UC Santa Cruz seeks reapproval on housing project
Community activists still oppose plan
SANTA CRUZ >> UC Santa Cruz is seeking the reapproval of the Student Housing West project, after Santa Cruz Superior Court rescinded approval of the project in October.
The attempt at reapproval will come roughly two years after the project’s original approval in 2019 before it was met with legal trouble and opposition from community groups. Approval for the project was rescinded on a handful of California Environmental Quality Act violations.
The violations were against the regents for the broader UC system. The UC Regents failed to be fully transparent with the public and its own constituents, according to the ruling from Judge Paul Burdick.
The regents rejected project alternatives as economically infeasible in March of 2019. However, the environmental impact report for the project didn’t provide sufficient evidence for the regents to come to that conclusion, according to the ruling.
UC Regents also failed to follow approval procedure. The EIR analysis was given to a portion of the regents and the rejection of the project alternatives was voted on by only three members. A minimum of nine regents are required to meet the voting quorum.
The ultimate rescinding of the project’s approval did not bar the university from new building projects. Instead, it rejected the plan that was previously in place. It has now been 130 days and the university is hopeful the move forward with the project.
UC Santa Cruz drafted the Student Housing West Project in 2017. The idea was to
create 3,000 new beds on the northwest side of campus for students. The project included an additional development in the university’s East Meadow that contained 125 beds, and a childcare facility for students with families.
The purpose of the project was to create an affordable living situation for UC Santa Cruz students. The average cost of a studio apartment in Santa Cruz is around $1,475, according the university’s rental cost statistics.
Living in Santa Cruz only gets more expensive from there. Rent for a one-bedroom apartment averages around $2,177 and a twobedroom apartment, on average, is more than $3,000, according to the university.
“We care about our students from the moment they enroll in classes and throughout their entire life,” UC Santa Cruz Chancellor Cynthia Larive said in a prepared statement. “The lack of housing locally and the exorbitant cost of what is available is challenging for our students, particularly those who are from low-income backgrounds.”
However, on campus housing doesn’t provide a much cheaper option. A dorm room runs $1,868 per month, which includes meals every day of the week, according to UC Santa Cruz’s housing department. Without the meal plan, the room would cost roughly $1,602 a month, but a meal plan is required for all students who live in residence halls.
If the project is approved, it will pave the way for more development on campus, according to a UC Santa Cruz press release. After the new housing is built, the university will have an opportunity to demolish old buildings and replace them with six new ones to house roughly 2,700 undergraduate students and an additional 220 graduate students.
However, to get to that point, the project will need to be approved again. It is already receiving pushback from the community since the university announced its intentions to seek reapproval.
“We are mystified and dismayed by Chancellor Larive’s March 5 announcement that she will soon seek reapproval from the UC Board of Regents to proceed with a major student housing development, Student Housing West,” reads a press release from the East Meadow Action Committee, the community group that fought the original approval of the project.
While the group agrees that students need a more affordable living option, it is opposed to the proposed site of the additional housing complex in the university’s East Meadow. The East Meadow is considered a dispersal habitat for the California red-legged frog, a threatened species that is currently protected by the Endangered Species Act.
The group claims that rather than coordinate an effort with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the university chose to move a portion of the Housing West Project into the meadow. The group strongly opposes that portion of the project and said many UC Santa Cruz alumni, faculty and supporters do, as well. It believes the strong opposition will lead to further litigation and delay the project for months or even years.
“This project has been going nowhere for three and a half years because of widespread opposition and the university’s refusal to modify it in a way that would get it built,” the committee said in a statement. “The latest decision is just a continuation of the same unproductive strategy.”
The bid for reapproval will ultimately come to a head later this month. UC Regents will meet again on March 17 and 18.
“This is a perfect time for the campus to return to the original Student Housing West project, make necessary adjustments for the red-legged frog … and move forward on a project that has widespread support, rather than one that has led to bitterness and litigation,” the committee wrote. “We urge the Chancellor to reconsider this decision and we urge the UC Regents to support her in doing so.”
“We care about our students from the moment they enroll in classes and throughout their entire life.”
— UC Santa Cruz Chancellor Cynthia Larive