New Capitola General Plan taking shape

By Nels Westman and Rich Didday

The City of Capitola is undergoing a $1.3 million update of its General Plan, Local Coastal Plan, Zoning Ordinances and Climate Action Plan. These documents will guide Capitola’s development for at least the next 20 years. They will impact the lives and property of every resident of Capitola for many years to come.

For the past two and a half years, the work has involved gathering data (“taking input”). Draft documents from the consultants are beginning to surface. We residents of Capitola will have the opportunity to see in detail what is being proposed. This will be the crucial time for us to make our opinions known. We can do this orally at public hearings, but it also can be done (perhaps more effectively) in writing.

These will be large documents and at times a bit technical. Maybe not your idea of fun reading. But you have a friend in the Capitola Village Residents’ Association (CVRA). We have been serving as a conduit for communication between the City Council and residents for more than five years. The CVRA will be pouring over the drafts of each of these updated documents. We will highlight what we see as potentially controversial items for Capitola residents, will pass them along to our membership and will relay membership responses back to the City Council in as balanced a fashion as we can.

Membership in the CVRA is free but is limited to residents and property owners in the five traditional neighborhoods adjacent to Capitola Village. All residents of Capitola are welcome to be added to our email mailing list. (We treat all email addresses as confidential.) Send us an email at CapitolaCVRA@gmail.com, or visit CapitolaCVRA.org.

The draft General Plan is due to be released to the public in mid-June 2013. That is when the heavy lifting will begin. A revised timeline of public hearings on the various documents is due to be published soon.

A “sneak preview” presentation of the draft Land Use Element – Goals, Policies and Actions will be made at the Capitola City Council meeting on March 14 at 7:00 PM. While still very general at this point, these excerpts will provide an insight into some of the directions under consideration. Be prepared to get a glimpse of a possible future for Capitola. New hotel? Hotels? A new City Hall? Revisions to traffic flow? Changes to zoning? Taller buildings? Tree-lined boulevards? It will be exciting for us to help shape the future of Capitola.

In future columns we will keep you advised of important dates and developments in this process.

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CVRA’s 5th Anniversary

Co-founders Linda Hanson and Margaret Kinstler joined past and present CVRA Neighborhood Representatives at the Pacific Beach Grille for a dinner celebrating the 5th anniversary of the founding of the CVRA.