Quick Take
Live Oak resident Virginia Lieb is alarmed about a proposed six-story, 105-unit, builder’s remedy Workbench project planned for 3500 Paul Sweet Rd. She says the high-density development would overwhelm the narrow dead-end street that serves as the only evacuation route for the Dominican Oaks senior community and nearby facilities. The project, she argues, could impede emergency vehicles and possibly conflict with FAA height restrictions near Dominican Hospital’s helipad. While acknowledging the need for housing, she contends it should not come at the expense of seniors’ safety and emergency access.
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I live at Dominican Oaks, a community of over 200 seniors at 3400 Paul Sweet Rd. in Live Oak that is threatened with our community’s newest bane: builder’s remedy.
This is a legal mechanism established through the Housing Accountability Act that allows developers to bypass local zoning laws and build housing projects without community input. This occurs when a local jurisdiction’s housing element is not compliant with state law.
In Santa Cruz County, this has happened with several projects, including one proposed by developer Workbench in my community. The project – a six-story, 105-apartment project at 3500 Paul Sweet Rd. – is planned right next door to our retirement community and a few feet north of Dominican Hospital.
My community of seniors will be stuck with the consequences.
The projected high-density Workbench housing project will tower over our residential neighborhood, provide inadequate parking and increase traffic congestion and delays. It will also strain our infrastructure, reduce green space and create social issues such as noise and reduced personal privacy.
The project next to Dominican Oaks will have only 75 parking spaces on a half-acre parcel. This will not be adequate for the 105 apartments and will mean more cars fighting for street parking and clogging traffic.
There has never been a threat like the one our community is facing today.
Paul Sweet Road is the only evacuation route for Dominican Oaks as well as other surrounding residences and businesses. We believe adding hundreds of additional cars from this new project will create gridlock on this dead-end street that is so narrow that trucks and fire engines cannot turn around.
This ill-conceived project will turn that sole lifeline into a deadly bottleneck.
Our senior residents move more slowly and many of us use canes, walkers or wheelchairs. This requires more time and assistance to evacuate during a fire or other emergency. Workbench did a traffic study on the area, but we question that study’s accuracy and have pointed out several discrepancies to the county planner.
We are questioning the times used in the study and are seeking that information. We believe they were not peak times for Paul Sweet Road, including shift changes at Dominican Hospital, which happen at 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. During those times, traffic already backs up on Paul Sweet Road at the traffic light at Soquel Drive. Imagine what adding many more cars would do.
We feel the traffic study should not be accepted as provided and should be revised.
Only a few cars can exit Paul Sweet Road at each traffic light cycle. Today it takes three or four cycles to exit Paul Sweet Road. This project will create even longer delays, blocking the ability of residents and emergency vehicles to reach the hospital quickly, resulting in the difference between life and death.
Protecting clear, prompt and reliable access to medical care should remain a priority for planning decisions in our area.
In addition to these problems with the 3500 Paul Sweet Rd. project, our neighbor, Dominican Hospital, has an active heliport. Workbench has not yet submitted a required form (7460-1) to get Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) review of the proposed construction. The FAA could review the project and restrict the height of the building.
The FAA uses a 25-to-1 surface slope for construction near a heliport. This means for every 25 feet horizontally, the building height rises 1 foot vertically. The distance from the Dominican Hospital helicopter landing pad to 3500 Paul Street Rd. is 834 feet. If the FAA applied the 25-to-1 rule, it could limit the building height to 33 feet, or three stories.
Santa Cruz County does need more housing, and we in my community understand that.
But housing should never come at the cost of public safety or the well being of vulnerable seniors. This project, in this location, is simply dangerous. It jeopardizes emergency access, evacuation safety and the well-being of hundreds of vulnerable seniors.
Virginia W. Lieb is a resident of 3400 Paul Sweet Rd. She has lived in Santa Cruz County for 12 years.