CITY COUNCIL

AGENDA REPORT

 

 

DATE:

November 3, 2005

 

AGENDA OF:

 

November 15, 2005

DEPARTMENT:

 

Planning and Community Development

SUBJECT:

 

PROPOSED LA BAHIA HOTEL PROJECT, 215 BEACH STREET

 

RECOMMENDATION:  Following the presentation by Barry Swenson Builders, that the City Council discuss the information, ask questions, provide comments and direction, as appropriate.

 

 

BACKGROUND:  On June 24, 2003, the City Council approved permit entitlements to allow a remodel, addition and conversion of the La Bahia City Historic Landmark into a 118 room hotel.  Since this approval, the developer has indicated that they no longer intend on vesting these permits.  A revised project has been developed which the developer has submitted for pre-application review.  In addition, the developer has conducted several public meetings.

 

DISCUSSION:  At this time, the developer is requesting a presentation to the City Council on the status of the project as well as to obtain input from the Council on certain requirements which are necessary to construct the revised project (see attached correspondence).    Among these are the need to demolish the existing building and a zoning amendment to allow for an increase in height.

 

It is therefore recommended that following the presentation by Barry Swenson Builders, that the City Council discuss the information, ask questions, provide comments and direction, as appropriate.

 

Submitted by:

 

 Alex Khoury

Acting Director of Planning and Community Development

Approved by:

 

Richard C. Wilson

City Manager

Here's an in-depth article about the plans for La Bahia in 1999.

From Metro Santa Cruz...

metroactive.com/papers/cruz/06.30.99/la-bahia-9926.html

Santa Cruz needs to stop the knee-jerk RE-activism against all new construction and start embracing responsible Smart Building designs like this one. These projects which RESPONSIBLE architects are offering to us, are designed using the very best of cutting-edge green building design and could help lead the way to a sustainable future and Santa Cruz would be the perfect flagship community for this with its established tradition of environmental stewardship.

Don't be fooled by the marketing and branding that architectural companies use to promote their lead architects, either. As is the case here, often these designs are really the work of unsung student architects doing their internship. They are attempting to bring sustainability and fresh thinking to an originally inbred and stagnant old-boy industry. The name on the placard may be some old timer, but the blueprints are the best work of these gifted students. You might even know 3 of them, but I cannot name any names. (If you know them, you'll know right away who I mean.)

Please don't let the new fad of blind negativity in activism decide for you where you stand on this issue. Realize when something is worth backing to move us forward, instead of opposing absolutely everything and only moving us all a step backwards.

Sincerely,

Carolyn Meinel

x261

Where are all the details? How many jobs will this bring to the community? What type of jobs? How well will they pay? What type of benefits will this offer? Whose view is being screwed up? What style is being used - i.e. does it conflict with the rest of the classic Boardwalk feel? What type of income will this bring the city in tax revenue? What will the increased tax revenue be used for?

The City Council meeting tonight, and the Commission meeting the following night, is an opportunity for the public to get educated about new proposed plans on a previously approved project that WAS to preserve much of the historic La Bahia. The City also is developing new Green Building standards for all new construction, and has some regulations already on the books, and this and any new structure should at least meet those. Does going "green" alone mean its okay to igonore our zoning regs, carefully crafted General Plan and Local Coastal Plan guidelines? I don't see anyone automatically opposing this (as one commentor seems to be accusing), just asking good questions and raising awareness.

Who says zoning regs are being ignored? How could that even happen? It's not like "Shh, we're building a new hotel but if we're quiet they'll never notice." The Planning Dept is already watching. That's what they do.

Zoning regulations are often arbitrary or even wrong-headed to begin with. Zoning is how police drove medical marijuana out of city limits and kept it out for the longest time. Sometimes, zoning regs are bad.

The General Plan and Local Coastal Plan will be considered by city council too. Nothing is being ignored. Why are you making all these assumptions already? I recommend doing your homework first, not shouting fire when there isn't even smoke yet.

Here's the article in today's Sentinel. Unfortunately, no mention of tonight's council meeting at 7pm, nor time/place of "Wednesday's" commission meeting, where the public can view the design presentation. Also note that Santa Barbara has a 2-story height limit along its beachfront (lower than Santa Cruz's 3-stories that can be squeezed to almost 4-stories with a variance), so this structure really isn't very "santa barbara-esque" as stated by Mr. Nickell. The jobs for hotel workers are NOT to be union or prevailing wage, and this is planned to be an "investiminium" (no city TOT tax for the individual owners during their allowed annual stays). The student interns did a great job of creating a small scale model that is appreciated.

November 15, 2005

La Bahia project hinges on height and history

by Shanna mccord

Sentinel staff writer

Dozens of city residents have gotten a glimpse, through digital pictures and 3-D models, of what La Bahia could be if the deteriorating historic landmark was torn down and replaced with a $25 million upscale hotel — a hotel that includes buildings taller than what's allowed.

In an effort to avoid the public outcry that killed the Coast Santa Cruz Hotel renovation earlier this year, La Bahia co-owner Barry Swenson Builder has met with nine community groups during the past few months before filing a formal application with the city.

"We definitely learned from the Coast Hotel," said Jesse Nickell, Swenson vice president. "Everyone in Santa Cruz loves process."

The ragged Spanish Colonial hotel on Beach Street, a Santa Cruz icon since 1926, now serves as an apartment building. It's been the subject of numerous failed renovation proposals by various developers for at least 25 years.

The latest plan includes 120 rooms that would go for $200-$300 a night — something "Santa Barbara-esque" that draws "the Monterey crowd," Nickell said.

The new hotel would include some meeting space, but would use the nearby Cocoanut Grove for conferences as much as possible, Nickell said.

But the idea of two 5-story buildings 57 feet tall, 12 feet higher than what's allowed — already has fueled opposition from Santa Cruzans for Responsible Planning.

The community group, which spearheaded the campaign to defeat the proposed renovation of the Coast Santa Cruz Hotel, won't support La Bahia unless the project is dropped to 4 stories or 45 feet, group spokesman Bill Malone said.

"If we don't abide by the guidelines, what good are they?" asked Malone, who met with Nickell last week. "I see no reason for taller buildings. There's no reason to turn Santa Cruz into Miami Beach or Waikiki Beach."

Malone said his group prefers the La Bahia plans over what was proposed for the Coast Santa Cruz Hotel, but allowing the additional height would set bad precedent for future beach area projects.

"Once the lid's off, there's no way to stop it," Malone said.

Height is not an issue for Mayor Mike Rotkin, who said he's more interested in the overall design.

"We're not talking about a skyscraper here," Rotkin said.

Tearing down the buildings, which are on the state historic landmark list, would require a permit from the city Historic Preservation Commission.

Commissioner and local historian Ross Eric Gibson said he's met with Nickell three times. He declined to comment until the project is presented to the entire commission, a meeting set Wednesday.

Nickell must convince the commission that the design of the new buildings will "retain the original ambiance," Gibson said.

The hotel must "show a sense of variety, retain the cloistered atmosphere" and follow the terrain of the hillside, he said.

A new hotel would add 100 new jobs and generate $600,000 a year in hotel tax revenue for city coffers, Nickell said.

Contact Shanna McCord at smccord (at) santacruzsentinel.com.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You can find this story online at:

www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2005/November/15/local/stories/02local.htm

The City Council meeting tonight, and the Commission meeting the following night, is an opportunity for the public to get educated about new proposed plans on a previously approved project that WAS to preserve much of the historic La Bahia. The City also is developing new Green Building standards for all new construction, and has some regulations already on the books, and this and any new structure should at least meet those. Does going "green" alone mean its okay to igonore our zoning regs, carefully crafted General Plan and Local Coastal Plan guidelines? I don't see anyone automatically opposing this (as one commentor seems to be accusing), just asking good questions and raising awareness.

I just learned that the "printed" paper version of the Sentinel's La Bahia article did include the information about tonight's council meeting at the bottom, but it got dropped from the online version which is what is posted here.

During the last couple of years that Swenson has been bringing various proposals to the city of Santa Cruz almost none of the projects' detractors ever speak of what I feel is the most important issue here: the fact that a low-rent, beachfront units that have long attracted an amazingly unique set of residents-many of whom are artists and muscicians-is going to be lost. I don't give a damn about 5 or 7 or 12 stories. The problem is that a very special community (albeit one whose residents are continuoisly changing) is being threatened. La Bahia ought to be left as it is on the basis of its cultural value to Santa Cruz alone. Most anyone who has spent a year or more living in its unbelievably inexpensive old apartments and looking out a window onto the sea via a cofee shop worker's wages knows this. A convention center can be put anywhere. Why should it be allowed to displace such an amazing cultural institution. The issue isn't one of opposing smart development but of opposing gentrification. The convention center will rent rooms nightly at the rate of what La Bahia now charges for a month and the only people looking out onto the ocean will be tourists and visitors who will take the inspiration it gives them home with them and out of Santa Cruz. And Swenson will lore prospective conventioneers to SC via its quirky beach town reputation. The reputation that projects like this, one after another, destroy. I'm reading this well after the City Council meeting. What happened? Why has there been no follow-up article?