Developers and Santa Cruz city staff are debating whether the upper floors of an 8-story housing proposal near the Town Clock can be built beyond the property line. (Workbench)

Santa Cruz-based Workbench proposed the project last year with a version at 16 stories. The height was reduced, and the planning commission on Thursday will consider permits that include demolition and design.

Over the past several months, Santa Cruz-based Workbench and city planning staff have argued over whether — and how far — the proposed building’s upper floors can encroach beyond the property line into public space. Without the proposed encroachments, the project would have to be redesigned, Workbench Founding Partner Tim Gordin said. 

Parts of the upper seven stories extend 4.5 feet beyond the property line. City rules allow balconies to extend 3 feet into the public right of way, plus 1.5 feet for planter boxes, and balconies are limited to 15 feet long. The proposed overhang of the building is more than 112 feet long on some sides, according to a staff report.

Gordin described the project’s design as not far off from the city’s development standards, and said the project seeks a “waiver” under state density bonus law to allow the discrepancy.

In emails to the city, Workbench Senior Development Manager Clay Toombs has insisted that the city is obligated to approve the project’s encroachments as they are in the plans.

The city’s position is that the request is not a waiver of a development standard, but rather “a request to occupy land the developer does not own,” City Attorney Tony Condotti wrote in a planning commission report. 

An eight-story building is proposed next to the Town Clock. The top stories protrude into public space. (Workbench)

If the city allows this project to encroach further into public property, it could set a precedent that makes it hard for the city to deny future encroachments of any size, said Santa Cruz Principal Planner Samantha Haschert. 

“The concern is that if the public right of way is subject to this unlimited encroachment, that we’ll lose that air space that might be necessary” for traffic signals, light poles or transportation infrastructure, Haschert said.

Gordin, of Workbench, said the modifications qualify as a waiver and state law requires the city to approve it. He also said the city’s development standards are not always objective or easy to discern.

“The city’s codes aren’t always really clear and I think that that’s a challenge,” Gordin said. “We’re doing our best to make a project that can actually get built and also meet subjective codes.”

City planning staff recommend the planning commission approve the project with a modification to bring the overhangs back into compliance with city rules for balconies. Gordin said Workbench would appeal the decision to the Santa Cruz City Council.

It’s not the first time Workbench has butted heads with the city over its projects. The company sued the city after the council rejected a portion of its Food Bin housing proposal on Mission Street. The case remains in court.

“Workbench tends to, sort of, push the envelope,” said Haschert. 

Gordin agreed with the characterization.

“We do everything we can to promote the most amount of housing,” he said. “Sometimes we have to think outside the box.”

The site is next to the Town Clock. (Workbench)

Questions or comments? Email [email protected]. Santa Cruz Local is supported by members, major donors, sponsors and grants for the general support of our newsroom. Our news judgments are made independently and not on the basis of donor support. Learn more about Santa Cruz Local and how we are funded.