By Jon Chown
A developer has submitted a preliminary application to Santa Cruz County for a large housing project on the site of the former Aptos Par 3 golf course, proposing nearly 200 for-sale townhomes and a seven-story affordable apartment building on land recently rezoned to encourage residential development by bypassing public hearings.
The project, known as Village on the Green, is proposed for 2600 Mar Vista Drive and involves two parcels totaling 13.85 acres along the east side of Mar Vista Drive, near the intersection of Soquel Drive. The site sits adjacent to Highway 1 and has been vacant since the golf course closed in 2000, though a portion of the property has been leased in recent years to a landscaping business.
On Nov. 20, the applicant, Swenson Builders, initiated the pre-application process. The proposal calls for 197 for-sale, three-bedroom townhomes, each with an attached two-car garage, along with a seven-story apartment building containing 215 affordable housing units and 274 parking spaces.
County planners emphasized that the project remains in the early stages.
“This project is in the early proposal stages; the application in process is a Development Review Group consultation,” said Rebecca Rockom, project planner with Santa Cruz County Community Development & Infrastructure. “While still in the preliminary stages, the project has been added to the Major Project page on the County website due to the scale of the proposal and potential public interest.”
The closed entrance to the old Par 3 Golf Course at 2600 Mar Vista Drive • Photo Credit: Jon Chown
The DRG process functions as an enhanced pre-application review for complex projects, Rockom said, involving multiple county departments and outside agencies such as Public Works, Fire, and Environmental Planning. The goal is to identify issues, required studies and potential conditions before a formal development application is submitted.
Once preliminary plans are circulated, county staff will meet with the developer and give feedback, along with a letter outlining comments and corrections the applicant must address before moving forward. No public meetings have yet been scheduled for the project, and because of how the property has been rezoned, there might not be any.
“This is being driven by the state and it’s not kidding around,” said Kim DeSerpa, Santa Cruz County Supervisor for District 2. “They basically tell you who many units you must have. Gavin Newsom is not kidding.”
The proposal comes amid broader county efforts to address housing shortages mandated by state law.
Santa Cruz County’s 2023 Housing Element determined that existing zoning did not allow enough housing to meet its Regional Housing Needs Allocation, or RHNA. To address this, the county identified 75 parcels for rezoning in unincorporated areas.
The Mar Vista Drive site was one of those parcels. It was rezoned from Parks, Recreation and Open Space (PR) to Residential Flexible (RF) as part of the county’s Housing Element Rezone Program, adopted in 2023. A “-Min” combining district was added to the property, allowing certain multifamily housing developments to be approved ministerially, or “by right,” provided they meet objective standards and affordability requirements.
When a project is approved ministerially, county staff can approve it without public hearing, as long as the project complies with objective zoning and design standards, meets the affordability requirements spelled out in the ordinance, and fits within the allowed use for height, density, setbacks, and so on. The intention is to reduce barriers to development, especially housing.
The Village on the Green proposal has not yet been submitted for formal permitting. More environmental review and public input could occur later, depending on how the project advances. The public will have to wait and see.
DeSerpa said the project will have open space and will have homes for all levels of affordability. She said she would push for public hearings, but state requirements to build more housing are pushing these types of projects forward all over the state.
“It’s happening in every county across the state. I wouldn’t say this is a done deal, but there is a ministerial overlay. If people want to comment on it, I will hear them, any day of the week.”
TOP PHOTO: Fencing separates 2600 Mar Vista Drive from construction on Highway 1 • Photo Credit: Jon Chown