Council OKs Riverfront housing project
SANTA CRUZ >> The Santa Cruz City Council voted to approve a mixeduse apartment building that will overlook the San Lorenzo River off of Front Street.
The project finally received a final vote Tuesday after being continued several times by the City Council. The item originally sat on the agenda during the City Council’s Nov. 10 meeting, but the vote was pushed back after a late letter regarding concerns from the Coastal Commission was presented to the council.
The item found its way onto the Dec. 8 City Council agenda, but was continued once again with little explanation during the meeting.
While more council members and residents showed support for the project at Tuesday’s meeting than those who didn’t, the argument focused around one thing: affordable housing.
The Front Street Riverfront Project does not create an influx of affordable housing, which has been a goal of City Council’s during recent years, but 11% of all units included are affordable. Of the 175 condos the project proposes, 15 will be affordable to low-income households at 50% of the area median income and an additional five at 80% of the area median income, according to the project description.
The council approved the project in a 5-2 vote. Councilwoman Sandy Brown and Councilman Justin Cummings voted against the approval of the project. The duo had hoped to see changes made to the proposal that would support affordable housing initiatives and Section 8 voucher users.
“I’ve been frustrated that there have not been projects coming to us that make a real meaningful commitment to our affordability crisis,” Brown said. “We are woefully behind when it comes to lowincome units that have been built. We are so far behind that it’s unfathomable to me that we would be supporting high-end luxury development.”
Brown suggested more highend development would bring more residents to Santa Cruz that would drive up the area median income and exacerbate the affordability issue. As the area median income increases, finding affordable housing for people who work low-paying jobs will get harder.
Low-paying jobs aren’t exclusive to working in restaurants, either. Many occupations that are deemed essential to society, such as teachers, hardly make enough money to afford living in Santa Cruz.
The average household income in Santa Cruz as of 2019 is $82,234, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. A teacher in Santa Cruz County with 15 years of experience still would not be able to reach a level of income to afford housing at market price, according to the County Office of Education. The salary chart did not extend beyond 15 years of experience.
Cummings proposed a substitute motion to the project.
“It would be to direct staff to work with the developer to discuss and attempt to negotiate a commitment of a specified number of units, with a minimum of 15 units that would increase the number of affordable units through the use of Section 8 housing vouchers and or the creation of a mechanism that would increase the number of affordable units through the use of Section 8 housing vouchers prior to approving the project,” Cummings said of the substitute motion.
The motion failed in another 5-2 vote with Brown and Cummings being the only supporters.
“I understand the attempt, but I do think we’re covered under the new state law under the Section 8 vouchers,” Mayor Donna Meyers said, adding that she could not support Cummings’ motion.
City zoning ordinance only requires 5% of units to be affordable to very low-income households. The project offers 8% of very-low-income units out of the project’s total number of units. That qualifies the project for a density bonus, which allowed the developer to increase the number of units in the project by 27.5%, according to section 24.16.245 of the city’s zoning ordinance.
Councilwoman Renee Golder agreed with Meyer’s sentiment. She alluded to the possibility of an increased number of affordable units causing costs to rise for the remaining units in the building.
“I am fully supportive of councilmember Cummings’ intent with the substitute motion, I also think that having a project pencil out and being built is a benefit to the community,” Golder said. “There has to be a balance, if we increase the number of affordable units in this project, the developers will have to make the project pencil out in order to get the financing that they need. Then the other units are just going to cost more.”
Adding more restrictions regarding Section 8 housing complicates the process, increases costs and increases rent prices in the long run, she concluded.