Residents near a proposed Capitola Road apartment complex led by local developer Workbench are appealing the Santa Cruz County planning commission’s approval of the project, arguing the builder can’t take advantage of state laws to override local control.
Latest News
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Capitola police chief says immigration officials’ access to its license plate reader database was a mistake
Federal and out-of-state law enforcement agencies accessed databases with information collected by Capitola’s automated license plate readers on behalf of immigration officials between 2024 and early this year. Capitola’s police chief says it was a mistake.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Watsonville City Council wants more say in county’s battery storage ordinance
As Santa Cruz County officials work on battery storage facility regulations, members of the Watsonville City Council say they want their concerns to be heard.
Posted inEnvironment
County publishes new draft battery storage rules ahead of first hearing on Nov. 18
After delays, Santa Cruz County officials publish more stringent plans to regulate battery storage facilities ahead of the first public hearings on on the proposed new rules Nov. 18.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Watsonville City Council moves to scrap project labor agreement, despite pushback from trades council
The Watsonville City Council voted Wednesday to scrap its project labor agreement, which sets standards for wages, benefits and working hours on city projects. Following the vote, city staff and the local trades council will go back to the drawing board to create a new set of rules.
Posted inLatest News
Scotts Valley assisted living facility to renovate units for disabled residents free of charge as part of class action settlement
Brookdale Scotts Valley, an assisted living facility, has agreed to renovate housing units to accommodate residents with mobility issues and update policies to settle a federal class action lawsuit.
Posted inLatest News
Headstone of one of Santa Cruz County’s first teachers, missing for years, found near storage facility
The tombstone of Mary Amney Case, Santa Cruz County’s first English-speaking schoolteacher, disappeared years ago and was believed to be stolen. Now, it has made its way to the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History after being found under a pile of leaves near a storage facility.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Santa Cruz County officials reviving a statewide coalition to block Trump’s offshore oil drilling plans
Santa Cruz County elected officials and activists are trying to reopen a playbook that helped safeguard Monterey Bay from offshore drilling in the 1980s amid Trump administration plans to restart oil and gas leases off the California coast as early as 2027.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
‘We’re asking for safeguards’: Tensions flare at Watsonville town hall on planned Santa Cruz County battery storage safety law
Weeks before the board of supervisors is scheduled to have the first hearing on a proposed battery storage ordinance, District 4 County Supervisor Felipe Hernandez hosted the informational town hall Monday night at Watsonville’s city hall. Residents came armed with questions — and concerns.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Ask Lookout: What is Watsonville’s project labor agreement that has trade unions up in arms?
Why did nearly 150 union workers pack Watsonville City Council chambers earlier this month to urge the city not to rescind a longstanding labor agreement that sets the employment terms for major city infrastructure projects?