel confident that it is permitted Um, so because this is eligible for a density bonus They're also eligible to request incentive concessions and waivers as a part of the project section 24 16 255 sub section 2 is um a section of the density bonus code that allows for an applicant to seek approval of specified Incentive and concessions without any requirement for them to demonstrate that the incentives for concessions result in Identifiable and actual cost reductions to the project This section is very specific about what those incentives Incentives concessions are and one is to allow for a 20% reduction in yard setback While there are no yard requirements in the cbd district There are required step backs and these functions similarly similarly to a yard In that it's a required open area For the purposes of providing light air and privacy so One such setback in the downtown plan is a 10 foot setback requirement above 35 feet in the pedestrian passageway The north passageway meets this setback requirement the south passageway You can see where the building goes up and then the building steps back except or they have this Elevator shaft they have one on each side that encroach into that setback area And so the applicant is proposing to allow those as the incentive concessions The proposed reduction is equal to about in the half percent of the full setback area. So Under density bonus law the applicant is eligible for this reduction The project also includes waivers the density boat that a density bonus waiver allows for An applicant to request a waiver from any development standard with evidence that The standard physically precludes the construction of the development with the density bonus units The applicant is requesting waivers to A requirement that the building step back 10 feet above 50 feet at front street and river front frontages And they're also requesting to allow a building height greater than 70 feet So as evidence for These waivers they provided these diagrams These demonstrate the effects of the setback on the development and they provided A diagram such as this per floor five six and seven Which are all levels above 50 feet Um, this is the top floor diagram It shows the stepbacks in red And it indicates that 17 units would be lost if the project complied with all of the setback requirements The applicant has designed the project to and above the maximum standards And they've also designed a project with smaller units overall than the base project And so that was enough justification to demonstrate that the setbacks and the height limitations would Absolutely preclude the construction of the project with the density bonus units Otherwise the project meets the design requirements. It's fully parked And it provides the required number of new trees planted to mitigate the removal of three heritage trees So this is the view of the project site with um, it's 10 10 specific in the foreground there The site consists of three existing buildings. They're all single story buildings The proposal is to demolish all three buildings The 504 front street at the north that was evaluated by a historic consultant And it was determined to not be eligible for listing locally Or in the california register of historic resources or in the national register of historic places 418 and 428. However, both were determined to be historic buildings They have a historically significant features that were identified at 418 It's the mission revival art deco architecture And the historian called out the stepped cornice Turfed parapet art deco detailing Those were the primary historic characteristics and then the form shape and massing of the building was a secondary primary or secondary historic characteristics um at 428 front the architecture is streamlined mondaren and The historic characteristics are the streamlined Horizontality of the building and then the t-shaped massing and roof lines were secondary characteristics So the project includes the demolition of these two buildings And the demolition of historic buildings is considered to be a significant impact under the california environmental quality act or sequa Um, most of the other impacts That are associated with the project we found to have been analyzed in a previously certified environmental impact reports for the general plan in the downtown plan um But the demo of the historic resources required further analysis in an environmental impact report We did review alternatives as part of that document um And the intent is to look for alternatives that reduce the impacts to less than significant The first alternative that we looked at was partial preservation So this included Deconstructing the facades of the buildings Storing the materials off site and then reconstructing the facades on the new building um The the building would have to be relocated from their current location due to the location of the pedestrian passageways And the concerns of the historian with this option were that the buildings would lose their representation as whole buildings And that the effect of a southern story building constructed around the facade would not be consistent with the secretary of the interior standards Um a second alternative that we reviewed was relocation off site That includes deconstructing the buildings and then constructing Reconstructing the buildings off site in a location of similar Um qualities to this one. So a long front street and adjacent to the river um, so the concerns with this one With this option where that the structural engineer was unsure if the buildings could be physically moved given their size and materials Um, and then we found that there were no off site parcels with these qualities that were available for such relocation um And then for these two alternatives the applicant determined that these were not also not likely economically feasible Uh, we also reviewed a no project alternative. That's a requirement of sequa Um, obviously this option would have no impacts to the buildings But it wouldn't allow for the construction of the project and the project does meet And implement several long standing goals and policies of the city so the project was heard by the historic preservation commission and they agreed that the partial preservation of the building so the Location relocation of the facades onto the new building would not be consistent with the secretary of the interior standards However, they were concerned with the loss of the building And so they voted to recommend that the building facades of the historic buildings are portrayed on the front facade of the new building Um, this is in addition to the recommended mitigation measure that um the applicant Implement photo documentation and an interpretive display on the site Uh, so the applicant uh pulled out the um historic characteristics of the building that were called out in the historic report To replicate on the new building um The elements that they used Are the stepped cornice the art deco design And then they also added some of the window and door designs here This is a rendering of what a replication of the building at 4 18 front would look like on the new building And then for 28 front, um, they pulled out the horizontal lines And window designs and then added a curved awning at the side to replicate the curved element at the end So again, this one is showing for 28 front on the new building This one is a little hard to see but it does show, uh, the original elevation at the top and the Proposed new elevation on front sheet with the buildings relocated at the ground level Um, so you can see the archways were replaced with the 4 18 building and the 4 28 building Um replacing the square archways at the bottom And so both of the pedestrian passageways have stairs that are Proposed to lead pedestrians up to the riverwalk level and then to accommodate bikes a bike rail is proposed along the stairs Um, I have an example here of some bike rails. These are um troughs that are provided along the stairs The law for bikers to push their bikes up the stairs in the event that that's not feasible for a biker There is elevator access to the riverwalk in the south building And then there's also two level access points to the riverwalk at the laurel street bridge and the so called avenue bridge Which are located at both ends of the block Um, the stairways are support supported by the downtown plan Um, the downtown plan states that the passageways shall be predominantly pedestrian in nature And consistent with the San Lorenzo urban river plan that encourages the pedestrian And or bike connections to the riverwalk Um, so they've provided both here with the bike rail and the stairs We also support the design of the staircases as a more inviting pedestrian feature than something like a longer switchback bike ramp Um, I'm not going to read through these. I just wanted to provide you with a list of the policies that would be implemented directly by this plan This is a list of the policies that are in the San Lorenzo urban urban river plan Um, specifically the front street significant riverfront areas And then this is the general plan, uh, local coastal program and downtown plan policies that would be implemented as well Um, so I believe that you've received all of the public correspondence that we've received for this project Um, I do have a couple corrections on the conditions of approval um condition of approval number 72 It states that the permit allows for the service of alcohol or live entertainment That should be the permit does not allow for the service of alcohol or live entertainment Um, a future tenant that wanted to provide that service would need to apply for a permit for that Um, and then number 65 just has a typo in its residential portion of the onsite parking And then not be is repeated there. So I'm proposing to clean that up um And so the staff recommendation is for the planning commission to recommend that the city council adopt the resolution certifying the environmental impact report adopt the resolution adopting the findings of facts mitigation monitoring and reporting program and the statement of overriding considerations and uh, the adoption of the resolution approving the project with the design amendments proposed by the applicant to meet the historic preservation commission and um based on the findings and the corrected conditions of approval um, so the applicant is here with their teams. We also have our Um, uh, city's environmental consultant. So, um, hopefully we can answer any questions we have Thank you. Thank you very much. Is that that closes the staff presentation? Yes, thank you Are there questions from commissioners of, uh, the staff or should we hear from the, um, well, why don't we hear if there are any, uh commissioner Questions to the staff Commissioner Dawson Yes, I was wondering if you could Clarify where the methodology to calculate base density is um And I'll I'll just leave it at that for now Yes Yes, I I didn't include that in in your report But um, they actually provided a full set of plans that were For a project that met all of the site standards and development standards for the downtown plan So it was a fully conforming project It did meet the height requirements for the additional height zone So we did factor that in but um, it met all the other step back requirements the required reductions in the top floor So that was a fully conforming project and so We relied on the development standards of the site to Be the limiting factors for the number of units that could be constructed there Okay, thank you. Any other questions from commissioners? Are you a question? Um, Samantha, um Since commissioner Spelman's not hearing an at all ask the question because he usually asks this question um in terms of site sections, um We're uh, was this applicant required to provide set sections through the adjacent um parcels Um, I don't believe that we got site sections through the adjacent parcels other we might have those on the civil plans where They Uh display the um fill structure Um, I can I can look at the plans and see if they're in there But they would be included in the packet as the civil drawings if they were okay. We did receive for the building You did sorry. I didn't hear that you received what We did receive um building sections Right. Yeah, just typically I mean the kind of the standard that that's been set most recently is that we would see um sections that would um go through the through the subject site and then into the adjacent sites um and also ideally be showing sections through the um adjacent buildings just to show the relationship of um of the proposed um Uh, you know development in relation to the neighboring um sites um So I just I didn't I didn't really see that so just that was a that was just a question I wasn't sure if there was some difference because I know that their application was deemed complete Um a long time ago, so I wasn't sure if that was like that what they got in prior to that being unrecognized so Yeah, so that was it We we do ask for that with all of our projects that are coming in now because they're all subject to the new materials list But this one has to wait for some time Okay, thank you Other commissioner questions I have a few I wanted to follow up on commissioner Dawson's question regarding the documentation Did I understand it correctly is that Since there's no density maximum for the district If uh, if it stays under the if a project stays under the ffar and meets the sep well, this one doesn't even meet the sepx standards, but essentially If they want let's just say they wanted to have so much smaller units The base density could be increased It was still a little unclear to me how you go from submitting a set of plans to Determining what the density level is it's kind of like It seems to be backwards usually go from the density and then you see how can it be developed under our Rules we seem to be going from well submit us a set of plans and if they meet the setback massing height Requirements then you can have as many units as you can fit into it. Is that am I really understanding it or is it more complicated in that? um It's it's not uh, it's not more complicated But um, there are a few different ways that different jurisdictions are doing this in areas where there are no density requirements Some jurisdictions apply the density bonus directly to the far um, we went with the way that other some other jurisdictions are doing it where you Have the applicant provide this base density plan set um And after they provided this fully conforming building with the number of base units um, we had that plan in their proposal reviewed by um Goldfarb Lipman attorneys to see if that would meet the test for the density bonus and um One of the reasons why it makes sense in this case is because their units that they're proposing in the density bonus project are Equal to or smaller than the average size of the units in the base density project. So they Uh weren't trying to game the system as you as you would think like if if you could provide as many units as you Can in this base density project, then you would increase your density But um in this case because they're out because of the average unit comparison We were confident that they were not doing that in this case so Do I understand it correctly that if I um since the the the material provided includes the plans? I could look at the plans and from just looking at the plans if I could figure them out um, I would come to the same conclusion that 133 units was Was consistent with the requirements So it's sort of like that's what it comes down to is that somehow having a design that shows that it's consistent with other requirements and then the That then determines the density That's correct. That's the that's the um method that we're using To establish what the base density would be in an area where there is no density requirement. So The height the far the step back Um, the number of stories that's allowed The requirement for ground floor commercial the parking requirements Um, all those things the pedestrian passageways in this case All those things are requirements in the downtown plan and they limit the area of the building that can be dedicated toward residential um, so when they provided a fully conforming plan set we had an A They've demonstrated how many units can be provided in that in a fully conforming building without any incentives concessions or waivers so Am I understanding it correctly that in a sense the additional height is needed to provide space for the density bonus units is that Kind of how and the different waivers and concessions are all what's necessary to make it To to get that additional density going from 133 to 175. Is that Am I understanding that correctly? Um, yes, that's correct Okay, thank you. Um another question has to do with the design and I'm not sure I have the designs that I saw Are the most Recent ones, but they showed murals on the sides of the building Are those still being shown? And I guess are they Is the intention that that the buildings would have those murals or are they just for You know for discussion purposes um, the the intent of the Staff recommendation is to include you to approve the building as it's shown on the plan. So yes, we would Assume that the murals are part of the project if they're shown on the proposed plans But that's something we could add in as an additional condition of approval to make sure that that doesn't get left off of the final product So as part of the design permit, we're also approving the murals It's it's yeah shown on the the plans as a part of the project. So that would be part of the approval process Thank you. Um I had a question about the Identity bonus affordable units. I understand that they are proposing a certain number of Very low and a certain number of low But according to the density bonus law um, is it what would be the Minimum requirement as I understood it. They're getting a 35 density bonus. So five percent of the units have to be Affordable and as I calculated it would be about 8.75 or nine So am I correct that that would be the minimum density bonus affordability requirement? um In order to be eligible for the number of incentives and concessions that they're requesting Um, they've provided the number of affordable units. I believe it's 11 percent And maybe I didn't maybe I misheard your question. Sorry What I'm trying as I read the density bonus law and uh city density bonus ordinance To get 35 density bonus There needs to be five percent very low income affordable units And I understand that maybe to get waivers and other concessions. They're doing more But in terms of just meeting the density bonus requirement What they're required to provide is 8.75 very low income units That's really my question Um, unless somebody else knows that off the top of their head. I can I can look at that up and find that out for you Okay, thank you There's a plane director on your ship. Yeah, sorry. I was on mute there. Um I I can jump in there. So the density bonus if you provide five percent at very low That which is 50 of area median income So five percent of the units at very low income will get you a 20 percent density bonus And then for each additional percent that you provide In very low income units you get an additional two and a half percent Density bonus and so what that does is if you actually provide 11 percent at very low That gets you a 35 percent density bonus. So they're um, they're proposing 11 percent at very low Sam can give the specific numbers, but um, they're actually not proposing quite a 35 density bonus I think they were proposing like a 33 percent I'm going for memory here. Sam may know the exact number So so I think that they're actually providing slightly more than they would otherwise be required to Um to achieve the density bonus that they're requesting but um 11 percent at very low Is the max that gets you um The 35 percent they would only have to get uh, if they're providing five percent they would only be Um subject to a 20 percent density bonus allowance Okay, so that 11 percent is taken from a hundred and seven the total number of units the 175 units It's not that's taken from the base project and that's That is consistent with state law requires that that Base project is where the 11 percent comes from so our our code reflects that as well because that's what the state law requires So the 11 percent um Then the 11 percent Of the density bonus would be 20 units right 15 being Very low five being low and what as am I understanding it correctly that those um 20 units are the required density bonnet affordable density number of affordable density Bonus units am I understanding that correctly? That in order to get the 35 percent density uh bonus They have to provide 11 percent of the base density which would be 20 That 20 what would it be so The 20 units is the um inclusionary requirement for the product for the 133 units and then 11 percent would be 15 units and that's what they're providing for the density bonus and then they're still providing the remaining five Inclusionary units, but that would be at the the low income level of 80 percent Okay, so the 11 percent required affordable density bonus units equals 15 units and then the inclusionary would require 20 20 units and The the staff recommendation is to Count the density bonus units as inclusionary units Am I understanding it correctly? That's correct Except I wouldn't call that a recommendation That's actually a requirement of case law from the latino sunidos versus the county of napa and the um the uh planning commission received and it's posted online and analysis from uh several attorneys as well as some conclusions from staff that relate to that so The uh one of the attorneys that we consulted on this actually represented the county of napa in the case Arguing that you could in in essence stack the density bonus and inclusionary units But what the the court determined was that no you cannot do that you have to Lay you you can't layer those you have to count them together Well at this point I was just asking a question I'll have comments when it's time to provide comments, but I just really I guess I misunderstood what the law required in terms of the percentage of very low income units to get to 35 percent So this has been helpful Will the affordable do know whether the affordable units will be rented or sold? um This is a condo project so theoretically they would be Sold but is the intention of do you know if the intention of the developer is to rent them? Maybe I can ask that if you don't know it I'm I I believe the intention is to rent them Um, and I don't have the rental numbers off the top of my head, but I can look those up for you Um for the affordable unit um, I also um wanted to clarify for you chair share friend that the The bonus that they're asking for is a 31.58 density bonus not the full 35 Right. I I think that's in the staff report And chair shifrin I do have that table Open on my screen right now If if you think it would benefit you or other members of the commission or the community I'm happy to walk you through that that table quickly I think I understood your response. I'm okay fair enough go through that. Okay um I think that concludes my question and If there are no more commissioner questions Commissioner neilson I just wanted to um I am needed. Yeah, um, I just wanted to go back to the mural conversation. Just real quick um, I just want to clarify. I don't my understanding is that um We're not we would not be approving these murals as they are shown necessarily They're we're just we're just approving the idea that there would be murals on those walls That does say on the drawings that those are to be determined In terms of the murals themselves So a question I do have um about that Samantha is there Is there any selection criteria in terms of the artists for those murals? They haven't proposed any criteria When we recently did the mural the the ma did the mural at Abbott square They had a whole process that they went through for selecting the artist We haven't heard that specific of a process yet for this But I I think it would benefit The project to have a condition on there regarding the murals to ensure that those don't Get pushed further back in the process Right. Maybe something Maybe it's something through the arts commission or something like that So, okay Thank you Let me follow up on that and uh commission Dawson. Does that mean that the city would have to approve the murals? Or are we just approving that there'd be murals and then they the developer as that conditions are now written Could put any murals that they want there We could craft the condition in the way that commissioner Nielsen suggested with the parks commission being involved and Then they would be the approving body for the those that pieces of art so but at this point the Conditions don't require city approval of the murals Um the conditions don't when When they're when we're approving a plan set if there's a feature that's shown on the plan set and that plan set is approved then that is part of the project, but um a different elements that we want to make sure are included and Uh aren't left out of the building plan set. You know, we can We can strengthen that requirement with an additional condition of approval And I think that that would definitely be helpful in this case Commissioner Dawson Did you have a question or a question? Yeah, I just had one more question about the base density And the the method that the city used to calculate this because obviously this you know, uh Is the foundation in which the inclusionary and everything from there built out on and so I just want to Have a little more clarity around that so I understand with the density bonus there's the ability to ask for waivers and incentives and so Where where is it required that when you're calculating base density? um that It just seems odd to me that you calculate base density in a fully compliant project And then we end up with a project that is outside of our of the basic standards So where is it required in law or what is the guiding principle that requires the base density To be calculated the way that we've chosen to do it here Um, I don't know the specific law lead. Do you have input on that? Sure, I can I can speak to it. So, um, the state law the state density bonus law in and of itself specifies that cities must allow for the 35 percent increase in density and so That's just that that's the basic premise of the the state density bonus law And so in order to provide that That increase there has to be an increase from something you know, so As sam was saying, you know, we could say all right from the five Point of maximum far that's allowed. We could allow a 35 percent uh, increase in far so and additional 1.75 Far so it would allow to go up to 6.75 far That would be another way to allow for that in some cities do that Here we said, all right What is your conforming project and and I think sam did a good job of explaining sort of like the Of making sure that the that the applicant isn't gaming the system And and I'll explain that a little bit differently than she did Which is like if You know, so uh commissioner or excuse me chair shifrin was saying It was asking about sort of the square footages of the units and how many units they could get in there And yes, they could come in and they could say um, I can get Let's pull a number out 300 units that conform to all of the um, the step backs and step back requirements And put in put in the passageways. I've got 300 units, but those units might be only let's say 500 square feet Where sam's talking about gaming the system is You can't then come in and say well, I I want a 35 density bonus and I want to have So I get 400 units We'll say make it easy 400 units instead of 300 But I want those units not to be 500 square feet. I want them to be 800 square feet And so instead of that seven story building you now get a 12 story building because not only have you've gotten the 35 Increase, but you've also had an increase in the square footage of the unit So it's important to tie that square footage the square footage in the base project to the square footage in the the density bonus project and so Essentially when you're saying, you know, how can they go over and above and how can they go outside of that box? That's exactly what the state density bonus permits through the waivers and it's hard to argue that You know, someone can get If you know if this were let's say it were regulated by dwelling units per acre and they were only allowed to do 100 units They could say all right. I'm going to come in and do 100 units here and With 130 we also wouldn't allow them to come in and say like all right I'm going to do I can do 100 units because we would have them do a base project for that as well And if those 100 units were 500 square feet Then we wouldn't allow them to do 135 units at 1000 square feet Because then you're actually not meeting the intent of that by increasing the the square footage and and going above and beyond what the The waivers I think are intended to allow Which is the waivers are intended to allow the 35 additional units You've got to allow those 35 additional units if they're providing the affordable units You just it's not set up to say. All right. Well, we're going to get substantially larger units And that's where it's important that we we took that That same square footage or lower in the density bonus project So, I mean that was a lot of info. Did that did that help to answer the question? Yeah What it says to me is that there's sure is a lot of when you don't have a set density There's sure a lot of a negotiation that can go on in terms of what what works and what doesn't work and how the whole system How does that that base density gets determined? I understand the factors that go into it and what the staff is looking for but it's Not particularly transparent to the public Yeah, and and you're right. They could they could have come in with 300 units If they were really small And they just then the the density bonus project would have had to keep those small units And so they have to look at what they they want from a market perspective And then they can't they can't game the system by going much larger Than what they propose in the base. So there's this relationship between the base project and the number of units that they propose and the Size with the with the proposed project Boy, it sounds like there are two separate projects There's the base project and then there's a density bonus project And there's a need for them to be consistent, but they're all the calculations for them are done separately Yeah, they're tied they're tied together. But yes, in fact this project and Sam, correct me if I'm wrong this project initially came in without a density bonus and Their original proposal didn't include that at all, correct? That's correct. Yeah, so they were they they came in and they submitted a project that didn't include the density bonus And that was conforming and they later changed to a density bonus Our proposal Did they come in with the same base density originally? It was roundabouts. It was 135 or so units. It is my recollection Any other questions from commissioners Why don't I open the public hearing we can hear from the applicant first And then we'll hear from the public assuming that the applicant wants to make the presentation Yeah, good evening commissioners. Thank you for your work tonight. I appreciate it. I want to Really thank Sam and Samantha for her hard hard work in really difficult circumstances I mean Including a forest fire and the covet lockdown and being evacuated for their family From their home to a sailboat. She somehow managed to get the staff report out And and it's really an excellent staff report. I those of you have read it I I hope you It's a there's a lot of work in it and there's a lot of details and there's a lot of history here And she really put it together. So a thousand. Thank you, Samantha. I wanted to say that I also thought it would be helpful to provide a brief history of how This important project came to this point And I think for those of you who are new to community might not know this history. It's important I think it's interesting. So in the late 1950s after major flood At 55 the first levee system was constructed along the lower reaches of San Lorenzo river That protected the downtown from flooding, but it also severed the connection between the downtown and the river and so beginning in 1977 downtown plan And every plan drafted since then there's been a strong yearning That was expressed by the community to reestablish this connection to the river That is to reestablish this long ago broken link and reconnect downtown the community to the river once again That's why this project is so important to community So that this is what what what inspired our five year quest to make this community aspiration a reality In 19 in 2015 responding to the fact that the then current downtown plan had not Over the intervening 65 years Created the framework to make this community shared vision of reality an updated plan was conceived The community the planning department the economic development department and your commission began the process to update the downtown plan to create the environment where this Reconnection to the river could become real again After more than 25 community meetings and finally unanimous approval by the california coastal commission The new plan was adopted. This project is the direct result of those efforts and will finally result In beginning that renewed community connection the river that's so important and I know you've seen some of the plans But I don't think you fully grasped If you haven't really given it some thought this is an area uh, three times the size of avid square overlooking the river in a new Experience that will really at the end of cap car two will connect downtown once again finally to the river it's so critical to this community and coming out of this this this Really terrible situation that we have we begin a new chapter in downtown is to really save downtown I can't say any more strongly We've got to create a new environment that tells a new story and reconnects downtown I want to Talk a little bit about affordability and these 15 very low units That as you as you may know There's rena standards that the city has to create a A certain number of very low income units Uh, the current rena cycle requires 180 very low income units so far. We've created zero This project along with others are creating The A really meaningful amount of units 15 units plus the 15 of five affordable Uh, are as big as some standalone affordable units With no city subsidies We're creating these units so I want to just make those points and I want to also clarify something On the affordability on the murals. We I think commissioner neilson Uh, uh approach makes a lot of sense our vision and we didn't we show the murals on the on the on the building because We don't want to see long periods of blank walls. We think it's an opportunity like at the uh, Museum of art and history to do something interesting and we do think there's an opportunity for a community process to establish murals there Now it may be that these murals don't Last very long if another building is built adjacent Uh, in the near future because it's that all that went into the current zoning, but I think it would be a great community Opportunity for the art commission and the community to look at ways we can Uh, create some great community murals and kind of extend the concept that's been started at the At the museum of art and history expanded down front street to this site So with that I wanted to let you know, we've got our design team is available to answer questions both landscape and architecture Doug Roth is here my partner on the project to answer any questions you might have on Construction technology any other aspects of the project and in any way with that we're here to answer your question. Thank you Thank you very much I just now open it up for any public testimony if there's anybody in the On the calls who would like to uh testify on this project Chair shiffrin For the members of the public if you look if you're watching on community television You'll see instructions to press star nine to raise your hand Anyone on the line? Please do that now and we'll work our way down the queue Again, if you're calling in press star nine Your hand will be raised and we'll move down the line in order. Please do not wait Until the last minute You're you're on the line You're on the line Okay My name is alisha Sharon. I'm a county resident in Santa Cruz and I want to reflect I heard the applicant say that this project is really there to help save downtown To help reconnect downtown with the river and to revitalize it in a way And I want to speak that you can't save downtown without without also considering saving the 418 project The community gathering space that is in that building on 418 front street is an incredibly vital arts institution for This community in Santa Cruz and for downtown may bring thousands of people into the area It is Incredibly public presence and I can only imagine the kind of performance are the kind of gatherings The kind of magic that could happen if the 418 project is able to still be a part Of downtown of a vital revitalized downtown And I want to speak to the mental health aspects so that that community really helps to support for the people in our area We're coming through Not only a pandemic not only civil unrest that's happening in our country But now these massive wildfires that have moved through And personally as someone who consistently went to the 418 project for movement practices for dance for community To not have access to that space right now because of covet is incredibly hard You know, I'm also evacuated from my home. I'm displaced countless of my friends have lost their homes And this is where we would go to grieve to gather to dance to create and That space is so important To thousands and thousands of residents in Santa Cruz And I just want to put those words in to please any way that it can be part of this development Keep it part of this development. Thank you Thank you the other Another members of the public. Yes Self try to keep it to about three three minutes Good evening My name is Henry Hooker. I live in Santa Cruz and I represent Santa Cruz seniors for housing We're all aware that there's a housing crisis in california. We also know that we have a housing crisis in the city of Santa Cruz The only way to fix this housing crisis is to build more housing at all levels of affordability To address the climate crisis at the same time We need to focus building the housing in cities where there are jobs and schools and the possibility of replacing day-to-day use car use with walking bikes and public transit One goal is to have adequate and affordable housing for people who work in Santa Cruz The daily commute in and out of town on highway one is a disaster for many many reasons Another is to believe that your children and my children will be able to afford to remain in Santa Cruz Should they desire to do so Research shows social equity is achievable and benefits everyone when neighborhoods are available to people with all income levels downtown offers a good place to get started I urge you to plan in commissioners to unanimously support this project Thank you very much Thank you Speaker you're on the line Hello, this is Gabrielle Adelman and I am the president of the board of directors of the 418 project One of the businesses that will be displaced By the construction and hope to be part of the new project Um, we've been around downtown for over a quarter century And we are so pleased to be able to serve the community And we would like to be able to continue to serve the community especially at this time when connection And and support are so very important to the members of the community So I urge you to make sure that we have a space and a new development. Thank you Speaker you're on the line Can you hear me? Yep. Yes Great, my name is Mark Mercedes Miller And I am a former planning commissioner for two terms And we're a member of the planning commission when the downtown plan update was Carefully constructed and I just have to tell you this project checks a lot of boxes It is very consistent with the downtown plan first principles and number one The update recognizes that taller buildings like this one will contribute greatly to the architectural fabric of the city And provide significant opportunities to plan for environmentally sound infill development And we got to pay attention to the environment It provides housing It provides a significant new housing opportunities throughout Downtown and especially right along the salmon and the riverfront number three it creates A strong network of public and private open spaces That will create a more socially active and pedestrian oriented downtown number four it Uh meets a couple of the checks a couple of the boxes on the San Lorenzo slur the urban river plan It will improve public access To and along the river it will improve the urban and neighborhood interface with the San Lorenzo river number five it also will Create significant new public space by filling adjacent to the riverwalk providing direct physical access to the riverwalk and appropriate active commercial And residential uses along an adjacent to the riverwalk number six It hits the housing blueprint creating housing downtown Approval of this project will encourage construction of units with this Specific focus on enabling projects in the current development pipeline to break ground Number seven and maybe the most important thing It creates much needed housing in our community 175 Residential housing units will be created 15 Of these units will be affordable to households making 50 percent of the ami And five making 80 percent of ami That is a significant increase in much needed housing stock in our community So I urge you to adopt the staff recommendation tonight and thank you Thank you Are there any other members of the public who would like to speak on this item? Indeed Speaker you're on the line Go ahead. Hello. Good evening Chair commissioners and staff. My name is uh, Doug Cheshire on my field represented with the carpenter's local 505 here in Santa Cruz county We've entered a time where uh, somewhat important decisions have become very important decisions And in light of the decisions being made tonight, we'd like for you to weigh heavily on what this project brings to this community The developer is asking for concessions on the part of the city Looking at this project from the outside It looks great Again, but what does it bring this community? As housing prices and the cost of living have increased coupled with a pandemic City leaders are obligated to do what is in the best interest of their community Projects deemed significant should be developed with significant benefits to the city and its residents I believe that it would be a missed opportunity To move forward with such a project that does not does not require any The men women and minorities that work in the construction industry and that live right here in Santa Cruz Need a job right here in Santa Cruz livable wages And a pathway to a career through a certified apprenticeship program And the benefits that ensure that there and their family's health are not in question Are just a few of the small benefits that a project of this significance should bring to its community So on behalf of over 500 members and I ask that you deny This application and the your staff to come up with a development agreement That is in the best interest of the community. Thank you very much Thank you other speakers We're on the line speaker Hello, can you hear me? Hi, this is Laura Bishop and i'm the executive director of the 418 project and I'd just like to say hi to Chairman shifrin commissioners and the honored staff and community And I just want to acknowledge the environment Where developer can include a long-standing arts community and a development that's going to redefine Santa Cruz I'd like to acknowledge the elements that have been accomplished in the conversations between us and the developer And some significant areas that we've that we've accomplished And I'd like to let you know that there is an LOI that exists between the 418 project and the developer and that there are Some agreed upon areas which could be included in the staff report for this project The 418 project is a significant public activator And we look forward to continuing to be able to be a positive and vibrant activator of downtown and the river Thank you so much for hearing me Thank you. Can you hear me? Yes. Yes. My name is My name is Dave Walter I think we lost him. I'll catch him if he calls back Next speaker Hi, am I coming in okay? Yes um, this is Matthew Ruzio. I'm a local resident in Santa Cruz and also um your local bike guy. I work over on the east side at the family cycling center um and Access by bicycle to downtown has always been something that's very important to me and The way that this development is coming along I'm really optimistic that that will continue and really what it comes down to is I moved to Santa Cruz For the sake of being closer to the 418 project and I love getting from my side of town to the 418 project to dynamically move and share with my community and create something that really is Once you can't really find it anywhere else. It's intangible. Um, and Really something that you can't put a price tag on And by you ensuring that 418 has a future within this development It really will help check those boxes of revitalizing downtown and making this a greater asset to the community than just essentially a really tall building with lots of What was the hot ticket today? Density housing Yeah, so really Make sure that there's a home for the 418 and a place for people to move dynamically and dance and share and laugh and cry I could go on but I won't for the sake of time Really appreciate you Giving me the opportunity to share Thank you very much Other speakers Hello commissioners. My name is Robert Singleton and I'm a former planning commissioner And I'm speaking with you tonight because I really want you guys to approve this project Back when we were considering the down down the downtown plan and its many iterations This project meets all the goals that we were looking for It helps us revitalize a valuable public asset in the river It creates a wonderful new public space It meets all of our goals and then some in terms of affordable housing By utilizing the density bonus, it's going above and beyond what the normal requirements are for affordable housing to get the concessions I personally live near the project. I have Been looking forward to seeing this type of project comes forward. I mean, this is exactly what we wanted In regards to what some other speakers have said in terms of community benefits This project would offer many many community benefits the revitalized public space for one being able to attract more attention and more active uses and recreational uses on active transportation More active commercial uses those all benefit everyone who lives and works in downtown I just I I don't know why we would We would second guess this project because it's the exact thing that we were looking for in the exact type of project We had in mind when we approved the downtown plan. So again, I just encourage you please move forward Please be thorough. I mean, I just appreciate all of your time tonight and all the work you do for our community Thank you very much Next speaker can you hear me? Yes, my name. Yeah, my name is Dave Walter. I'm a member of the community the Santa Cruz community and I just like to support the 418 and and And you know, I heard earlier about revitalizing and bringing a new day to the downtown community and making it up to the river And that's really great, but let's not throw the baby out with the bath water And the baby in this case should be the 40 the 418 project It is a vital Can you unmute yourself? Walker I'm back. Hello Okay, can you hear me? Yeah. Yeah Anyway, I just like to support The project, but I think it needs to include the 418 along with it This not only Is a community thing, but it's also a tax-based thing all those people that go to the 418 After they do their dance they go to the restaurants. They Buy things in the shops And It's just something you really don't want to lose You'll lose the flavor you lose the the ambiance of the city So and that's that's really all I had to say and I actually would be remiss without saying thank you guys for Putting the time in to do this And let's let's get this done in a a way that benefits all Thank you very much Thank you Next speaker, please Yes, go ahead I'm great. Good evening playing commissioners and chair. My name is Jesse Burstow with Swanson Builders. I'm a development project manager and I just wanted to speak in favor of this project as Previous speakers have said, you know, it really does check All the boxes for the vision of the downtown plan and the riverfront activation and you know along with the community benefits and and bringing people to the levy and you know, really Activating that whole side of downtown It's also adding 20 units to to the affordable inventory that we don't have right now And it's something we really need we need all types of housing and it's a very exciting project. So we just want to Ask the planning commission to to make their recommendation and favor this project to the temple and thank you for your service Thank you next speaker um as a resident a renter And a neighbor someone who lives about a five minute walk from the project. I just wanted to quickly voice my support um, I'm excited to see more opportunities in Santa Cruz and um, I would like to echo the others who have uh voiced Their desire to see the 418 projects included in this development. Thank you Thank you Hello, can you hear me? Yes, go ahead Hello commissioners and community members. Thank you for being here tonight um My name is Megan. I have been living in Santa Cruz for about 25 years and um have been a member of the 418 project for the last 20 years paying for classes Doing my shopping before and after classes And I want to echo what I've heard other 418 members saying On this call tonight That we want to support this project and we want to make sure that this project preserves and does not displace This local nonprofit which has been part of the heart of Santa Cruz for over 25 years And is where I met my husband where I bring my child um, where so many people make connections and keep the the love of Santa Cruz alive and um Just want to appreciate everyone another's been communication with uh, Laura Bishop from the 418 and the developers to find a way to Allow the 418 to be part of this project um So just thank you so much and that's my request and I know many of us feel the same way So thank you so very much Thank you. Speak to everyone This is Kyle Kelly. I'm speaking in strong favor of the project This is including 15 very low income units that are really hard for us to get out of a lot of these developers I mean that it alone for arena allocation ends up taking up 10 of the goal that we need And additionally, there's another five units that are that are low income units Um, I it's just it's great to see projects like these coming up. Um, it's still coming up even during a pandemic and a recession Speaking for the 418 project, I'm really glad that we can try to preserve a cultural and art institution within the city Um, it also provides event space That people can uh, people with rents I really hope that becomes part of the project as well. Thank you Thank you Next speaker am I on the line? Yes, go ahead. Yes. Um, my name is Candice frown And um, I have four key points. Um First of all, um, I really like the design additions And I wanted to make sure it wasn't clear from the picture Which is very hard to see on the screen where that carries up throughout the building So it would be nice to see um Some uniformity carry throughout Um, the affordable housing obviously is a key issue here And 15 as the previous speaker said is about 10 percent. There's about 156 that are still in deficit on the regional housing needs allocation But when you have so much market rate housing It also increases the AMI tables every six months to a year And I think I would suggest that you add to the planning commission agenda Um to consider that These AMI tables are being affected by all this market rate housing The river walk is seeing 10 percent increases per year in the last two or three years each year And those are affordable units The community space I think is vital for 25 years An LOI is not necessarily a contract and it's not necessarily transferable if there's change of ownership So I think it would be important to make sure that that was locked in stone Because in the 100th laurel street, there was a transfer of ownership and a different developer doing the project So it's not sure that they are fully protected um and Finally the EIR The shadowing on the river was a very important part of it And I'm feeling very uncomfortable that the density bonus allows this height increase Which is of course allowable by state law But is that considered in the EIR itself and the effects on the river And so hopefully the commission can consider that um And finally I would ask that the commission consider asking for residential properties to have Leases that are more than 30 days. We're seeing at 630 water and at 555 pacific 30 day leases which are very expensive. They tell them it's luxury living And this is not affordable in Santa Cruz and will not address the housing crisis that we have and allow for a live and work environment So unless you guarantee that these are long-term residents of at least six months to 12 months It will not solve our housing crisis So if those conditions are not met, I would suggest that you deny the project until these issues are worked out Thank you very much Thank you Hello Hi, hello Yes, so every local and state official that represents me from the city of San Cruz council To Gavin Newsom the governor has publicly supported creating affordable housing to address our state's homelessness crisis When I hear that the planning and development uh commission is planning to authorize the construction of 175 new living units I think this is what I voted for I love history, but what is a building compared to a human being sleeping in a bed at night? I love trees, but are we going to allow three trees to be put above the needs Basic needs of human beings after environmental concerns. I'll note that The elevators for these high buildings are an extremely efficient energy use Of transportation compared to the alternative of having people drive to downtown Santa Cruz from single family units The Santa Cruz Washingtonville metropolitan area is the third most expensive metropolitan area in the country Yet when I walk around the city, I don't see great gaps be like opulence I see normal homes that are priced like luxury housing the city has for years artificially inflated property values to And fail to allow for the new buildings to meet demand It is morally unacceptable to have people living on the streets It would be a consider a violation of the fifth amendment to punish the most heinous criminals Forcing them to sleep under overpasses The city has a moral obligation to address the urgent crisis of homelessness This is not the time to stand on ceremony demand perfect solutions The proposed development would not solve the homelessness crisis But over a hundred new places to live would exist in the world that do not exist now I call them the commission to fulfill their pledges and approve the development Thank you neck speaker, please And if if you're willing, please give your name I've asked them to unmute speaker. You're on the line. Go ahead. Can you hear me? No, well, I can now. Go ahead. Okay My name's Maggie McGuire And I love the 418 and I believe it's significant to say that the 418 project is a community stable And we have been around for over 25 years Is a representative of the Seneca's culture and it creates a safe space for people of all accessibility levels to perform engage and witness local art How I see the riverfront project right now is that it doesn't really have the community or people that need Accessibility especially with different income levels right now. I feel like it has like Silicon Valley in mind so to put the 418 Or to give it a place within the project would really Benefit the Santa Cruz community And it will give a place for the arts and show that you're a part of the community and it won't displace the arts So I just want to recognize that the 418 is The heart of Santa Cruz and it needs a place to be Oh, thank you Thank you Chair, there are no further speakers that have indicated they wish to testify of The give the applicant a chance to rebound or respond uh I'd like to recognize how Doug Ross my partner Uh discuss our on our discussions of the 418 we're we're working to to make that happen And and he's taking the lead on that. No, I thought you might want to say a few words on that to address that Thank you Oh, and I'm not sure if I'm on or not. You're on. Oh my goodness A good evening everyone. So, uh, Doug Ross Owen's partner and I just wanted to mention that we've been working closely with the 418 for over 14 months to Assure them a new future home here the COVID impact has slowed things down a bit But we're we've made significant progress and we fully expect To have their presence back in the building because we value Contributions to the community. Do any commissioners have questions? for the developer and for the applicant being no other Public comment. I'm going to close the public hearing and bring the matter back to the commission for discussion and action Who would like to go first? Commissioner Conway, I started my upper left. You're on mute. There we go. Go ahead Yeah, sure. Glad to. Good evening. Thanks chair Schifrin So first of all, um, I would really like to thank um, the parties who have been working so hard on this I know that the applicants have been working hard But I made your kudos to staff For pulling this complicated matter off during these Weird times. So thank you. Thank you for that Um, and I do have a couple of comments. One of them is um, that I think that the what happened with this project after it went to the Historic Resources Commission is a perfect example Of how community participation really can make a project better I I know I with a lot of people I We know we need to change I like to change And I'm sad to see the change And what happened at the commission? to Preserve and honor some of the look and the feel Of the buildings that are being lost Is is really heartening and I think they're just better. It's a prettier building and a better building And it's also exciting to think that 418 could be In a space that um, would would really help to continue to enliven that community Reference and it is an incredibly valuable project and I appreciate all the advocacy here Um, another comment. I'd like to make That I think this project is um, is really worth noting and pointing out which is And also thanking both the chair for asking the questions and staff for explaining it This is a real change in how we look at base density And it's complicated. It's um, definitely not as straightforward to understand But what I really like about it is it changes the long-standing dynamic that calls a unit a unit Which so in other words a four bedroom three bath home with a unit and a 500 square foot apartment at the unit and Having that as our the basis of our density calculation has resulted over many years In the real under production of the small units that we need so badly In the community. So yes, it's complicated I thought you did a great job explaining it And it's also explaining why this is the correct method So, um, I appreciate that um I guess the other thing I'd like to say is that This is a catalyst project It is exciting to finally see after my 35 years in affordable housing development One of the one of our truisms was always well, you can't make more land And in this case we are making more land and what we're making of this land Is a connection between our town and our river Meeting a long goal activating that river making the river safer and healthier the We saw lots of studies of the shadows on the river make the fish and the birds healthier I appreciate the really careful attention to The birds safe. I don't know what the what the words are of that, but I really appreciated that as well I have to say that the bike connection was something that is really important to me And and was throughout the whole process. I was at first kind of disappointed about the elm street connection Because I was kind of counting on Coming down there and and making my way home that way I know it's not gone and I do think that the reasons for making that change Make make good sense Um, I would like to say also something about The way the housing is provided. I understand why this project is mapped And going to be rented But I do feel really strongly that what we really need are rental projects. I wish it was just a rental project Um, because we need that type of project and I have a long list of reasons from How well they're managed and how secure they are as rental projects Um, like I said, I do understand the reason for doing it Um, but I thought that I would throw that out there Um, so finally, um, there's a there's a lot of community benefits. They've been really well expressed by a lot of people um, but uh The um The um Having a selection process for the mural That would involve the community and have it be really spelled out Um, I I love that you want to do them. I agree with the blank space And I think it would be a great way to have the community connect um with the process and um I had one other thing and I think I lost it when I got a phone call Um, so thank you very much and really thank you to everybody Uh, Commissioner Nielsen, do you have comments on the project you'd like to make? Yes Excuse me. Um, I would also like to thank staff Putting the other very thorough report. It's a you know, very complex project, but I felt like it was um, it was written and put together in a way that was um, That was easily understandable for me. So thank you um To me, um, this project is a landmark project for Santa Cruz. Um, we've there's been a lot of or for a long time There's been talk about uh The city reversing its kind of literal view of the river um and you know From a built um perspective You know turning itself back to the river Engaging with the river no longer turning its back on the river So to me, I feel like this is a very uh important project Um, and I think it's a great first step in linking The the city back to uh back to its heart, which is the river um Additionally this project creates a density where it belongs downtown adjacent to public transit Um And it's a mixed use development that provides much needed housing with commercial space Along the river creating an engaging location for people to gather Uh and enjoy the river along the river walk Um, and it's adding much needed affordable units. Um, as we've heard from many speakers tonight Um, there's So a few of the things, um So those are all the I mean, those are the great things, right? So there's a few things that I that I'd like to bring up in terms of Uh from a design standpoint, um That I would like to be I would like to be looked at um a little bit further. I mean, I understand the um The reasoning and in the uh exception for uh for not having to meet the the skyline Um requirement um But I think I I don't think it's I don't think the buildings Uh in terms of their mapping are as successful as they could be. I think um the intention of the uh of that skyline um Creating that skyline mapping of the roofs um is because We have we have buildings that are set on the river and they're they're going to be very long distance views from across the river um, and these are big buildings and so um, I think the The building to the south, um, the southern building is probably the most successful in articulating its roofs um mapping and and trying to make some variation there. Um, Which what I think I think Would help with the with that skyline variation. Um, and I think and I would um I would like to see the um The developer and architect um work Um on that with the uh with the other two buildings as well. Um Uh, I think also specifically in terms of mapping, um The middle building which is the the large stucco. Um, has a large stucco patad Um on the river levee. I think that that could be Um articulated a little bit better and broken up. Um, maybe with some different materiality um Or color or something, but I I I just um, I think it's I think it's a bit large. Um as it is is just one Is one map. I think there's but I think it could be handled The height is fine with me, but I think the mapping could be handled. Um in a different way on that. Um I'd like to understand and see a little bit better how the how those historic facades um Um Actually integrate into the building. Um, we did see that rendering Um, although it it it was very Kind of a detailed view a tight view didn't really show us the entire Um facade. I know Samantha showed it to us. Um, but I think it was only she did show one one view But I think it was I don't think it was on both Historic um options. Um, so I'd like to see Would be I mean, I would prefer to see that to see to understand how that's all going to integrate What's better? Of course, yeah, that would work. Um, I noticed, um on One on the one of the callouts for the materials board It does state white vinyl windows or I think it was vinyl, but it does state white windows and These renderings that we look at Don't appear to have white windows. So I think that should be updated. I think the I'm not I'm not necessary. I'm not in favor of the white windows I think the the way that the renderings look are better Maybe the white windows would be appropriate in the white stucco building, but I don't think they would work well Where we have the other materials So I think that should be updated I was wondering about this bike connection and Because that came I mean that was something I read about and also When Samantha showed us the extension of elm street It that extension actually comes in right at almost at the southern property edge of Of this project. So it makes me wonder if You know as future development does happen In the in the next parcel over And I know that this building is set back I don't know how many feet it's set back, but it's set back a certain distance maybe 10 feet From that property line that maybe there could be an easement that's put in on that southern property Along that southern property line that would allow for um actual bike access we it would not meet it wouldn't meet um accessibility requirements because it would have to be much longer and to actually make that work, but maybe for a bike, you know 10% grade is Acceptable. I'm not sure exactly what that grade would need to be to to get up. I think it's about 11 feet from roughly from levy to street, but Maybe there's a way to handle that in the future because I know that was something of a concern for some residents And then I think in terms of the In terms of the murals, uh, I I love I love the idea of the mural. So I think it's uh, it's incredible and looking at The when you look at the success of of what happened at Abbott square With those murals, um, it really shows that It makes a big difference when you're able to to do something to the blank wall And so I think it you know, I think in this case, I think it would be I think we should create a condition That um In some way, it's you know the The selection of the artist is administered through the arc commission the Santa Cruz city arts commission Or something similar to that um and that's Pretty much all I have so again, I just would like to I think I would like to thank the applicant for putting together um, a great project, uh, a very well thought out project That really hit hit a lot of the marks of what we've been Discussing within our city for many many years um, and I'd like to thank staff for um for bringing it forward and in a um very articulate way. So thank you thank you, um Because you raised a number of issues around design and other factors I wonder if it would make sense to have uh, uh give the staff a chance to respond to some of the concerns that raised Hi, thank you. Sure. Sure friend. Um, we do have a condition of approval 32 d um that Requires them to um pull some Um of the elements from the dork buildings up through the building. I've um I've tried to zoom in on the buildings a little If you wanted to review those renderings again, but at a little bit of a closer view Do you want to see those? Sure. Yeah, we can look at those Okay, so this is this is blurry, but it's the um, this is the 14 building there um, so the it's just the historic uh elements of the historic facade, but no changes on the rest of the building um And then the other one Um, this is the 428 front street and um If you look in the left corner here, that's the building Um, so so Samantha, I just have a question. So in terms of um the implementation of these um Of these historic facades into the building Uh, what was the how did the how did the um historic commission condition that uh, and was it to be reviewed? um by By someone else within staff or uh by consultants like a historic consultant They didn't include that as part of their motion. Um, their motion was just to um have The historic buildings replicated onto this new building So, um, there were there were no skills that I recall For reviewing it Okay Um I mean I see yeah, I see that they've worked they've worked towards um getting those Getting them implemented into the design. You know for me, I'm not um I'm not an expert within, you know historic structures or within, you know Historic preservation. Um, so I I don't think I could really speak to that. I just um So if the historic commission was fine With there with how they were moving forward that then then I'm fine with that um as well Um, so just to clarify the historic commission did not see these rendering These were put together after the meeting Right, I understand I understand So then um It can okay, so can we talk about the the skyline? Um um Peace then a little bit. I mean, maybe it might make I guess it might make sense if the arch is is uh Is the architect on or is it just owen owen is the architect available? It should be I believe uh adam and e and I if they're having You know, if they're being in there Yeah, I think he raised his hand Okay Can everyone hear me? Yeah Hey, hi everyone. Thank you so much. Uh, my name is Ian Murphy. I'm a principal with bde architecture the architect for the project um Is really quickly just so you guys have some context about bde's involvement There's been a a lot of people who really made this project what it is today. It's been in the works for a couple years Uh, bde is the most recent addition to the project We've been brought on to make sure that this project can really come to fruition in a realistic manner We're we're based in the bay area for an 80 person firm About 95 of our work is altifamily oriented. So this is really our primary focus um, you know, uh with that out of the way, uh to speak to the the skyline um We thought this project did a pretty good job of articulating up and down and a really good job of stepping in and out and reducing massing and we're Pretty happy with that. But I think that there are elements that could be Pretty easily adjusted especially in the center building. Um That that could be modified to add a little bit more, uh expression um I'm really curious what the commission sees as being uh, the most successful part of the the building that was called out I think that one thing that we uh, that the whole team Tried to embrace with the roof line is the use of the roof decks to step the massing back So there's a great, um reduction in overall floor plate at the riverfront side of the buildings In order to kind of make a little bit more visual interest But um, yeah, if the commissioner doesn't mind speaking a little bit more about What is working on the the building that was called out? Yeah, I'll I'll I'll uh, continue. Um the uh, I think the I agree with you, um about the in and out, um The stepping in and out that you've that the that's been achieved with the building I think that is very successful. I think the the and also at the roof decks I think that works really well. I think the um the thing that um, I think for me That that stands out is the um, is that horizontal? Um line that happens across the top That you if you look at the it in terms of I don't know if you can see the screen that I'm looking at right now That's man to put up but the building the south building has Um has these shed roofs that um, it kind of creates this, you know somewhat dynamic Kind of feeling around the the roof line I'm not suggesting that that you would do that Throughout the entire project. I'm just showing that I'm just bringing it up as an example of what I think is being is successful on the on the southern building um So I mean it does. I mean, I do see that it does step down a little bit and you know in those uh, you know where those three Masses pop up, um on this middle middle building and maybe it's just that maybe maybe the maybe the thing is just that the entire thing Is is the is the white stucco? Where it just feels like it could be broken up a little bit more Yon, just the in and out um and then speaking to the um the building on the right um That one is is certainly much more blocky than the others Again, these are all meant to be designed Um, uh to be different types of buildings and to appear to be different buildings. So I do appreciate that um, I think I'm just I'm responding more to kind of trying to Break up that horse that that single horizontal line that goes across the top Um on some of these buildings. So that that's really that's the main that's the main thing I'm trying to achieve here with my comment to the architect one or respond to that or For always Sure. Thank you for for clarifying. Yeah, I I think that you know In essence each building is responding to the to kind of architectural style that was that was picked for to make them individual but um I think that there's you know, some Some work that could be done on the center building to incorporate sort of other Uh, not the shed roofs, but appropriate roof stylings Make it cut down on that horizontal look or Maybe even just paint color to really differentiate the Topmost portion of the building and and kind of make it feel separate in mapping the rest Sure, I think that's fine. I in in you know, uh You know, this is obviously we're we're in kind of a subjective area And but but I will I mean I would just Leave it to you and your firm. I mean, I know you're well accomplished and and you couldn't you know, you'll do a fine job I just um, it's just with those comments that you could just Look at that a little bit more detail and and just um, do your best with making refinements as and you see fit Excellent Um, since you're on can I just can we can we just um discuss the the window? Um The window selection Um, because I I just want to maybe maybe maybe there's there's a misunderstanding on what I was reading, but um, it does show Uh on the materials board, um white vinyl windows. Um, I'm just getting to that sheet here It it appears that it's white vinyl windows called throughout the entire project. Is that um, is that what was intended? Yeah, that's thank you for pointing that out. Um, we had shown in many of the renderings that the center building was actually going to utilize More of a custom color I think that primarily the project wants to to use uh, a white Window, but we we did have instances that are much more obvious in the in the blown up renderings and blown up images Of where we would like to deviate from that somewhat and I think it's appropriate to the each building You know may utilize a different color to help distinguish it Yeah, I mean I just in in again and looking at the renderings that that are up on the screen right now um The windows that are Like in the southern building do not at all appear in the rendering to be white and um, and these are the windows that you know have different types of siding that are not against the white stucco and um, And I think that in from my opinion that I think white vinyl windows within those areas Um, would not be the right choice. Um, so I would just ask that you guys just take a look at that and and You know just just think through what those window what the what those color selections should be Yes, absolutely worth clarifying Absolutely green. Okay. Thank you um That pretty yeah, so that that um That pretty much it's and then you're are you guys handling Since I have you on you guys are handling the um the historic facade treatment Um along front street Yeah, yeah, we you know, it was a really interesting meeting There were a lot of ideas pitched around about the best way to deal with those buildings and the most realistic way to deal with that was to kind of Take that same scale of the one-story building the 418 and 428 And and replicate it in a way that made sense for the architecture of these structures And so they really take up that That activated street frontage and they in a way that works with the layout that you know Cutting and pasting the existing buildings probably couldn't ever ever really do right, right? right Okay, well, I'm excited to see how that um all comes together. So thank you very much You also asked a question about a bike access on the southern possibility of a southern easement I wonder if the planner can respond to that Sure I'm sorry was your question if they could provide an easement At the elm street passageway for bike access Well, I'm just wondering like as a as a concept. Um, I think it was kind of I don't I don't know if it really bears anything for this particular application, but But looking when I look at the facade the uh, the southern facade of that southern building. It's you know, it doesn't seem to me that I mean there's some windows on the upper stories But it seems that there would be the ability to maybe get some sort of ramp to work that goes from front street up to the levy And it but I don't know exactly what the setback is. It's not actually it's not very it doesn't look like there's very much of the setback there. So I don't know if that would maybe that's something that would possibly happen. Um More having to do with another project being developed Out of this where maybe that becomes part of that project Um, because it does I mean when you drew that dashed line in the beginning of your staff Presentation it ends up really close to the edge of the to the edge of the southern part of that building So at when elm street does get extended Uh in the future it will pretty much be right there and it maybe that's the right location to have bike access Is there any staff response to that? um I well, I I agree there there's not room for um Access there now because there's no there's not really any setback on that side But it's certainly something that we can keep in mind as this side of front street is being developed um And particularly in that location that you pointed out Okay, thank you. Okay. Thank you. Um commissioner Dawson. Would you like to go next? Comments sure sure So I would like to echo everybody's comments to staff. Thank you so much for the Very thorough report. It is a complex project and Your work is very much appreciated and helps us get through all of this I just wanted to mention a couple things that I Really like about this project. Um, I really like Just as everyone has said that this is really going to connect Santa Cruz to the river as a living ecosystem And not just a place where water goes through the middle of the city. So I think that's a very exciting element in this project um I also uh, really wanted, um commend the developer and the staff and working through um the part of connecting uh residents to the metro through metro passes and really making good on our promises to make progress in reducing our carbon emissions and Finding alternate modes of transportation and making that accessible to folks. So I think that is a great element of the project as well um I did want to move through a couple of other points. I wanted to second Or maybe third or fourth uh commissioner nielson um condition um About the murals to to have that um condition in the project that the arts commission the city arts commission Should be part of developing a process To get the community to be involved in approving those murals. So um, we can Talk about that in detail later maybe um I also want to bring up a concern around uh the the bikeable connection and just state pretty clearly as bike is my primary mode of transportation in the city Where there are rails I avoid and go somewhere else. It really breaks up the ability to connect Your transit when there is a rail Um bike Santa Cruz county did provide some examples Of a way to possibly make a ramp work. Um, if I'm remembering in the plans It's it's the cathart. Um, kind of the grand stairway is about 60 feet wide. So there may be a way to kind of sweep um You know stairs up one side and uh a bikeable ramp of the other. So I I really would like to see um the developer Take that into consideration. Um, and and possibly have that condition moving forward. Um having Continuing to drive people to this new development and drive people through this area. Um, I think Would just help integrate it into the community and having a bikeable way through there. I think it's important So, um, that's possibly something I'd like to consider um And kind of the last thing I'd like to say is around the the base density I'm very clear about the density bonus law that that and how it is applied to this project But around base density Um It is complex, but I I think we just need to be very honest about, you know, the number That is calculated for this base that base density directly Impacts how many affordable units are going to be available in the development So these things are all connected. It is very complex and I'd like to You know as much as we can get more clarity On on how we're balancing square footage number of units as we're moving into these projects that are likely You know a lot of projects coming to us are going to be taking advantage of this density bonus law And so understanding how that affects the affordable units available This is 175 units and it's great that we're getting 20 affordable units out of it But we also have to be realistic that we have huge needs around affordable housing And I would also just like to put on the record that I've had several constituents Contact me and say that we have a lot of vacancy in market rate units downtown So we need to always keep in mind and always make a priority and push as hard as we can Within the boundaries of laws that exist for affordable housing And I think in the interest of time, I will leave it there. Thanks Thank you commissioner greenberg You have to unmute yourself Hi, okay. It's the two the two buttons. So thanks to all of you I also want to echo the thanks to the staff for the amazing amount of work under very challenging circumstances of putting this report together and also to echo you know excitement that The density is being is being brought more density is being brought to downtown along a really important corridor for transit And the importance of infill development the importance of a mixture of housing types and certainly the importance of renewed access to the riverfront I hear what commissioner dawson is saying about the importance of as much as possible enabling bike commuters to To make use of that as well as pedestrians And so would be interested to hear more discussion about potential design solutions around that And the potential for for ramps is that's conceivable um I really appreciated all the advocacy around the 40 team project And would echo the significance of that kind of long standing cultural institution being maintained And enabling that to attract Community to that area, you know, you know and to have this more vibrant ecosystem of cultural institutions Um and commercial spaces similar to what is happening. I think really at the maw and at the square um, so for all of these reasons, um, I think There is great potential. Um, I heard the comment from The the public that if you know, I'm not sure what how strong the lli is and you know What kinds of issues around that and would be interested to hear more about how we can ensure that 418 has longevity in this space um I uh, I hear what commissioner conway is saying about the importance of rental housing And fit to the degree possible. Um, would would echo that endorsement for For rental housing In terms of the affordability question Um, I would echo commissioner Dawson as well in saying that, um you know, it's There are likely to be a number of developments coming to us that combine that that makes use of density bonuses And to be aware that there are potential negative consequences of having a kind of glut of market rate housing In the downtown area and to be aware that similar kinds of projects statewide nationally and so forth that are downtown transit oriented development projects with predominantly market rate housing can have Other kinds of effects can have effects in terms of gentrification and displacement if you wanted a reason why we wanted to increase the The inclusionary ordinance to 20 percent And this one obviously comes in prior to that But by combining with The density bonus and bringing that amount to 11 percent means that You know close to 90 percent of the of the units will be market rates and and unaffordable to To many if not most people Uh in Santa Cruz and so I um I want to really endorse any any possible ways of addressing Uh this issue and to explore Uh if we can further This precedent of the Napa case um and to consider similarities and differences between our our situation in that case as well as um, you know while potentially we can't um I say potentially require there is the possibility that we could uh That we could seek to have a greater amount of affordability in this development And Would be really interested in figuring out ways of exploring that possibility um So, uh, I think I'll I'll leave it there and just say that I'm an enormous supporter of affordable density on transit corridors And as much as we can maximize that through this project, um, I really support that so thank you Thank you, uh commissioner Maxwell. Do you have any comments additional comments to make it this time? At this point, I just want I'm really just going to echo pretty much everybody that's Spoken before me. Uh, thank you. Thanks to the staff And the developers for putting this project together. Um, I really agree with almost everything that every commissioner has brought up So for sake of time, um, I do the main points. Um, I like the art commission being part of the murals commissioner neilson's idea Definitely the bike access is a big, um I'd like to see ideas come forward on how we can connect that a little bit better than just the rail idea um, and then the main thing, uh, also Echoing commissioner greenberg and just finding more ways to increase the affordable housing. It's really what we need here um But I'd really like this project. I think it's it's needed and look forward to seeing it come Come forward and I also would love to see the 418 project Continue in the space to know how important it is Just for our cultural I know help Of our people and the community. So that's about it. Just echoing everybody else's thank you Thank you. I have a number of Comments and a couple of questions on the 418 project what, um discretion does the city have in terms of If any in terms of trying to support the inclusion of the 418 project in the in the in the new project Yes, I'm asking the planner or the planning director um, well, I can I can respond to a thing that um, we um, we included the permit for the use so, um the permit At the use requires a permit to be on the ground level in that part of the downtown area So while we couldn't require the developer to pick that tenant We did include the permit for the use so that if they agree to Leap to that tenant, they would not have to come in and pay for that permit on their own So I just want to be clear given all the testimony that we heard that the commission really does not have the authority in this city council doesn't have the authority to require the developer to Uh, provide space for the 418 project. I understand they're negotiating in good faith But I just want to be clear that it's not something that we could condition this project to do Is that correct? Yes, we okay Yeah, that's correct very much. Um, I also want to thank staff and um particularly for the staff report on a very complex Not only a complex project, but a very complex regulatory context and um, I think It's uh Was a human's task to try to Make it understandable and I appreciate the work that the staff did. I also want to thank all the people who testified um during the public Public portion. I hope finally a minor point. Uh, but it's a point that it does at times Even important to me is I really appreciate the fact that the pages were numbered So that when I was trying to find things and go back, um, I could Look at my notes and see what page it was on So I really would hope that uh, that becomes standard practice for the staff to Include page numbers on the staff report Thanks There is like others as others have said A number of things I think are really positive about this project I think the downtown is the place for higher density development And I also particularly think that connection with the river is You know an important and desirable public amenity and I'm glad this project is is starting the The is the first and I hope a number that are going to be Coming forward that would provide that kind of river walk and make the the river a really A real desirable destination I also appreciate that That there are three separate buildings and the the architect and the developer have avoided Undue massing and have been able to Figure out a way to To present the project in a way that does Kind of work architecturally at least from my perspective So I think there is a good deal that's good about the project and I'm Overall I'm supportive of it the area where I have problems with it and where I think the The recommendation is inadequate has to do with affordable the affordable housing provision With a 175 unit project. Yes, it's nice to have it's a benefit to have 20 Low and very low in communities, but that's 11 percent of the number of units And as some of the testimony is said and as commissioners know the crisis In the community for affordable housing is an overwhelming one So from my perspective, it's um, I read the staff the memo from the planning director regarding the density bonus case Coming out of napa and I think there are reasons why it really isn't applicable here But I think there are other reasons why it is not really either necessary or desirable to essentially call To make the inclusionary units the same as most of the density affordable density bonus unit one of the The sections of the density bonus law says This section does not supersede or in any way Alter or lessen the effect of the california coastal act and One of the policies of the california coastal act is a primary purpose Of a coastal permit is to ensure that i'm sorry In carrying out the requirements of the constitution article 10 section 4 maximum access shall be provided i'm Pulling out words maximum access shall be provided to all the people By not by not counting the affordable density bonus units Separately from the inclusionary units I think that it's the the city would not be acting consistent with the public access project project policy in the in the coastal act the other issue another issue has to do with um a fundamental difference between The city's inclusionary program and the inclusionary program that was thrown out in the napa case Napa adopted napa county adopted an inclusionary program Clearly as a way to Undermine the density bonus provisions and the case really speaks to the the The inclusionary program can't be used to prevent density bonus units Or the provision of density bonus. That's not what's going on here. There's no question that The project is eligible and Can receive density bonus units the question is there the issue is there are two separate provisions one is the inclusionary ordinance has been in effect since 1980 and says that projects of five units or more shall provide At least 15 of their units to lower moderate income Households the density bonus law is a separate law and it says that under certain provisions the the to include it to To achieve a density bonus The the project shall provide a number of very low or low in in communities. That's not It seems to me that the the the city has the ability to To count those Those two requirements separately and even the staff report which you know the the staff memo says The the the case and the law allows the city to count density bonus units as Inclusionary units. I think that's true. The city can do that. I don't think it has to do that I think given the history of the inclusionary ordinance in the city and the way it's been applied And the way it's being applied here. It's not being applied to the density bonus units It's not being applied to the total project. It's being applied simply to the base density the The density bonus units have their own affordability requirements. And I think they should be additive and not Piled one on top of the other Finally, I think the I want to sort of cite the housing accountability act because the housing accountability act. I think is relevant here It provides that nothing Shall be in the ordinance and they'll act shall be construed to prohibit a local agency from requiring the housing development project to comply with Objective quantifiable written development standards conditions and policies appropriate to and consistent with Meeting the jurisdiction share of the regional housing needs as has been mentioned in public testimony and by commissioners and staff The number of very low-income housing units that are being provided by the city is way below what our housing need is having an objective standard which is Counting counting the inclusionary units separately from the affordable units density bonus units is a reasonable objective standard for For application to housing developments to help the city meet its density bonus requirements And the law also says they this these standards cannot reduce the number of units and it's not reducing the number of units It's still would allow for the same hundred and seventy five units. So my my Position is my point of view is that While the city does have the ability to you know limit the number of affordable units to eleven percent it also has the ability to add the add the Density bonus affordable units to the inclusionary units and provide a higher level of affordability Which is the greatest need that we have in the city in terms of additional housing units So I I am supportive of the project. I support a motion To recommend approval of the project, but I would hope that motion would include the Change in the recommendation to county Includes new units in addition to the affordable density bonus units So those are my comments Julie I see your hand up. Did you want to respond? I did Thanks, uh, I appreciate that Andy um We need more affordable housing. There's absolutely no question about it And um, we particularly need it for the most deeply targeted Folks in our in our city And I there's a number of things about the density bonus law that isn't isn't my favorite Um, and the way that it gets used I mentioned earlier particularly in map projects Um, you know working with 50 percent AMI households to become homeowners is really challenging for a whole layer of reasons that is Not appropriate to this conversation So yeah, there's a lot of flaws in it and I agree with that. Um, I also um Really strongly believe and and know from my experience That the tools that we really need to provide affordable housing that is deeply targeted Really include public financing The density bonus law what it does do is it gives us an opportunity it gives a private developer A way to Make a deeply targeted project pencil Which this this project is done um, like I said, it's not I don't I'm not going to say I love the way affordable housing is is Met through this project, but I think that the way it is being met is Exactly where our current status of the density bonus law is designed to target it and um, I would say that it is I just want to point out That it has been well tested in many communities. I mean um, most communities when they were doing uh, who had inclusionary Ordinances when the density bonus came out. It was like, okay, great. Then we get more we get to stack it and um, and but you know, you got to give us what you owe us And then you get some density and that has been refuted More and more clearly um, every single time it's been tested And what I'd like to say is I think that we put the city in terrible position If we were to do something that is contrary to Where we are where we know it would land in court the terrible time to add That kind of cost um to this project both to the city and also to the developer um, and if if in fact We support this project and if in fact we want to see it built Then the best thing we can do is approve a project that comports with what we know will stand through a court challenge and so I am very willing to make a motion in support of the project But I would support the staff recommendation And applying the density bonus The way it is proposed Planning director has his hand up. Go ahead, sir Thank you chair shifrin. Um, I I'd like to echo some of those comments as well is that you know as as staff we always seek to maximize the amount of affordability and recognize that Affordable housing is the greatest need that we have uh more so than market rate housing I will say To what commissioner conway was saying Uh in personal experience, I have worked in a prior jurisdiction where our codes explicitly said Layer the inclusionary on top of the density bonus and based on case law Our attorneys in those jurisdictions Expressly said we can no longer do that. Um, I also so so that is that's um one Uh Point that I wanted to make I also wanted to to point out that in both the The inclusionary section of our our own code and in the density bonus section of the own code Presumably to be consistent with these laws Um, but they are it is slightly different and and I'll I'll share my screen here. Um Because I'll let you uh take a look at can you see this uh code section here? This is in uh 24.8. Sorry 24.16.020 Um, it it specifies the dwelling units authorized as part of a density bonus Are not counted Uh as part of the residential development for calculating the number of inclusionary units So that's um, I'm specified here. I'll give you a second. I see you all looking at let me see if I can make this large Or if that's helpful Yeah, that's better. Is that better? Okay. Sorry. I saw people squinting and then Um, there's a corresponding section further down Um, that I'll scroll to it's uh dot 250 here Can I just answer that before you leave there? Sure. Yeah go right ahead Um because that provision doesn't say What it says to me is that in determining the number of inclusionary units the The density bonus units shall not be counted. Well, there's no objection to that The inclusionary units are simply based on the base density The density bonus units are not being counted in terms of determining the number of inclusionary units So I don't That that adding the two requirements violates this section No, no, these are separate. These are separate. So I just wanted to point about as related Um, you know, I think the layering is very clearly articulated in the case law and latinos unidos that we unfortunately can't do that and um You know, we've we've consulted with again, like I said, um on our own project in Santa Cruz On this exact same issue um Where the attorney who was representing the county of napa Who was arguing the case for this, you know, one of the best? density bonus and inclusionary attorneys barbara kouts, uh with gold farb litman and She the the information that was provided was a quote from that prior analysis and Be concluded in that instance the same thing that we're conveying here that we don't have an ability to to stack those They have to be integrated um, and so so, uh, the other section is is essentially the same. It's related, but it isn't Uh, it's not talking about the stacking. It's basically it's the uh compliment to this. So if we go down to 250 I'll just quickly Here we go. Let's see 45. This was the table we were referencing before and Here's this Yeah, the density bonus units Um Aren't included. So this was this was your earlier question. Um, I can't remember which one of you asked that but There was a question about can we count? The 175 units in the total and so Um related, you know, I think what I'm what I'm trying to drive home here is that You know, we always seek to maximize the number of affordable units that we can get the developer Or the level of affordability, you know, this table here actually shows that if you're doing for example, um Lower income you have to actually provide more units It's not the 11 to get the 35 density bonus It would be 20 and in ownership units if you're doing moderate you have to provide 40 of the units to get Uh, 35 density bonus. So there are opportunities to get, you know, if if the applicant is proposing them To get a higher number But in this instance and in some others they they choose to actually provide the deeper levels of affordability Rather than the additional numbers of units and that's something that they're entitled to do It make that choice as part of the um, the density bonus application Well, I think that In my you know, from my perspective all that's true But it doesn't really speak to the issue of can the density bonus shoot Can the density bonus affordable units be added to? the Inclusionary units and I'll pull that info up It's finished. I listened to you. Let me finish the The difference between what's going on in Santa Cruz and what went on in Napa is very Key, and I understand that attorneys are relying on that But what's different is one we're in the coastal zone and there are coastal zone. There's a coastal zone policy that mandates public access for all people to Our inclusionary ordinance was adopted by a vote of the people and has been in effect for since 1980 so for 40 years now and to just say that it essentially is So subsumed by density bonus I don't think is necessarily something that courts would require and then finally what's new since the Napa case Is the housing accountability act which allows the city to have an objective standard that would Help it meet its its regional housing needs and I having the counting the two requirements as additive is a way is a legitimate Standard now, of course, it's a decision that the Council would have to make The count the city might be sued But this is a key issue policy issue for the city How far is the city willing to go to fight to get a map what you call And what I would call the maximum number of affordable units and I think the city would have a very strong case given these Factors that are very different from what was decided in the Napa case But that's my perspective on it Cindy and then Chair Schiffen, I actually made a motion and there wasn't a second act And so I think it needs a response Is there a second to the motion to its uh prove this staff recommendation? I will second that I'll second that and in the only request Commissioner Conway is that we add in the condition regarding the mural Absolutely. I support that um What about a condition on the bike ramp for you? Willing to add that into the motion is a friendly measures amendment No, not not for this application. No Okay Commissioner Dawson, you had your hand up Yeah, um I would just uh Like to also add to the discussion about the affordability that everyone Agreed about the crisis level of affordability and so it's going to require bold solutions And if the city is serious about it, we're going to have to make bold decisions around affordability another Thing to consider is the health and all all policies talks about equity the latest Census survey the annual survey that the community survey that they put out they put the Poverty level in the city of Santa Cruz at 24.4 percent, right? So if we're building and developing and we're not developing at that level of affordability Um, we're we're not achieving equity period And so we we need to be making these bold decisions and I think that chair shifrin really laid out some strong legal arguments around Existing law that supports Um these being additive and so I I really want us to consider supporting that I I am supportive of this project But I think that we can do better and I think we can provide 26 units instead of 20 units and I think we should I think we should lean in and reach for it I wonder if any of the commissioners would be willing to Make a motion to amend the motion on the floor to Add the a provision that the total number of affordable units Be based on adding the number of required inclusionary units Under the city's ordinance to the number of required affordable units under the city's density bonus Ordinance and with the basis for these changes being conformity with the coastal act policy requiring public access the city's Secondly, the city's inclusionary requirements being adopted by a vote of the people And and being in effect since 1980 and that finally the housing accountability act allows the city to adopt an objective condition An objective standard that would maximize the city's ability to meet its housing very low-income and low-income housing needs Can you hear me? Sorry. Um, I would be willing to make that motion Is there a second? I'll second that So there's a motion a second to amend the motion on the floor With the language that I suggested Let's have some discussion on the amendment a commissioner Conway Yeah, thank you. Um, I would like to speak against that amendment Um, because I'm not a lawyer. Um, I can't say that Um, this argument and they are compelling. I understand why they sound compelling Um, but I do not believe that they will stand I am certain that they will add cost and time to this project Um, which really goes in the face of of our sincerity of wanting to get it built and finally what I'd like to say is I couldn't agree more With what staff has suggested is their constant intent To strategize to maximize the amount the number of units and the depth of affordability of affordability for those units The strategies that work to address those 50% am I and below households is the very one that they took at the Laurel and pacific project Which was to, you know, creatively assemble land to do a deeply targeted publicly financed project And that is the way to meet the need For those 50% am I and below households? And I couldn't agree more That it is the prime Need within this community. So I really appreciate the intent I don't believe it will stand it'll harm the project And it's not the right tool to meet the need for that targeted income group Thank you. Any other discussion? Seeing none, we'll have a vote on the amendment Can we have a roll call on the amendment? Commissioner Conway No Nielsen No Greenberg Yes Yes Maxwell Chair Schifford Yes The amendment passes and now we'll vote on the main motion Which includes the staff recommendation plus the condition on the mural That's the arts commission would be involved in selecting the mural and includes the amended motion on the Adding the if the two affordable housing programs Are there any other condition of amendments that anyone would like to make to the main to the motion on the floor? Any further discussion about that motion on the on the main motion All those in favor say aye. I know and I'm sorry. We're gonna have to go around and do a roll call. Sorry Mr. Conway Aye Nielsen No Greenberg Aye Dawson Motion passes five to one Please let the record show that I voted against this because of the amendment that was made to the motion Okay, and let me ask that when this goes to the council the full motion be presented in the staff report Is there any problem with that? Are you asking me? Yes No, there's no problem. There's no problem with that. We always do that Okay, thank you very much. So let me figure out where we are here um We have another item Which is the general plan only Item and What narrowly I would take a break now, but since We're all sitting at home or at least someplace separate Let's go right forward. Could we have a staff report, please? Hi. Yes. Good evening. My name's Sarah Noisy. I am a planner in the advanced planning section And we are bringing forward this informational item for your commission this evening. This was Referred by the city council excuse me My keeper was just turning on and it's a little loud Was referred by the city council this evening They just heard this item last Tuesday and referred it to your commission This week. So here we are. Um, our initial plan was that we would update you As part of the planning directors report this week, but instead you get to hear my whole PowerPoint and you got to read the whole staff report. So Congratulations to you. Here we go. So let's start. I'm just going to go through this really briefly I will share my screen This is a project to develop objective standards for multi-family housing There is a fair amount of background on this Sorry, technical issues There's a fair amount of background on this item that I am not going to go into if anyone has any questions I'm more than happy to Go into it and explain sort of the origin and beginning of this project, but just very briefly The 2030 general plan Was adopted by the city in 2012 Our current zoning code that the city is operating under does not fully implement that general plan Specifically, there were there are three mixed use Land use designations that aren't reflected in the zoning ordinance our zoning ordinance does allow for some mixed use development But not to the scale and to the residential density capacities that are envisioned in the pattern Created by the general plan so Due to a fair amount of concern in the community The work on the zoning ordinance amendment to implement the general plan was sort of stopped internally in 2017 and then was formally Feast by the city council in august of 2019 that effort was known as the corridor plan Some of you may have heard of it The city council also gave us direction to then begin a new effort at Reconciling the difference between our existing general plan and our existing zoning ordinance As you have just been discussing The housing accountability act also kind of came into play right at the end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020 Which then also has an effect on the work that we're doing to create multi-family housing and regularly multi-family housing so The city applied for a grant to create objective standards We were successful in achieving that grant in may of this year We released a request for proposals and we appropriated the grant funds into our budget this summer we've been going through the procurement process and selected urban planning partners To work with us in this project and we're really very excited about working with them This team is technically very strong urban planning partners strategic economics Which is already working with the city on our um economic development strategy So they already have some local context and then interethnica, which is specifically a multicultural marketing and design team that works on um Creating outreach tools that are specifically not only language translated but culturally translated and targeted to um groups in the city that have not been involved with the city government as much as we would like Um, so we're really excited about this team. They are bringing um, not only have did their proposal demonstrate sort of a surprisingly nuanced understanding of our community already um, but they're also they have a strong focus on education really ensuring that um the participation and the engagement that we get from the community is really well informed so people really understand The process to which they are contributing And that they are able to give us comments and and make suggestions that are really relevant and useful And that they will see in that final product. So We're really interested in that they, um One of the things that they are really going to talk about is kind of understanding um The history of our zoning And our land use patterns that we are currently living with and the forms of housing that we are currently um creating and living with in the city and sort of Where those the history of where those things came from? Um Through a social justice and anti-racist lens. Um, this is a really important part of the history of zoning that is often missing I know we we do talk about and I heard you in the last item where you think concerns about gentrification and um, and that's something that is incredibly important in the work we do and um Where we are in Santa Cruz right now Um, we've actually reached a level of exclusion in many of our neighborhoods where gentrification really is no longer the issue What we're we're reaching the next level beyond that which is genuinely excluding a lot of folks from our community um, so I think bringing this Point of view and this lens and an education that really backs it up and helps people really understand What we're working for is going to be really helpful and really meaningful in terms of Um, the work that the community is going to be able to do with us on creating these standards for multi-family housing Um They also have a lot of proven tools for creating the type of participation that we want to see and Need to have as part of this project So i'm going to run through this folks will work really briefly and this was attached to the item So if you want, you know more detail on it the whole contract is there you can like dig into the scope of work um So the project is beginning immediately. We're already trying to get our kickoff meeting on the schedule for september and it will tear us through um The rest of this year and then into fall and probably through the end of 2021 We do have to be finished with the project because it is grant funded We have a hard deadline and we have to be finished with the project by um No later than the end of 2021 and submit our final billing in february So that really is a hard deadline the budget is just under 180 thousand dollars The total three hundred and ten thousand dollar grant is split between consultants and staff time And the the scope of work consists of four primary tasks Information gathering where the consultants are really going to get their arms around board of the city's existing regulations You know, what's the existing condition in terms of the places where these land use? excuse me, um land use designations and multi-family zoning designations are currently applied in the city They're going to do a lot of work on community engagement um and ensuring helping folks Define what it is that they um Want to see in terms of community character really digging in and um understanding what is it that People are really interested in preserving about their neighborhoods people love their neighborhoods and really care a lot And so let's talk about let's define that and create a metric for it So that then we can create an objective standard that ensures that we recreate that and bring it forward as we build you know, these new Landmark buildings potentially. I mean some of these locations where these land use patterns or um land use designations exist are really key sites in the city. So, um The standards really are really very important Then of course there is a task to actually draft the standards and then refine them and work with the community to make sure that We're really hitting the mark with that and then the last task of course is public hearings before your commission um and the city council In terms of information gathering, um I mentioned the kickoff meeting We're going to they're going to be doing a review of all of our planning documents to really understand the standards that we currently have in place um and how Those are working or potentially not working as well for us as we would like them to do to be um And they're going to be doing an analysis of sort of the existing economic condition and community conditions Um, I included this poll quote. This was actually a poll. They actually used this in their um proposal. UPP did Um, it says I don't want endless meetings and outreach I just want housing to get built without any fanfare except for the new residents being very excited to move in And that was a quote that came from our work on the housing blueprint a couple years ago and um This is one of the challenges that this project has been a faith In terms of community engagement is that there has been a lot of talk about housing um and I think There are certain contingents in the community who are concerned that it's only talk and that they are not seeing types of change they had hoped to see um They're not seeing any change. They're not seeing the right kind of change. They're seeing the wrong kind of change I think there are a variety of opinions out there in the community and so the community engagement strategy is going to have to be Really responsive to that to where we are right now. Um, and Part of where we are right now is in the middle of a pandemic. So, um The community engagement that will be included with this project is going to necessarily going to have to Innovate and use different kinds of tools that perhaps we have used before it'll add a smaller scale And probably many tools that we haven't used before So, um, that task will include Developing the engagement strategy and really laying it all out and being very thoughtful and deliberate about How we are out reaching how we're reaching out to our community who in the community were reaching out to um The methods that we're going to use to reach all of those different potentially effective interests And then task to see implementation is that's a task that really lasts almost, you know a year of the project So it starts it's going to start towards the end of this year and carry us all the way through um The winter the spring and into next summer So then task three of drafting the objective standards Um will include doing a a test fit of the existing objective standards and that's um That's the task to really uh Identify what? Which parts of our existing standards work and which parts maybe don't work that well So one of the things that we have noticed as staff is that um Of the parcels that now carry the mixed-use identity Um designation only one has pursued and acquired uh an entitlement to redevelop and that proposal Um includes a much lower Um floor area ratio and a smaller number of units than was then would be permitted under the general plan So there are maybe very many there may be many reasons for that and maybe they are good reasons and maybe they are Less good reasons and we just need to understand exactly why that is so that we can um Address it to the appropriate degree in these new standards So that's going to be a really important task that task 3a and that will occur before the end of this year um So then once we've kind of identified what's working and not working and then we have the work from the community engagement um Process to talk about what people's preferences and needs are for housing and in their communities Then the next step will be to develop those objectives those draft objective standards and then Visualize them so that would include using photographs and diagrams Of how the standards might be applied and buildings where they have already been used locally or elsewhere um and then Getting yet another rounded feedback to refine those objective standards Before bringing them to formal hearings before the planning commission and the city council, which is tasked for the public hearing So one of the things that both your commission and the city council has been interested in um, it's the role that the planning commission will play in this process and we as staff and consultants We want to ensure that the planning commission really can add value. You all have um Expertise and you have experience and you have some institutional knowledge that the rest of the community doesn't have um, and so we want to find the appropriate place to have that plug into this process so One of the things one of the ways that that's typically done is through a community advisory commission or a technical advisory commission that then a subcommittee of the planning commission would be a member of um and Out of the four proposals that we got there was not one that included that as one of the outreach tools and um in through the interview process and in talking with upp also the you know, the firm was selected all of them said if you want Broad and inclusive outreach you want to bring in new voices who haven't participated you need new and different tools um using this type of format of meetings really Reinforces existing power structures And so if you're looking for a process that's going to challenge that and bring something new and different and create something new and different um, you need a different approach. So We are recommending that your commission play an important advisory role in this process Where staff and consultants would bring detailed updates at four milestones With the community engagement strategy. So that would be later this fall Um to sort of review that community engagement strategies provide any feedback or new different ideas Um blind spots we may have Uh, just another opportunity to to daylight that product for the public so they can see it and make comments in a public hearing Um, we think your commission can be really helpful there The next Step would be as a result of that test fit for the existing standards. So that point in the process is a really important piece because that's the point where the city will be We'll have the information necessary to decide If a general plan amendment might actually be necessary so one of the things that the housing accountability act does is um, it essentially states that um municipalities can't Down zone overall so you can't reduce the number of of development of I'm trying to say you can't reduce the number of housing units that are currently planned for in the city so the city has some overall number of um housing units and we if we are reducing the capacity of one site For whatever good reason we need to simultaneously be increasing the development capacity of another site so um There has been some question as to whether that might be necessary or appropriate given the Concern that has arisen around this mixed-use high-density designation specifically That point of the results from the test fit is going to be the point where the city Will have the information to make a choice about whether we launch a new project to amend the general plan or whether we um Work with the general plan that we have Write objective standards that we are comfortable with Um, and then build the housing that we all know and agree that we need Uh, so the third step is that the visualization of the draft standards Um, oh, so I should I'm sorry. Let me back up a sec. So the results of that Test fit at that point your commission would be making a recommendation to the city council So we would be bringing a staff recommendation and the results of that work We would have a staff recommendation about you know, launching a new project or what the next step should be And then your the commission would make a recommendation to the city council as to how to proceed The next step as a visualization of the draft standards. Um, so at the point where we have the draft standards, you know, sort of drafted Visualized, um, we would be bringing them to the planning commission for a first read and for feedback to staff and consultants That would go into that refining staff Um, and then we would refine the the objective standards and bring them back to your commission for a formal hearing And your commission would then make be making a recommendation to the city council So the next part at the city council meeting. I had the consultants with us and they introduced themselves and You know, they were lovely and you can watch the hearing if you want to hear from them Um, they are a woman on firm. They're based in the bay area. They have done lots of work all around the bay area um, they have a really great track record of um completing projects on time on budget Um, with really good successful results That's kind of summing up what they said and then we came to our staff recommendations. This was our staff recommendation to the city council at the time which I put in your staff report they passed this motion and then added a few other things to um uh direct staff to um Bring more planning commission commentary into the process um, and we are you know, sort of going to be doing that through the milestone check-ins um, and I'm forgetting what the other thing was The motion in front of me it was in your packet. So anyway, I'm here to answer any questions that you could have to the commission I'm sorry. It was to present to the commission what the council had done Here. Oh, so there you go. Are you here tonight? Here I am If you still want to talk about it, we can I can answer any questions you can have any discussion This is an informational item. So there's no action required Uh, are there any initial commission questions? Is there anybody Well, let's see if there's anybody from the anybody from the public who wants to speak on speak on this item I don't see that any members of the public have raised their hand if there are any members of the public that like to speak to This item, please press star nine now. Any public member want to speak on this? Right chair I don't see any members of the public that have indicated they wish to speak if there is a member of the public that wishes to address This item, please press star nine now No hands Okay, seeing none. I'll bring it back to the commission I'm yes commission darson. Why don't you lead off? Hi, thanks so much for that report. Um, so I just wanted to get straight into Um, I think this is a comment might be questions. We'll see. Um, so, uh, I read the staff report and Hear what you're saying about having the role of the commission I just like to express that I really have concerns about Not having a more formalized role for the planning commission As you point out, these are going to be incredibly important moving forward and really set The foundation of development moving forward in the city The planning commissioners Especially my colleagues bring a lot of experience and knowledge about planning and development and different expertise Um, and I also just want to point out that, you know The the point of attack like a technical advisory committee Is not necessarily related to outreach to the community It was kind of lumped under there as that would somehow be outreach to the community But what what they bring or a science advisory committee is they bring a technical expertise And so the way this is laid out with task two being a comprehensive Kind of new approach to community engagement serving as the foundation to build the objective standards for There seems to me in task three a formal role to the commission and I hope there would be Some consideration for that and maybe we can hear from other commissioners and see what they think as well Yes, uh, commissioner Conway You have to unmute yourself. You're muted, Julie Still muted Okay, sorry about that um Thank you very much for the staff report and I really appreciate that the council sent it to us to hear specifically I know the whole schedule everything has gotten off Schedule and how we move forward um this for the last seven or eight months, so Um, I'm glad that they sent it to us. And yeah, I guess I really do disagree with commissioner Dawson On the point. I thought it was really clear I agree that the I mean the planning commissioner planning commission has a very clear role in um, you know adopting ordinances and as serving as a public forum Um for you know for and so every time it comes to us I hope that we have really good participation from that part of the community that goes to meetings And um uses meetings to articulate their needs But I am so excited to have a means to reach everybody else um, and uh, so and especially particularly Taking a social justice anti racist approach Um, and really making sure that we get the voices included in this is really exciting to me It was one of the most heartening scopes of work that I've read In and I've read a lot of scopes of work in my day So I want to thank staff for doing that and um, I'm very satisfied with both the role of the planning commission And more than that the acknowledgement of the counsel Um of the importance of articulating the role of the planning commission Um, so I just I just want to thank you and I'm excited to see it get started Other commissioners have initial comments I have I want to really appreciate the staff report Um when I To the to the commission when I read the agenda item, it seemed like uh, the court is planning redo It was all uh, it's all focused on um It is interested in determining whether existing development standards and guidelines are a Barrier to development of multifamily housing. How are we going to develop more multifamily housing? That's fitting to determine if there are physical factors preventing development from reaching the 2.4 75 far allowed in the general I give the page number the staff report, but they don't have page number These findings will help the city understand what factors physical economic and regulatory may be prevent Preventing properties with mixed use general plan land use designations from pursuing redevelopment. So it's all focused Reading the staff report and the sections of the Contract on how are we going to get more development? How are we going to get more development? That was not my sense of what the objective standards are all about and I really liked a lot of the things that You said In terms of your presentation because it goes way beyond that the contract doesn't mention anywhere the importance of affordable housing I mean, how can we talk about fighting? For social justice when there's no Even mention of the need for affordable housing and the the section again of the the housing accountability acts Is nothing in any order in the law shall be construed to prohibit a local agency From requiring the housing development project to comply with objective quantified written development standards conditions and policies appropriate to inconsistent with Meeting the jurisdiction share of the regional housing needs. So I think it's very important that this this process And I think from things that you said, I don't feel it's inconsistent with what you said to have this process Really be looking What are the affordable housing needs because I have a feeling As the participatory process expands and I think it's great that it does expand to previous Communities that previously haven't participated very much I'll be shocked if affordable housing. Is it a big concern of those communities? And I think if we've We've at least some of us have argued over and over again simply Providing high density development is not going to do much for affordable housing. So I think it's important that the the That the need for affordable housing or the issue of affordable housing And how it might integrate into objective standards be integrated into this process The other thing I would mention is the importance of neighborhood The quality of life in neighborhood One of the you know when I first came to cruise in the early 70s There were still people who remembered what Santa Cruz was like before the university came and in fact Santa Cruz was considered a city's little resort town that had about 50 of the housing units with Well lived in by seniors who were Of lower income and in fact As you see in the circles neighborhood and other neighborhoods There are very small lots that had very very Affordable housing and it's not you know, that certainly the the demands have changed But the need for the affordable housing has remained the same and how to Provide for additional affordable housing through regulatory changes through Through Zoning changes is a very I think could be a very important part of Objective standards for develop for development rather than just trying to figure out how can we get the maximum density in the mixed use projects So I hope that those will be taken into consideration. Certainly. I'm going to be looking at that This doesn't become the definition of objective standards is how can we increase density? And allow for the maximum density everywhere I think density is important, but not the only value the final Request and it's kind of a in-between with what Commissioner Conway and Commissioner Dawson was saying I appreciate the the times that The staff is recommending coming to the commission for the commission's input. I think That it does make sense The only request that I would make I ask the staff to consider I think it will be very important for the commission to consider The task three at to hear from the consultants and staff at the time the task 3b is being done Which is the you know the development of The draft objective standards That's what we're going to end up with and I think it's important yet the commission's input At the time those standards are being Developed by the consultants and staff so that when they come back during the visualization of those standards, they'll they'll reflect input and hopefully be Responsive to the concerns that the commission has so I don't know whether You know from my perspective, I'd rather have a report from An update from the consultants and staff around task 3b rather than 3a But I can see why 3a is relevant too But I think both of those tasks Particularly 3b would be very important to have the commission having input. So I understand that the council has given direction. The contract has been approved I do appreciate your staff report because I think it it recognized the broader vision For what this process is going to be and what I read in the In the staff report in the contract And I hope that it will be possible to be to integrate more explicitly affordable housing concerns neighborhood quality of life concerns As well as giving the commission a chance to provide input when we have when the draft objective standards are Being worked on So those are my comments And Yes, commission Greenberg. Did you want to say something you have to Yes, thank you so much to the To the planning department and for all of the work being done on this I think it's very Exciting that this is going to be a focus And particularly with consultants who are targeting you know seeking to target audiences Publics that haven't been included as much in conversations in the past um I think that um Kind of referencing some things that have been said um previously including um There is point about you know becoming moving from a gentrified community to an exclusionary community One of the things that can happen is that um, you know, many people in this community have already been displaced Many people are living in precarious situations and you know, the majority are renters And can't necessarily come to all of these community meetings discussing housing And so when you have a you know a neighborhood meeting in which the neighborhood has already You know people have already had to move out of that neighborhood Many of the people who are there um and come to meetings historically are our homeowners Um who are more securely located in that community. And so I think it's wonderful that there's going to be Um a really proactive effort to bring in other other voices of of stakeholders Um around how development is going to happen in Santa Cruz People who would want to live in that in this community So, you know, there are definitions of displacements that include Direct and indirect displacement indirect displacement being indirect displacement being those who are pushed out indirect displacement being those who can't move in and so I think it's really it's really wonderful This is going to be a focus and that the focus is going to be then also along lines of social justice and issues Of race and social justice in particular which have a long history in this community Where neighborhood groups have often tried to mandate large lot single-family home zoning that has had the effective de facto segregation in Santa Cruz And so I agree that You know with Echoing chair shifrin that density You know, it's kind of necessary but not sufficient That we need mix housing types. We need to have We need to have more density and multi-family housing Um to counter that so I understand the kind of spirit of that because there was this effort and hasn't this effort Not only in the city but in the county to down zone and to mandate large lot single-family home zoning Um, and we need to push back against that and figure out why it is and what what the roadblocks have been towards multi-family housing, so I really appreciate the spirit of that at the same time that I think figuring out ways also of Really expanding on affordability in a variety of ways within that density is going to be key because without that density You can just have a kind of turbocharged, you know, kind of densification that also turbocharges a gentrification And so how do you mix affordability with density is really going to be key and you know referencing Commissioner Conway's earlier point about figuring out multiple ways of financing that housing Obviously inclusionary zoning ordinance so the density bonus laws and so forth are one small piece of this puzzle Um, and how do we combine these conversations with really robust discussions around financing around questions of land use um and uh and also of Um of ownership and control of land and the question of potentially community land trusts that can Also ensure, uh deed restricted housing and long-term affordability Um affordability and perpetuity I think will be a really important part of that conversation so, um, I can imagine this is going to be a really Important way to bring the community together in the aftermath of these fires in the midst of this pandemic in the midst of you know, this Already, you know already we've had this unprecedented housing crisis in the community and we're in such a Such an important moment now to try to shift gears and to take um as commissioner Dawson was saying bold new kinds of action to really move the needle here and Expand our affordable housing stock. So I really appreciate that this is happening and I'm very excited to see where it leads us Um, and thank you for taking leadership on this issue Any other commissioners have comments on this? On this item Does staff have a response to the comments that commissioners have made um I guess so the only response I would make um, you know Affordable housing is an incredibly important issue. Um, your commission grappled with it. We grapple with it as staff um, I know that the the inclusionary Ordnance is going to be coming back to you soon, but At your next meeting, okay So, um, so that really is the tool like the the most robust tool that we as the city have in terms of like Really kind of ensuring and guaranteeing affordable housing What this project is going to do so so let's recall too We're talking about objective zoning standards. So this project On its own will not be adjusting the map of where these districts exist So we have maps in our general plan that lay out land use pattern land use designations We have zoning maps that have zoning designations This project is talking about What do we require of development that's proposed on those properties? Can we make it work at the capacity is that it is currently planned for because the HAA said we if we can't Then we need to move that density somewhere else. So Should it come should our determination be at task 3a that you know what we actually can't fit 2.75 FAR or it's like it's not going to work. No one's going to build it and what would work better would be 2 or 2.25 or I don't know what? um at that point, um We will be coming to your commission to ask for recommendation to go to the city council about like how should we respond to that Should we try to change our land use pattern? Should we initiate a general plan land use amendment? That's going to be a really important conversation and I think that's that's the place where we're really going to get into some of these Other issues about like whose neighborhood is affected and How do we you know, how do we want to accommodate the growth that's already happening in our city and where does it belong And how does that interact with all of our other goals of the city? Including affordability are there ways that we could arrange our land use patterns so that it more naturally supports affordable housing or even lower cost market rate housing because there are There is a deep need for affordable housing probably an insatiable need for affordable housing There is also a very real need for entry-level market rate housing and market rate rental housing which these standards can affect and more than anything I think the the idea of having objective standards as opposed to requiring design review for all multi-family housing Is that it creates a level of certainty for developers? That we hope will make them more inclined to pursue small multi-family rental housing projects I will be very transparent in saying I believe we need more housing at every income level I affordable housing is the greatest need that we have Without a doubt the deeper the level of affordability the more important. I believe it is And I believe that we need lots of market rate housing as well in all forms So this project will really be focused on Setting the standards for that, you know multi-family housing as it gets developed over time In terms of bringing back, you know, task 3b versus task task 3a Um, I really think task 3a is a is way more interesting and honestly more important That said, um, we probably could also come back at the point that task 3b is coming to fruition We could, you know, get some more feedback Let me also mention that um It is also our sincere hope that you as planning commissioners will also participate in our public outreach processes and be involved With the community alongside the community as this sort of decentralized process is taking place and these conversations are happening and folks are Identifying what they want to see when they see new Multi-family get built in their neighborhoods or in neighborhoods where they work or in other parts of the city Or in places where they might want to live. Um, so There will be all always opportunities for you as individuals potentially also in your role at planning commissioners to provide input into this process and Just really excited to work on it. So, um I think that's all that I wanted to So let me respond and see if i'm understanding what you're saying Um, and that is that the focus might will may be on the multi-family housing but it's in the context of looking at affordable affordability issues and neighborhood issues as well And those are going to be part of the discussion while um The focus has to be on The density levels allowed under the general plan. Am I understanding that correctly that you that um, you know There will be consideration of other forms of housing that might be um lower cost And you know there what I heard you say is that there's a wide range of things that can be looked at in terms of how to meet the City's needs for more housing and the city's needs for additional affordable housing And to the extent i'm understanding that correctly. I feel that you know, it's a that could be a worthwhile process um And I do also appreciate that you consider coming to us with three at the time of 3b as well Even if it's just the staff to get some Let us know where the where you and the consultants are at so that we could provide some inputs Sure. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, we'll we'll think about this, you know in terms of our timeline. I I don't want to um I don't want to understate that this is kind of a tight timeline that we're working on. It's just a little bit over a year. Um, and so um I'm going to hesitate by making commitment that we will bring about we will that You know, we'll we'll talk about it. We'll definitely think about it And I hope that you will all participate in the community engagement process so but um Let me be really clear. So the the final product that's going to come out of this is going to be a set of development standards for multi-family housing so any any site that is that carries a multi-family zoning designation or um A multi-family or mixed-use General plan land use designation what we will come out of this with is a set of development standards that will accommodate and regulate the development on those sites At the capacity at which it is currently permitted under our Guiding documents, which is the zoning ordinance and the general plan So that's why this pass under 3a is so crucial If there is a determination made that we cannot accommodate a 2.75 far in any kind of acceptable building form We will Need to make another choice about those land use designations if we need to remove some of the development capacity from those parcels We will have to put it elsewhere in the city. That will be a different project from this project But we are going to get the information we need to make that determination through the work we do on the zoning ordinance Um Maybe we can make 2.75 far work. Maybe we will love it. I don't know I'm trying to keep a very open mind and not make any Determination we're going to do an analysis. We're going to see what works what fits We're going to compare that to where we are going with our community outreach and what we are hearing from the community about what They like to see and how they envision and what they long for in Santa Cruz. Um so Maybe we will have zoning that just fully implements the general plan and we won't have to do a general plan That amendment and we will move forward with the land use pattern that was established by that community process in you know the early 2010 um Maybe we won't and we'll have to come up with some kind of alternative plan Um, I want to hesitate. I want to be clear that we are not specifically talking about a plan for affordable housing We are talking about multi-family housing which will include both market rates and affordable development It is my sincere hope and belief that if we make it clearer and easier to develop Multi-family housing it will happen at a lower price point whether that will be deed restricted affordable housing all the time I think that's unlikely Hopefully it will be more frequent than it is currently and hopefully the market rate housing That we do develop will be able to come in at a lower price point because Their process was shorter. So their carrying costs were lower They had a predictable outcome. So they had fewer permit fees to pay They had they knew exactly what materials they had to use so they didn't have to you know Change their process make way through so I think there's a lot of evidence that shows that that really can happen in you know other places that have done this They've seen those kinds of changes Um, it also gives the community the certainty that they don't have to worry about What might come they know exactly what can be built and they contributed to make sure that If they don't love it, they can at least success it and live with it and hopefully they'll love it I really believe that Big multi-family and mixed youth projects are keystones in a community and they can be places. They can create beautiful Vibrant amazing places to be and I think Santa Cruz deserves that we deserve it in downtown and we're getting it And we deserve it out everywhere. Every neighborhood deserves wonderful places And multi-family housing is a piece of that Oh commission on the other side I just wanted to thank um, I just want to thank you sir for just clarifying that um, that Really makes it very clear. So thank you um, I um, I could just tell you from experience that Assurances That objective standard put in place for developers make a big difference So whatever can be done to make that process easier so that these things can get designed and built is um, it's certainly important. So Um, so I look forward to seeing this developed and seeing where it goes. So thank you anybody else Okay, um, we could take an action if anybody wants to Otherwise this is an information item. We don't have to take an action Does anybody want to make a motion? Not seeing anyone Just thanks staff for the presentation At at times I felt good about it at times. I didn't feel so good about it. So we're just going to have to wait and see how it How does all develop? So let's move on. Are there any subcommittee. Thank you again and For your report and answering our questions Are there any subcommittee or advisory body oral reports? We will be getting the inclusionary ordinance next At our next meeting I see uh, the planning director has reappeared Did you want to say anything now that you're unmuted All right. Thank you chair shifrin. I was just going to give a quick update On things that are upcoming. You've got at your next meeting both the inclusionary ordinance as well as a number of other ordinance amendments We've got some parking changes that will be before you as well as a whole series of cleanup items Many of which are minor but um some that may be of interest There's some cleanup items related to ad use accessory buildings Home occupations Those all be integrated in and they're all relatively minor But there are quite a few of them. So uh, we will have a good discussion at our meeting on the 17th for those and then At the meeting on the first We would anticipate the warf master plan coming to the planning commission and then Whether at the first or sometime in october maybe the 15th. We're also looking at the housing matters coral street development that Will be coming before you and that is um an SRO a single room occupancy project On coral street at the corner of highway nine And highway one there So lots of important things coming up soon for you I had understood that a warf master plan is going to be on our next agenda. You're you're Saying it's it's going to be on the first I believe I believe it's going to be on the first of october And we were we were aiming for we were trying to get it to the 17th, but The the last I heard it's going to be on the first and so We I think I think that's where it's it's ending up based on the noticing timelines and the other times that we've got right now It's the final eir been released on the warf master plan I Don't believe that it has I think they are making the final revision still and so I think that is Almost ready, but hasn't quite been released Would you notify or send a link to commissioners when it is released because if it's coming in october reviewing the draft dir and the final eir Prior to having to make a recommendation on the plan itself I think the more time that the commission has the better Happy to do that Any questions of the planning director? So we've gotten items we've heard the future agenda. I guess that's what we're just talking about There's no other business We're adjourned. Thank you all very much tonight