SANTA CRUZ >> Santa Cruz city leaders are determining how dense the city’s downtown should become in the next quarter century, with a proposal to allow for taller buildings and improved pedestrian access to the San Lorenzo River.

The city released last week the first draft of a study that looks at the environmental impacts of allowing taller buildings along Pacific Avenue and Front Street. The proposal, the latest in a series of updates since the Downtown Recovery Plan plan was completed in 1991, is a means to the Santa Cruz Council’s desire to see increased housing, public open spaces and San Lorenzo River pedestrian access.

The city is accepting written comments on its draft of the state-mandated Environmental Impact Report for the project through Sept. 8.

In October, speaking before the Santa Cruz City Council, Planning Commissioner Mark Mesiti-Miller said the updated plan will offer Santa Cruz a chance to build a “really beautiful downtown,” where density and height are positives for the city and provide a “visually stimulating” district.

“We’re trying to imagine what the future of our downtown might look like,” said Mesiti-Miller, who served on a commission downtown plan subcommittee. “What you have before you is a plan that represents a city being built. What kind of city do you want to have in 20 years?”

PROPOSED UPDATES

The city is continuing along a downtown development path put in motion in 1989, after the Loma Prieta earthquake razed many buildings and subsequent redevelopment changed the city’s downtown appearance and structures. A community-driven effort dubbed Vision Santa Cruz helped create and implement the Downtown Recovery Plan.

The current downtown plan urges development that avoids creation of “large monolithic buildings that are out of scale with the finer-grained development pattern of the downtown,” where additional height is allowed. The proposed update makes specific design recommendations, including a strong and well-detailed storefront and building base, elements creating “visual interest” on intermediate floors and other architectural touches.

The plan updates would help to accommodate two adjacent pending projects in the area, including the Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District’s Pacific Station and developer Owen Lawlor’s concept for several stories of rental housing above retail space.

The only downtown properties eligible for increased building height are those that are at least 15,000 square feet — about seven existing properties, generally located near the southern end of the commercial area, according to Principal Planner Ron Powers. The plan would allow for a 20-foot height development increase for some buildings of up to 75 feet tall, about seven stories, from Cathcart to Laurel streets and buildings up to 85 feet, about eight stories, between Pacific Avenue and Front Street.

To increase pedestrian access to the Riverwalk, new development would be required to include features encouraging passageways and plazas, opening the street to the river with light, air and open space between buildings.

RESIDENTS SPEAK

Resident Debbie Hencke was one of a handful of letter writers to the city as it began preparing to study the environmental impacts of the proposed plan. Hencke took issue with what she sees as a “disaster” that will destroy the historical nature of the downtown.

“Lastly, people come to Santa Cruz because of its small town uniqueness. They don’t come here to look at 85-foot buildings surrounding the river or even other higher density buildings,” Hencke wrote. “They come because it is unique. Turning this area into some utopian concept is not going to draw people or solve the housing situation. It is not a draw for tourism and economic viability.”

New projects in the downtown area are expected to cumulatively take a particular toll on three major city traffic intersections, including: Ocean Street/Water Street, Highway 1/Highway 9, and Chestnut Street/Mission Street, according to the draft environmental study.

In addition to Hencke’s concerns, public feedback ranged from flood control and wildlife disturbances to traffic congestion and historical preservation issues.

Jean Brocklebank, speaking for the Friends of San Lorenzo River Wildlife, wrote in a letter to the city that the environmental group wants development farther away from the river and the Riverwalk and opposes amendments allowing increased building heights in that area.

Ryan Moroney, district supervisor for the California Coastal Commission, said in a letter to the city that the regulatory agency supports Santa Cruz’s efforts to provide better access to the city’s Riverwalk, “an extremely underutilized public access and recreation feature of the city.” Moroney voiced some concern about taller Front Street buildings potentially reducing public views from the Riverwalk, among other areas of interest.

Questions of creating new affordable housing opportunities have been intertwined with plan update discussions in recent years as the city grapples with ways of creating new housing stock. In October, when the Santa Cruz City Council — including three councilmembers no longer serving — discussed the issue, several made it clear that they hoped for the final downtown plan update to be accompanied by additional affordable housing requirements.