Quick Take
At up to 16 stories and 260 units, the Clocktower Center proposed behind downtown Santa Cruz's town clock is unlike anything seen in Santa Cruz County. However, the vision remains in the nascent stages, and developer Workbench has until September to submit a formal application.
During the second community meeting around its envisioned Clocktower Center, local developer Workbench continued to field pushback on what could be a 16-story mixed-use residential tower behind downtown Santa Cruz’s town clock; however, it also found some support.
The Clocktower Center remains in a pre-application phase, a nascent stage of development that precedes a formal proposal. Workbench, whose headquarters is located downtown, has until September to submit an official and more detailed application for the project. The developer has submitted two versions of the residential building: an eight-story, 104-foot tall structure with 174 housing units, 24 of which will be income-restricted, and a 16-story, 192-foot tall tower with 260 units, 40 of which will be income-restricted.
The development vision is the most controversial in the county, emblematic of the new power that state has granted developers to build larger and denser projects, and the minimized influence of the public and local politics to stop them. If built to its 16-story potential, the structure would become by far the tallest building in the county and reset what is viewed as possible in the local development landscape.
As with the first virtual public meeting earlier this month, residents used their time to criticize the size and scope of the Clocktower Center, incongruous, they said, with the city’s low-rise character.
“[Builders, architects and planners] should try to make sure that a new building complements the neighborhood and fits in, and doesn’t stick out as an ego statement,” said local contractor Lee Brokaw. “I’m at a loss of words. I’ve never experienced anything this out of proportion in my 43 years experience in the [building] trades. I’ve never seen anybody try to pull something like this. I think it’s disrespectful to the citizens.”
Many residents also questioned Workbench’s vision for only 78 on-site parking spaces; for the project’s smaller, 174-unit version, this shakes out to less than one parking space for every two units, and less than one for every three units in the 260-unit vision. However, as Workbench co-founder Sibley Simon said Wednesday, state law doesn’t require on-site parking for projects within a half-mile of public transit stops.
“Both of these applications include substantially more parking than is required,” said Simon, but acknowledged Workbench is still trying to figure out the sweet spot. “As you start building up, [multi-level parking] greatly elevates the cost and makes it infeasible to develop a lot of the housing and the mixed-income housing.”
Kyle Kelly, a software engineer, said he wanted to see Workbench go even taller. Kelly was among several callers, some of whom identified themselves as parents, who said the proposal was something they’d like to live in.
“I want the neighborhood character to be OK to have some tall buildings because right now, the character is tense and high rents, and it is affecting a lot of people,” Kelly said. “Personally, [I say] go bigger, let’s keep building housing, especially downtown where people can walk and bike and take transit. We’ve got to fix this.”
No other public meetings are yet scheduled for the development, but people can still submit comments and stay up to date on the project’s web page.
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