Aptos Village Appeal Denied

Supervisors Vote to Continue Project as Modified

By Noel Smith

A last minute attempt to sideline the Aptos Village development by appealing a number of project modifications was unanimously turned aside by the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors at their May 5 meeting. Appellant Becky Steinbruner was leading the anti-development charge against the mixed-use development planned for construction in the middle of the old apple and lumber processing area in Aptos.

The developer had filed an application for modifications to the project in January that included:

• Increasing the number of residential units from 63 to 69 units
• Re-alignment of Aptos Village Way from the Village Green to Trout Gulch Road to miss Bay View Hotel property because the hotel is not part of the development
• Movement of the location of the Soquel Creek Water District well

The major issues brought up by those opposed to the project at the Supervisor’s meeting involved water use and runoff, traffic impacts of the project, traffic mitigation during construction, and the size and scope of the project itself.

Supervisor Zach Friend, in whose district the Aptos Village project is to be built said, “I think a lot of the comments really deal with things that have been approved by this board over a significant public process over the last decade.”

Aptos Village had one of the first Community Design plans in the state adopted in 1979 and then revised in 1985. A review and update of the Aptos Village Plan began in 1999. Ten years later in 2010 it was approved unanimously. Barry Swenson Builder designed the project to match the approved Village plan and the Board of Supervisors approved this unanimously in 2012. Construction is expected to begin this fall with completion of the first phase about nine months later.

Answers to many of the questions about the project have been posted on the website: www.theaptosvillage.com/ FAQs. Also there is a 46 page Project Design Update with site drawings and detailed descriptions of the various elements of the project.

Photo Credit – Mary Lee