Support the Sustainable Santa Cruz County Plan
The primary goal of the Sustainable Santa Cruz County Plan is “reducing GHG emissions while simultaneously improving other aspects of community life including increasing walkability in the area, limiting urban sprawl, supporting alternative modes of transportation, and strengthening local economies”.
Future Land Use Pattern (figure 3-1)
- Pink circles are regional employment centers.
- Yellow circles are neighborhood activity centers.
A Plan in Need of Friends
The Sustainable Santa Cruz County Plan was created over the course of several years of community input. The Plan states that its primary goal is “reducing GHG emissions while simultaneously improving other aspects of community life including increasing walkability in the area, limiting urban sprawl, supporting alternative modes of transportation, and strengthening local economies.” The SSCCP designated employment centers, locating them along transit corridors.
Plan fails its first test
The owner of the Nissan Dealership in the City of Santa Cruz wanted to move the dealership to the corner of 41st Ave. and Soquel Dr. You can spot that corner on the map at the heart of one of the pink circles, denoting a regional employment center. A dealership employs sales people and mechanics—far fewer people per square foot than a medical office building, or mixed housing and commercial use, for example. A car dealership did not fit with the General Plan designation or zoning for that corner. Nevertheless, the Board of Supervisors approved the project. The supervisors may have been motivated to make an exception to sustainable land use planning in order to secure the sales tax revenue. (a gain for the County, but a loss for the City of Santa Cruz).
Another test of the Sustainable Santa Cruz County Plan is on the way. The proposed location of a large Kaiser office building is outside the employment centers envisioned by the Plan, and remote from a transit line. For more information, see Kaiser Won’t Thrive in a Transit Desert.