SANTA CRUZ — Neighbors with an abundance of questions and concerns demanded this week to be heard in front of their peers on a planned 89-unit condo development set for the Dream Inn’s West Cliff Drive parking lot.

At the city Planning Department’s behest under a new public engagement process, developer Ensemble Investments hosted a second community meeting in a year and a half on its proposed “Cliff & Bay” project Monday night, drawing more than a 100 attendees to the Dream Inn. The proposed four-story-high housing project, including ground-floor commercial and two levels of subterranean parking with 421 spaces, is expected to feature 10 affordable units, plus a ground-floor public market hall and coffee shop. The project application, filed in February, remains under city review.

Resident Julie Phillips, to the applause of many in attendance, urged an open meeting rather than one-on-one discussions, “so we can all hear the answers, together.” Ensemble Real Estate Investments principal and project lead Tyson Sayles agreed to switch the format, saying he would respect the wishes of the public.

“Tonight, the purpose is not a referendum on the project. There will be the opportunity for that sort of public comment in Planning Commission and City Council,” Sayles told the audience. “This is meant to be an informational exchange. Sometimes, when its people just addressing a large audience, not everyone gets to get their points across.”

Impact worries

Some speakers voiced concern over the project’s size or impacts to neighboring residents, while others said they worried about pedestrian and bicycle safety with increased traffic. Consultant Owen Lawlor said the project is expected to increase vehicular trips by about 3 percent, to which one meeting attendee said that any amount is too much.

Audience members were told by city officials that the project’s environmental review process may be minimal, due to groundwork laid by the city’s General Plan. Development team members said they planned to consider the project’s potential construction impacts on its Clearview Court Mobile Home park neighbors and traffic congestion impacts for a large area around the West Cliff Drive and Bay Street intersection. A traffic impact study for the project should be completed and publicly available in coming days, according to city senior planner Ryan Bane.

“The improvements would have to be completed before the project’s open,” Sayles said in response to a speaker’s request that area’s traffic be improved before the development is built.

Public benefit

Sayles also shared information that the developer had engaged two local experts to study potential seismic impacts from construction on the nearby coastal bluffs, and that the project would pay the city for a traffic improvement project that could install a roundabout, traffic lights or some other measure at the nearby intersection. The project will include 347 bicycle parking spaces and also will pay for West Cliff Drive sidewalk improvements, a bike lane widening, a new crosswalk and moving nearby utility poles underground.

Seabright resident Josie Buchanan, who works for the Santa Cruz County Business Council and had done some work for the grassroots Santa Cruz Yes In My Back Yard (YIMBY) organization, attended Monday’s meeting. She said West Cliff Drive is a special part of Santa Cruz for her, and that the project proposal “would really do a lot to make West Cliff a more inclusive part of Santa Cruz.”

“Santa Cruz has one of the highest bicycle collision rates in the nation,” Buchanan said. “If someone wants to do something about that, and include housing and include open space, who are we to say no to that. Why are we choosing a parking lot over people.”

Prior to the meeting, Santa Cruz YIMBY founder Evan Siroky was handing out fliers with the header, “The Dream Inn project will be awesome!” Similarly, members of the Save Santa Cruz Westside group distributed a flier titled, “Stop the Dream Inn’s Massive Expansion at West Cliff & Bay.”

Project advocacy

Among several city Planning Commission members in attendance was Commissioner Robert Singleton, who for a time handed out the YIMBY fliers. Late in the meeting, speakers said it seemed inappropriate for a commission member who had not identified himself as such to not only take a position on a project ahead of its approval, but also to be advocating for it. Phillips, a project neighbor, said Singleton should have to recuse himself from voting on the project. City Planning Director Lee Butler said the speaker’s concern about influence “was well taken” but that the issue of bias was a “separate issue.”

Singleton, reached for comment Tuesday, apologized for handing out a handful of the fliers and said it was inappropriate for him to have done so at the community meeting. However, Singleton said he has never been shy about his support for new housing construction.

“In general, I have an opinion so far — I tend to like the Dream Inn project, as much as I’ve seen it, in terms of having a lot more affordable housing and deeper affordability restrictions than other projects,” Singleton said. “That doesn’t mean I’m necessarily going to vote in favor of it. I actually haven’t made up my mind.”

At a glance