M I N U T E S
Joint Special Meeting of the
Scotts Valley City Council and
Planning Commission
In-Person and Remote Access
Date: April 5, 2023
Time: 6:00 PM
CONTACT INFORMATION MEETING LOCATION POSTING
City of Scotts Valley
1 Civic Center Drive
Scotts Valley, CA 95066
(831) 440-5600
City Council Chambers
1 Civic Center Drive
Scotts Valley, CA 95066
And
Zoom Video Conference
The agenda was posted
3-31-2023 at City Hall, SV Senior
Center, SV Public Works and on
the Internet at
www.scottsvalley.org.
CALL TO ORDER 6:00 PM
The meeting was called to order at 6:11 PM.
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE and MOMENT OF SILENCE
ROLL CALL
ELECTED OFFICIALS PRESENT:
Jack Dilles, Mayor
Randy Johnson, Vice Mayor
Donna Lind, Council Member
Derek Timm, Council Member
Allan Timms, Council Member
CITY STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT:
Mali LaGoe, City Manager
Kirsten Powell, City Attorney
Steve Walpole, Chief of Police
Taylor Bateman, Community Development Director
Chris Lamm, Public Works Director/City Engineer
Lauren, Deputy City Clerk
Sarah Wikle, Senior Planner
PLANNING COMMISSIONERS:
Lori Gentile, Chair
Chuck Maffia, Vice Chair
David Hodgin, Commissioner
Steven Horlock, Commissioner
Shawn Mosley, Commissioner
DocuSign Envelope ID: 26CD0882-0C92-4A89-A406-5B9F82747441 City Council Special Meeting Minutes Page 2
Date: April 5, 2023
REGULAR AGENDA
1. 6th Cycle Housing Element – potential Candidate Sites Strategies to Address RHNA and Considerations Per State Law Updates
Bill Wiseman and Ines Galmiche from Kimley-Horn presented a slide show and answered questions from the City Council Members and the Planning Commissioners.
Public Comment:
Dave Duquette, a Scotts Valley resident, spoke about Industrial areas concerns.
The Industrial areas are such a huge part of Scotts Valley economy. As a property owner on Scotts Valley Drive, Dave feels his hands are tied, and he can’t build something that he knows will be vacant or fight hard to fill it. He believes there should be more residential on Scotts Valley Drive and reduce commercial.
Steve Smith, a Scotts Valley resident, spoke about concerns regarding affordability and how it would be measured, by purchase power or by how much per month it would cost to rent. Mr. Smith also brought up the question of, how to maintain affordability in an inflationary economy.
Wayne Shaffer, a Scotts Valley resident and whose family owns two acres on Scotts Valley Drive, spoke about the zoning restrictions on Scotts Valley Drive with 50% commercial. Mr. Shaffer would like to suggest changing the zoning to allow for a higher density residential and lower commercial component. His property is within walking distance to amenities which would be a draw for residents.
Bill Brooks, who has done development around Scotts Valley, supported what Mr. Shaffer said. Mr. Brooks built the twenty homes behind Pinnacle pass, and he spoke on the troubles of the 50% commercial requirement. Mr. Brooks also represents the site where U-Save Liquors is, and there are a lot of sites that are similar that have irregular shapes that are not marketable to commercial or offices. He believes changing the zoning in that section would allow a lot of opportunities.
Evan Sirosky, a Scotts Valley resident, spoke on the high cost of housing along with the limited availability of housing. Mr. Sirosky spoke on the 1,220 units, which are the minimum Scotts Valley must plan for. Limiting housing could create homelessness.
David Alrich, a Scotts Valley resident, spoke on how he doesn’t understand the methodology from the state that tells us to build this many units. Mr. Alrich believes Scotts Valley is disproportionately taking the burden and, with his DocuSign Envelope ID: 26CD0882-0C92-4A89-A406-5B9F82747441 City Council Special Meeting Minutes Page 3
Date: April 5, 2023
calculations, we are proportionally required almost twice as many as Santa Cruz.
If we follow what Scotts Valley is required to build it would increase the population by 30% and would that mean the City would have 30% more police and staff, including public works staff. Mr. Alrich believes the City needs to “take a stand” and go forward with what the City is currently doing, but do it under protest.
Robert Bailey, a property owner on Scotts Valley Drive, spoke on how he believes his property is underutilized/overparked. Mr. Bailey suggested looking at how traffic flows now and how the work from home has impacted the commercial market. He suggested looking at the 50/50 rule closely and how the daytime use of commercial and nighttime use of residential may help better utilize properties.
Are there opportunities for smaller scale in-fill that balance out more with today’s work and living environment and better utilize the properties.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 7:55 PM.
Approved: _____________________________
Randy Johnson, Vice Mayor
Attest: __________________________
Lauren Lambert, Deputy City Clerk
DocuSign Envelope ID: 26CD0882-0C92-4A89-A406-5B9F82747441 From: Ruth S�les
Date: April 5, 2023 at 4:48:00 PM PDT
To: Jack Dilles <[email protected]>, Dave Hodgin <[email protected]> Subject: Endangered, species and underu�lized parcels
Hello Dave and Jack,
In advance of today’s mee�ng, I wanted to alert you to an endangered species that’s on one of the socalled underu�lized parcels. Scots Valley spineflower is a cute litle pink flower that is found nowhere else on earth except a few loca�ons in Scots Valley. Polo Ranch and the High School were redesigned around this plant and associated insects.
I found this plant on the the upper part of the vacant parcel adjoining Casa Way and Sandraya Heights.
The upper part of this parcel should be le� alone to preserve this plant.
I spoke with the developer about this and he proposed throwing some money at another site that was supposed to be a mi�ga�on area for the High School. Developers shouldn’t be allowed to do a mi�ga�on project, and then get more credit for the same mi�ga�ons.
Please call out preserva�on for the upper part of this parcel. Biologists associated with the California Na�ve Plant society will be able to give the City excellent advice on appropriate mi�ga�ons if needed.
Sorry I can’t be there this evening. You’re doing excellent work.
Ruth
Ruth S�les
Hor�cultural Consultant
Board Cer�fied Master Arborist WE 6613-B
DocuSign Envelope ID: 26CD0882-0C92-4A89-A406-5B9F82747441 From: Sini Bava
Sent: Monday, April 3, 2023 11:26:27 AM
To: lorigen�[email protected] <lorigen�[email protected]>; [email protected] <[email protected]>; [email protected] <[email protected]>; [email protected] <[email protected]>; [email protected] <[email protected]>; Jack Dilles <[email protected]>
Subject: 6th Cycle Housing Element : comment from a resident Gree�ngs
I’m a fortunate to be a Scots Valley resident for past five years.
When I saw 6th Cycle Housing Element informa�on, I couldn’t resist adding my comment. 40 years back, I felt most lucky when I got admited to as a ( female) Civil engineering student, that too as part of a class where more than 50% were girls!
In the post COVID world being part of a county where university students are major part of the renters in search of housing, if we can change our focus from housing families to individual students who are aware of climate change, willing to be part of a new world where houses are not meant to show social status or economic well being but provide healthy living close to nature in a safe and secure way. (Source Santa Cruz :: Demographics :: County :: Santa Cruz Popula�on by age- more than one fourth is below age 34
)
thanks
Sini
DocuSign Envelope ID: 26CD0882-0C92-4A89-A406-5B9F82747441