Santa Cruz planning commissioners on Thursday advanced a plan for an 8-story apartment complex near the Town Clock. (Workbench)

The Santa Cruz Planning Commission unanimously approved development permits for the 178-unit building. But they added a condition that would shrink the building’s proposed 4.5-foot balconies overhanging the sidewalk — a move Workbench developers say is illegal.

The city’s Downtown Plan allows buildings a 3-foot balcony, plus a 1.5-foot planter box. Workbench Senior Development Manager Clay Toombs said that because the plan allows a 4.5-foot protrusion into public space, Workbench is entitled to a waiver to use that space for a bigger balcony, rather than a balcony and a planter box. 

The project provides enough below-market-rate housing to trigger the state’s Density Bonus laws. According to the law, cities cannot apply local building standards that effectively block the building as designed.

City Attorney Tony Condotti wrote in a planning commission report the request is not a waiver of a building standard, but rather “a request to occupy land the developer does not own.”

City staff warned that the issue isn’t just about the Clocktower project. “It’s also the precedent that that sets” for developers being entitled to use property they don’t own, said Santa Cruz Senior Planner Tim Maier. 

Even though the intrusion into public space is “only 18 inches in this project, it could be 5 feet in the next project,” said Santa Cruz Planning Commissioner Timerie Gordon. The project could easily be redesigned to fit city standards, she said. “It feels like Workbench is digging their heels into the ground.”

Planning Commission Chair Michael Polhamus and Commissioners Gordon, Carolyn Book-Kelley, John McKelvey and Matthew Thompson voted to approve the project without the waiver for larger balconies. Commissioner Pete Kennedy and Commission Vice Chair Rachel Dann were absent.

At an eight-story building proposed next to the Town Clock, balconies protrude into public space. (Workbench)

Following the planning commission’s decision, Workbench Founding Partner Tim Gordin said in an interview that the waiver request isn’t about setting a precedent, but about allowing developers to use the public space granted through the Downtown Plan as they see fit. 

In a letter to the commission, Workbench staff cited case law and said denial of the waiver would be illegal. Gordin said Workbench was “undecided at the moment” whether to sue the city. 

The city and developer are already in a legal battle following the city council’s partial rejection of Workbench’s proposal for a Food Bin redevelopment on Mission Street. That case remains in court.

Many attendees at Thursday’s meeting balked at the height of the Clocktower project and urged commissioners not to approve a building that would lead to the demolition of the long-time watering hole Rush Inn. 

The proposed building is half the size of a 16-story proposal submitted in 2024 that generated wide public outcry. 

State housing laws that aim to address the housing crisis greatly curtail local governments’ ability to change or block new housing developments. 

Toombs, the Workbench development manager, said during the meeting that the new building would help alleviate the city’s housing shortage. 

“Workbench is kind of crazy about housing,” Toombs said. “We demand that you follow the laws. We demand that we get as much housing in these projects as we can.”

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

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