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Capitola City Council Considers Rail, Trail Options

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The Capitola City Council held a public meeting on January 11, 2018 to discuss rail and trail options on the Santa Cruz Branch Line corridor. The rail corridor passes through the heart of Capitola, and the future use of the corridor is of great concern to many who live in or visit Capitola by the Sea.

The council heard from a proponent of “rail with trail” and also a “trail only” advocate. The invited guests were Mark Mesti-Miller, a leading advocate for “rail with trail” and Bud Colligan, local philanthropist, activist, and a founding and leading member of the Santa Cruz Greenway initiative. The council chambers were packed; it was standing room only, and people were invited to sit in the overflow room next adjacent to the council chambers.

Before the presentations, the mayor of Capitola, Mike Termini, asked for a show of hands as to who was in favor of having a train, and who was in favor of a trail only. It seemed that perhaps twice as many hands were raised in favor of a trail only.

Get the Audio-Only Version

You can listen to an audio-only version of this meeting! Check out the Bay to Bay Podcast and listen to it in your car, during a walk, at the gym, or wherever!

Each speaker was given twelve minutes for his presentation. Mr. Mesti-Miller spoke first, after which Mr. Colligan spoke for an equal length of time. After their presentations, each was given a three minute follow up presentation where they could rebut claims made in the other’s initial discourse.

Members of the community were also invited to make comments. Dozens of people rose to speak.  It seemed as if the speakers were evenly divided between those who wanted to see passenger rail service and those who were in favor of a “trail only.” A number of people urged the council members to make a public recommendation in favor of one scenario or the other before the completion of the Unified Corridor Investment Study (UCS), slated for fall 2018.

The city council of Scotts Valley did recently endorse Greenway’s vision, and the Greenway folks were hoping that the city of Capitola would do like wise at this meeting. However, towards the end of the evening, the city council decided that they would indeed wait for the UCS study to be completed before making any public proclamation one way or another.  Notably, three of the four council members did say that they were at this point favoring the Greenway’s “trail only” proposition. The fourth council member did not say which outcome he favored.  If this meeting held at the city of Capitola is any indication of public sentiment regarding the future use of the rail corridor, it seems that the trail-only solution will win out.

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Time Lapse Video shows Hihn Apple Barn Moving

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Hihn Apple Barn on the Move
Hihn Apple Barn on the Move

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you’re probably aware that the construction work for the new Aptos Village began several months back. For months, passers by have seen the Hihn Apple Barn up on jacks, as it was being prepared to move to its new site. Last month, on September 22, the move began. The folks at Barry Swenson Builder have now released a cool time-lapse video showing the Hihn Apple Barn moving slowly on its way to its new permanent location within Aptos Village.

Time Lapse Video

The L-shaped building is 181 feet long and 100 feet wide, and has been divided into two sections. The division was made at the location where the first addition was made to the barn about 100 years ago.

So far, one section of the barn has been moved nearly 200 feet across the property and has been rotated 160 degrees. The move is being done on rollers, a laborious and slow process. When the first section of barn is in place, Kelly Brothers House Movers will begin work to move the second section.

The pad where the barn will be placed has been trenched for a foundation, and that work has been inspected and certified. The aim is to have both sections of the barn situated on the pad before the rainy season.

Relocating and rehabilitating the barn is a key element of the Aptos Village Project. Although the exact date the Hihn Apple Barn was constructed is not known, the barn is historically significant. Part of the building appears to have been constructed c.1891-1899, with substantial additions in 1915 and c.1920, with the last bay (88 feet long by 36 feet wide) c.1929-1930. The barn will become a New Leaf Community Market and open into the Village Green common area, a new civic heart for Aptos.

Local Aptos historian Kevin Newhouse was interviewed by Phil Gomez with KSBS Action News 8, and that video can be seen here:

KSBW Interviews Kevin Newhouse

Zach Friend Interview: Housing Affordability

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In the eighth segment of our Zach Friend Interview Series, the Supervisor talks about housing affordability and what needs to happen to improve it in Santa Cruz county. According to Friend, too many people live in substandard and overcrowded housing conditions, and it is simply unacceptable for this to be happening in a place and time as wealthy as we live in.  The Supervisor notes that if current trends continue, there will be more renters than home owners in Santa Cruz county in a couple of years.

He remarks that many of today’s problems with traffic can be attributed to the fact that most of the new housing in the county has been built in the southern portion of the county, but most of the job growth has been to the north. While the county does not build housing, what it can do is facilitate an environment where housing can be built that fits the present-day and future needs of Santa Cruz county.

The Supervisor also discussed redevelopment of the Par Three Golf Course and the Poor Clares property as well, as there’s been some talk in the community over the years about these properties.

Watch the Video Now

In the ninth segment of the interview, Supervisor Friend wraps up our interview and discusses the Aptos Village Project.

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Rancho del Mar Community Meeting Set for April 28th

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Terramar Retail Centers
Terramar Retail Centers

Supervisor Zach Friend has announced there will be a community meeting with Terramar Retail Centers, the new owners of the Rancho del Mar Shopping Center. The future of Rancho del Mar has been up in the air for a while now, and with increasing vacancies of late (especially the recent loss of the movie theater), a lot of folks are wondering what plans the new owners have for the property.

The meeting will be held at the Seascape Golf Club on Thursday, April 28th at 6:30 PM. Given the acute degree of interest which the community has expressed about the center, the event is expected to be heavily attended. For this reason, folks are being asked to RSVP for the meeting using this link.

If anyone has questions or input they would like to give in advance, they can contact Bruce Walton with Terramar at bwalton@terramarcenters.com

TrailNow Presentation Video

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TrailNow
Check out the TrailNow.org Web Site

Many in the community are aware of plans by the Santa Cruz Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) to establish some form of passenger rail service alongside a trail which will form the backbone of the Monterey Bay Sanctuary Scenic Trail Network. A lot of folks in the community feel that passenger rail service is neither feasible nor a desirable project, especially given the multi-hundred-million dollar cost to establish rail service when existing transportation systems are already badly under-funded.

TrailNow is a local grassroots political action committee whose goal is to establish a “world class” pedestrian and bicycle trail in the Santa Cruz Branch Line rail corridor in the next several years. Their goal is to have the tracks removed entirely to make way for a broad dual-mode (pedestrian, wheeled vehicles) path through the key 12-mile stretch of the corridor from the city of Santa Cruz to Manresa Beach.  One of the founders of TrailNow, Brian Peoples, recently made a presentation detailing the organization’s objections to the RTC’s vision for rail service in Santa Cruz county.

Watch the TrailNow Presentation Video

There are of course fierce advocates for passenger rail service in Santa Cruz county, many of whom have disputed some of the information in the TrailNow presentation above and in fact have created a web site highlighting what they consider to be the inaccuracies.  For a broader context, please see below for additional articles we’ve posted over time about the rail corridor, especially our interview with former supervisor Ellen Pirie.

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Work Begins on Aptos Village

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Barry Swenson Builder Trailer in Aptos Village
Barry Swenson Builder Trailer in Aptos Village

Work begins on Aptos Village today! Barry Swenson Builder has moved a trailer on to the Aptos Village job site, and today they announced via their web site (theaptosvillage.com) that crews are now preparing the area where the Hihn Apple Barn will be moved to later this year. Much of the work is weather-dependent and only happening in select areas to prevent erosion. County officials are involved in overseeing the work. BSB construction manager Keith Henderson explained that “we try to disturb as little as possible and only work where we need to.”

The Apple Barn will be rotated and moved about 300 feet west of its current location. The plan calls for it to be renovated and reopened as a New Leaf market. In preparation for this move, Barry Swenson Builder has indicated their staff are working with historians and historical architects to take photos of the barn to document key details.

The barn’s porch, which is not part of the original structure, will be removed before the structure is moved. Wood saved from the porch will be reused in historical displays and elsewhere as the barn is reconstructed in its new location.

A little-known fact about the barn is that it is actually comprised of two structures, one added onto the other. Aptos Village Project construction manager Keith Henderson explained the barn will be severed along the addition, with temporary walls being built to provide stability during the move.

In addition to moving the Apple Barn, the work crew will also be removing a dilapidated metal shed and debris from the site (the corrugated metal siding will be salvaged or recycled), and beginning work on the retaining wall along Granite Way.

Aptos Village Groundbreaking in February 2016

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Groundbreaking
Aptos Village Groundbreaking Set for February

Mary Gourlay with Barry Swenson Builder today announced at the Aptos Chamber of Commerce meeting that the Aptos Village project groundbreaking will be held next month, in February 2016.  She remarked that the company has already started selective work on the site, and the winter grading permit is in hand.  According to Gourlay, there will be much more activity and news next month, and they are looking into having a groundbreaking party.

The company has a newsletter available via its web site, TheAptosVillage.com, and updates will be sent out to all subscribers as the project progresses.

Addressing some remarks by Supervisor Zach Friend at the meeting today, Gourlay noted that some of the housing at the new Aptos Village will be deed-restricted affordable housing, a  key concern for many area residents in the area.  In addition, most units are well suited for “aging in place” as many Aptos residents are interested in doing.

Hihn Apple Barn Is Moving in Early 2016

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The Hihn Apple Barn
The Hihn Apple Barn, currently Village Fair Antiques

Barry Swenson Builder, the firm developing the new Aptos Village, today announced that the Hihn Apple Barn is moving in early 2016. The firm is reporting that it’s in the final planning stages of moving the historic barn to a new and central location on the property, about 300 feet west of its current location.

The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors approved the final subdivision maps for the mixed-use development during a meeting this past December 8th. Work to relocate the Hihn Apple Barn will begin in early 2016. The historic apple packing facility will be converted into a modern grocery store, and will include exhibits highlighting prominent historic features of the structure and interpretive signage that will illustrate the history of the barn and its Aptos Village setting.

Village Fair, the antique collective in the Hihn Apple Barn, will remain open through the holiday season. Friends and neighbors will be interested to hear that a few antique dealers who rent space at Village Fair have expressed interest in one day opening shops in the revamped Aptos Village.

Hihn Apple Barn © Paul Johnson Collection
Hihn Apple Barn © Paul Johnson Collection

History of the Hihn Apple Barn

Apple trees were planted in Aptos after the logging industry decimated the Valencia Creek Watershed. The Hihn Apple Packing Plant was built by Frederick Augustus “FA” Hihn in the early 1890s and became the center of the apple industry in Aptos for decades.

Hihn saw the growth of the apple industry in the Pajaro Valley. He hired former lumberjacks to plant apple trees on the logged-out land and offered the lumberjacks an opportunity to buy their own parcel of apple orchard on a 10-year payment plan. Once established, the orchards provided a myriad of jobs. People were needed to pick, grade, sort and pack the apples.

The Apple Barn was the hub of activity. Men worked in the fields and in plants, where they manufactured apple boxes. Men also packed the apples, a prestigious position that paid well. Women worked as graders to separate the apples by quality and size:

  • Well-shaped and unblemished ripe fruit was given the classification of “fancy,” then sorted by size and shipped to be sold fresh.
  • “Good” apples, which were not attractive, were sent to be dehydrated for cooking because refrigerated shipping had yet to be invented.
  • Rejected apples and remains from the dehydration process were combined and converted into cider and vinegar.

Converting a portion of his 27 acres to apple orchards was a shrewd business decision for Hihn. He made a profit selling orchard land and built a small subdivision on another portion of his land so workers could be housed. Hihn also owned the railroad, and growers paid Hihn to use it to transport apples to town.

Santa Cruz County’s first self-made millionaire, Hihn died in 1913 at age 84. By then, the Apple Barn had changed hands several times and the industry was waning. In 1944 “Babe” and Fred Toney bought the Bay View Hotel, the Apple Barn and surrounding land. Babe started a small gift and antique concession at the hotel. In 1965 she moved her shop over to the Apple Barn and Fred divided the building up into individual stalls to attract in other businesses. They called it “Village Fair” and soon had new antique dealers and gift sellers, as well meat and produce vendors.

The Toneys died in a car accident in 1979, but their daughters continued to run Village Fair for nearly three decades. The Toney daughters sold the property to Barry Swenson Builder in 2007 for the new Aptos Village project.

New Aptos Village Groundbreaking Moves Ahead

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Aptos Village Site Map Phase 1, Courtesy Barry Swenson Builder
Aptos Village Site Map Phase 1, Courtesy Barry Swenson Builder

The Santa Cruz county Board of Supervisors held a meeting late yesterday afternoon to vote on approval of the final Aptos Village map.  Yesterday’s meeting was reportedly well attended by vocal and spirited opponents of the plan, but nevertheless, the board of supervisors did unanimously vote approval of the final map, as had been widely anticipated.  The Aptos Village Redevelopment project is moving forward.

A meeting was held on Wednesday morning at Cantine Wine Pub in the Aptos Village Square shopping center, to update local merchants on the plans for construction. Presenters included Mary Gourlay from Barry Swenson Builder, Jack Sohriakoff (a senior traffic engineer with Santa Cruz County Department of Public Works), and Patrick Mulhearn, aide to Santa Cruz County Supervisor Zach Friend. An audio copy of the conversation is embedded here for those who would like to hear about some of the construction details that were shared at today’s meeting.

Audio Recording of the Merchant’s Meeting


Download audio file…

Barry Swenson Builder now plans to actually break ground on the project within the next several weeks – before the end of the year. Phase 1 will include erecting security fencing, building the pads where the historic Hihn Apple Barn will be moved, and cutting the interior roads for Aptos Village. While there will be several phases of construction, both by Barry Swenson Builder and the Santa Cruz county department of Public Works, it is expected that the new Aptos Village will begin to receive its first occupants within the next two years.

Final Aptos Village Vote Tomorrow

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Santa Cruz County Seal
Santa Cruz County Seal

The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors will hold their final Aptos Village vote tomorrow, Tuesday December 8th at 4 PM. The meeting will be held in the chambers of the Board of Supervisors, 5th floor at 701 Ocean Street in downtown Santa Cruz. You can view the whole agenda of the Tuesday meeting online here. The Aptos Village discussion is at the end of the list, Item #60, and will be discussed separately and apart from the regular county business meeting.

Members of the public are invited to send comments to the Board of Supervisors prior to the meeting using this online form.

Opposition to the project is being led by the We Are Aptos group (weareaptos.com). Local Aptos Resident Becky Steinbrenner has provided a list of concerns which concerned citizens might want to raise with the Supervisors:

1. The traffic studies used are old. Citizen counts show current vehicle counts at Trout Gulch and Soquel exceed the projected counts that included the project’s traffic. There are currently no pocket turn lanes required on Trout Gulch Road or Cathedral Drive. Why were Rio Del Mar/Soquel Drive and Freedom Blvd/Soquel Drive intersections not included in any of the Project’s traffic studies?

2. Will the County Public Works test the level of service at the Trout Gulch Road/Soquel Drive intersection after the traffic lights are installed next spring to ensure the intersection operates at the required Level C or better? Will the development be allowed to proceed if the intersection operates at a service level LOWER than Level C?

3. How will Village Glen residents and Nisene Marks State Park users exit Aptos Creek Road to travel south when one of the traffic mitigations is to prohibit left turns from that road onto Soquel Drive until the new traffic light there is installed during Phase II of the construction (possibly 2-3 years in the future)?

4. Who will maintain the new roadways (Aptos Village Way and Parade Street) and how will that money be collected? What are the boundaries of this assessment area?

5. Is there explicit language in the Final Map that guarantees free and unlimited time public parking throughout the Aptos Village Project to accommodate the Nisene Marks Park users, public transit users, and future rail passenger service, as has been promised by Barry Swenson Builder?

6. How will the surface storm drainage be handled on site? Recent changes to the drainage plan to satisfy requirements have increased the amount of on-site storm water retention via dry wells and rain gardens: have soil and geotechnical studies been conducted to ensure the increased liquefaction risk (which, conducted in 2008, showed moderate to high before the addition of dry wells). Has there been an assessment of how this possible increased risk could affect the Bayview Hotel?

7. Has California Fish & Wildlife signed off on the overflow surface drainage plan that will dump parking lot pollutants into Aptos Creek and Valencia Creek?

8. How will the borings for the 17′ high retaining walls on the Granite Way area be constructed? Will there be remediation for damage to homes and the Bayview Hotel due to the vibration of the equipment? How will this risk be monitored and evaluated and by whom?

9. How does the park parcel fulfill the condition of approval to provide a parcel that will be used for active recreation? The park parcel is a vertical hillside on Aptos Creek Road; County Parks officials have stated they have no idea how this land can be put to use for active recreation.

10. Has the Planning Dept. and County Environmental Health received adequate documentation and best practices plans from Soquel Creek Water District to document the effect of the new Granite Way well that will be constructed at the intersection of Cathedral Dr. and Trout Gulch Road on local private wells?
Has the County received information from Soquel Creek Water District to show how will this new 16″ diameter well affect the stream flow levels of Valencia Creek and Aptos Creek during predicted future drought years?

11. Demand that all trees on site be saved, especially the two historic redwood trees next to the Bayview Hotel. Currently, Barry Swenson Builder plans to remove all trees in the construction area.

12. What is the required landscape plan between the Bayview Hotel and Building 14 (a two-story building being allowed on the property line with ZERO setback)? This is a condition of approval.

13. Demand that the antique barn not be disturbed no earlier than September 15 and no later than October 15, to preserve the bats that have been noted by biologists in the Negative Declaration of Environmental Impacts and specified as a mitigation.

14. When will service trucks for the commercial portions of the development be allowed to make deliveries? Demand that all deliveries occur after 9am to avoid adding congestion to the morning gridlock traffic.

15. Demand that no exceptions be approved. Currently exceptions include:
Height exceptions on all but two buildings, including a 6′ cupola on building 4
Front yard setbacks reduced for the 14 two-story condominiums (Building 12) from 15′ to 8′ along
Granite Way and from 15′ to 2′ along Cathedral Drive.
Building 3 (a three-story structure) includes set back reduction from Granite Way from 20′ to 5′.
Increased Floor Area Ratio (ie, bigger buildings and smaller landscaped area) for Building 12 (the condos on Granite Way and Cathedral ) and for Building 11 (the three-story 2,500sf-3,000sf town houses on Granite Way and Village Dr.).
Reduced curb return from the County’s standard of a 20′ radius to a 10′ radius at the intersections Granite Way and Cathedral Drive and also the intersections of Trout Gulch Road/Aptos Village Way and Aptos Creek Road/Aptos Village Way. This will exclude large truck (fire engine) entry if there is traffic or parked vehicles at the intersection.
Height exemptions for numerous walls and fences, including a 17′ high retaining wall in the Granite Way area.

16. Demand that the developer require all construction traffic to begin no earlier than 9am to minimize impact on congested morning traffic.

17. DEMAND THAT THE DEVELOPER DISPLAY A 3-D TO-SCALE MODEL OF THE DEVELOPMENT AT THE APTOS LIBRARY FOR ONE MONTH BEFORE THE BOARD APPROVES ANY FINAL MAP OR EXCEPTIONS.

Despite the questions that remain, it is expected that the board of supervisors will give their final approval to the updated Aptos Village plan at this meeting and the project will move forward early in the coming year.