Story and Photos By Jondi Gumz
For years, people complained: Not enough affordable housing was being built in Santa Cruz County.
Now a one-mile stretch of Soquel Drive — the Groppetti lot and the Rittenhouse lot — where residents have complained about traffic is where developers propose to build 289 and 181 affordable apartments, respectively.
That’s not counting Soquel Senior Living, 82 suites, under construction at the former Inner Light Ministries, 5630 Soquel Drive, and the newly proposed 130-bed senior residence at 2650 Soquel Drive, replacing the beloved Silver Spur café.
Santa Cruz County is mandated by the state to plan for 4,634 housing units by 2031 to meet household growth forecasts, and these projects if built would make progress toward that goal and provide new options for baby boomers who are becoming senior citizens.
However, seeing so many proposals of higher density stunned Soquel resident Lisa Sheridan.
“There’s no aesthetics, no trees, no parks nearby,” she said. “I wish there was some recourse to say stop. There doesn’t seem to be parameters that are reasonable.”
Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) has authored more than a dozen housing bills that are now law to address that state’s housing crisis. For example:
SB 50, allows more housing for families and working people near transit and jobs, SB 937, allows developers to defer paying impact fees until their project is built, SB4, allows churches and synagogues to build affordable housing on their property, SB 902, allows local governments to zone infill neighborhoods up to 10 units per parcel.SB 35, streamlines approval process when local governments do not meet housing goals.
And there’s the builder’s remedy tucked into a 1990 law, which allows developers to ignore a local zoning if the local government has failed to plan for enough housing.
No Master Plan
It’s hard to say how much housing development is appropriate on Soquel Drive.
Santa Cruz County does not have a master plan for its main artery, although Soquel Drive is the county’s medical corridor and home to Dominican Hospital and Sutter Maternity & Surgery Center.
The Sustainable Santa Cruz County envisions higher-density housing close to employment centers and talks about increasing housing specifically on Soquel Drive close to jobs, adding retail and services and creating new public gathering places. That plan does not offer numbers but the Housing Element calls out 25 opportunity sites, which could yield 1,160 housing units.
The inventory lists more than 30 properties on Soquel Drive in Soquel and unincorporated Santa Cruz with the Rittenhouse lot, a potential of 170 units.
The vacant flea market lot owned by Sutter Health, 2260 Soquel Drive, is listed with a potential of 158 units but most other Soquel Drive locations are eyed for 20 or fewer housing units.
Since last year, County Public Works has been carrying out a $30 million grant-funded transportation project on Soquel Drive to improve bicycle safety — protected lanes replacing parking for cars– and pedestrian safety –sidewalks with flashing beacons — and reduce congestion by replacing 22 pre-programmed traffic lights with lights that change based on sensor data.
This construction is expected to be complete in spring or summer 2025.
With so much development to bring people to live on Soquel Drive, residents who heard about the Silver Spur senior housing voiced concerns about impacts on traffic, sewer and water.
The Groppetti lot, 2.58 acres at Soquel Drive and 41st Avenue, previously proposed for a car dealership, is proposed for affordable rentals — 289 units in 6-story buildings.
The Rittenhouse lot, 6.26 acres on Soquel Drive — for years, the place to buy pumpkins and Christmas tree — is proposed for affordable rentals.
Anton Development of Sacramento has submitted plans to the county for Anton Solana, 181 apartments in 3- to 5-story buildings and 257 parking spaces.
The concept is for workforce housing with below market rents; the income limit has yet to be announced.
There is no mention of a requirement that tenants work in Santa Cruz County. To join the interest list see https://antonsolana.com/
Groppetti Details
On Oct. 3, Cushman & Wakefield announced the sale of vacant land at 41st Avenue and Soquel Drive in Soquel acquired for a Nissan dealership, with plans to build a $200+ million apartment complex with 289 affordable rentals.
The buyer, Pacific West Communities, Inc. paid $10.35 million.
It was offered for $9.85 million.
Pacific West Communities, with development partner Linc Housing, plans to build two 5-story multi-family buildings over a podium garage with 240 parking stalls and an elevator.
Proposed are:
- 103 one-bedroom units (636 SF)
- 13 larger one-bedroom units (709 SF)
- 22 two-bedroom units (834 SF)
- 33 three-bedroom units (1,140 SF)
Common amenities are expected to include laundry facilities, on-site management, and a community room, a fitness center and playground.
The new buildings would comprise 333,255 square feet.
Reuben Helick, managing director with Cushman & Wakefield, facilitated the land sale.
He said, “This new exciting, high quality residential development will bring much needed affordable housing to the residents of Soquel and the broader Santa Cruz County/Central Coast market and aligns favorably with the desires of many in the community.”
The seller was Blam Jade LP, owned by Don Groppetti, of the Groppetti Automotive Family, which after gaining county approvals in 2018 to build a Nissan dealership, decided not to proceed.
That left the lot surrounded by chain-link fence.
Groppetti, who has dealerships in Visalia, bought 1.3 acres for $5.44 million for a Nissan dealership, encouraged by then county economic development manager Andy Constable.
Soquel residents, organized under the banner of Sustainable Soquel, sued Groppetti, claiming the project represented a departure from a community-backed plan for the area and the county’s environmental review of the project violated state law.
Soquel residents wanted smaller-scale development with businesses to serve the neighborhood.
The Sustainable Santa Cruz County plan, dated 2014 and created with input from 16 public workshops, called for a variety of housing types, such as 2- to 3-story apartments or a “medium-scale” building with apartments atop first-floor businesses.
In 2019, then-Superior Court Judge Paul Burdick ruled that the environmental impact report for the dealership didn’t analyze a range of alternatives as the California Environmental Quality Act requires.
The Sustainable Santa Cruz County plan has now been trumped by a state mandate to plan more housing — 4,634 units by 2031 — and a new state law SB 35 that streamlines housing construction when cities and counties have not built enough.
Kings Paint, which used to sit at the corner, relocated to 41st Avenue in Capitola and its former store was demolished, along with a well-used car wash.
Helick said this is “a prime intersection that is also convenient to Highway 1, making it highly accessible for commuters as well as walkable to an abundance of retail, shopping, restaurant, and recreational activities surrounding the project.”
Cushman Wakefield reported the buyer separately acquired an additional ±0.12 acres (5,000 sf) of land abutting the ±2.58-acre sale site, bringing its total ownership to ±2.7 acres to develop affordable housing.