Live Oak residents cite traffic, parking as concerns for Capitola Road housing project

Live Oak residents are pushing back against a housing development proposed for Capitola Road near 7th Avenue that has changed noticeably since it was first proposed three years ago. As the project moves through the Santa Cruz County review process, nearby residents worry the development doesn’t include enough parking and has the potential to worsen traffic congestion in the neighborhood. 

The five-story development at 841 Capitola Rd., headed by local architect and development firm Workbench, would include 63 units. The project has transformed since it was initially proposed in 2022 largely due to cost, said Workbench CEO Tim Gordin.

Initially, the vision for the development was 15 single-family homes, each with its own attached accessory dwelling unit (ADU), which comes out to 30 units in total. Gordin said the idea was that these would be for “entry-level ownership.” However, he said that by 2023, mortgage rates had skyrocketed, forcing the firm to rework the project.

“People would have had to pay something around $2 million and it wouldn’t be entry-level anymore,” he said. “So we switched to apartments.”

The development attempts to use the state’s builder’s remedy mechanism, which allows developers to bypass local zoning laws when a jurisdiction does not comply with state housing development requirements. In this case, the county’s housing element was out of compliance. Gordin said Workbench is hosting a virtual community meeting on Tuesday to receive feedback and hear concerns from nearby residents.

Meanwhile, residents in the Live Oak area argue that the development does not suit the neighborhood and could negatively affect their daily lives.

Mike Reis, who lives on Grey Seal Road, said he has major concerns about losing neighborhood parking spaces to new residents, along with heavier traffic because of the development. The 63-unit project currently has only 30 parking spaces included in its plans.

“If an applicant is going to provide a development, they should be able to provide the correct amount of parking on the parcel,” he said, adding that the residential area in which the project is proposed already has bike lanes along Capitola Road with little to no street parking nearby.

Reis also said that he and other residents would like to see a traffic study to justify a development of this size. County Community Development and Infrastructure spokesperson Tiffany Martinez said that the county did request a traffic study when it initially reviewed the project application to have a better idea of how the development would affect the neighborhood around it, including how many parking spaces would be available to residents of the building.

Gordin said Workbench has performed a trip generation analysis, which predicts the number of new vehicular trips associated with a project once it is fully operational, in order to estimate how far people travel and better understand the area’s commute patterns.

As residents prepare to bring their questions and concerns to the meeting Tuesday, Reis said he understands the need for housing, but believes that the process for this project has been haphazard.

In addition to the Workbench-hosted event, Reis said District 1 County Supervisor Manu Koenig’s office is working with residents to set up a separate meeting with an analyst, Jonathan DiSalvo, who is the county planner for the project, and county counsel to discuss their concerns and answer their questions. He said that the neighborhood’s concerns do not stem from an anti-housing perspective.

“Our sentiment is pro-housing, but responsible. This does not seem to meet that bar,” Reis said. “While I want housing to be built, I think it has to be built respectfully, and with the community in mind. Dumping cars into the neighborhood with the [parking] deficit that they’re proposing is not responsible.”

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