Measure M: Height-limitation measure defeated by 60%-40% vote

Tuesday, March 19, 5:30 p.m.  — Measure M, which sought to give voters in the city of Santa Cruz direct say over whether new developments could exceed the city’s existing height limits, as well as require a higher percentage of affordable units in large residential projects, has been soundly defeated. 

After a Tuesday update, the nays’ vote share held steady at around 60.6% (10,879 votes) while the yay side had 39.4% (7,069 votes), with 18,716 votes counted, or 50.8% turnout.

Measure M sought to place building heights directly in the hands of city voters by requiring a citywide vote to approve  any land use changes that increase existing building height limits. The measure also wants to require multifamily projects with more than 30 housing units to reserve at least 25% of those units for low-income tenants. 

The measure began as a petition from local grassroots organization Housing For People, Not Unaffordable Towers, which rejected the city’s vision for 12-story residential buildings in the downtown expansion plan. The group’s message, that such dramatic height increases should be up to voters rather than city council, seemed to connect with the community: in only a matter of months, their petition collected more than 5,000 valid signatures from Santa Cruz voters, which qualified the measure for the March primary ballot. 

However, the measure met well-organized opposition, led by both affordable and market-rate housing developers, who raised concerns over whether the proposed changes would thwart housing production at a time when the city is tasked with permitting a state-mandated 3,736 new housing units by 2031. 

Previous updates

Friday, March 15, 5:08 p.m.  — After a Monday update tallying another 1,467 ballots in the race, the nays’ vote share slightly increased to 60.6% (10,080 votes) while the yay side shrank slightly to 39.4% (6,549 votes). Those figures held steady after Friday afternoon’s update, which showed 10,601 votes against the measure, or 60.55%, compared to 6,906 in favor, or 39.45%.

Monday, March 11, 4 p.m.  — Measure M, which sought to give voters direct say over whether new developments could exceed the city’s existing height limits, as well as require a higher percentage of affordable units in large residential projects, has been soundly defeated. 

After a Monday update tallying another 1,467 ballots in the race, the nays’ vote share slightly increased to 60.6% (10,080 votes) while the yay side shrank slightly to 39.4% (6,549 votes). 

Measure M sought to place building heights directly in the hands of city voters by requiring a citywide vote to approve  any land use changes that increase existing building height limits. The measure also wants to require multifamily projects with more than 30 housing units to reserve at least 25% of those units for low-income tenants. 

The measure began as a petition from local grassroots organization Housing For People, Not Unaffordable Towers, which rejected the city’s vision for 12-story residential buildings in the downtown expansion plan. The group’s message, that such dramatic height increases should be up to voters rather than city council, seemed to connect with the community: in only a matter of months, their petition collected more than 5,000 valid signatures from Santa Cruz voters, which qualified the measure for the March primary ballot. 

However, the measure met well-organized opposition, led by both affordable and market-rate housing developers, who raised concerns over whether the proposed changes would thwart housing production at a time when the city is tasked with permitting a state-mandated 3,736 new housing units by 2031.

Friday, March 8, 4 p.m.  — Measure M appears headed for defeat. After a Friday update tallying another 4,064 ballots from the city of Santa Cruz, the nays’ vote share increased to 60.5% (9,169 votes) while the yay side shrank slightly to 39.5% (5,993 votes). 

Measure M seeks to place building heights into the arena of direct democracy by requiring a citywide vote to approve any land use changes that increase existing building height limits. The measure also wants to require multifamily projects with more than 30 housing units to reserve at least 25% of those units for low-income tenants.

The measure started as a petition from local grassroots organization Housing For People, Not Unaffordable Towers, which rejected the city’s vision for 12-story residential buildings in the downtown expansion plan. The group’s message, that such dramatic height increases should be up to the voters rather than the city council, seemed to connect with the community: In only a matter of months, its petition collected more than 5,000 valid signatures from Santa Cruz voters, which qualified the measure for the March primary ballot. 

However, the measure met well-organized opposition, led by both affordable and market-rate housing developers, who raised concerns over whether the proposed changes would thwart housing production at a time when the city is tasked with permitting a state-mandated 3,673 new housing units by 2031. 

Wednesday, March 6, 2 a.m. – Measure M, the ballot initiative that seeks to increase the city’s affordability requirements and put building heights increases into the hands of direct democracy, has so far met strong opposition in the final tally of Tuesday night. Of the 11,098 votes counted thus far, 60.35% of voters rejected the measure.

Don Lane, the board chair of Housing Santa Cruz County who led the campaign against Measure M, said he was not only “pleasantly surprised” by the margin, but felt the lead was enough to call it.

“I think we’ve got it,” Lane said from a friend’s downtown Santa Cruz apartment late Tuesday evening. He said he doesn’t foresee any trends that would flip a more than 21-point lead.

Lane hesitated to assume what motivated the nearly 5,800 voters who rejected the measure in early voting, but said the issue of housing is front of mind in Santa Cruz.

“I think people did come to see that Measure M wasn’t moving us in the right direction on housing,” Lane said. “But that doesn’t mean people don’t have concerns about tall buildings.”

Frank Barron, who heads Housing for People, the grassroots organization that petitioned for Measure M to reach the ballot, declined to comment Tuesday night. Susan Monheit, also with Housing for People, did not return a request for comment.

Santa Cruz Mayor Fred Keeley, who came out against Measure M, said he was “reasonably confident” that the initiative would not be able to overcome the rejection of the early returns.

“The remaining votes would have to come out staggeringly different; I don’t think there are enough votes still out there to close the gap on this.”

Measure M was perhaps the most contentious item on Santa Cruz city voters’ ballots. The citizen-led initiative would require that buildings proposed to be taller than height limits set in the city’s general plan be put to a vote of Santa Cruz residents, as well as increase the affordability requirements in larger housing developments from 20% to 25%. 

It has been met with considerable opposition from housing advocates and local politicians who say that increasing the inclusionary rate — the percentage of affordable units that would be required in a development — will drastically slow down badly needed housing production.

Supporters, on the other hand, want to link building height to direct democracy, and say voters deserve a voice in how their city changes with the times.

The measure earned its spot on the primary election ballot after more than 5,000 city voters signed a petition saying they wanted to vote on these issues on March 5.

If approved, any building that proposes to stand taller than the city’s existing height limits must first receive direct approval from voters, rather than just the city council, on a project-by-project basis before moving forward.

The two sides engaged in a heated debate during a Lookout forum in early February, where they disagreed over seemingly everything, like whether a 25% inclusionary rate was even possible or if something as small as whether a homeowner deciding to build a 7-foot fence would trigger a citywide vote.

In one ironic twist, the development that sparked the movement toward Measure M could end up being much smaller than originally envisioned. 

The City of Santa Cruz’s Downtown Plan Expansion initially envisioned residential towers as tall as 17 stories along with a permanent Santa Cruz Warriors basketball arena in the area south of Laurel Street. The city council later lowered that to 12 stories after Mayor Fred Keeley took office. Last month, Warriors president Chris Murphy sent an email suggesting the team’s portion of the project could come in closer to seven or eight stories tall, though the measure’s supporters said that did not change the fundamental concerns driving their initiative.

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