Large apartment complex in Watsonville clears county hurdle

WATSONVILLE—A proposed 80-unit affordable apartment complex between Atkinson Lane and Brewington Avenue received a unanimous recommendation for approval from the Santa Cruz County Planning Commission on Wednesday morning.

In the works since 2013, the project is an extension of the 46-unit Pippin Orchards apartment complex completed in 2019. Every unit in the complex, which will be spread out over three 3-story buildings, will fall under the county’s affordable housing ordinance, and 39 of the units will be set aside for farmworkers.

The project is tentatively scheduled to go before the County Board of Supervisors on Dec. 7 for final approval. The development requires approval from the supervisors because it is on county land.

The complex, an effort from nonprofit developer MidPen Housing, will also feature a community room, shared open space and 137 parking spaces, with an entrance off Brewington Avenue. 

Plans approved by the Planning Commission Wednesday do not include access to Atkinson Lane for this project, but a parcel under the city of Watsonville’s jurisdiction on that street will provide emergency access to the complex for first responders.

According to an agreement between the city and county, Brewington will eventually link with Atkinson Lane, although that will not happen until the fields to the northeast of the proposed development are no longer being used for farming.

Few people spoke at Wednesday’s meeting, says County planner Lezanne Jeffs, but most that were in attendance for the virtual session either voiced their praise for the project, or shared concerns about an uptick in traffic on Brewington Avenue.

Ramon Gomez, an analyst for 4th District Supervisor Greg Caput’s office, says those concerns were also present at a town hall meeting organized by Caput last November with the neighbors off Brewington, a sleepy neighborhood of mostly upscale single-family homes.

“They were clear, they had major concerns about that,” Gomez said. “They understand we need housing, but they also have concerns.”

Adding housing in that area of Watsonville has been a contentious topic for more than a decade. Initial plans set by the county and city had set out to build hundreds of units on land currently used for farming adjacent to Brewington Avenue. But a lawsuit from the Santa Cruz County Farm Bureau and a subsequent settlement reached between that agency and the city in 2011 restricted the scope of the development area to only four parcels.

Two of those parcels were developed into Pippin Orchards, and the third and fourth parcels will be used for this proposed development.

Watsonville Mayor Jimmy Dutra, whose 6th district represents Brewington Avenue and Atkinson Lane, said he expects some residents in that area of the city will oppose the development, as many have shared concerns with him about the housing projects recently approved by the Watsonville City Council.

A 53-unit affordable housing complex at the corner of Atkinson Lane and Freedom Boulevard was greenlit in February. Nonprofit developer Eden Housing returned to the City Council Tuesday with revised plans for the project. The revisions included the removal of 53 storage units for the residents there. The City Council approved the changes by a 4-2 vote, with Dutra and Councilwoman Ari Parker dissenting.

Dutra was the lone council member who did not vote to approve that project at 1482 Freedom Blvd. in the initial February meeting, citing concerns from residents about increased traffic and a lack of parking on Atkinson Lane. He again raised those concerns at Tuesday’s meeting and said that there was no guarantee that any of those 53 units would go to Watsonville residents.

In an interview on Wednesday, Dutra said he had the same concerns about the development going to the County Supervisors.

“People are very concerned. They’re concerned with the traffic. They’re concerned with the high density,” Dutra said. “At this point, Watsonville has become the place where people say ‘oh, put the housing there’ throughout the rest of the county. And they do.”

Several housing advocates wrote to the planning commission in support of the project. That included Jan Stokley, the executive director of Housing Choices, an organization that advocates for and helps develop housing for people with disabilities.

“Housing Choices is excited to see more inclusive and affordable housing in the community of people with intellectual, developmental and other disabilities whom we support in their goal of living independently,” she wrote in an email to the Pajaronian Wednesday. “Pippin Orchards Phase II has an outstanding design and will be an asset to the surrounding community.”