A Nov. 21 appeals court decision obligates the City of Santa Cruz to provide water to campus areas outside city limits. (Nik Altenberg — Santa Cruz Local)

The Santa Cruz City Council could vote to petition the California Supreme Court to take up the case. The case will likely be discussed during closed session of the Dec. 10 city council meeting, but a decision may not be made that day, said Santa Cruz City Attorney Tony Condotti. The city will have 60 days after the trial court issues the new ruling to petition the court. 

Water service is key to UCSC’s 2021 plan to expand its north campus and boost enrollment to 28,000 students by 2040. But that plan is still in limbo after a separate court decision in August found that the university hasn’t sufficiently addressed the environmental and regional impacts of expansion.

Lawsuit details

Agreements between the city and the university in 1962 and 1965 secured the city’s pledge to provide the campus with water. The lawsuit hinged on whether those agreements obligate the city to provide water to areas of the campus outside of city limits. 

The city argued that water service to the north campus, which is outside the city, requires approval from the Local Agency Formation Commission of Santa Cruz County, an independent agency that regulates the boundaries of cities and other jurisdictions. 

LAFCO approval would require the university and city to jointly file for the city to annex north campus, or pledge to annex it in the future. It would also require environmental review from the university, legal review from LAFCO staff, and approval from the seven-member commission. 

The university argued that Santa Cruz already provides water to Colleges 9 and 10, which are outside city limits. Condotti agreed, but said “the city didn’t waive the right to assert its position that it had maintained for decades, that further LAFCO approval was required.”

In 2022, a Santa Cruz County Superior Court judge ruled in agreement with the city that expanded water service beyond city limits requires LAFCO approval. The Nov. 21 appellate court opinion overturned that ruling.

“We welcome this decision by the Sixth Court of Appeals and appreciate their careful review of this case,” UCSC spokesperson Scott Jason-Hernandez wrote in a statement. 

“UC Santa Cruz has a track record of carefully managing—and reducing—its water use. The campus is using less water than it did 25 years ago, when we had many fewer students. Providing water service to all parts of our residential campus will help UC Santa Cruz build housing, classrooms, and space for research and creative scholarship, and fulfill its commitment to the local community and faculty, staff, and students,” he wrote.

UCSC representatives did not respond to further questions about the case or plans for north campus.

The appellate court upheld part of the prior ruling that the city did not violate the 1962 and 1965 agreements by asking for LAFCO approval, as the university had alleged. “It’s a very serious matter when one public agency accuses another of breach of contract, and so that was a very important issue that the city was vindicated on,” Condotti said.

LAFCO’s role

After a prior legal battle over university expansion plans, the city and the university in 2008 agreed to jointly apply to LAFCO for water service to the north campus. Documents from UCSC needed for LAFCO staff to consider the application were never filed, said Santa Cruz LAFCO Executive Director Joe Serrano.

Serrano said that although he understood the appellate court’s interpretation of the 1962 and 1965 agreements, he still believes “LAFCO needs to play a role” in the city’s expanded water service. But the organization wasn’t part of the lawsuit. 

“Had LAFCO taken a greater interest in seeing its interpretation of the law upheld, the court might have looked at [the court case] differently,” Condotti said.

Serrano said the commission is committed to remaining neutral in disputes between the university and local governments.

But he said he’s surprised at the appellate court decision, given that UC Merced in 2003 went through Merced County LAFCO’s approval process to receive water and sewer service from the city of Merced. The university was annexed into the city in July 2024. “Why is it that the Regents are going through the LAFCO process in one county but not in another?” Serrano asked. “To me, that’s a little confusing.”

A 2021 map of planned development on UC Santa Cruz’s campus shows the City of Santa Cruz boundary in a yellow dotted line. (LAFCO)

Looking forward

In August, the City of Santa Cruz prevailed in a separate lawsuit over the university’s 2021 Long Range Development Plan, which would add more than 8,000 students to campus by 2040. 

The plan calls for development across campus, including new academic buildings north of McLaughlin Drive, employee housing west of Empire Grade, and expanded student housing near Chinquapin Road — all areas outside city limits.

In the suit between the university and the city, Santa Cruz County, and two community groups, a Santa Cruz Superior Court judge ruled that the university’s environmental review hadn’t sufficiently accounted for the additional students’ potential impact on housing markets, water use, wildlife and evacuation plans. The university has until Dec. 24 to file an appeal.

Condotti said “there have been talks periodically” between the university and the city in hopes that both conflicts can be resolved without further legal battles. “Those efforts to date have not been successful,” he said.

Attorneys for the UC Regents, the City of Santa Cruz and the County of Santa Cruz enter a Santa Cruz County Superior Court hearing about UCSC’s 2021 Long Range Development Plan in June. (Nik Altenberg — Santa Cruz Local file)

Read more

• Rats, high rents plague UC-owned Hilltop Apartments in Santa Cruz — Sept. 26, 2024
• Santa Cruz city, county prevail in lawsuit against UCSC growth plan — Aug. 27, 2024
• UC Santa Cruz adds off-campus housing as lawsuits drag on — Aug. 15, 2024
• Union sues UC over student housing construction contract — Aug. 13, 2024

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