t timeline I would just add that one of the first things that we'll be doing is Working on that community outreach strategy And that community outreach strategy is something that we will be bringing to the planning commission sir, do you have a timeline for when that? Would be completed roughly Beginning of november as a current project schedule Is that that would that half would complete sometime in the first half of november? So, you know, we would get it to the planning commission, you know shortly thereafter Oh, that's going to be rolled out Yes, I appreciate the value of the community education early on. I'm not going to put all my comments now Starting this latest discussion about the goal of the planning commission Um, I think being cognizant of the timeline is so important that we actually get the quality project out of this. Um My phone, I'm sorry. Um, very often the city council will give directions We'll go to planning commission or comment the planning commission They correct me back to us and then we hear it again Every time you can be considering the different steps. So I think I understand but our staff is saying and so certainly informing engaging and giving me opportunity comment, but not Not creating a time consuming back support Um, process that the effort should be on community engagement And moving forward with the project. I think this is Very exciting Given that we uh, our level of control over these kind of projects are influence right Limited the good product at the end. It's going to be beneficial. I have one question to comment Uh, when you listed the timeline for the step, I think number five was to develop standards. Do I remember that from the beginning? Uh, task three is developing standards. Yeah for the I mean, I would assume Number six or number five or whatever it is adopted standards. I mean, I covered that one pretty quickly Thank you for that. Yes task four is public hearings So public public hearings, but the goal is we don't just happen week actually Well, we don't want to pre pre-suppose any action by a public hearing body We will be our commitment is to bring it before the planning commission bring some kind of recommendation from them to you Um, Whether it's in a great, you know, a recommendation you agree with will be obviously at your discretion. Yeah Anyway, very excited about the approach you well, I remembered my question But since we've jumped into the fray of discussing Planning commission involvement. I'm going to make a comment So I know a majority of the council members Currently on the council have made clear their opposition to the planning commission having a subcommittee and Moving through a process with the consultants with the planning commission subcommittee the reason I made that motion And I know sara you were awfully polite in the way you framed the How it came up and you know, it was it was uh contemplated. Um, I'm not sure that it really was but Given that, uh, you know, I thought this would be a way that you know And the concerns about timelines it it seemed like having some kind of Subcommittee and I've been involved in many many subcommittees as a council member Those are bodies that can move more nimbly Um Kind of make informal recommendations engage in conversation. And so that was my hope That that that could happen with the consultants rather than going through all the formalities of the back and forth and back and forth And I take I really take issue with this because I don't think it's the council's job to pick and choose When the planning commission is involved depending on whether they like the makeup of the commission or not I'm just going to say that But my question I do remember is If you could I mean I know we're very limited in terms of what objective standards can be and sara you've kind of thrown out a few ideas about what what those might look like in terms of you know materials and other things If you could just say a little bit more about how you're envisioning Like are you going to come up with possible objective standards present them to the community in conversation and get feedback or You know, how will those be developed and You know, it's I just couldn't really tell from the Agenda item, but it's very which is very thorough. Just just a little That would be helpful. Yeah, sure. So I'll talk about it a little bit and then I think I'm going to ask Meredith to sort of fill in The first the first steps about education and then defining that community character understanding like what are the features of structures of Frontages of structures of roadways and public realms that make them feel good to people it's going to help us understand, you know There's really a difference in how people feel between like an eight foot sidewalk and a 15 foot sidewalk And also, you know, what it's different depending on how fast the traffic is on the street And maybe there's a difference between You know what people like to see on mission and what they like to see on sokel Um, you know, and so it's we're going to kind of be that the initial phase is going to be really kind of Parsing that apart like how fine grained are these regulations going to need to be in order to really Reflect the desires of the community and the preferences that folks have And then what are those features that people really care about and I would imagine that varies from one Place to another place, you know, there are um, you know some Some places that are very concerned about architectural style and everything in the in the You know city has to be mission style or at least in the downtown, you know things like that I don't know that Santa Cruz feels that way. I think Santa Cruz has a more eclectic character. Um, I think that's something Folks tend to appreciate and like about our city That you know, including a variety of architectural styles might be, you know, some of that so Getting a sense of what folks like to see that'll be sort of the first step. Um, and then You know combining that with the analysis that we do on the test fit sites and the economic sort of analysis that happens We will start to try and develop a set of standards that we think reflect what the community has said respond to the economic realities of You know development of housing and mixed youth projects um, and then we are going to illustrate those with, um diagrams illustrations photographs of other buildings that are, you know, using these techniques and standards um, and then go to the community and say like Is it right? Did we get it? Um, you know, what needs to change and that's that sort of refining step Um, and the planning commission would be a part of that refining stuff They would get you know, they would participate in this visualization or I mean they would you know We would bring that to them at a hearing and they would you know comment and You know tell us to change x y and z and make mission street match the hotel or whatever they tell They probably wouldn't tell us, you know, and then with that refining and um, you know further input Then that will help us get to the the final stage which then would come back again to the planning commission for hearing in the public and the Sorry city council for that recommendation Meredith would you add anything to that? I I think you did a great job. Thanks, Sarah And I would just Say what we're taking to the community is really trying to get the look and feel of these different scenarios because the average person Can't you know weigh in what they want this set back or that set back? So the visual visualizations will be key And I appreciate your comment also because it is kind of hard to think about what these objective standards will be There are a couple different approaches to them You can just give people a menu of these are acceptable options Or you could do a performance standard as long as you meet this criteria, whatever however way you want to achieve That is okay. There's different typologies or If it's on this type of court or these standards apply So it is very nebulous at this point But um, like Sarah said at that first stage when we hear from the community about What they would like to see that will help us narrow it down and figure out the right way to Visualize it for the community and council and planning commission Thank you Court I think of the eight pages and it is an excellent report. It was very well done and lots of information and I don't know whether The idea of picking up on their coming suggestion At least I think it would be nice if we sent that to the planning commission and sarah you could just This is what was passed by council Here's the information because it's so full of good information that it kind of kicks it off So to me it would kick it off of the planning commission if they had access to this document, you know, it's overdone We've approved it, but I think um, you know, I don't want to involve the comes Some socials don't have to be there you present it maybe Anyway, that's I don't know I'd like to include that in the motion when someone gets around to emotion because it's really really a good document to read I think you were part of the author. I don't know the other person I'm I'm delighted that People are that were that were going to come up with the plan that will help address some of the implicitly racist policies that have been within santa cruz and across, you know, the rest of california in many cases And coastal california is a Is a place where we admittedly need more housing And we need to figure out how to make it more inclusive when we need to think about how do we help? increase the diversity in santa cruz itself um And I'm a little bit worried about having the planning commission have an outside of the role um within This process so that we don't get the same loudest voices on the planning commission To effectively shout down the community So they don't get the same level of representation Um, I understand some of them, you know, they may they may know a lot, but some of these people have also Been the ones to to help down zone and have made it so that we have less political will for Building multi-family housing that can help a lot more people So I would really like to make sure that, you know, everybody thinks about, you know, whether we're we're elevating some people to To a degree that that causes outcomes that end up Hurting hurting a lot of people and so I I'd love for some time to be spent on What the impact of past policy decisions has had on both diversity and displacement? I think that's about it for me. Thank you All right, thank you. I've raised my hand. I have raised my hand for the wrong issue. Um, I yield my time Okay, thank you. Thank you Now is the time please plan and zoning ordinance reconciliation effort on the possible proposal of housing in the near future I think that as far as housing goes within our county, we need to be really urgent for our community members specifically our working class in santa cruz county I feel that we've been doing way to mean proposals for far too long on the housing or rather affordable housing on we had Measures such as measure m that was not passed to kind of help The working class residents in santa cruz county has been many opportunities to really Focus on this issue as far as housing goes But it's been a really lackadaisical issue I feel on the issue of housing because we feel that affordable housing it leaves the eyesore within our community It brings in the wrong crime or it brings in the wrong element, which is ridiculous I feel me personally being under affordable housing Um, it's also as a negative stigma put upon our community members who live under affordable housing Which I feel it needs to be more of and um, if we're going to talk about proposing Uh community outreach the first people group people we need to ask is our community members specifically The people we're talking about earlier street vendors people who are working class citizens And the food industry downtown and as well as other areas in the santa cruz community And um, I feel that more needs to be done and needs to be more urged And I urge our community members to be more diligent and to be more hands on instead of passing the buck to other Outside forces of entities. I feel that first of all we need to have Our community members to be up and foremost within dealing with these issues instead of passing the issue to outside community forces who have no idea about the santa cruz community will all do respect And also we need to Really need to be more urgent and urging these outside forces to bind up so much property in the santa cruz community Walgreens that just shut down It's owned by a private property that is perfect space for affordable housing as well as many other properties in the downtown region So thank you for your time Last four digits You're on the line. Uh, yes, my name is kandace frown and I live on the east side Um, along the so-called corridor. Um, I was very actively involved in the quarter advisory committee And filmed all of it. Um, and I actually have the only recording of it at this point Unfortunately, a lot of that was not properly documented before the advanced planning manager and Other planner left But I think there's a lot of information in that that is very worthwhile looking at because it brought up a lot of issues around the mass density Um, inadequacy of parking and the fact that there's not an existing infrastructure and very narrow parcels Throughout the 36 acres if you included All of different aspects of the parcels designated at that time The other thing I wanted to mention is that with the downtown update plan They did set up a technical advisory committee, which is very successful And they went and they met over a six month period They were very hard working and um, they and I think it was a very effective and efficient process So I think I am very surprised That in a sense this has been politicized by not allowing the planning commission to go through the normal process And um, I think it, um Would be a better process. I also want to mention that the community Um, has a lot of input a great input in in fact the 708 water street affordable housing it for Low income and developmentally disabled was so successful because of the significant input of the community over three major community meetings And it also was because the developer was very open to that feedback And I think everybody's quite happy with that project I also want to mention as a transportation commissioner the transportation issues would be key And I hope they will be brought into that discussion also. Thank you One of the public would like to call in now is the time and you'll be given two minutes to speak on item number 20 I'm happy to um To move the move the recommendation by the staff um, one of the things that I think and I don't think we have to go into all of this right now, but you know as we're looking at um design standards and um thinking about our most recent uh fires, how are we thinking about integrating resilience into those standards and uh our ability to withstand um, you know extreme weather events So I know that uh is a bigger conversation, but I think it's an important one to mention considering what's happening with climate change I just also want to um ensure that as the work also continues that we uh are aware of the health and all policies work that's underway and um also some of the outreach that is currently being uh Conducted by Tiffany Weis-Lest in terms of how to Reach our vulnerable community members through the resilient coast and climate action plan and As well as not trying to over saturate with uh outreach to uh specific community members With various sort of efforts within the city. So how are we sort of you know being synergistic with that? Um, and then lastly, I guess I would just say is how are we building this into our recovery and our processes around engagement as we think about recovery and moving forward. So just sort of trying to make sure that Internally, we're all aware of what's happening and what's underway and how we can have the foresight to To bring forward really good policy that's going to be resilient in the future Um, so with that I'm prepared to move the recommendation and I know that It's so interesting in terms of how to balance uh input and process and I need to have uh various checkpoints along the way In terms of how to engage with our our planning commission as well as um, really keeping a broader understanding of how to outreach to the voices that we have and with that I'm happy to move the recommendation as presented in our agenda report walk and um I will make a couple of comments Emphasizing again, this is about multi-family housing designed to Uh create a better path for uh, I am pleased to see the optimal parking path included as an optional but certainly The parking issues are huge in some areas not so much in others, but I think that will be a necessary component And I would be quite comfortable in the third item if it's agreeable to the maker of motion to add The word and invite planning commission input as the project repeated. It was breaking out So that number three would read direct staff to invite the planning commission to significant outreach events Incorporate regular updates to the planning commission into the project schedule And invite planning commission input as the project progresses being that we would stay on schedule and on staff I just wanted to ask the question so the the change to the Way the in the planning commission might be engaged doesn't seem like it's a substantive change to me But I did want to just go back to the question that council member buyers raised early on about At a minimum Making the Creating the opportunity of these public events for planning commissioners to be there as planning commissioners and publicly notice those meetings I mean, I imagine we're going to be publicly noticing them anyway So I'd like to make sure that happens okay, so saying polo so just as a as part of number three to I'll use the word invite, but it's like like council member buyers said it seems a little insulting but Invite planning commissioners to attend public meetings As members of the planning in their official capacity as members of the planning commission publicly noticed so that Quorum of planning commissioners can attend Is that in addition to or replacing something? No, I think it's in addition to As part of that number three though, it's just a additional if I If I could just say as a seconder, I That seems cumbersome and not really necessary They're specifically called out directing staff to invite planning commissioners to significant outreach events We could just say Including brown act to note potatoes. Yeah. Yeah, that doesn't give us special status, but it just means That was legally any problem with that No, I'll I do have some but I'll uh in the interest of time all Spare you That's it. I have one final comment. I want to make this time to do it We are going into now the first three months or so. Um, it will be carried out for the nine months And we threw out numbers following At least two members of the city council is different at that time So I would also encourage that planning staff Reach out to council candidates and to know this is a big deal And it will be a different council that digest the final report So I would suggest that the candidates are made aware of this And they made aware of the community input everyone's running for housing everyone's running for And they're running for community So that's my own comment. Let the candidates get in on the ground floor on this one Planning commission information explanation and I think even the civil I said that yeah, I'm happy with that timeline. We currently have the front riverfront project It's 175 units across from the Metro pacific station Between metro pacific station in the river on that agenda So that is it's a big projects, but You know, as far as a referral goes um, you know We can just Put these items on there and if if the planning commission chooses to discuss them, they have that opportunity We've got we've got a lot of things lined up for the pc. I think I think we'll get it to them as soon as we can. Yeah, this is more of it Right. Yeah, I think I think early september might be better because late september We've got the wharf and Things moving forward that item you were just discussing. I yeah, I we're going to approve it So they don't need to get it instantly, but I think it's important but also important or yourself Go over it with them or show them the importance of it I wouldn't just say here's the if you get around to read it You may want to discuss it But I think it's important that they're given a presentation on it They're going to be involved for you know this year on it and it's a good document an important document So I think they deserve some introduction to it in You know 15 minutes. That's all that's all councilmember buyer Matthew America ming and I give you a call so we can try to work on your audio. It's really bad Evening council We get the power point up here Presenting on state assembly bill 21 62 AB 2162 Was signed into law in 2018 And it was really to streamline supportive housing Only in zones where multi-family and mixed use development is permitted And supportive housing is defined as 100 affordable to lower income With 25 or 12 units, whichever is greater Dedicated to supportive Housing and services for homeless individuals And part of the streamlining included Making supportive housing as a use by right And use by right really means it does not require a discretionary review like a use permit Also under this bill, it would not require a CEQA process And projects could also receive significant parking reductions if they're located Close to quality transit stops And then finally the state law requires that projects 50 units or fewer Be as be a use by right for a city the size of Santa Cruz But the bill does allow for that limit to be increased As as a city policy And we're here before you today staff recommending that that be increased For three specific projects And those supportive housing projects, the first one is New Way Homes at 115 Coral Street And that's 121 units And it's already been submitted to planning and it's far along in that process And it's already been deemed exempt from CEQA Additionally, the applicants are likely to continue that formal process Including a planning commission meeting and may or may not need this additional streamlining But do wish to stay and be involved if it were to pass The second project is Pacific Station South, which is a city-owned property on Pacific and Front And that's 85 units and includes a non-profit clinic Dientes And that project would be seeking a 100-unit limit But it's currently still only at 85 units as the proposal And this project is especially important in that it's eligible for up to $10 million in competitive state funding If it is deemed a ministerial approval through AB 2162 And the final project is 314 Jesse Street, which is currently a 50-unit proposal And it's still very in a very preliminary and conceptual feasibility analysis stage And it really may stay at 50 units So there would only be two projects going forward With this policy for streamlining those projects And then through this process the city can really decide if design permits should be required And staff recommends that they be required for projects on private property But not for ones on public property And staff wishes to clarify that this would be a requirement for all AB 2162 projects, not just the ones that we're talking about today that might be over 50 units Additionally, all projects, whether they're public or private We would want to have at least one community meeting And for both of those things, those changes are reflected in an updated resolution language That I'll show you at the end of the presentation But as far as the design permit goes The public for a project that's on city-owned property The city is in a position to have a great deal of control over those development outcomes So it's not very necessary for for a design permit on public property But for public for projects on private property A design permit would allow staff to place conditions of approval on the project So long as they don't hinder that development, for instance tree replacement And then finally if a design permit were required for the private property projects Staff recommends that there be an administrative approval process So the design permit process would add some time and cost to the project And it's it's vital to maintain some amount of streamlining through this for these projects So we really feel that the approach to having an administrative approval process Would reduce the cost in processing times for applicants while still offering Community participation and the ability to influence the process And so finally the the benefits of this are really that it you know streamlines and encourages the product production of affordable and supportive housing Which we feel is very important for the community It also helps the city of Santa Cruz achieve lower income affordable housing goals Especially given the focus of this bill on supportive and lower income housing Um, the city of Santa Cruz based on our regional housing needs allocation numbers Really needs more very low income housing In the projects before you Really seek to add those types of units to the city And then finally the the policy is is only for these three projects currently So the effect of this policy is really defined and has a has a specific Has a specific goal to help these three projects So if if any further projects were to come forward to also ask for this additional stream streamlining policy Council could decide so at a later date And so here is the resolution language before you with those with those additional clarifications towards the end highlighting the community engagement process as well as Making sure that the that the requirements for the design permit are for all proposals and not just the ones over 50 units That includes staff presentation. Thank you very much and we'd be happy to answer any questions Thank you very much for that presentation and for bringing this item forward to us at this time While the other council members ask questions first, but I do have a couple questions regarding the The design review process as it relates to so our council member Matthew has been council member fires A couple of points in your Introduction you talked about the pacific station south having the diente clinic located there But I believe that Santa Cruz community health centers is also to be co located there So it's really two different community health clinics I believe I'm correct on that Yes, no Yeah, I've uh, just got a whip here from our economic development housing team that can help with clarifying that Jessica Yeah, that's correct. That's it's the community health center as well as diente. Yeah. Yeah, both clinics and uh, I do want to uh, appreciate you for including the change that there was at the very least the Community meetings about the design. I understand the reason for not requiring a design permit on Project on public land, but to my mind having some Opportunity to engage the public in response and feedback on design was important without flowing down the process I just want to acknowledge that That change Yes, the affordable housing developer is planning to have a community engagement meeting It's just really getting through that Ministerial process to be able to be competitive for the state funding. Yeah Got it. Yeah As it relates to council approval of the designs is that something that was so would these come to council in terms of You know having final approval on the designs of these projects just to ensure that We're going to be responding to the public, you know concern around the design and and we don't have any control on that I'm just kind of curious like How that might impact They would not I though the way it's proposed currently if a project did need a design Permit, it would go through a design process a design review process But that would be approved Administratively through through the planning division If I may add I know for the pacific station project We are planning to reach out to the housing subcommittee that's city A subset of the city council members so they will be actively involved in in You know the city on projects Apologize, I didn't realize my video was off Yeah, hi. Thank you. Jessica. Um, I just was hoping for some clarification I heard a very big number Discussed just now about the pacific station Project, so I just was wondering if you could maybe just give us a quick little update sounds like sounds like a very promising So maybe just a you know, I know it's not part of this agenda per se, but I'm just curious about that Sorry, I'm getting a little big echo Thank you So I we do actually have the affordable housing developers here on the line as well if they want to add in but um Essentially, there's some state housing and community development funding That is called the program is called transit oriented development and The funding had the last time this funding NOFA. Sorry notice the funding availability was issued was back in 2014 They happen the state happened to issue this NOFA Two months ago and happened to be right in the middle of uh, you know city council recess when we had to apply Um, and so we took the bold effort of trying to get an application in Um to to be able to fund the affordable housing component of this project um It's it's up to 10 million. We have our funding request is for 10 million. Um, and it is looking very favorable that we could potentially uh Be able to be awarded this this funding and part of this is if the project is able to utilize the 21 62 Thank you for that clarification. I appreciate it And then council member fires Yeah, thank you. I first I want to say I totally support this I'm thrilled about the potential to get these affordable units built. Um, I mean, this is something that obviously Is uh very important to all of us and I've been working on it diligently It's kind of one of my main focuses here on the council I'm just want to make sure that Uh, I understand so and maybe we can just make sure the the community understands the implications of this And so the council will not determine There won't be a design review process that the council needs to approve But there are places along the way that the council is involved in in these projects Right, I mean we are so what are the I mean, certainly in terms of you know funding any dedicated funding You know dedication of land etc um, but Just just to make sure that it's clear for the public and for all of us what we Um, what role we will play Out since the design review process And I know that could vary but just just a little Explanation of that would be helpful. So ultimately there would be at least one community meeting for those projects on on private property and public property And so for those projects that would be on private property requiring a design Permit it would still go through planning But ultimately there there would that community process And that would still be a time to get feedback from and from anyone in the community including council On on what that design Uh could and should look like And that will certainly go into the the process Is as opportunity for these Projects to come to council You know presentations to come to council where we can provide input Um, and so it's not per se that we were approving or rejecting the project But more along the lines of in addition to those community meetings Is there an opportunity for these products to come to council? Um for discussion and for recommendations for these projects that are over 50 units that we're Looking to add policy on That certainly is a possibility However, we we do want to encourage the streamlining of these as much as possible An additional community or additional council meetings Could add to that timeline and and cost on those applicants The one thing I would add and thank you. I I agree with that in terms of you know The point a large part of this is streamlining the applications And not all of these development applications would even go to The city council in the first place the one for example that Is proposed on coral street Likely is not going to take advantage of this even though we've got it in there You know, we we focused on doing this for the pacific station south and we said hey Maybe these other two projects could benefit as well One of the criteria is public funding that coral street project May not have any public funding in it and they may choose to actually decline any public funding that we provide Because that would trigger prevailing wage Which may cost them more than we would be able to provide to them And so They may not have any public funding and they may want to go through the regular process Which they're well on their way to completing at this point And that would just bring them to the planning commission for a final decision And so depending on the application It may not even trigger a council review and One of the things that we wanted to do as part of this, you know with the streamlining was minimize that timeline and And get these projects moving. So as as matt mentioned that is Doing an administrative approval is one way to save a decent chunk of time in the application processing And I just want to Clarify for my own purposes and I think for others Any project that was going after this kind of Resolution benefit That had the affordable and supportive housing Would not require would would require at least one community meeting The Private project would require a design permit, but that would be Issued at the administrative level not at the city council level And the project on city property would not even require that So basically it's a trade-off between Getting a better rating for access to this state money In return for less control over the design that that's the trade-off for us Which I am willing to make And so I think to the kind of to your point To the extent that council members want to have input Or knowledge of the design issues It seems to me and staff can respond to this that They should just go to the community design And that's That's the trade-off for us. So maybe staff can comment on if I've understood that correctly We we get a better rating if we streamline the process Yes, that's that's correct. Yeah, you hear overview with uh exact Okay, there's no further comment. Oh council member buyers and you're muted by the way The council can pull up things, you know on appeals or They can bring items to the council Let's say I'm you know supportive of this But what if there is a project that's so controversial and it's so prominent Wherever it's going to land can we Pull that to the council for review? That's why we we initially focused on just these three projects. Uh, we feel it provides You're right. That's great feel of control Yes, I'm sorry. I forgot you did As far as projects under 50 units we we already don't have that control because right that's a state requirement Yes, I understand. I forgot about the three great I'm done for the comment. Um, let's move to Public comment on this item. So the members of the public who would like to speak to item 21 AB 2162 affordable supportive housing projects increase in the number of units allowed As a used by right Now's the time to call in Once you've entered the meeting please press star nine on your phone And you will be given two minutes to speak Homelessness and um, I'm really enthusiastic about this idea of streamlining supportive housing projects in the city of Santa Cruz Um, I think at the very least, you know, these three projects are Really something that our community is definitely going to benefit from Um, not going far enough. I'd really like us to streamline more supportive housing projects in the future Um, I I know that uh, the Supportive housing is can be a controversial thing for our community and and we're just not going to get stuff Built and we're not going to solve homelessness for the city of Santa Cruz It will just end up getting delayed and delayed and delayed. I'm also worried that a homelessness point in time count is is um 1200 people counted in 2018, but uh, that didn't account There wasn't a account of anyone in pogo nip at that time and that's done in the middle of the winter And we know typically that we have more people in the summer So I think we could probably say that that we have 1500 people who are experiencing homelessness in the city of Santa Cruz already And we should follow that understate. Yeah, good evening. Uh, jim ramler for the future housing Um, really appreciate your time this evening. I know it's been a a long meeting and um, Especially stressful with everything going on I I just wanted to echo that, um, we are absolutely committed to Engaging with not only the community but also, um, the city. This really is a unique and exciting Project because it is really a partnership. Um, the city is I wanted to mention Also, the you know, the city is retaining the land. There's commercial components that, um, You know, the city will be involved in so I I absolutely am committed to Um engaging the various stakeholders And the city the reality is that, you know, these funding sources that we go after are so, um, oversubscribed and it's so challenging that, um, this is extremely helpful and You know, we're optimistic that we hopefully can, um, get this large piece of funding And I'm happy to answer any other questions that you may have. Thank you Thank you Hey, this is Kyle Kelly. I just want to speak in strong support of streamlining supportive housing and affordable housing And I hope that we can do it for even more projects. Uh, we're we have a severe need here Uh, and affordable housing developers already have to go through quite a bit face quite a bit of opposition Uh, and meanwhile while we wait and we create new process, we're preventing people from getting homes That that otherwise could could be housed much sooner. Thank you Okay, so if you'd like to speak to this item, please press star nine on your phone Uh, you'll be unmuted Uh, and you'll be allowed to have two minutes Port for streamlining the process of affordable housing I've seen affordable housing projects that just get mired in detail But I do want to add a cautionary note and that is I think it's one thing to have, uh, a streamlined process that, um, minimizes City council and community input When it's in relatively Unproblematic areas or areas that are not central to the character of Santa Cruz as a city But it does concern me that, um, the Council would not have Review capacity as a council for the pacific station South project. I think that's a huge difference. That's right on pacific avenue in The heart of the city Highly problematic that city-owned land not, uh, have a design Permit required These are things that really matter to the citizens of Santa Cruz that we have a process where there is review I don't know why city-owned land wouldn't be subjected to the same kind of review process As other kinds of land So it strikes me that, uh, especially with controversial projects This is, uh, just an unfortunate way of failing to develop a consensus about a good project And we want to develop a consensus about a good project. So I'd like to see, uh, pacific station south, uh, Have a full review from the city council and other city-owned, uh Uh, land project Thank you very much for your attention Thank you Further comments from the public. I'm going to bring it back to council for action deliberation Council member mafias Um, I am happy to go ahead and move the recommendation before us I do want to note that we got correspondence from the Santa Cruz community health centers also supporting this Um payment late. So that's just for the record. I think Yeah There you go Um, so with that and just having made that announcement I will go ahead and move that we adopt the the revised resolution Establishing a policy authorizing an increase in the 50 units Use by right limit to a limit of 125 units for one specified project and 100 units For two specified projects of affordable supportive housing Development that complies with requirements set in california state assembly bill 2162 So most of my council member mafias council member brown, I see your hands raised Yeah, second. I'll second that Council member mafias second by council member brown Uh, but um, I think that's that's it. So Um, is there any further discussion from council members? Hearing none. I'd just like to say that Um, I'm excited to see what can come forward with this and I think it'll be an opportunity for us to see how this process Works for bringing it for streamlining these um affordable housing projects And we'll get a sense from this process how we might be able to improve on it moving forward since it's just three projects And with that, I'll call on the clerk to call the vote Thank you. Mayor council member buyers I Matthew I Brown by I um, okay. Thank you. Uh, golder vice mayor mires I And mayor coming We might we might run into an issue with our last item. So we think we might have Council members bleeding, but hopefully we can get to these and get through this one Very quickly Next item on our agenda is authorizing item number 22 authorizing the mayor's response to the santa cruz county school grant area on behalf of the city of santa cruz And presenter is roust america's principal management analyst Hey, good evening. I'm mayor coming then i'm members of the city council roust america principal management analyst and i'm here today to request that council authorize the mayor to respond to the grand jury reports that the council the city council Is required to respond to Each year the civil grand jury issues reports and requires certain agencies and departments to respond In many cases the respondents are part of the head administrators and some other cases The respondent is the agency itself. So this year the grand jury issued 10 reports Out of the 10 seven require responses from the city council And consistent with approach and a process that previous councils have adopted for responding to these reports Council tonight is being requested to authorize the mayor to respond on behalf of the council To the seven published grand jury reports that require responses from the city council Um council also has the option to authorize the mayor to respond to specific reports And have the remaining reports presented at a future council meeting for the full council to discuss as well And for the reports that the mayor is authorized to respond to staff will be there to help um draft some responses For the mayor and we will be submitting it to the grand jury. Um pending the mayor's approval So staff's recommendation tonight is to authorize the mayor to respond to all seven Um of the reports or um for council to provide direction as to which reports Council would like brought back to the full council for discussion council members Vice mayor mires Yeah, I don't have a question. I I would be ready to Make a motion. I think that uh one one report in particular is interest of interest to me to allow um Possibly council members to engage it with staff on some of the um The report outs. I'm particularly um thinking about the report that had to do with the I can't remember the name of it. It's the discord basically that happened last year. Um, I do think that potentially having maybe one council member Uh participate in that um There's there's a lot of us that were involved in some of those situations And I think it would be best if we had sort of an impartial Sort of process around some of those some of those questions that need to be answered So I don't know if the city manager could work With work on that city manager's office. So I'd like to just try to clarify that in a motion at some point. Thank you Well, I just want to I understand The role that we Review these responses and our name right the mayor signs them, but it's it's really our response I think we have an obligation Role to play in them now. Do we need all of them to come back? Um, I would say yes. We should get them all go to them quick read them Yes, yes, yes, um, but I certainly feel There's some serious issues on some of them some serious recommendations And I want to be sure in our Responding that we are going to respond to those recommendations. Yes, we will work on this It's in the works or whatever we do, especially the homeless one and the one on the city Government or whatever what's called Oh what a tangled web we weave and I think it's the name of it No, it's the failure to communicate failure. Oh is that it what's a tangled web one? Somebody remind me what that Is our website the website oh god I don't care for that spot, but the homeless one Yeah, the failure to communicate. I'm sorry I know um for me. I trust Tony is going to respond to the golf course one I think many of the recommendations are probably in the work so but um The homeless one And the failure to communicate for sure That's where I am but uh, we we we really have a role to play and I think it's written in state law, so I I want them to come back before they are sent to the For we get to input in them I would say a grasp of the response not just the final response, but we should have a draft stage only two of them Even though our obligation is to be sure and review all of them Council member Matthews and the council member brown and then I have a couple of comments that like to make and For consideration as well Council member madeline Yeah, I know the staff has been working already on the um responses to quite a few of these and I should say just for the um public information although Seven of these require A response by the city. They're not all directed exclusively at the city. Some of them are about Um issues involving multiple public agencies. So just to clarify that Uh, I generally support the idea of um the mayor Working with the staff on the responses that are already being prepared in draft form um, I would like to uh explicitly direct that the um Council members be invited to contact the mayor and city manager About the specific issues or suggestions or observations that they have I think these are going to be probably um A good variety on some of them probably very little on others Um, but I think that would be a service um as we develop even a working draft If we can all say by I'm trying to pick a date out of the Tap, I think we've all probably read them If we could get our own personal comments to the mayor and city manager by september 4th That gets give them a time to uh Understand the landscape and try and corporate those into the draft Um So that that would be my suggestion moving forward Um and that they feel free to engage other council members as they feel appropriate individually and we're we're aware of the brown act and um Just functionally, I think uh we it it doesn't It doesn't serve as well to have Work in progress draft floating out In the public, I think we should do our best as the as the city and council to come up with Our best efforts at the draft as the as the statement um, I have talked with the city manager about this and also as the mayor and Also, I think to the extent that council members have strong personal Input on these that that they can review the working draft with One on one With the city manager and mayor That's just kind of my take on it so that we get a well fleshed out document ready to submit So I'll just put that forward as a process Just just we'll tell them about Mayor if you want to respond directly to that like I kind of am too but you're welcome to go First if you want to Okay Well, I'll just say quickly that I am not comfortable with Delegating that authority. I think it's inappropriate to expect there and and just unfair to expect the mayor to be responsible for Having, you know, having being the the the council the member of this governing body that Make responds And I think that we all have a responsibility to weigh in I agree But I also think that the public has a right to Be made aware of the type of response that we're going to give The state law state law does require the governing body to respond And if my name is going to be on it, I want to have a chance to see it before it is sent and made and then made public I think that we ought to at a minimum as council member buyers suggest Get provide some direction and then be willing to weigh in individually Along the lines of what council member matthew suggests, but I think they need to come back to us for Approval before they are sent to the grand jury as a response And in particular, I think that the two that that council member buyers pointed out failure to communicate and homelessness There are some really really significant recommendations there and Another reason I don't think it's appropriate for the mayor to kind of be it put in the position of Being the per the individual responding As a representative of this governing body Without any authority to implement any of the recommendations Unilaterally that it ought to be Decision that comes to the council I mean a lot of the the recommendations would need council approval if we were to move forward And so I think it's it's important that we be fully engaged in that process If I may I just want to clarify one one quick item with respect to a council member matthew's Suggested approach. I think uh trouble with brown act issues. What the the way would have to work is that the council members Would provide input to staff regarding any of the reports that they may want to and then we would work with the mayor to Definalize that uh, so that's that's the just to clarify that would be the way to do it without uh, So we would like to connect to him clarify it However, that does not give Council members the ability To approve or not approve of what gets sent if I you know, I can give you my My individual thoughts those go into the mix. They're these are contentious issues There are differences of opinion, and I don't want my voice represented as one voice in that way without having some discussion with my colleagues first If I could I think what I was hearing from Council member matthew's council members and then council member brown It seems like a similar approach and please correct me if I'm wrong, but I think part of that recommendation was that Part of what council member matthew said was you know that if everybody provided input by september 4 Then I can work with staff On this and it sounded like the idea would be to putting something back to council for approval. Good. That's what I want Yeah, okay, great. If that's right. Yeah, no problem. That's great. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah Thank you. Thank you No, that's good. If there's no further comments on this item, I'd like to open up to the public for public comment This is item number 22 on our agenda authorizing the mayor to respond to the santa cruz county civil grand jury on behalf City of santa cruz. If you'd like to comment on this item, please press star nine on your phone And you will be given two minutes to speak on this item. No members of the public would like to comment on this Oh, I lowered my hand Yeah, I'll go ahead and move that we authorize the mayor to respond to the santa cruz county grand jury On behalf of the city of santa cruz building on the draft responses um prepared by staff And um Requesting council to submit their comments and concerns to the city manager by september 4th with the um proposed responses to return to the council for action It was on emotion that was just made That we need to come back at our first meeting in september because some responses Need to be submitted by september 14th But the range is from september 14th to october 1st I think there's some flexibility on that date. I think maybe it would help if we're else would check on that But I understand there really is uh, especially with everything going on I mean fine if we make it that's fine with me, but just You know, just so we know that We'll do that. Um, I I do think it's it's a courtesy to the staff as they're working on this if they hear from us Sooner rather than later So they can be incorporating our our concerns in the in their responses. Yeah, and I would also This doesn't preclude involving other council members consultation with other council members in the responses as long as the brown act Right actions are observed. No, I'm done. Sorry All right with that city clerk to take the roll call Thank you. Can I just confirm that it is to return To submit comments to the city manager by september 4th To return to council at a at another meeting not a specific not the september with the With the proposed responses to return to council For actions council member byers Matthew vice mayor meyers I tend to our for matthews You saw some items. So are you going to turn back? I think I need to make a formal announcement at this point that I need to recuse myself from this because My husband and I own property within 500 feet of the proposed project So I am formally disqualified from participating Does that do it Bonnie? Yes, that works Okay That's fine Yeah, I'll leave Now's the time to call in with time allowed for the public to speak after the after the At the items and heard and there'll also be time allowed for the applicant to speak on this item Count me the next question follow the public public comment And then we'll return to the council for action and deliberation Presenters brian bayne senior planner and the applicant brian rapwell to join us. This is ryan. Can you guys hear me? Yes, okay great and Kind of bring up the Can you guys see the presentation? Yes Great what we're discussing tonight is a project at 101 fuel at one three Cypress plane apartments The preliminary consideration of a proposed general plan amendment local coastal plan amendment and zone change um Here although this is not a typical step in the development reprocess Uh a preliminary consideration hearing has been conducted in the past and it's mainly for larger projects That are accompanied by a proposed legislative action such as the general plan amendment or rezoning So the purpose of this preliminary consideration will be to review the proposed amendment and rezoning for consistency with the general plan policies And to receive input from the public This early consideration provides an opportunity for the council to review the proposed amendments and prior to further significant investment in time And cost by the applicant and city staff required to complete the remaining environmental review and hearing process Additionally, it can save public time. Um, that they would otherwise spend tracking and commenting on the proposal So to give a little background um in fall of 2018 the cypress point owners, um, contacted um the city staff with interest in and uh Adding units to the underutilized open space within their existing 240 unit unit complex However with the general plan designation of lm low medium density the 8.89 acre parcel would will only permit a maximum of 178 units So when the apartment complex was developed in 1971 the general plan designation allowed for a higher density making It legal on conforming under today's general plan designation Um, in addition, there's no inclusion. They were no inclusionary requirements in 1971 So there are currently no de-restricted affordable units within the complex Um through the course of discussions and staff suggestion to maximize affordable housing opportunities The property owners offered to provide an increased level of affordability For favorable consideration of a general plan amendment and rezoning to increase the density on the site At the time of the discussions the proposal was an additional 66 units And the owners had agreed to set aside 20 of the new units um for 80 area area median income at that time the municipal code inclusionary requirement was 10 of the original base density So this was a significant offering of affordable units above and beyond the code requirement In december of 2018 they applied for a pre-app Which the city process to give them an kind of an idea of what was going to be required as part of the formal application And in november 2019 they submitted for the formal application for 100 units And then As part of that formal application a community outreach meeting was held in june of 2020 so the online Community outreach meeting was very well attended by surrounding neighbors to express some concerns with the proposed increase In the density and and the additional units to the complex some of the Some of the Concerns included increased traffic and speeding on felix street negative impacts to neary lagoon Not enough parking on the site which will force tenants to Take up street parking spot zoning Which in turn could set a dangerous precedent for subsequent proposals to increase density in the neighborhood The height location of some of the proposed buildings in relationship to some townhomes that abutted the property tree removals poor management of the complex impacts from construction of the new units on the existing Tenants and also Encouragement to if it were to proceed that an eirv completed for the project In response to some of the concerns expressed by the neighbors the applicants went back to the drawing board and revised the plans And reduced the number of proposed units from 100 to 80 They eliminated the three-story building that was adjacent to the neighboring townhomes Thereby reducing the number of trees to be removed as well as traffic and parking impacts You know through the elimination of 20 units The application is is close to being deemed complete and the city's environmental falton has begun working on the initial study And there's a number of studies that still need to be prepared in order to complete the initial study And make a determination as to whether a neg deck or environmental impact fork should be prepared This is the project site. Uh, as I mentioned is the 8.89 acre site essentially located within the city South of laurel street with portions of the property abutting neary lagoon The property was developed in 1971 with 240 rental apartment units And as I mentioned a general plan density, um Was subsequently reduced at some point after the apartments were constructed And we did some research and we're we believe that was done as part of a general plan update around 1980 So therefore the development is currently legal on conforming from a density standpoint Um, this is a this is a site plan that shows Um, where the proposed buildings. There's as I mentioned 80 new rental apartments proposed Oh, uh, within five buildings. These buildings are essentially Infilled within the existing complex There's no expansion. It's basically there's four buildings that are proposed over what's existing parking um, and then one that Is actually part of There's a pool area here now and they're looking at putting in a new building and then building a new a new pool adjacent to it Here's just a quick elevation of the of the three-story building This is the one that's next to the pool. So this has a lobby leasing offices a fitness center And as I mentioned a new pool will be part of it And then this is an example of some of the carers units that would be built Um over what is currently carports within the the existing parking areas And it's proposing a general plan amendment to change the land use designation from lm, which is low medium density Uh 10 to 20 dwellings vapor to m medium density, which is 20 to 30 and a reasoning from rl to rm To bring the property into general conformance and allow up to 267 units In addition to the new land use designations applicants are proposing a density bonus That would allow the additional 80 units with 14 units that will be affordable to very low income households Which is 60 of ami and two units to low income, which is 80 of ami Based on staff's current analysis at this at this stage in the application review The density bonus law would require 14 units at the very low income level In order for the project to receive its 20 density bonus meaning that the two low income units exceed the affordable Levels that would be required. So they're above and beyond the density bonus requirements preliminary consideration is intended to determine whether council would like staff and the applicant to further proceed With the processing of the legislative act staff is providing analysis of the project for consistency with general plan policies um, you know our general plan When it's adopted is not always something that's set in stone Once adopted there is it does not remain static. So state law does allow up to four general plan amendments per mandatory element per year so while they're not A normal occurrence they they aren't uncommon so most amendments propose a change in land use designation of a particular property and Santa Cruz is currently experiencing high demand for housing with low levels of affordability that are affecting the quality of life of the community Which is a long term implications for maintaining Santa Cruz's diversity Affordable housing for extremely low very low low and moderate income households is of utmost concern right now And affordable housing allows persons of all economic segments to live in the community provide housing for the city's workforce allows integration of families and racial ethnic groups The proposed general plan amendment and zone change to increase the density on the subject property and provides additional rental units specifically low and very low income units Further is the city's affordable housing policies listed in the city's housing element, which I which I have here Subject parcel is located within an area made up of primarily multifamily housing With the lm low medium general plan designation. That's kind of the orangey lighter brown area that you can see there While the abutting properties share the same designation. There are a number of properties in the vicinity that have the medium density designation that they're proposing to Have this includes three fairly large properties that are between 300 and 500 feet away In addition to a grouping of properties approximately two to three blocks from the complex in that chestnut laurel street area So similarly similarly designated properties already exist in the vicinity Seeing as some other general plan policies The project optimizes the use of the parcel by infilling underutilized portions of the site consistent with general plan policies And due to the project The property's location increasing the density would encourage sustainable and healthy lifestyle Given the project spikeable walkable nature due to its close proximity to downtown As well as other recreational amenities in the area such as near lagoon loud nelson center depot park Santa Cruz high school So the site is also in close proximity to public transit stops including the downtown metro center That is a half mile away and as well as other designated high quality transit stops thereby further promoting sustainable transportation use by residents So it's a really essentially located parcel The proposed project promotes social diversity by offering lower priced housing options and achieves a higher degree of accessibility by more efficiently using underutilized land within an existing development The project also provides more housing options in an area where healthier and more environmentally friendly transportation options such as pedestrian bike and transit Are convenient This is especially true given the central location of of the project and its proximity of the downtown And the application's consistency with these policies is the basis for the community development Department support of the proposed project Continuing its application process So here are the options for council this evening. One is Can direct staff to continue processing the application? The second is to deny the application without prejudice The third is to deny the application with prejudice If the council decides to recommend denial Either one two or three It is requested by staff that the council continue the matter to the next council meeting to allow staff time to bring back a resolution Articulating the reasons for the denial So that application Just to be clear cannot be approved tonight at this hearing as we still have environmental review that needs to be completed As well as the process is that we need to go to planning commission first to give a recommendation to city council Um, it should also be noted that should the council direct that the application processing proceed It would be it would no way obligate the council to approve the project in the future So that being said staff's recommendation is that the council consider the information provided in the report Listen to testimony from the public and give direction to staff to continue processing the application And that concludes my report like to allow the applicant to speak to us on this item City council mayor comings. I appreciate the opportunity Uh to discuss our project with you Ryan, thank you for a great summary report And uh, you know based uh, this uh, this will be brief. I know everyone's uh I'm bryder fell. I work for bradik and logan The owner and operator of cypress point apartments Um, you know, there's been some misinformation out there. We are actually based here in the bay area We've owned the assets since 2005 members of the community And in stakeholders, we're not some fly-by-night developer. We uh, we're here long-term holders And you know far from an out-of-state conglomerate that I've seen, you know posed In some of these responses But you know, I need to do we need to do a better job of educating People about the project and do some more community outreach Which we will do Just to be clear is we have on the project since uh, 2005 and basically just get investments Into the development. Some of these upgrades including the common areas the pool pool deck A new gym leasing office And we'd like to continue to do so. I think uh, you know looking at Santa Cruz and the housing crisis that build up the entire bay area and Santa Cruz that's a great opportunity to Sensify an existing project Um, if I can share my screen You can see that Uh, this is the overview Um of the project that you saw from ryan's presentation And uh, you know, we did take some extremely thought into uh developing these 80 units. Uh, you know, we went from 100 to 80 They are developed in the interior Of unfortunately as I'm highlighting here over these card ports of 64 units The amenities building is over here And if you saw what we had previously We eliminated an entire building here that helped shelter lagoons and neighbors. It was a significant source of Contention there from that from the neighbors. Um, we made that change and there was a building here near the lagoon That we removed as well In that, yes, we reduced our project by uh, by 20 units And uh, we also saved a preserved five more uh, heritage trees Um, you know, looking at this is we think we can make some further improvements But again, that that's the project the details um, we're well, uh You know, it is are all We're all just presented to you from ryan You know looking at this stepping back is the general plan right now Uh requires uh, it only allows us to develop 178 units The project today is 240 Uh apartment units and uh, you know top of mind right now, you know a catastrophic event You know something happened with with our project. We could only rebuild Uh 178 apartment homes and uh from that regard We think the general plan should be moving ahead And being amended as we go back and discuss our projects in greater detail to the community That we have that done now. Otherwise, you there's a risk that you know 62 homes, uh, and you know upwards Approximately 100 people will be permanently displaced. Um, so We like consideration of that general plan amendment. Um If we regardless as we move forward with the uh with the project We think it adds significant benefits to the city You know adding 16 affordable Very low income units to an existing project. Um, and the other 64 market rate, uh apartment homes On an existing third and not disrupting any any green fields or other open spaces You know, I think it's a great opportunity And uh from that, I'll uh yield back my time and just ask that we have the opportunity For rebuttal to uh to public comments from council members at this time For either the applicant or the city staff Thank you. I am I'm trying to figure out the math on the proposed changes because you know, I've I've done I've run the numbers a different way and I've got my calculator out and I'm just not understanding how uh, 267 gets So if 267 is what would be allowable with the change then um And 240 units are already there and then we have 27 possible additional units and Even with a 20 density bonus that still doesn't get us to What i'm seeing here would be about 320 With the additional units so I if somebody could help me understand the the math how those numbers are Have been figured it would be that would be helpful It's a couple of brah I can answer that so 267 units would be the increase in density would be the 30 for 8.9 acres so 30 times 8.9 uh would equal 267 mm-hmm And then density bonus on top of that of approximately 20 percent It's due to the 320 units And then at that point we provide you 14 So 14 of those 267 is you know 20 or 5 percent of 267 rounded upwards gets you to the 14 units of affordability of very low income and uh from the get-go We uh, we said 20 percent even when the requirement was all the way down to 10 to honor that we're keeping it under two units The two apartment homes that will be a low income Okay, so just a quick follow-up question. Thank you. Um, so so then the uh interpretation is that existing units can be considered to um to get to the Density bonus amount So the density bonus is applied to all of the units even though most of them are already there And then but it doesn't apply for the affordable unit For the inclusionary units just for a density bonus We're using the the total base, but for the affordable units. You're using the base of the new construction Yeah, the affordable unit for based on what the maximum is allowable for the general plan Good job. Thank you. I'm here from the public. I know that we have council members who may have to leave And so at a minimum they can hear from the public. I think that will be a number of people who Uh called in or who requested additional time representatives from save neary lagoon slash shelter lagoon homeless association chris daggers from the public street group And a list of barns from the seaside cottages hoa and also representative from the Project neary lagoon and libel neighborhoods if you are one of those individuals, please let us know before you speak um Because of the fact that we only see phone numbers and we don't have your names So if you are if you call them to request additional time from one of those groups, please announce Before you comment and for other members of the public now the time if you'd like to comment on this item Now it's time to call in Please press star nine on your phone to raise your hand And for those members of the public who do not request additional time or not approve for additional time You will have two minutes. I want to make it clear. I speak for myself and not on behalf of the hoa And you should know That whoever is speaking on behalf of the hoa They have not been approved to speak on behalf of the hoa because the hoa hasn't approved any speakers All the units in the hoa are either rentals or second homes But runners are not permitted to address our hoa board and there was no polling by our board or residents Or owners prior to making the decision to draft a letter to the city requesting an eir Which is what the board approved to be sent to you From a self-centered personal perspective. I'm ambivalent about the project The main way it might affect me would be advocacy community. I know it's essential that our city be approved Approving projects like that affordable housing was built by a for-profit developer We need inclusionary units in order to fulfill our housing needs and the and the units that come with a density bonus rental project like this Restricted to below 50 area median income are the most underproduced type of housing Santa Cruz needs We're an overwhelmingly white community on the other hand cypress point, which is currently have no deed restricted affordable units Is one of the most diverse neighborhoods in the city cypress point is home to many immigrant families and peoples of color Who may be discriminated against elsewhere in town for having section 8 vouchers? Rental housing brings desperately needed diversity to our community and we have a real opportunity here to increase the diversity of Santa Cruz by allowing more intel rental housing to be built on parking lots My neighbors have plenty of experience using misleading environmental concerns in order to attempt to stop housing development They did that before suing the city in the 80s to stop the 100% affordable neary lagoon Apartments project on chestnut street over concerns about flooding at wetland studies This project within walking distance to downtown and a block from a bus line is the kind of project Santa Cruz should be building More of downtown alone can't fulfill all of our housing needs and my neighborhood is a great place to build more intel units on parking lots I encourage you to approve allow the process to continue Hello, this is Susan Monhipe. Can you hear me? You can hear me. Okay. Thank you I am also a homeowner at shelter lagoon Adjoining the cypress point apartment building structure a complex And I am opposed to the spot rezoning of this parcel for higher density. I think spot rezoning is Poor poor planning on the part of the city I'm an environmental scientist and wildlife biologist and I find that increasing the density on the shores of this unique and rare wetlands urban wetland Site Is inappropriate that the higher density along the shores of the lagoon and the noise From from the construction and from the higher density people living at the site will be detrimental To the habitat and the the nest the ongoing nesting and migratory birds that come through there's 228 different species of birds and Some endangered species such as western pond hurdles that are located at that lagoon I really urge the city council to deny the application With prejudice and just stop the project at this point The construction over the parking islands allows no safe Exit or egress from the buildings When people leave them they step out into traffic And that I think was left off the uh summary agenda that was presented by the developer Um Those are my comments this evening. I really appreciate your consideration. Thank you Yeah, Christina Buchanan, and I am a resident of Cypress Point apartment my statement is My statement is um, I have no faith In the 80 proposed units that will be affordable. I'm actually living in an apartment right now. That's unaffordable And it's was built in 1971 I'm paying 2400 a month including utilities that run nearly 400 I moved here to enjoy the native environment And it is the current management and on top of that the current management is subpar In managing this complex currently I can see every day people moving out of this complex And I understand now why so I need to also mention that This is a A cul-de-sac. There is no exit. There's no egress We are stuck if there is a fire or any kind of emergency We will be in serious trouble The wal-mart location would be perfect Or far better used To add affordable housing Then here in neary Lagoon, I respectfully ask that this be denied this whole thing be denied with prejudice Thank you. The common I'm falling in strong support of this project Um, I think that it is absolutely essential that the city takes building affordable housing seriously and I'm pleased that the council voted to approve the Streamlining by right of affordable housing. I also think that it's great that we are building affordable housing and market rate housing together And yeah, I And From a personal perspective, I support this because as a recent arrival to Santa Cruz I am also facing the issue of affordability and availability of housing And that's not going to get any better unless we build housing So I just want to strongly support and ask that you approve this with a smile. Thank you Good evening council. My name is mike dunham Good evening council. My name is mike dunham. I am an environmental activist. I actually live Not in Santa Cruz. I live further up the peninsula in burling game But I was interested in this project because I wanted for to meet the petition to save near lagoon wildlife refuge And burling game itself has a number of water and coastal based resources that I think are really important to protect So I was very interested in this particular issue Um, that's why I was surprised when I actually looked at the project proposal that it didn't actually seem to do much Uh, directly affecting the lagoon Um, it This project seems to be just building on an existing parking lot Uh, and uh, one of the things I think we've seen as a region Uh, I know Santa Cruz, uh county is suffering right now. Just like my county San Mateo county Is wildfires and the number of people and families that have been pushed into the wildland urban interface Because they can't afford to live in downtown areas that are much less prone to wildfire Uh, I also happened to be at a presentation a few months ago by Governor Gavin Newsom the senior advisor on climate kate gordon Uh, and she said that in california The single best thing you can do to fight climate change is to speak out in support of dense infill housing projects Uh, it's a problem across the state that our downtowns are too Low density that too many people are sort of being pushed into the fringes of regions Because they can't afford to live in downtown because there's so much Demand and so little supply Uh, so I think I suspect you're going to hear a lot of arguments about the environment tonight But uh, it's hard to see how they could possibly outweigh the value Of uh, building up density in walkable bikeable, uh, transit accessible areas That is essential for defeating climate change. I urge you please continue this process project along the process It's essential for the future of our region and for the future of the residents here. Thank you We're watching just to leave at seven. I wasn't sure if there's any Uh, I know in the middle public comment But I wanted to just to give a more watch as an opportunity if you have any comments or questions given that we're Of eight minutes away from seven o'clock if you want if you had any comments you'd like to make Realize I haven't heard all of the public input nor have I heard the response from the developer Um, but I was just sort of sure just instinctually, you know in terms of the spot zoning and The exceptions it doesn't necessarily instinctually feel like the right decisions for me to move forward at this time But I also just want to um put an asterisk by that knowing that I haven't fully heard all elements of the presentation And I apologize for having to tune out early. I will stay until 7 30. Okay. I apologize too. I thought it was seven But yeah, I'll hopefully there'll be more time for discussion Okay, Kyle Kelly. I live not too far from this project Like was echoed before it's really important that we build urban infill I think at a time like this when You know, we have family and friends that are fleeing the mountains And it will continue to get worse the more that we can get people into walkable bikeable communities in Santa Cruz And improve the ability for the workforce that that comes into Santa Cruz to work Now they're coming all the people are coming from Watsonville Hollister all over the place to come and work and we need more opportunities for them We're not going to make things more affordable by not Building it and and the reality is that the main way that we're going to get affordable housing out of these out of these, you know Private for-profit developers is to is to require them and to help them get through on getting those affordable units built Like was noted earlier. We didn't have any we didn't have any permitted and built last year We thankfully have some being permitted this year and I'd like to see more. So I'd like to see this continue on As for the community, I think there's plenty more community engagement that can happen in terms of bike lanes, you know mixed mobility options As well as as a commitment to helping with some of the issues that the community is facing With the current project and and with the the current owners But I would like to see them be able to build on those parking lots and build up a lot more. Thank you And council this cross-segers. I'm speaking on behalf of phoenix street group Okay, and uh, we'll give you um, since you called in for additional time We'll leave you four minutes to speak on behalf of your group. Thank you thank you and um, I see that the previous speakers are not in the neighborhood I believe because Just the way they sound. But anyway, I am for affordable housing Um, I am a member of the local CR com as I am passionate about the environment and spot zoning is not the way to go A specific parcel of land for use in a consultation Totally different from that of the surrounding area for the benefit of the owner of Property and to the detriment of other owners Some other owners around this property aren't going to be able to or they will be able to build up And this will not just be down here, but this right was anchored the entire far west side of santa cruz reaching out to Um entire west side of santa cruz. It's not just this area Um, this area is not in downtown. It is all west side Um, the area of the game encompasses areas that in the general plan One is located in a natural area a natural area according to the general plan page 54 It's a fresh one on the stone page between one center and general plan, which is sensitive habitat It's highly sensitive archaeological site page 21 And it's um, which hopefully if they're doing this they should go to study to see if there are sites there or if they need to have an archaeological archaeological site Right, can you hear me? I'm not in santa cruz, but I am a planning commissioner in the south bay And I want to drop in to say this is precisely the kind of project that we'd love to see more of This project puts housing at the least environmentally destructive place conceivable parking lots The severity of the shortage means that any housing is desperately needed But especially this it's even a density and aesthetic match to the surrounding apartments The fundamental truth of environmentalism is that you can't truly throw anything away because a way isn't a place It's true for people too. If you don't come to the building here The result will be even more unaffordable single-family homes in fire risk zones Where residents will drive more will certainly not bike to downtown And will have a far far greater effect on natural resources than being adjacent to a lagoon A good portion of santa cruz county is literally on fire right now If you don't make room for people to live in the safe parts you're condemning them to the fires This isn't just a great idea. This is a moral imperative. I urge the council to move the application ahead It's quickly and efficiently as possible. Thank you very much. Hi. This is kelsey hill I'm calling to express my opposition to a general plan amendment zone change for the proposed development at neary lagoon I have multiple concerns about this project including the rate of affordability units and environmental impact But at this stage i'm concerned with spot zoning in this application because it undermines the integrity of the community input process on the general plan There's an extensive process to get feedback in the plan in 2012 And the neighbors made it clear that they wanted lesser density in the felix street neighborhood plan than planned for in previous decades So the question on the dios should not be if we can squeeze in more density in this area One that is a wildlife sanctuary and homes for sensitive wetland But should we and is that added density appropriate for this neighborhood? Change on a parcel by parcel basis Concerning as it opens the door to inappropriate developments that prove detrimental to the quality of life in certain pockets of our community We should build affordable density in places where it is appropriate to do so in places that increase the quality of life for residents I don't believe this neighborhood is appropriate for that increase More over an approach that zones to the needs of developers is generally not a good practice And sends a message to our community that their input on the general plan isn't as important I urge the council to resist spot zoning for this project and I thank you for my time Am I am I on now Justin? Yes. Good evening. Oh, hi. Hi. My name is Sandra. I have any I live in shelter lagoon um, I'm one of the one of the Community members that serves as a liaison with the community with the department of public works that oversees the uh, the lagoon every year Uh an extensive um 300 thousand dollar budget to remove tulis and sediment from the lagoon And protect the the wildlife um in the lagoon and the birds the two over 200 species of birds um, I just wanted to give that preliminary because um, the lagoon is very a very sensitive wetland and one of the few remaining coastal wetlands in california and um, as I said before home to 200 species of birds by the way, I'm Representing the save neary lagoon group so thus get four minutes. I don't know if I'll need four minutes, but and I yeah so that's the group I'm representing right now and um Within less than a month we got 3 000 signatures of community members That were completely outraged and vehemently opposed to having uh, this project put adjacent to uh, the lagoon Not only would it be adjacent to the lagoon um with A year and a half of building materials going up and down felix street up and down laurel street building 80 houses While we're trying to overcome a fire Um, and all that will be going on will having trucks building 80 houses down already blocked neary um felix street and and laurel street Um, I I just can't even imagine it before the fire But getting back to the lagoon Once the lagoon and and the environment the the sensitive environment of the loon is is is Affected there's no turning back. There's no creating the lagoon again and the the the The delicate um ecosystem that exists there Um, and let's be clear about this. There's so many points here But let's be really clear because I I hear you talking about affordable housing And and it certainly is important, but it's important to be smart about it And it's important not to have a knee jerk. Oh, you know We're gonna make after this fire the um the developers Like christmas morning, uh because we need more housing. It's not like that. First of all It's 64 units of not affordable housing 64 units of gentrification 64 units where either You know, it's going to be oh, it's going to be market rate Are we going to destroy this whole area of felix street that's already overly dense for 16 affordable units? Is that really a decision that that makes sense? 16 affordable units adjacent to a lagoon cutting down 37 trees 22 of the trees are heritage trees for 16 affordable units This does this does not reflect the the values of the community that lives here Within a month. We've gotten 3 000 signatures So we could get more than that over the months and we really urge you During this crisis time that we're going through that we don't all the community would like to spend Our time and our energy helping the people that have been affected by the fires our friends our neighbors and not arguing about this and And and fighting against this developer who may call himself a bay area developer But while we've been on the phone, I've looked up brattic and logan and I've looked up them Another time and their server was down. I don't know. Maybe they go under another name But there's three google reviews. And I know google reviews is not exactly a legitimate Authority but They're all one star reviews It's a terrible builder and a terrible management And I I urge you not to support this project Can everyone hear me? Yes Hello. Hi, uh, thanks for having the time for us I would like to express my extreme opposition towards this project. I live over on blackburn street and I don't know I've heard two people on this phone call talk about who lives in monoray bay and burling game It's kind of you know, I would really like if the opinions of the people who actually live in this neighborhood were really considered I live the street over from felix street If you walked up and down felix street, you would see currently that there is no parking I have friends that have told me that they have to get cars towed from the front of their driveways Because there's not enough room for them to park their own cars and a lot of those cars are coming from cypress point apartments The developer does not plan to provide additional parking. So that would exacerbate the issue of The already existing issue of traffic and parking. Um Another thing that I think has not been addressed yet is that this area this nearly lagoon area of the lower west side We are in a tsunami hazard zone and as the climate is changing, which it is And as water is rising, we are also at risk for floods for flooding. Um, so we talk about making environmentally Conscious decisions and I am most definitely not opposed to affordable housing and the reconstruction of affordable housing. However Building an area where there is a tsunami risk and flood risk is not smart And it does put human lives at risk. There is only one path of egress for this entire Community adding hundreds of more people to a single apartment complex that are leaving in the case of emergency in dangers human lives So to answer the question of whether you should amend the general plan or the local coastal program is no, you should not um The vast majority of this community opposes this very strongly and um In the midst of a fire cutting down 22 heritage trees is just unthinkable Um, this is already highly highly impacted neighborhood. We do not want this. Believe me. I have gone door to door Thank you Hi, my name's elissa barnes and i'm speaking on behalf of the seaside cottages hoa, so i'm requesting extra time please Okay, so we'll give um elissa barnes four minutes Thank you. So I live on on In the area. I'm part of the hoa The seaside cottages hoa I've lived in sanacruz for 30 years. My family has owned this home on neary street Which is one of the streets that goes off of felix for the last 20 years Our hoa it has nine homes, but there's only 13 privately owned homes on felix street 70 percent that makes for 70 percent of the private homes on felix street felix street already Is massively densely populated in terms of the general outlying neighborhoods We have far too many people in this area right now and we cannot afford to have More people put in as an infill affordable housing is one thing 16 units of Affordable housing compared to the amount of money that this builder and owner will be making is not a good choice So felix is a long straight street and cypress point is at the very end of it That's where getting in and out of that complex would be problematic Natural disaster or issue right now traffic on felix street is very fast and Parking is Completely built up. It's a narrow. It's a fairly narrow street I am strongly opposed to building more units at the cypress point resident area and largely because the cypress point management is not doing a good job of Managing their appointment of their apartments as it is They have an f rating the lowest rating on the rent the online renters forum and When the trees that are lining the small waterway called laurel creeks that goes into the lagoon Fall or limbs break off. They're letting them sit. They're throwing them over the fence into the waterway blocking the waterway They just are not doing a good job of managing the complex that they have and I do not feel that it is a good policy to allow them to have more people in there and to manage more People while they're already having such a Bad, they're not doing a good job to start with Basically our neighborhood is as dense as it can tolerate Walking back and forth to downtown is great, but we do have just incredible foot traffic And as well as car traffic on these streets already I Do not feel that it's a good idea to add more foot traffic at night and weekends the people who are living here are severely impacted This area just has more Um density than any other other areas any other neighborhoods in Santa Cruz Um The community can't afford to lose the 36 trees that they want to cut down 27 of which are heritage trees a natural wetlands Is the kind of thing that people come to Santa Cruz to be around I know we have a housing shortage We are already densely packed into this area I don't think spot rezoning is a good way to go. It just is not supportive of the general plan of our community um We have a beautiful natural area and we need the amount of trees that we have we need every tree Wildlife is being pushed into this area from the fires and I just Don't feel that this is a good project. Please vote no All right. Thank you. Uh, hello I'd like to address two issues that weren't uh previously mentioned in the webinar back in june First is asbestos everyone is vulnerable to asbestos that is especially true during the pandemic The lease reveals asbestos in unit ceilings and outer walls, but the developer still wants to renovate roofs balconies and external walls Uh, there's a possibility that an entire building could be tinted However, I think an environmental review something of that sort Uh should be a requirement since not only are Nearby buildings at risk are asbestos exposure for perhaps Felix Street itself Um, my second issue is uh relocation as the buildings are renovated tenants will supposedly be Relocated to other units But with occupancy already high How do they intend to magically empty units and avoid mass evictions? This project is supposed to take place in 18 months And there are at least three 400 people already living here. The numbers just don't add up Um, it's especially unwise during a pandemic relocating for obvious reasons So my question is If management neglects these apartments, which they already own then why should we trust them with more units? and also can we trust such a business to Properly renovate without exposing tenants to asbestos for issue. I just noticed earlier today I was looking through the agenda packet Uh emails written on august 19th I would like to refer the council members to this packet pages 788 to 816 They're about 15 emails. I've noticed that they're like form emails or uh, fake health And um, I worked at tech before I find it very suspicious and please But management or business would resort to emailing to the council members These sort of form emails. Thank you. Sorry. That's all I have to say. Thank you. Thank you very much Speaking. Yes, you are on the line Hello, my name is Kathy Haber and I live A hundred feet from the property line To cypress point and I've lived here for 19 years There are many problems, uh associated with this particular neighborhood um The cypress point apartments apparently does not have a dog policy Other than the fact that they allow every apartment to have two dogs Including the studio apartments There are many dogs there. They bark and bark and bark And because there are openings in the fence Down at the lagoon end where our properties join the city property The residents of cypress point walk through Uh shelter lagoon, which is a private property. It's posted private They walk through all the time with their dogs and just walking through Um, we've posted signs. It does no good at all Um, the dogs pee and poop on everything And I really don't like that. I just would like to say I don't like the neighbors to come into my place with their animals to relieve themselves This is the management of cypress point that these other Speakers have talked about. I went on their website Um last week and discovered that they as of now have 14 vacancies I don't understand why you're saying that we need more apartments at cypress point if right now they have 14 vacancies This neighborhood has a lot of publicly operated Affordable housing at the end of chestnut street. There is a very large public housing project with hundreds of units And immediately to us. There is a senior affordable housing This neighborhood has too many people already. Bye now. I apologize. Hello. My name is Good evening commissioners. My name is sarah ogleby and I am of the bay area And I would just first like to say how disheartened and how saddened I am to hear all of the um hostile folks that are calling and And uh chastising people who are calling in from different parts of the bay area to Express their support for this project. I want to remind folks that um, you know, there is a senate bill 167 It's called the housing accountability act Times is the lack of housing is a critical problem in california that threatens the economic environmental and social quality of life for all californians California housing has become the most expensive in the nation Excessive cost of state housing supply is partially caused by the activities and policies of many local governments that limit the approval of housing Increase the cost of land for housing and requires a high fee of actions paid by creditors of housing And um, you know, also by uh people who live Close to housing projects to who um, are essentially kill them. Um, I would like to speak in favor of this project I've I've come to um become familiar with it. It's walkable to downtown It's a block from the bus line. It creates 16 actual affordable housing units on site converts parking lots into housing It does not just any existing existing residents. You cannot gentrify parking lots. It improves traffic It protects and preserves 121 heritage trees and 44 new native trees will be planted Being just a 15 minute walk from the heart of downtown and a block away from the bus and ucfc It's the perfect place for more people to arrive and contribute to the economy of santa cruz Live car-free lifestyles But while we value tree-filled neighborhoods, removing 22 trees should not be the sole reason to reject unneeded housing development Especially since mature trees can be replaced with young trees resulting in more carbon sequestration Please allow the smart growth project at 101 feel like streets to move forward. Thank you Thank you I've just been listening and I don't have a whole lot to say but um, oh by the name By the way, my name is molly brame and i'm a resident next door to uh, the proposed project I live at shelter lagoon apartments or condos I'm calling because well for one I mean overall, I've heard both sides and I see both sides and I think A lot of good points have been made, but I overall feel like this really just comes down to You know general greed People just want to build more to make more money and they're entitled to that. It's a capitalist society I get all that blah blah blah My question for if anyone is still on the line who is part of this project If they can say how many apartments currently at this location are affordable or for low income residents You know how much what are they doing right now for low income and I don't know if they can answer that Um, and I just I liked what somebody else one of the residents at cypress point had said earlier She pointed out that that they live on a cul-de-sac I never have thought about that we walked by that we walked by there this morning and That is such a concern. I've never thought of before for the the issue of safety and thinking of so many more residents coming in And then I think another call had mentioned, you know wearing the tsunami Zone or such how it's labeled That's that's kind of concerning. I I just hadn't thought about that. But um, yeah, I guess overall I'm I'm in a pose I oppose this project personally So thank you for my thank you for your time and have a nice evening. Thank you. Thank you commissioners for your time I just want to note that uh kershia is with the seara club and um, she Has asked for four minutes. So if she can have four minutes to speak Um, that'd be appreciated. Thanks. Yeah, I um, you received a 14 page analysis of this project Um, it's in depth. We looked at all the documents Um, I have a lot of experience over the years I'm investigating developmental projects in our county and I will give a nimby disclaimer I've lived a stone's throw from this project for 17 years And I just want to say in all my years of environmental activism It's the neighbors that care the most They're the ones who live near this natural space They know the land the nuances We've walked we have walked the lagoon. We know those 36 trees by the way, it's 36 trees And it's 27 are heritage We've measured the trees There are trees with 12 these people calling from the san francisco bay area Or who have been you know paid by the san francisco developer to talk They do not know that those trees are some of them are 12 feet around And they'll be lost permanently And that's even more endearing when we've had a fire That has destroyed thousands of trees nearby We have recently many many more Animals and birds coyotes coming down the creek. We're hearing They are refugees from this fire And it is not I want to respond to mr. Bain. It's not unutilized space Just because the the parking area This was put in before there were general plan restrictions 125 feet one of the building sites Is just 125 feet and it is down Um a down flow it will have run off from I sent you photos From um the parking lot. There's already severe issues about this So we care because we live here. We're connected with the area. We walk it every day It's our it is a backyard and we're proud of that and I think that neighbors should be heard stronger So we do support high density infill This is the crux of the analysis when it follows the appropriate zoning the legislation the general plan But the community took years to develop this was for protection for sustainable development and protecting our sensitive habitat It's what makes santa cruz really special and unique And we definitely oppose putting high density at the end of the street Next to a precious wetland in open space There's too many inconsistencies which have been outlined in this 14 pages. I'll go over a few They do not agree with the general plan The guidelines about open space and sustainable development Um as a fact a planner told me that this development only got in in 1971 that it could never have been built today If we followed our general plan and local coastal program There's a buffer some of the buildings are 13 feet from the creek in the lagoon. That would not be allowed Thank goodness for people like you holding up legislation There's a small margin the closest area to the parking lot is 65 feet So near the goon also if you look at that 2009 local biologists assessment of the area There are 12 endangered species. This is unusual diverse habitat It's one of a few wetlands if someone mentioned before 90 of wetlands in california have been forever lost It has an abundance of threatened and protected species They do not know the difference between the edge of the lagoon And two trees that have been paved around in the parking lot that wildlife is very sensitive If you see in that report to light pollution to human disturbance A year to two years of construction noise will disrupt their nest and And upset us so in some I'm saying please I urge you to vote no and oppose this Look at our detailed analysis of how this does not agree With the community and our values and Thanks for your time. My name is Henry Hooker. I live in Santa Cruz And I'm calling in support of this project Seems to me that at the city of Santa Cruz is serious about Building housing at this for a workforce and affordable housing that this is the place to do it It's near downtown. It's sustainable bikeable walkable and I'm calling to represent actually The 20,000 people who commute into Santa Cruz every day Because there's no place for them to live 12,000 of those people are commuting more than 10 miles And it's contributing to The disaster that we see on highway one morning and evening And this is infill housing. It's on a parking lot on parking lots It's hard to imagine actually A better place to put dense infill housing Which is actually what the Sierra Club is suggesting is key To solving the housing crisis in california Thank you very much. Hi, my name is Morgan Bishop. I'm a Santa Cruz president and and a I'm affiliated with a local homeless services nonprofit And I would just like to say that I think we can all agree that there is Obviously a housing crisis Here in Santa Cruz and I'm in support of this project For this just for the fact that we need more affordable housing And I think that it's the responsibility of the city to take care of the people who live there That would be over 1200 people who are homeless living on our streets And about 78 of those being without any shelter whatsoever And additionally around 80 of those people are Santa Cruz locals and they have been forced to live on the streets because The housing prices have skyrocketed so much that they simply can't afford to live there anymore I recognize what all previous speakers have said I to value our Value our ecosystem And I feel for the people that are saying that it's going to be overcrowded But I think when it comes down to it, we need to solve this housing crisis And we can't just sit back and let 1200 people sleep on the streets every single night um Another point that I would like to make is one of the largest homeless services non-profits In Santa Cruz is housing matters, which actually makes an effort to put Unhoused people into units The fact is is that Those units which aren't available right now from my understanding And so that's why I'm in support of building more units affordable units to House people in our community Thank you Thank you Allow to speak you have two minutes. Hi there So this is chris from philips street group again That's cute. I'm he's cute left over Okay to finish up So parks and open spaces the areas and parks and open spaces it's a tsunami zone It's in a red liquid liquidification zone To finish my previous points and I know philips very well The apartments they rent for $2,400 How many families can afford that it's not affordable people? I don't think so one bedroom in the um document plus fees goes for $2,400 $2,500 This is not affordable. There's not a homeless person I know it is going to be able to afford $2,400 $2,500 a month for one bedroom And so what happens is they fill up these it's mostly students who fill in these apartments with four to six people That's just crazy makes for increased traffic cars, etc. Everybody that comes to school especially students. They bring their cars Here And when they're seeing an unmanagement, please talk to the people In the area in the apartments that live there as far as the complaints that they have and just one side note Cypress Point Apartments is owned by gray star, which is the largest Rental property in the United States of not the world on their website. They say that they are The largest rental leader rental in housing in the world In April they had 32 billion dollars in gross assets In June of 2020 they had six from 93,000 units of apartments in the United States The company was sued for violating consumer protection laws in Los Angeles by gathering extensive personal identifying information about its tenants knowledge or consent and The money from this does not stay locally. It goes out to their headquarters. I'm guessing in Charleston, South Carolina which the attorney general for the state of california issued a travel ban on any type of public dollars or travel being spent in South Carolina because of discriminatory State laws that they have there so I just cancelled to Really just say no to this and kill it. It's bad all the way around Um and thank you for your time You're mine. Yeah, I'll keep this pretty short. Um, thanks for having me and hope you guys are all safe during uh During this time. My name is Aaron. I'm the local resident here. I live in the downtown area Um, I am against the uh the 101 Felix street. Uh cypress point apartment expansion I wanted to touch on a couple of things. Uh, why I'm against that I have actually had a personal experience trying to run from them as I recently moved To tana cruise about a month or two ago and I you know, I Try the rent from them. They had very misleading advertising. I found They had extremely low ratings Their apartments, you know as being a recent college grad their apartments were extremely expensive Um, a lot more than they had led on to believe I created an appointment with them and Found out later that you know, they upcharged by quite a bit Taking a look at their reviews online. You can see clearly what their 1.8 stars on google reviews and 2.0 stars on uh, yes that uh and multiple reviews Talk about them taking advantage of the tenants withholding deposits The rundown apartments they hide costs Uh, a lot of uh, you know, we're talking about this being affordable houses Well with COVID-19 many of their reviews state that there is no leave way with COVID-19 even though that was uh, there's laws passed to uh, to avoid evictions Uh, a lot of people spoke about that the wrong police sent out eviction notices Um, I am pro affordable housing and expansion of housing in tana cruise But I do not think that cypress point Uh management is the one to uh, I don't think they should be uh They should be running, I guess the show but uh, thank you very much. You know, it's nice for having this public question I'm a tenant at service point apartments and I'm against this project because First of all, um, we've had firsthand experiences with the management management. They're very unprofessional They never follow up on your uh, fixed orders around the apartment and I also know someone who scheduled a move out inspection like probably 10 to two weeks ago and uh, The management they just completely flake but they never appeared. There was no email on the phone call. So As we can see they are barely barely struggle. They're they're barely functioning To manage all these apartments and imagine if they add 80 more How bad it will be? Clearly they're not up. They're not up to standard. They're not up to the task and They honestly don't care about the residents or just this neighborhood in general In fact, there is actually a huge branch It's like half a tree that fell on the property of this complex and it's been there for Almost 10 days now So again, it's a fire hazard. They haven't done anything about it. I don't think they even emailed us to be honest So again, I think it's it's a huge It's a huge mistake if we allow type of point to continue with this project as well as The big bother owns them great star. Um, their website is not really helpful. It's really hard to contact them Via phone or email. So I don't I I don't think they really care. They're not invested in this Society this community. So uh, that is why I think they should not be building this In addition, their problems is parking global warming, slummies, all that So I think there are better places around town that can't handle a good scene of Buchanan again And I live in front of the tree that collapsed at Sampras Point And I completely concur with the previous caller The management here is I don't they can't even handle what we have now which is what 240 units? and they want to Take care of An additional 80. Anyway, I know gray star has taken this all over Um, I don't see any improvement in the management of this of this apartment complex And meanwhile, can I interrupt you for one second? We have a dead 3d Can if I can interrupt you for one second Have you already spoken on this item because members of the public only allowed one opportunity to speak and we're trying to Make it through this item so that we can move on to oral communications and Action or action on this item and then oral communication So if you've already spoken, we're going to ask that you please yield your time to other members of the public who haven't spoken yet I yield my time Thank you Shouldn't the deliberation and question be given two minutes Localizing here on the west side and I definitely oppose the I know that in previous meetings they're they're been brought up Issues about the way that they were going to be constructing these units so close together And in terms of the walls between two two units being Just a few feet apart from each other Just due to the fact that they're building right in the parking lot there The issues with with potential fire dangers or if there is an emergency Like like one that we have now, but when the hits closer to home I'm definitely worried about access given that there is it is a cul-de-sac and there is only that one straight out Just in terms of if something if there it does have to be an evacuation anything like that all really big concerns of mine and and I just like to say that Because of those reasons and all the reasons that people have said before I definitely oppose this project. Thank you Thank you. Hey, thank you for taking my call My name is Jane real and I uh live on neary street, which is a small short street between felix and blackburn and um Right next to the uh cypress point apartments and I vehemently oppose this project For all the reasons that you've already heard um, it is It does impact our neighborhood a lot. There's already a lot of traffic. My driveway is always blocked Um by park people who park in live in cypress point. There's not enough parking as is and um You've heard about the parking you've heard about the traffic you've heard about the one way in one way out You've heard about the bad management You've heard about the heritage trees and the wildlife and the lagoon and you've heard about Uh the impact that this is going to have on the neighborhood. I am all for affordable housing I live right across the street from the linda apartment and those are affordable houses There are a lot of section 8 housing and people live there for a long time and they're part of this neighborhood Cypress point has a transient population people do not stay because they cannot afford to stay in those apartments Students come in and they live four or five students to an apartment And then they leave and they leave their trash and when asked why Some apartments were vacant during the summer months and and why they needed more Housing we were told by the developer by the owner that those apartments are paid for people Students from out of town pay for those apartments year round, but they don't live in them So there is empty housing in this neighborhood and we can see the impact in the summer when students are gone There's parking There's less trash around But when they're here and it's full There it's the neighborhood is complete. Thank you for your time. I urge you to vote no Yeah, I know whether they've spoken already Yes, but I wanted to speak for a few tenants who were too afraid to call in for fear of being evicted Is that okay or not? Okay Unfortunately at this moment. I think we Each individual only gets two minutes, but if they can send us Email correspondence, we're happy to put that on the record for those individuals as well Okay, thank you. Thank you. So one thing on the spot Resoning here. We are just changing it back to what it was when we developed the project You know, basically what to confirm what's there now And we need legally conforming at that point You know, there's several things done here. We've had a lot of reports completed And two of those reports are an arborist report And you know the trees that we are removing that will not be able to preserve based on our design All of them were built You know with the project or since the project was developed So just to be clear and then the traffic Impact study that we we completed You know included in the parking analysis and the parking stalls. We are actually adding 48 new stalls And that isn't sufficient for 80 apartment units on on the surface, but we have a parking We counted the parking stalls at 11 p.m on two different nights in mid january Including a weekday and a weekend and there were 76 and 119 stalls And so empty stalls open and those Indicates that we have ample parking And just to be clear. We are not gray star. We we we Again, we've owned the project since 2005 in 2017. We Hired alliance, which is now owned by gray star to help us manage the project institutional management and You know to be clear is you know, we're It's owned by an affiliate to braddock and logan's and we are very much local private capital not wall street Nothing like that. We are here in the bay area been around since 1947 But there was a lot of comments on the property management and I used to have david these venues since 2005 In charge of our property management. Uh, don't want to speak Thank you, brian. Just really quickly Um, if we have owned cypress point apartments since 2005 We've been a member of that community of that real estate community for 15 years Uh, I think we provide a valuable resource to the community That's moderately priced workforce rental housing. That's what cypress point apartments are. There are many apartments in santa cruz That are much more expensive than cypress point We invest and reinvest in the property every year and we try to make it as nice a community as it can be Um, I think cypress point is one of it's not the largest department communities in santa cruz We're desperately needed to save clean rental housing stock is it's certainly needed We've provided that we've provided it for 15 years. We've done our best to be good neighbors in the field street area in fact today during the uh the santa cruz lightning fire Uh, uh crisis that uh that the community is facing we've opened the community to santa santa cruz fire cal fire santa cruz police department evacuees we're working with the santa cruz relief organization growth change organization They're all bringing evacuees to us. We uh, so far with people in four apartments. We have furnished those apartments at our cost People are staying there some in many cases. I'm free of charge for the next week to two weeks while they Figure out what their next steps are We're doing all that we can to help temporary shelter. This is part of being in this community Also like to address a few the comments that have been made by the public attendees here One comment was made by a cypress point resident that she sees people moving out of the community all the time I just like for the council to understand that our apartment community like this Will routinely see 30 to 60 turn over every year that is customary We could bring you national multi housing council Facts and figures people move because they buy homes people move because they get new jobs Family situations change So that is that is not uncommon Turnover occurs here I'd also like to note that we do allow pets at this community. I think by our records. We have 36 units that have animals dogs 54 dogs in total that we have by record We're Majority of apartments in the bay area professionally under management allow pets allow dogs We have dogs here that are also assistance animals And that's outside of our control of what we can what we could or cannot deny in those assistance animals Coming with those residents There's a public piece that provides access to lagoon People that live in the neighborhood walk their dogs through the property into the lagoon and along the lagoon We can't stop them. So it may not just be residents of cypress point That are making their way down the lagoon into the neighboring property That's that's the nature of the public easement there If brian said the property is managed by great start They are the largest management companies in the united states They do a good job. That's why they're the largest management company in the united states. We've owned the property for 15 years If you don't want for years to come Commit to being good neighbors If there are any issues at the property Those should be brought to the property manager and we are committed to following up with any Complaints matters that are that are being addressed That's what we've done for 15 years. It's never perfect. Don't get me wrong. That's this business But we are 100 committed to addressing those those matters Thank you council members who have questions at this time either first Thank you everybody. So I have a couple of questions So one of the callers And actually someone texted me saying that tenants are afraid to speak out for fear of retaliation Have you have you reached out to the tenants that are currently living there regarding the potential of construction? Or how have they been informed that this might be happening? I can address that That that's Absolutely false. There is no threat of addiction to anybody for speaking out They're obviously both state and local laws that that govern How an unlawful detainer process would work and on what grounds? We have to follow all those laws and regulations. We've reached out to the cypress point community about this project And there's No threat of retribution.  I'd certainly like to hear from that person directly as a follow-up to this Why they feel that way because that that is 100 not true Thank you. And then the other one is um How many do you have like a maximum number of people that can be in like a studio one bedroom? You know, it's it's there are HUD housing urban development HUD guidelines that all housing owners and managers really are Have to follow. So it's two people per bedroom plus one So for example in a one bedroom unit, that would be three people In a two bedroom apartment, that would be five people that that is That's really outside of our control if we were to not allow those three people to live in a one bedroom apartment We could be subject to housing violations, that's a federal law And so from my understanding the ones that are going to be proposed to be built are Studios and one bedroom. What about studios? Um, the studio is two people by HUD guidelines Thank you Yep, I have uh, I have one question for the developer by deed restriction There are not affordable units by that technical definition But again, if if we were to Measure the rents at cypress point today from studios up through two bedrooms Against all of the, you know, class of rental housing in Santa Cruz I think the rents here fit into what would definitely be workforce level rents At times have have apartments rented for Higher or lower depending on the season the time of year Absolutely studios will rent somewhere between 1700 and And 1900 dollars Generally routinely one bedroom apartments will rent 2000 to 2200 dollars typically And two bedroom apartments will rent for 24 to 2600 dollars and again Might be higher than those ranges sometimes it might be lower our general plan roughly 2005 It's finished in 2012 there were over 100 meetings that were public meetings associated with that and um The uh environmental impact report and the general plan was certified after, you know, roughly seven years of the overall process The applicant is close to being The applicant. I'm sorry the application is close to being complete. Tell me why we're here tonight right now the applicant is uh In about to embark on what's a costly endeavor that would be completing the environmental impact okay and And moving forward with that Environmental document whether that's a mitigated negative declaration or an environmental impact report, you know, the what's required Can't be determined until those Documents are complete, but that's a big investment in both Time and money both for the applicant and in time that our staff and our team spends And so this provides the council an opportunity to weigh in and provide feedback On that in advance of that significant Time investment. It's not something that we do for every project, but it's an extra step I I believe the last time it was done was with the lava hea project and And so it's an opportunity for the community to weigh in it's an opportunity for the council to weigh in and Provide direction Thank you. I I want I thought that was it but I didn't know where there was a little bit more to it But it's just the environmental review. Yeah The determination of whatever could be it could be a negative deck not quite as expensive Right not quite as expensive. We don't know yet That's correct and still A fair number of technical reports, you know, regardless of the the process The eir or mnd The reports themselves are expensive and and time consuming. Thank you. Thank you to this project But so it would be affordable in the future because You know, one would one would think that something built in 1971 would actually be Or I'd be happy to so couple of things first I would say the Best way to ensure long-term affordability is to have deed restrictions and With density bonus projects, you're getting deed restrictions at actually lower Levels of affordability typically there are options in which the developer can choose to provide more at higher levels or fewer More affordability more affordable units at I should say a higher number of affordable units at Higher affordability levels. So like 80 percent AMI or fewer affordable units At Deeper affordability levels say 50 percent of area median income in any case whether it's inclusionary or through the density bonus That's the best way or 100 affordable projects that use tax credits and so forth. That's how we're getting long term Affordability, I think, you know, the the state legislative analyst office Has weighed in on this the state has weighed in on it in terms of the housing accountability act I think it's it's clearly known that Throughout the state there is a shortage of housing and that has certainly driven up prices. It's basic economics 101 What is more debatable? I would say And but there are stud