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You are here: Home / Archives for sustainable santa cruz

sustainable santa cruz

Zach Friend Interview: Sustainable Santa Cruz

April 18, 2016 by Seb Frey

In the sixth segment of our Zach Friend Interview Series, the Supervisor talks about the Sustainable Santa Cruz County plan. The Supervisor says that the county has been trying to look for new ways to do a lot of things. How can we manage growth in Santa Cruz county in better ways to create a more livable and sustainable community – while respecting Measure J, the growth management plan passed in 1984.

The Sustainable Santa Cruz county plan will direct the quality and direction of development in Santa Cruz county for years to come: what kind of new housing should we create, and where should we create it? The same questions go for jobs – what kind of new jobs do we want, and where do we want them? How can we create live/work environments, and how can we take cars off the roads? Zach touches on all of these in this segment of the interview.

Watch the Video Now

In the seventh segment of the interview, Supervisor Friend talks about the upcoming Fiber Optic Internet Broadband Service which should be reaching customer doors toward the end of 2017.

Related Posts On AptosCommunityNews

  • Zach Friend Interview: Aptos Village (May 25, 2016)
  • Zach Friend Interview: Housing Affordability (May 17, 2016)
  • Zach Friend Interview: Fiber Optic Broadband Internet (May 3, 2016)
  • Zach Friend Interview: Passenger Train and Rail Trail (March 31, 2016)
  • Zach Friend Interview: Transportation (March 27, 2016)
  • Zach Friend Interview: Second Term Goals (March 10, 2016)
  • Zach Friend Interview: First Term Accomplishments (March 7, 2016)
  • Zach Friend Interview: Introduction (March 1, 2016)

Filed Under: Lifestyle, News Tagged With: sustainable santa cruz, video, zach friend, zach-friend-interview-series

Aptos Village Design Changes Unanimously Approved

May 5, 2015 by Seb Frey

Aptos Village Approved
Aptos Village Design Changes Approved

The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors today unanimously approved the changes to the Aptos Village design requested by the developer, Barry Swenson Builder. The project initially won approval in 2012 after a decade in the planning process, but that approval granted the builder some flexibility in the final design. The approval today from the Board of Supervisors should allow the project to move forward with the requested modifications.

The meeting was well attended, despite starting at 9 AM on a weekday. Dozens of members of the community got up to speak, with proponents and opponents roughly evenly divided. Most of those opposed appeared to be the members of our community which will be most adversely affected by the construction and increased congestion in the village – that is, those living up Cathedral Drive, Trout Gulch Road, and Valencia Road.

Audio Recording of the Supervisor’s Meeting

//siliconhomebroker.com/podcastgen/media/supervisors-aptos-village-design-change-2015-05-05.m4a
Download audio file…

The portion of the meeting which dealt with Aptos Village lasted over an hour and a half, and ended with little debate among the supervisors before they unanimously approved the changes. It seemed as though their support was a foregone conclusion, and there was substantial but muted commentary from those in attendance that their voices had not been heard, or at least not given due consideration.

At the end of the discussion and before the vote, Supervisors Zach Friend, John Leopold and Bruce McPherson did make some remarks. Supervisor Friend spoke to both the process by which the project was approved, and the need for a project like this. Many in attendance today who opposed to the project expressed a sentiment that the project was being pushed on the community with little input. Supervisor Friend addressed this head on, and seemed genuinely to feel as though the local government had in fact sought substantial community involvement and feedback.

Supervisor Leopold remarked that the government should be committed to a good public process, and that a “ten year project” with over 20 meetings meets that requirement. He went on to say he understands the community’s concerns about the density of the project. He mentioned specifically the Sustainable Santa Cruz County plan, which calls for greater density within the urban services line (the area served by public water and sewer) along the Soquel Drive corridor. By concentrating development within this area (in which Aptos Village is located), we can keep more parts of our county rural. Perhaps counter-intuitively, this kind of denser development is in fact more sustainable than the kind of sprawl found in so many suburban communities in many parts of the state and country. According to Leopold, from an environmental point of view, the Aptos Village is in many ways a model for future development within the county.

Supervisor McPherson mentioned that one of the main concerns from Santa Cruz county residents is the lack of affordable housing in the community, and that more housing must be built. He went on to say that the Aptos Village project will provide additional, much-needed housing, and that the new Aptos Village is a very environmentally sound project.

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Filed Under: Developments, News, Real Estate Tagged With: Aptos Village, audio, barry swenson, board of supervisors, john leopold, sustainability, sustainable santa cruz, zach friend

Zach Friend’s January Aptos Update

January 8, 2015 by Seb Frey

Supervisor Zach Friend
Zach Friend represents Aptos on the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors

Santa Cruz County 2nd District Supervisor Zach Friend’s January Aptos update was given this morning at the Aptos Chamber of Commerce breakfast meeting. The meeting was very well attended, with nary an empty set in the house. The Supervisor spoke for about 15 minutes, and then took questions for another 15 minutes.

His entire remarks have been recorded and are available in audio format, which you can listen to here. There is a tremendous amount of detail which many folks will find interesting to hear:

Zach Friend at the Aptos Chamber, January 2015

//siliconhomebroker.com/podcastgen/download.php?filename=2015-01-08_episode00009-zach-friend-at-aptos-chamber-2015-01.mp3
  • The Real Santa Cruz Podcast on Stitcher Radio
  • The Real Santa Cruz Podcast on iTunes
  • Download audio file…

A summary of the topics discussed is as follows:

The Sustainable Santa Cruz Plan: the new plan will bring the greatest changes in land use, transportation, and housing ever seen in Santa Cruz county, and should enable appreciable improvements in the kinds of real estate development (both commercial and residential) that can be done, to bring more jobs and affordable housing to Santa Cruz (and Aptos).

Rancho del Mar Redevelopment: Supervisor Friend says that the development company which has purchased the shopping center has not yet been willing to discuss with the county its plans, however it seems as though re-development of Rancho del Mar will now be put on the back burner. This is good news and bad news; the bad news is, the sale triggered a re-assessment of the property’s value, which will significantly increase property tax – the cost of which will ultimately be paid by the tenants. Tenants will enjoy higher rents, and nobody will enjoy any improvements in the center for some time to come.

Aptos Village Redevelopment: the county has done 100% of the work it can do at this point to green-light the project. The ball is entirely in the hands of the developer, Barry Swenson Builders. Barry Swenson Builders have not actually applied for the permit yet, but they have already signaled that the project will be going forward by ordering the closing of the Aptos Post Office Bike Jumps. Their county entitlements for the project require that they do at least apply for the permit by the end of 2015, so something should be happening soon.

Seacliff Village Redevelopment: the Supervisor views Seacliff Village as becoming a “crown jewel” in Santa Cruz county. The project should be starting in about April with the under-grounding of the utility cables. The plan includes streetscape improvements, a new median, a new entrance to Seacliff State Beach, and new sidewalks all the way from the State Park to Soquel Drive, eventually tying in with the rail trail.

The Rail Trail Project: the Supervisor reiterated the line that the Proposition 116 funds which were used to purchase the rail line require that the county either show that “active” rail service is not economically feasible, or develop passenger rail service. There is an ongoing study to determine the feasibility of the service, the first results of which should be available in April. Unless active train service can be shown to be infeasible, you can expect that train service will be “part of the matrix.”

Mar Vista Overpass: The project is funded and now it appears that construction will begin in 2017.

Filed Under: Developments, News Tagged With: aptos chamber, Aptos Village, mar vista overpass, rancho del mar, seacliff village, sustainable santa cruz, zach friend

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