Santa Cruz YIMBY Newsletter
May 2017
Hello, fellow Santa Cruz YIMBYs! This is the first Santa Cruz YIMBY newsletter of many to come.
What Santa Cruz YIMBY did in April
We are just getting started! The Santa Cruz YIMBY Facebook page and twitter account were created on April 22nd.
On the agenda for May
A meetup!
Time and date to be announced soon. Let us know what dates and times work for you by sending us an email: santacruzyimby@gmail.com.
City of Santa Cruz Advocacy
The UCSC chancellor is unofficially scheduled to appear before the City of Santa Cruz Council to discuss their Long Range Development Plan. This will likely be the first major meeting of many. The chancellor wants to renovate or build as many as 3,000 new beds on campus! The UCSC chancellor is unofficially scheduled to appear before the City of Santa Cruz Council on May 9th. A number of other housing/homeless advocacy groups will be holding a rally before the meeting.
The possibility of building 3,000 units make this the most important housing construction opportunity in Santa Cruz County at this time.
Santa Cruz County Advocacy
Santa Cruz County has issued and RFP to develop affordable housing at the site of 2340 Harper Street in Live Oak. Word on the street is that Habitat for Humanity is trying to build 13 affordable houses on the site. Unfortunately it is also rumored that a lot of NIMBYs are opposed to the project or are seeking a “compromise” of only 5 homes. The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors is unofficially scheduled review the proposal at their May 16th meeting.
After attending an open house on building Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) within Santa Cruz County, it became quite clear that the largest complaint people had was that permitting fees were perhaps the largest barrier to building ADUs. Some people were getting hit with a $20,000 permitting fee for just a kitchen remodel. Others were getting quoted $30,000 in water hookup fees from the Soquel Creek Water District for the ADU.
The good news is that the County is aware of these difficulties and has hired a consultant to come up with recommendations to make it easier to build ADUs. The initial report is unofficially scheduled to be heard on June 6th.
State-level Advocacy
Santa Cruz is of course within California which has a statewide housing crisis. Thankfully, our other YIMBY friends are hard at work advocating for some great legislation that should produce more housing. Here are 3 great bills that you should support by contacting your state legislator:
- AB 71 — would disallow mortgage interest deductions on 2nd homes and use the saved money to build affordable housing.
- SB 35 — streamlines the permitting of new housing construction.
- SB 167 — would impose severe penalties on cities that do not approve affordable housing projects that comply with local zoning codes.
