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You are here: Home / Archives for zach friend

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
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  • 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

Aptos Vandalism Community Meeting on December 4

November 30, 2014 by Seb Frey

The Seacliff Improvement Association has passed along this notification regarding Aptos Vandalism Community Meeting on December 4 in response to the recent spate of vandalism in certain neighborhoods in Aptos:

Sheriff Elect Jim Hart, Supervisor Zach Friend and District Attorney Jeff Rosell will co-host a community update on the recent arson and vandalism in the Aptos area. They want to provide the latest case information and hear from the community about any additional leads or concerns that people may have. The event is open to all Aptos neighbors. Parking is limited so carpool if you can. No RSVP is required.

The meeting is to be held this coming Thursday, December 4th from 6 PM – 7:15 PM, at the Rio Sands Hotel.

Sherriff Letter
Letter dated November 25 2014 from Sheriff-Elect Jim Hart regarding recent vandalism

Sheriff Elect Jim Hart did provide a letter to the community, detailing the crimes and the Sheriff’s offices response. That letter is attached:

Filed Under: Events, News Tagged With: arson, district attorney, jim hart, rio del mar, sherriff, vandalism, zach friend

Vacation Rental Restrictions coming to Aptos?

October 5, 2014 by Seb Frey

There is a move afoot to limit the number of vacation rentals in the “coastal” areas of Aptos, specifically Seacliff, Seascape, and Rio del Mar. The limits would be identical to what is now presently permissible in the <a href="http://www.sccoplanning about his.com/Portals/2/County/Planning/policy/052-11LiveOakWeb.pdf” target=”_blank”>Live Oak Designated Area (LODA), which is the coastal area that encompasses Pleasure Point and the area near the Santa Cruz harbor.

If the restrictions are approved by the Santa Cruz county board of Supervisors, the designated areas in Aptos (SADA, or “Seacliff Aptos Designated Area”) would not allow vacation rental permits in excess of 20% of the homes on any one block. There is apparently a concern that the increasing number of homes used as vacation rentals would diminish the availability of homes used for long-term rentals, and increase the cost of renting in Aptos.

There are presently two streets in Aptos which have vacation rentals that exceed 20% of the homes on the street: Beach Drive, and Rio del Mar Boulevard between Beach Drive and the Kingsbury/Cliff Drive intersection. Under the ordinance, no new vacation rental permits would be approved on these streets.

The board of supervisors is to take up the issue at a public hearing on Tuesday, October 28 at 9:00 AM at the Board Chambers, County Administrative Building, 701 Ocean Street in Santa Cruz. People who are concerned with the issue, in favor or against, are encouraged to contact Supervisor Zach Friend or attend the hearing on October 28th.

We have posted some notes from the Santa Cruz County Planning Commission meeting on September 16, for those who are interested in learning more.

Seacliff Aptos Designated Area

Seacliff Aptos Designated Area

Filed Under: News, Real Estate Tagged With: aptos, county, rio de mar, seacliff, seascape, vacation rentals, zach friend

My First Aptos Chamber meeting

September 11, 2014 by Seb Frey

I joined the Aptos Chamber of Commerce a few months ago, at the beginning of the summer. Little did I know they have a summer hiatus – so the months went by with no meetings to go to. I’d long wanted to go to an Aptos Chamber meeting – for years I’d kicked around the idea of getting up at 7:30 and going to check it out.

Today though was the first meeting of the new Chamber “season” which apparently runs from September to May, so today was my First Aptos Chamber meeting. This meeting’s main topic was a farewell to Aptos/La Selva Fire Chief Jeff Terpstra. Many community leaders, including State Senator Mark Stone, and representatives from the offices of Sam Farr, Zach Friend, and Bill Monning came to honor chief Terpstra.

Chief Terpstra himself gave a funny – and dare I say it – heart-warming speech (I guess you’d call it that) which was well received by everyone in attendance. Lots of laughs and smiles. I don’t personally know chief Terpstra but I kind of felt like I did, a bit, after he’d finished talking – which is an amazing feat. Few speakers can generate that kind of connection with a crowd in such a short period of time.

A lot of the meeting was given over to individual attendees to introduce themselves and say whatever they wanted. For whatever reason, I’ve never particularly enjoyed these kind of round-robin introductions – especially when it came for me to pipe up. This one though was actually pretty cool – a lot of amiable, witty folks at that Aptos Chamber meeting!

When it was my turn to stand up, I introduced myself, and made an announcement about this web site, AptosCommunityNews.org, and how I’m offering free business profiles. Hopefully we’ll be seeing some more business profiles up here soon! Also, I mentioned that I am a new member of the Mar Vista Elementary Parent’s Club, as I have a son who has just entered kindergarten there – and that in that capacity, I will be contacting Aptos Chamber members to see if they would be interested in sponsoring a classroom for our Read-a-Thon, to be held November 4th-14th.

I met some great folks there at the Aptos Chamber meeting, and I am genuinely looking forward to getting to know more members and participating in the coming months and years.

Filed Under: Lifestyle Tagged With: aptos chamber, aptos/la selva fire dpeartment, bill monning, jeff terpstra, sam farr, zach friend

Seacliff Memorial Wall to be Removed

August 12, 2014 by Seb Frey

Multiple news sources have reported that the Seacliff Memorial Wall, an Aptos gem, is to be stripped of all its memorials.

The wall itself is not public property, and the memorials placed on the wall appear to violate several California civil codes. A private property owner has complained; it is unclear at this time who. The memorials on the wall are to be removed within 60 days, although the California State Parks may come up with an alternative solution.

Supervisor Zach Friend has suggested nothing should be done before the public has had a chance to give their input. Concerned citizens are encouraged to contact Supervisor Friend directly.

An on-line petition has been created to save the memorial wall, with a goal of obtaining 5,000 signatures by August 31.

See also: Santa Cruz sentinel article, KSBW TV Story

Update: August 21, 2014

KSBW News and the Santa Cruz Sentinel are now reporting that the party responsible for ordering the memorials be removed is indeed the owner of the home adjacent to the wall, and on whose property the wall is built. Further, California State Parks is not involved in the removal of the memorials, nor is the Santa Cruz Sheriff.

Seacliff Memory Wall

Seacliff Memory Wall

Filed Under: News Tagged With: beach, California state parks, memorial wall, seacliff, zach friend

Monte Foundation Fireworks moving to Capitola

May 21, 2014 by Seb Frey

The Santa Cruz Sentinel is reporting that the Monte Foundation is in talks with the city of Capitola to move its annual fireworks display to Capitola. The Monte Foundation promoted an annual fireworks display in Aptos for 18 years, but the display was canceled for 2013 amid soaring costs for closing the beach and paying for security provided by the California Highway Patrol.

Marc Monte, head of the Monte Foundation and owner of Deluxe Foods in Aptos, is planning to get businesses in Capitola to sponsor the display. The Capitola City Council is scheduled to meet tomorrow, May 22 @ 7:00 PM to discuss the proposal to move the display to Capitola for 2014. The move is supported by many Capitola residents and businesses, and has garnered support from county supervisor Zach Friend.

It’s good to see that the Monte Foundation fireworks will be returning this year, but it’s unfortunate that it’s moving out of Aptos, as it’s something that thousands of Aptosians looked forward to every year. Perhaps in the future local Aptos business will be able to sponsor the fireworks to again make their showing in Aptos.

See also: Santa Cruz Sentinel article

Fireworks
Fireworks

Filed Under: News Tagged With: capitola, fireworks, monte foundation, zach friend

Supervisor Friend pushes Aptos Broadband

December 9, 2013 by Seb Frey

The Silicon Valley Business Journal recently published a great article about the efforts of Aptos resident and Supervisor Zach Friend to improve the quality of Internet broadband to Santa Cruz county.

The article quotes Supervisor Friend as saying “Our available residential internet access is one step above a joke,” referring to his home in Aptos, which as residents know offers few options for Internet connectivity.

Check out Supervisor Zach Friend on Facebook and at the County Supervisor’s web site.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: board of supervisors, government, internet, zach friend

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