Sustainability Update certified by Coastal Commission
After several months of review and coordination between the California Coastal Commission and County staff, the Sustainability Update was certified by the Coastal Commission at their March 15th meeting. The Sustainability Update is now in effect. To learn more, please visit the project website at www.sccoplanning.com/SustainabilityUpdate.
The 2023 Housing Element Update Submitted to the State!
HOUSING ELEMENT UPDATE: The Draft Housing Element has been released to the California Department of Housing and Community Development for a 90-day review period! View it here.
Every eight years, the state requires local communities to update their Housing Element to ensure the supply of adequate housing to meet community needs. The new 2023 Housing Element has been drafted for the 2023 - 2031 planning period and submitted to the California Department of Housing and Community Development to start a 90-day review period that commenced on Tuesday, July 25. The review period ends on Monday, October 23. During this state agency review period your input is still needed! Following October 23, there will be a series of public meetings with the Santa Cruz County Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors. The schedule of meetings can be found on the Get Involved page of the 2023 Housing Element website. View schedule.
Visit the project website to learn more at www.sccoplanning.com/2023HousingElement, or Join our email list.
Develop your own plan to share where the housing should go: SCC Interactive Housing Plan
New ADU Incentives Program (April 2023):
Free Technical Assistance with ADU development for qualifying local homeowners. Sign up for updates here: www.helloadu.org/new-santa-cruz-county-how-to-apply Program Flyer in English & Spanish
We are happy to announce that pre-designed ADU plans are now available at no charge to you. Plans are available for single-story, detached ADUs in three sizes and three architectural styles. For more information, including a How-to Guide, please visit our Pre-Designed ADU webpage.
On April 14, 2023 the California Coastal Commission certified the County's ordinance providing regulations for tiny homes on wheels (THOW) as submitted. The regulations became effective inside the Coastal Zone on April 28, 2023.
See here for more information - VMT Mitigation Program (sccoplanning.com)
SB 743, signed into law in 2013, required the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR) to establish a new metric for identifying and mitigating transportation impacts for projects that are subject to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). OPR identified Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) as the new metric. Watch our video explaining what VMT is and what this project is about: https://youtu.be/nkx5rIFr5ao
The Ninth Circuit Court ruled that the “All Electric” State law is preempted by the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA). As a result, as of February 9, 2024, the County will no longer enforce the All Electric requirement.