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• On April 25th, 2017, the Santa Cruz City Council addressed UC Santa Cruz’s Long Range Development Plan and adopted a recommendation to direct the Mayor to forward the Council’s recommendations to Chancellor Blumenthal.
• The existing UC Santa Cruz Long Range Development Plan (LRDP), which sets forth the standards of growth that the UC campus must adhere to by 2020, is of great importance to the Santa Cruz community, as the expansion of the university must be limited and within reason, due to the university’s direct impact upon key areas of transportation, housing and water usage.
• While the university is beneficial to the Santa Cruz community in many ways, promoting economic growth and a vibrant learning environment, the increasing university student body, and it’s role in driving up housing costs and traffic congestion, makes the communities considerations and involvement in the next LRDP to be of utmost importance.
• In regards to the next LRDP, which would enter into place after 2020, the City Council requests that the previous LRDP student population limit of 19,500 remain as the maximum population, and that no more student body growth be allowed, due to the strain that this already high population places on community resources.
• The City Council also requests that a Community Impact Committee be created in order to advise and educate the next LRDP about the Santa Cruz community’s needs and concerns in regards to the university's growth.
• Lastly the City Council recommends that the Mayor write a letter directly to UC Santa Cruz Chancellor Blumenthal, regarding the integration of the above concerns into the LRDP.

 
 
The information in this write up is based in a Santa Cruz City Council Agenda Report set forth on April 25th, 2017. For details and more information please see the following City Council Agenda Report.
http://scsire.cityofsantacruz.com/sirepub/mtgviewer.aspx?meetid=856&doctype=AGENDA

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• In response to the Santa Cruz’s eligibility for annual federal housing funding in the form of a Community Development Block Grant, Home Investment Partnership and additional funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Santa Cruz must declare a five year plan that discerns where the City will distribute these funds and what community needs must be met.
• The federal funding through the Community Development Block Grant is given under the condition that the funds must target low-income individuals and meet essential community needs. Home Investment Partnership funds on the other hand, are offered on the condition that such funding rehabilitate income-restricted housing as well as target renters and home buyers of low-income
• One of the projects targeted is the Water Street Affordable Housing Project, which is seeking to establish 41 units of affordable housing off of Water St. Santa Cruz. The City Council has already approved funding in the form of $2.6 million and will receive $671,615 in additional funding from Home Investment Partnership, as well as $11-$12 million in federal bonds from Low Income Housing Tax Credits.
• Affordable housing projects such as this are of immense importance in the face of the extremely high rent and home prices that Santa Cruz currently faces. This report on annual federal housing funding illustrates how funding for housing development and affordable housing units is one of the greatest obstacles to affordable rental and home prices. While other issues such as community resistance and environmental regulation play a role in limiting housing development and matching the extreme demand that California currently faces, finding the funding needed for affordable housing projects is arguably the greatest barrier to addressing the housing crisis that California faces.

 
The information in this write up is based in a Santa Cruz City Council Agenda Report set forth on March 14th, 2017. For details and more information please see the following City Council Agenda Report.

• http://scsire.cityofsantacruz.com/sirepub/mtgviewer.aspx?meetid=817&doctype=AGENDA​

• Background Information: The California Energy Commission is the central energy management and energy planning organization of California, and is in charge of implementing energy efficient systems and technologies in California buildings and architectural design.
•  On February 28th, 2017, the Santa Cruz City Council adopted a resolution that authorized the Santa Cruz City Manager to apply for a grant from the California Energy Commission that would offer $400,000 to be put towards increasing energy efficiency and energy management in municipal buildings such as the Police Station, City Hall and City Hall Annex.
• This grant application is of great importance to the City’s future goals of increasing energy efficiency, and could play a key role in achieving the Santa Cruz Climate Action Milestone goal to lessen municipal building energy use by 40% in 2020.
  

The information in this write up is based in a Santa Cruz City Council Agenda Report set forth on February 28th, 2017. For details and more information please see the following City Council Agenda Report. 

• As of February 14th, 2017, the Santa Cruz City Council took an essential first step towards instituting a public bike share system, as it authorized a Request for Proposal (REP) for a bike share system in the City of Santa Cruz.
• A bike share system is a network of public bicycle stations that offer bicycles to be used for short-term convenience, for purposes of work as well as errands.
• While bike share networks have traditionally been seen as far too expensive outside of major cities, the City is motivated to explore models and strategies that will reduce these costs in order to achieve the Santa Cruz General Climate Action Plan, which aims to expand bicycle use to take up to 12% of commuter transportation.
• This motion could be a key step towards establishing a system of transportation that reduces city automobile traffic and encourages short distance, non-polluting methods of transportation.

The information in this write up is based in a City Council Agenda Report set forth on February 14th, 2017. For details and more information please follow the link to the City Council Agenda.

• As of January 24th, the City Council adopted a resolution indexing the minimum living wage upwards to 3.1%, on par with Santa Francisco’s, Oakland’s, and San Jose’s Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Workers and Clerical Workers
• This resolution will become effective on July 1st, 2017 and is based in a 2000 City Council Ordinance, No. 2000-25 which required that the City Council upward index the Consumer Price Index to levels of San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose areas.
• According to the City Council
  •  “The minimum living wage to be paid to employees when they receive minimum leave and health insurance will be increased by $0.48 to $16.21 per hour.”
  • “The minimum living wage to be provided to employees where the employees do not receive the minimum leave and health insurance benefits shall be increased by $0.53 to $17.68 per hour.” 

For details and more information please see the following City Council Agenda. 

• In light of the recent Volkswagen scandal in which Volkswagen sold approximately 500,000 diesel vehicles implemented with devices intentionally designed to reduce emission recordings, Volkswagen has settled with the Environmental Protection Agency to invest over $800 million in a Zero Emission Vehicle Investment Program. 
• The City Council has just authorized the City Manager to apply for and accept, if awarded, a grant from Volkswagen of America’s Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Investment Program. If the application is accepted the City of Santa Cruz would obtain up to $3.3 million from California Air Resources Board who will distribute the Volkswagen of America ZEV Investment Program funding.
• This grant application is extremely relevant to local transportation issues as the successful acceptance of Santa Cruz’s application could mean $3.3 million dollars in funding to Zero Emissions Vehicle charging infrastructure and ZEV vehicles which could be a key aspect of the City's aim to reduce emissions by 30% and switch 20% of cars to low carbon fuels by 2020.
• This initiative has been proposed by the Council as the Green City initiative, and with an already a high concentration of Zero Emission Vehicles, Santa Cruz City is posed to take advantage of this grant and the greater shift towards sustainable transportation that it exemplifies.

For details and more information please see the following City Council Agenda.

• In light of recent intense storms, one of the major issues in regard to regional transportation facing Santa Cruz County has been intense road and infrastructure damage, estimated to have caused 20 million dollars worth of road damage and $1,685,000 worth of damage to local water supply lines in the last month.
• With Santa Cruz County having received some of the heaviest damage in the state and the Public Works Department running on overdrive, the City and the County have declared an emergency and are in desperate need of federal funding from the Federal Highway Administration to repair the country-wide extreme road damage sustained by intense flooding, falling trees and mudslides.
• A vast majority of the damage has occurred in District 5 of Santa Cruz County, made up of San Lorenzo Valley, the Santa Cruz mountains, and the city of Scotts valley, with some of the worst damage striking Zayante Canyon, the Narrows, Bear Creek, and Nelson Road. Dangerous mudslides, falling trees, and collapsing mountainsides in areas of the Santa Cruz mountains have prevented road access to mountain living residents, sealing residents into their homes for days at a time, and posing a major fire hazard for the future if not repaired soon. 
• While federal funding is expected within the coming weeks, it is unlikely that such funding will be utilized until the storms blow over and there is a consistent break from the rains.

For questions and more information please contact the Santa Cruz Public Works department.