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By Ryan Stuart rstuart@santacruzsentinel.com SANTA CRUZ » Housing is an ongoing issue in California as well as Santa Cruz, but two housing projects have been in the spotlight in the city throughout 2021. The first of those two housing projects is the Li- brary Mixed-Use project, which has been a focal point for the city for the last five years. Santa Cruz voters elected to pass Measure S in 2016, which passed funding to renovate all the libraries in the Santa Cruz County Public Library system. Downtown Santa Cruz's library will be a little dif- ferent. With that renova- tion, the city plans to add affordable housing, addi- tional parking and retail space to the building. That redesign of the structure also pushed for its location to be moved from the cur- rent site at 224 Church St., to the parking lot at the cor- ners of Cedar, Cathcart and Lincoln streets. While the project has continuously been op - posed by various commu- nity groups, the project has continued to progress. Those who oppose the proj- ect cite various reasons for their distaste, ranging from a desire to keep the library where it is and preserve the current farmers market to contempt for a proposed 310-stall parking garage. This year, the city has named the master archi- tect, Jayson Architecture, who unveiled the proposed design for the project in early December. The design proposes a library between 30,000 and 35,000 square feet, and between 100 and 125 af fordable housing units. The proposal also in- cludes between 7,000 and 9,000 square feet of re- tail space and 1,800-2,500 square feet of dedicated day care space. However, cons truction for the project is still more than two years away and is expected at the end of 2024, according to a timeline pre- sented by Jayson Architec- ture. The other hot ticket hous- ing development has been the 831 Water St. project, which has been mired in controversy. The project was the first application the city re- ceived under Senate Bill 35. The state passed the bill in 2017 as part of an effort to streamline housing and mitigate the state's hous- ing crisis. With SB 35 applications, the council has relatively no power on the approval or denial of projects. In- stead, it must compare the project to a set of objective standards that it deter- mines itself. If the project meets those standards, then it must be approved. If not, then it must go back to the drawing board. Novin Development sub- mi tted the project applica- tion in July, and it came to the council for approval for the first time in October. The council initially denied the application after city staff determined it met the city's objective standards. The council had several reasons for the project's de- nial, including missing traf- fic and stormwater studies, but the biggest issue was around the layout of the af- fordable housing. When the project orig- inally came to the coun- cil floor, the developer re- quested approval to con- solidate all of the affordable housing in one of the proj- ects two towers. All of the market-rate housing was proposed to be in the other tower. The council rebuked the request and called it an at- tempt at segregation. How- ever, SB 35 allows the con- solidation of affordable housing for the pur pose of securing funding for sub- sidized housing, which the developer claimed was the intent. Despite this, the coun- cil still decided to deny the project in a 6-1 vote. Now- Mayor Sonja Brunner was the only council member in favor of approving the proj- ect under the basis that it met all of the city's objec- tive standards. Shortly after the city's de- nial of the project, the Cali- fornia Department of Hous- ing and Community Devel- opment contacted the city to inform Santa Cruz that it did not have the grounds to deny the project. That forced the city to take an- other look at its action and rescind the project denial. The 831 Water St. project came to the council floor for a second time in mid-De- cember for the council's last meeting before the holiday break. A split council voted to accept the pro ject appli- cation in a 4-3 vote. Coun- cilmembers Justin Cum- mings, Sandy Brown and Martine Watkins were still opposed to the project. The trio cited an over- all messy application pro- cess in which the applica- tion allegedly continued to change as councilmembers discussed it approval for their disapproval. The project boasts 109 units, 55 of which are slated to be affordable housing units at 60% of the area median income or lower. It also still has the possibil- ity of consolidation most, but not all, of the afford- able units. A city ordinance requires all new projects to provide 20% of all units as inclu- sionary affordable housing units. Those must be evenly distributed among the proj- ect, which places at a mini- mum 11 affordable units in both towers. The remaining 33 unites required by SB 35 are un- der different rules. If fund- ing for the housing subsidy requires unit consolidation, then they can all be placed in one building. Otherwise, they must also be evenly distributed. The 831 Water St. proj- ect will begin applying for tax credits to sell for hous- ing subsidies, but it is un- known when that funding will reach the project. SANTA CRUZ City Council battles controversial housing developments Cougars hosted Santa Cruz County's first outdoor wres- tling meet April 28, which was delayed by an hour due to heat. "At first, it was scary, be- cause the mats were so hot from the sun," Scotts Val- ley coach Fred Cortez said. "You could fry some eggs and bacon out there. But we moved the mats closer to the bleachers and the sun started setting. The kids loved the outdoor setting. It was fun." At the SCCAL Champion- ships on May 20, also held outdoors in Felton, wres- tlers had to sit on the edges of the mat to prevent it from blowing away. SLV cross country, track coach Jay Avenmarg fired over violation Jay Avenmarg, SLV's be- loved and successful cross country and track coach, was fired from both posi- tions after using an ineligi- ble runner in mid-April, a week ahead of the SCCAL track championships. The sixth-year coach al- lowed an eighth-grader at SLV Middle School to run with the Cougars in the girls' mile relay during a home track meet against Santa Cruz on April 15. (The pandemic forced the cancel- ation of the middle school season.) "I told my athletics di- rector (Chris Coulson) I planned on doing it and he said, 'Don't do that, there will be serious conse- quences if you do,' " Aven- marg said. "I only have my- self to blame. I knew the consequences of my ac- tions." He continued, "And I'd do it again. I don't regret it." Avenmarg said it was the second time he'd run a mid- dle school athlete last sea- son but declined to elabo- rate on it. Aptos' stunning football wins Campolindo, Palma Aptos High's football program, a five-time Cen- tral Coast Section cham- pion, opened eyes through- out the state with its stun- ning road win Sept. 3 over Campolindo, who entered the season having reached four state bowl games over the past decade and the winner of CIF titles in 2014 and '16. The Mariners won 49-0. The next week, the Mar- iners produced another headline. They scored twice in final 39 seconds to storm past Palma 47-42. Aptos (8-2, 6-1) tied for second in the Pacific Coast Athletic League's Gabilan Division and was placed in the prestigious CCS Di- vision I playoffs. They bat- tle No. 1 seed Saint Francis of Mountain View might- ily for three quarters be- fore the Lancers broke the game open for a 56-28 win. As for Campolindo? The Cougars won the North Coast Section D-II title as the No. 4 seed and ad- vanced to another bowl game, which they lost McClymonds. CCS champs are here Spring: Ottis Pender- graft scored twice and the Harbor's boys soccer team edged Carmel 2-1 in over- time to claim the D-IV ti- tle May 29. … Kailyn Win- ter (50 free, 100 butterfly) and Ella Mazurek (100 free, 200 free) each won two in- dividual races two relays at the CCS swimming cham- pionships on May 29. They teamed with Tenaya Win- ter and Haley Hoeffer to win the 200 free relay, and Hazel Wilson and Win- ter to win the 400 free re- lay. … Behind SCCAL MVP Marissa Martinez's hitting and pitching, Watsonville edged Westmont 4-3 for the D-I softball title June 10. … With the help of SCCAL's 'A' Division MVP Bella Ste- vens, Santa Cruz beat Aptos for the CCS Division III ti- tle in girls basketball June 12. … Aptos junior Eliz- abeth Churchill won the high jump and produced the county's lone individual title at the CCS track field championships June 12 at Soquel High. Fall: Soquel won the CCS Open Division title in girls water polo behind CCS Player of the Year Kelsey Matthies, and the Knights girls volleyball won the D-IV title behind the lead- ership of SCCAL MVP Ciara Cantlen. … With senior Be- lene Rodriguez leading the way, Santa Cruz also won a CCS title in water polo in D-II, beating league foe Aptos 10-9 in the final. … Aptos (D-III girls), Santa Cruz (D-III boys), Scotts Valley (D-IV boys and D-IV girls) won CCS team titles in cross country this fall, and Falcons senior Jeremy Kain and sophomore Ash- lyn Boothby won individual section titles. Sports FROM PAGE 7 WE'RE HERE UNTIL HUNGER ISN'T Thank you to the Santa Cruz Community For food or to donate, thefoodbank.org | 800 Ohlone Parkway, Watsonville, Ca. 95076 $1 Donated = 4 Healthy Meals! 20 21 What a Year! 12,930,247 Pounds of Food Distributed 10,344,198 Meals Provided 864 Volunteers 10,281 Volunteer Hours | | SANTACRUZSENTINEL.COM FRIDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2021 8 S

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