ARTICLE
As I have written for the past year, California cities are facing an unparalleled housing crisis that if not addressed by our local government leaders, the State will push the creation of more housing through state legislative mandates. Last year, the state legislature with Governor Brown’s signature passed 15 legislative bills to respond in some form that creates options to increase the state’s housing supply. One of the controversial state laws was SB 35 (Wiener) which tells the local government entity that if you stall or delay a proposed development project in your community that meets all the necessary zoning requirements and some additional stringent issues such as affordability units and labor requirements, state law will be used as the option. The Santa Cruz Area Chamber of Commerce supported this legislation as one vehicle to help create more housing. It is not the best solution but we believe in some cases it is the only way to break the strangle hold on NIMBYs who do not want to change. Stubborn community resistance continues regardless of the housing shortage facing California cities, especially in cities that have growing employment opportunities yet lack the housing-job balance that is critical to any community. Cupertino is at one of the epicenters of this debate. Back in the 1970s shortly after the passage of Proposition 13 - which capped the increase on property tax, cities turned to more retail land use decisions to increase their tax revenues. Built as a state-of-the-art shopping center, Vallco Mall was the heart of the town’s economic center. But purchase patterns and competitive malls nearby started to cut in and Vallco was no longer the place to shop and seek entertainment. Vallco began to falter 10 years later when competitor Valley Fair, now owned by Westfield, opened in nearby Santa Clara. Vallco’s decline continued with the rise of online shopping, and its stores began to shutter — the mall lost its Macys and Sears in 2015, its J.C. Penney closed in 2016, and the AMC movie theater closed last week. Today the mall is a ghost town of empty store fronts, many shut with metal gates. The escalators have stopped moving, the vast parking lots and garages are abandoned, and few people walk the vacant hallways to get to the handful of amenities still open — an ice rink, a bowling alley and a Chinese restaurant. You can read more here: https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/03/27/developer-unveils-new-long-awaited-plans-dead-vallco-mall/ Developer clashes with local government and citizens opposed to new housing in their community will continue to be the rallying cry. Earlier this week, the Yes In My Back Yard (YIMBY) organization formed a workshop on the housing that was held at the Dream Inn. You can read more about it here: Talk of YIMBY solutions draws crowd It is clear to the residents of Santa Cruz County that change is coming and that we as a community need to be prepared. The housing needs for our current and future residents requires immediate attention. We at the Chamber are delighted that some progress is happening in the City — but those projects in construction are only a small sample of the housing we need. The other cities and the county must also step up to be part of the regional housing solution. Early this year, the University of California Board of Regents directed Universities statewide to provide more student housing on campus. UCSC is in the middle of its Long Range Development Plan to create more student housing on campus. The estimate in their plan is to provide 3,000 more beds. This is a daunting and lengthy public process where strong opinions for more student housing has been met with concerns about the greater impact on the City. Here is the latest report from the Unversity: https://news.ucsc.edu/2018/03/keynote-latham-housing.htm Of course, only in Santa Cruz where an open public process with workshops, community meetings and ad-hoc advisory groups providing input over a year long period is considered inadequate to gauge the community position. Last month, the City Council approved a measure to place the UCSC Long Range Development Plan to an advisory vote of City residents. “According to the Ballot Argument, the purpose of Measure "U" is to provide Santa Cruz voters with the opportunity to weigh in on the future growth plans of the University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC) campus. UCSC periodically updates its Long Range Development Plan (LRDP) to guide future growth in campus enrollment, among other issues. The current LRDP was approved in 2005 and is set to expire in 2020, and UCSC has initiated a process to prepare a new plan. Recently, UCSC’s Chancellor announced that the next LRDP will call for an enrollment increase from the current 18,000 students to as many as 28,000 students by the year 2040.” You can read the full Argument in support of the Measure here: http://www.votescount.com/June2018CaliforniaPrimaryElection/LocalMeasuresontheJune2018Ballot/SCUCSC618/U-favor.aspx The Chamber appreciates the effort by the City Council to seek community input, however, this Advisory Vote is only for city residents. The University is a regional asset that provides more jobs than any other employer in the County and is an economic asset to our region. No one disputes the fact that the University plays a significant role in the current and future of our county. Instead of being granular on the subject of housing by setting examples of limits by city council or on the University campus, we should be focusing on the bigger picture. The Chamber is working with a broader county coalition of community stakeholders to go over options that we believe can make a short term and long term impact. More to come so keep tuned to your Chamber’s weekly eNews. Have a wonderful Easter Weekend.
As I have written for the past year, California cities are facing an unparalleled housing crisis that if not addressed by our local government leaders, the State will push the creation of more housing through state legislative mandates.
Last year, the state legislature with Governor Brown’s signature passed 15 legislative bills to respond in some form that creates options to increase the state’s housing supply.
One of the controversial state laws was SB 35 (Wiener) which tells the local government entity that if you stall or delay a proposed development project in your community that meets all the necessary zoning requirements and some additional stringent issues such as affordability units and labor requirements, state law will be used as the option.
The Santa Cruz Area Chamber of Commerce supported this legislation as one vehicle to help create more housing. It is not the best solution but we believe in some cases it is the only way to break the strangle hold on NIMBYs who do not want to change.
Stubborn community resistance continues regardless of the housing shortage facing California cities, especially in cities that have growing employment opportunities yet lack the housing-job balance that is critical to any community.
Cupertino is at one of the epicenters of this debate. Back in the 1970s shortly after the passage of Proposition 13 - which capped the increase on property tax, cities turned to more retail land use decisions to increase their tax revenues. Built as a state-of-the-art shopping center, Vallco Mall was the heart of the town’s economic center. But purchase patterns and competitive malls nearby started to cut in and Vallco was no longer the place to shop and seek entertainment. Vallco began to falter 10 years later when competitor Valley Fair, now owned by Westfield, opened in nearby Santa Clara. Vallco’s decline continued with the rise of online shopping, and its stores began to shutter — the mall lost its Macys and Sears in 2015, its J.C. Penney closed in 2016, and the AMC movie theater closed last week. Today the mall is a ghost town of empty store fronts, many shut with metal gates. The escalators have stopped moving, the vast parking lots and garages are abandoned, and few people walk the vacant hallways to get to the handful of amenities still open — an ice rink, a bowling alley and a Chinese restaurant. You can read more here: https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/03/27/developer-unveils-new-long-awaited-plans-dead-vallco-mall/
Developer clashes with local government and citizens opposed to new housing in their community will continue to be the rallying cry. Earlier this week, the Yes In My Back Yard (YIMBY) organization formed a workshop on the housing that was held at the Dream Inn. You can read more about it here: Talk of YIMBY solutions draws crowd It is clear to the residents of Santa Cruz County that change is coming and that we as a community need to be prepared. The housing needs for our current and future residents requires immediate attention. We at the Chamber are delighted that some progress is happening in the City — but those projects in construction are only a small sample of the housing we need. The other cities and the county must also step up to be part of the regional housing solution. Early this year, the University of California Board of Regents directed Universities statewide to provide more student housing on campus. UCSC is in the middle of its Long Range Development Plan to create more student housing on campus. The estimate in their plan is to provide 3,000 more beds. This is a daunting and lengthy public process where strong opinions for more student housing has been met with concerns about the greater impact on the City. Here is the latest report from the Unversity: https://news.ucsc.edu/2018/03/keynote-latham-housing.htm Of course, only in Santa Cruz where an open public process with workshops, community meetings and ad-hoc advisory groups providing input over a year long period is considered inadequate to gauge the community position. Last month, the City Council approved a measure to place the UCSC Long Range Development Plan to an advisory vote of City residents. “According to the Ballot Argument, the purpose of Measure "U" is to provide Santa Cruz voters with the opportunity to weigh in on the future growth plans of the University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC) campus. UCSC periodically updates its Long Range Development Plan (LRDP) to guide future growth in campus enrollment, among other issues. The current LRDP was approved in 2005 and is set to expire in 2020, and UCSC has initiated a process to prepare a new plan. Recently, UCSC’s Chancellor announced that the next LRDP will call for an enrollment increase from the current 18,000 students to as many as 28,000 students by the year 2040.”
You can read the full Argument in support of the Measure here: http://www.votescount.com/June2018CaliforniaPrimaryElection/LocalMeasuresontheJune2018Ballot/SCUCSC618/U-favor.aspx
The Chamber appreciates the effort by the City Council to seek community input, however, this Advisory Vote is only for city residents. The University is a regional asset that provides more jobs than any other employer in the County and is an economic asset to our region. No one disputes the fact that the University plays a significant role in the current and future of our county.
Instead of being granular on the subject of housing by setting examples of limits by city council or on the University campus, we should be focusing on the bigger picture. The Chamber is working with a broader county coalition of community stakeholders to go over options that we believe can make a short term and long term impact. More to come so keep tuned to your Chamber’s weekly eNews.
Have a wonderful Easter Weekend.