From right, Santa Cruz Planning Commissioners Matthew Thompson, Michael Polhamus, Rachel Dann and Carolyn Book-Kelley advance a 67-unit apartment building on Mission Street on Thursday.
With 11 of the 67 apartments expected to be rented below market rate, resident Dominick Rangel said the project doesn’t do enough to address Santa Cruz’s high housing costs in relation to incomes. Santa Cruz County has the least affordable rental market in the United States, according to a National Low Income Housing Coalition report published this week.
To address the state’s housing shortage, state laws limit local officials’ power to block housing proposals. Residents will have to look to state legislators to change that, Santa Cruz Planning Commissioner Rachel Dann said at the meeting.
“This project fully complies with state law, that’s just fact,” Dann said. “I’m going to vote for this project, but that doesn’t mean I support it.” She essentially said she would make the project smaller and try to make it fit better with the neighborhood.
The building plans at 1811, 1815 and 1819 Mission St. include:
- Forty studio apartments and 27 two-bedroom apartments. Five units will be reserved in perpetuity for “very low income” renters, based on state-set income limits. One low income and five median income units will be deed-restricted for 55 years.
- A terrace on part of the top floor, about 1,800 square feet of ground-floor commercial space, an outdoor seating area and a residential lobby.
- Fourteen parking spaces that include 10 spaces for electric vehicles with two charging stations. The main vehicle entrance would be on Dufour Street.
- Communal kitchens, fitness rooms, lounges and study rooms could be included to help attract students, a developer said.
Santa Cruz Planning Commissioners Dann, Michael Polhamus, Carolyn Book-Kelley, and Matthew Thompson voted yes. Planning Commissioner Pete Kennedy recused himself to avoid a conflict of interest because of a consulting relationship with the project’s architect, Workbench.
In addition to the demolition permit, commissioners voted 4-0 to grant the project a lot line adjustment, a design permit and density bonus. The project will not need city council approval unless appealed to the council, said Santa Cruz city planner Rina Zhou.
Developer Andy Goldberg presented the project with Workbench representatives Jessica Presley and Omar Hassan. Santa Cruz-based Workbench is the architect.
“This proposal represents our best effort to strike a thoughtful balance” between preserving the neighborhood character and meeting state housing goals, said Presley.
The proposal was first presented in 2021 as a three-story, 27-unit apartment building, which the developer decided “wasn’t financially viable,” Workbench co-founder Jamileh Cannon said in 2024. A third house on the block was purchased in 2024 and a larger project was conceived at six stories and 68 units, which was subsequently revised to incorporate some neighbors’ feedback.
A six-story, 67-unit apartment building is proposed on the 1800 block of Mission Street in Santa Cruz, across from Starbucks. (Workbench)
“We don’t see a lot of projects get redesigned to incorporate neighborhood feedback. We just don’t,” Polhamus said.
As part of the development’s conditions of approval, the developer has agreed to pay for at least two years of a permit parking program to try to reduce parking problems. The developer pledged to pay $1,000 to 12 affected neighbors to add trees and shrubbery to their yards to address privacy concerns from the six-story building.
The building is expected to have rear frosted windows for privacy.
“Even after the project is approved, I will remain open to all ideas that can help the project be more widely accepted by the neighbors,” Goldberg, the developer, said at the meeting.
According to a trip generation report prepared for the project, the approved apartment building is expected to add 369 car trips per day, including an additional 26-29 during rush hours. The building owner is expected to offer free bus passes to residents who request them.
Hassan said there are 12 major transit stops within one half-mile of the proposed development and priority will be given to residents without cars.
“To promote less cars in Santa Cruz, this is an ideal site,” said Hassan.
Neighbors speak out
Of those who attended the meeting, none spoke in favor of the project.
“To only provide 14 parking spaces is absurdly insignificant, particularly given the proximity to Starbucks and existing single-family homes,” said resident Zach Wormhoudt.
“People will have to go through my driveway to get their bike,” said Rangel, another neighbor. Rangel said people who walk close to his home will be able to see through his windows. “I care about the poor people of Santa Cruz, and I don’t want people to watch me shower naked.”
Drivers often park in a loading zone outside Starbucks on Mission and Dufour streets. (Stephen Baxter — Santa Cruz Local file)
Bruce Thomas, who spoke on behalf of several Dufour and Palm street neighbors, acknowledged the communication the developer and the neighbors had. But concerns remained about the lack of a reliable loading zone for deliveries and rideshare drivers near the proposed development.
The closest loading zone is adjacent to the Starbucks on Dufour Street, but it is often blocked by Starbucks customers and trucks often parked incorrectly on Dufour or on Mission Street to unload, Thomas said. They block traffic and create a safety hazard.
“Folks should get ticketed to deter them from doing that,” said Dann, the commissioner.
Thomas suggested changing parking configurations to include a loading zone next to the development, or incorporate 24-minute limits to some spaces to make it more accessible for Uber or Lyft vehicles.
“There’s not really a mechanism for us to require the developer to do that,” said Matt Starkey, transportation manager for the City of Santa Cruz. Some projects must provide loading zones, said Starkey, but this project is not required to because it has a parking waiver.
Planning commissioners asked city staff to revisit the issue with neighbors in the fall.
“I had hoped to pass this house down to my daughters,” Forest Rayfield said. “But having 30 units looking down to my backyard is kind of like…” He shrugged disappointedly.
Apartments are proposed to replace three homes on Mission and Dufour streets in Santa Cruz, across the street from a Starbucks. (Stephen Baxter — Santa Cruz Local file)
-Tyler Maldonado, Santa Cruz Local, July 18, 2025
