Quick Take
The Santa Cruz City Council is taking action to address long-vacant downtown storefronts with the proposed Downtown Vibrancy Ordinance requiring upkeep plans, local management and city coordination. The broader resolution aims to boost downtown vitality through alleyway activation and business support.
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Since 2021, the downtown Santa Cruz storefront at 1207 Pacific Ave., formerly Joe’s Pizza, has sat vacant. From the inside, sheets of wrinkled brown paper shield the windows, which, from the outside, are blurred with scratched graffiti. Bits of litter often collect beneath the royal blue awning, which can distract passersby from the lush Japanese cherry tree just outside its front door.
A block away at 1117 Pacific Ave., the old Logos storefront has been empty since 2018, and its weather-torn red awnings, dirty windows and intermittently leaky pipe spilling onto the sidewalk tell a similar story of unmet potential.
On Tuesday, the Santa Cruz City Council said it would start holding the owners of such vacant storefronts accountable for what city leaders consider a drain on community vibrancy.
Councilmembers gave an initial thumbs up to the proposed Downtown Vibrancy Ordinance, which says the owners of storefronts along Pacific Avenue that have sat vacant for longer than two years must pay to register the vacancy with the city, provide a plan for upkeep while it’s empty, retain a local property manager and meet annually with the city government to discuss its leasing status and maintenance issues.
Owners who violate the rules, including failing to maintain a current vacancy registration, would have their property declared as a public nuisance, which by city law is punishable by fines up to $1,000 or six months in jail.
The city council is scheduled to make a final decision on the ordinance on May 13, after which it would go into effect as a one-year pilot program only on Pacific Avenue, and could get expanded citywide next year.
Central in this push toward vacancy accountability is city leadership’s view that the owners of individual, public-facing storefronts have a responsibility in supporting the whole of downtown. A staff report highlighted this, saying vacancies have an “overall negative impact on surrounding businesses” and are an “increased draw on city resources to respond to graffiti abatement, police response for vandalism and squatting, debris removal, sidewalk cleaning and power washing.”
Although, as the ordinance is written, “violations of this chapter … are hereby declared to be public nuisances” and “may be remedied or prosecuted pursuant to Title 4,” which outlines the fines and jail time, city officials on Tuesday did not spend much time talking about the program’s harshest penalties, as the ordinance also includes other enforcement routes, such as requiring property owners to hire private security, repair windows, add lighting or otherwise enhance their maintenance plans.
The Downtown Vibrancy Ordinance, crafted by Vice Mayor Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson (District 3) and Councilmember Scott Newsome (D4), with the city’s economic development team, was only one part of a larger downtown omnibus resolution that received unanimous approval from elected officials on Tuesday.
The resolution amounts to a sort of stimulus package, aimed at awakening more of downtown Santa Cruz’s potential. As part of the resolution, the city will look to activate its alleyways as places to gather, with outdoor cafes, seating, art installations and children’s playspaces. The city council also made a loud statement of support for downtown’s two movie houses — the Del Mar Theatre and Santa Cruz Cinema — by committing $50,000 to validate parking for theatergoers over the next year.
The package also included a $50,000 window design program that allows the government to install more attractive window dressing on empty storefronts, and a temporarily streamlined permit process for businesses seeking to fill existing vacancies.
“Downtown is the heart of our city and I really truly believe that,” Kalantari-Johnson said during the meeting. She acknowledged that other downtowns are “fizzling and dying,” but said “that’s not the case here” in Santa Cruz.
Newsome, whose city council district includes most of downtown, said the area was “building momentum,” citing 14 businesses that have opened in the neighborhood since December.
During the meeting, Economic Development Director Bonnie Lipscomb acknowledged that downtown Santa Cruz has “more vacant storefronts than we’ve had in the past.” The on-the-ground reality has pushed the city to expand its Downtown Pops! program, in which the city enters into a lease with the owner of a vacant storefront, and then offers a six-month sublease of the space to a new local business at an attractive rate. The owner of the space at 1409 Pacific Ave., which once hosted Peet’s Coffee & Tea, has agreed to enter into the program, according to staff. And the Logos building is being finalized for a temporary police substation as part of an effort to increase law enforcement presence in the neighborhood.
FOR THE RECORD: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated how much money the city was committing to its movie theater parking validation program. The amount is $50,000, not $100,000 as initially reported.
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