The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors adopted the 2023 Housing Element on November 14, 2023, which was certified by the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) in April 2024. Several programs in the Housing Element require amendments to the Zone District and General Plan Land Use Designation Maps in order to meet the County’s required RHNA.

The Housing Element Rezone Program implements these zoning and land use map amendments by changing the zone district and land use designation for several properties that were identified in the Housing Element. No development will be considered with rezoning and redesignation of these properties. Map amendments are required to be presented at public hearings before the Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors. Map amendments to properties within the Coastal Zone must be submitted to the Coastal Commission for final certification. See project timeline below for more information on the public hearing schedule.

Every parcel has both a land use designation and zone district that determine what can be built there. The land use designation describes the general intended uses and the intensity of development (e.g., homes per acre) that is allowed on a parcel, while the zone district specifies the housing types (e.g. single-family homes, apartments and townhouses), permitting procedures, and standards (e.g. maximum building height and parking requirements).

Rezoning means changing the zoning of a parcel from one zone district to another. Rezoning is required by State law to ensure that there are enough sites in the County with adequate densities to meet the housing need in the upcoming eight years.

This table shows the range of General Plan land use designations and zone districts of the parcels selected for rezoning.

As described further on the What is the Housing Element? page, state law requires the County’s Housing Element to address the housing needs of everyone in the community. While the County may assist with the development of affordable housing through various programs and funding sources, the County’s primary role is to ensure that adequate opportunities exist for housing development in our region by providing the programs and policies of the Housing Element, removing regulatory impediments to housing production, and through appropriate zoning.

For the 6th Cycle Housing Element, effective 2023-2031, Santa Cruz County must plan for 4,634 new housing units. The RHNA allocation was augmented with a 10% buffer, for a total of 5,098 housing units that need to be accommodated in our region over the next eight years. This buffer provides flexibility to address any potential shortfall if a particular property is developed with fewer units than planned for in the Housing Element.

The 2023 Housing Element identified that the total number of units that could be developed on existing sites in the unincorporated county under current zoning is approximately 4,167 units. This existing housing development capacity is 931 units short of the total units required by the RHNA plus the 10% buffer. The table below summarizes these findings.

To address this housing unit shortfall and accommodate lower income units, the County identified 75 parcels within the Urban Service Line (USL) that would require rezoning to accommodate these 931 units. With these proposed rezonings, the County is able to meet our RHNA requirement and implement the 2023 Housing Element.

The Housing Element Rezone Program is laid out in Programs H-1B, H-1C, and H-1J of the 2023 Housing Element:

• Program H-1B dictates that the rezoning of 75 parcels is necessary to meet state law RHNA requirements and directs CDI to implement and finalize the rezonings before December 2026. These parcels are identified in the Housing Sites Inventory of the Housing Element, Appendix HE-E-Table 7: Sites to be Rezoned.
• Program H-1C directs development of the new Ministerial Combining District (-Min) to permit multi-family housing uses by right (ministerially) for developments with 20% or more lower-income units and rezoning of seven commercial parcels indicated in the Housing Sites Inventory.
• Program H-1J rezones approximately 40 residential parcels, indicated in the Housing Sites Inventory, under Senate Bill (SB) 10 in order to allow “missing middle” housing within low-density infill neighborhoods.

If the County falls behind on the Rezone Program, and does not demonstrate sufficient progress, the Housing Element could be deemed out of compliance with state law and the County could face important consequences, including:

• Ineligibility for major state funding sources for affordable housing construction (such as the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities grant, the Infill Infrastructure Grant, etc.),
• Weakened controls over local zoning (known as the “Builder’s Remedy”),
• Court imposed fines, and
• Other court actions to bring the County into compliance.

The 75 parcels identified for rezoning are spread throughout the urban areas of unincorporated Santa Cruz County, within the Urban Service Line. These parcels are identified in the Housing Sites Inventory of the Housing Element, Appendix HE-E-Table 7: Sites to be Rezoned.

To make the Housing Element Rezone Program more manageable and help focus discussion, the 75 parcels proposed for rezoning have been split into two batches: Batch A and Batch B.

Batch A includes map amendments for 30 parcels and will be presented at public hearings before the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors in Fall/Winter 2024. Batch B includes map amendments for 45 parcels and will be presented at public hearings before the Planning Commission and Board in early 2025. See project timeline below for more information on the public hearing schedule.

BATCH A MAP AMENDMENTS (List and Maps)

BATCH B MAP AMENDMENTS (Coming Soon)

The California Coastal Commission plans and regulates the use of land and water within the state of California’s Coastal Zone, in partnership with coastal cities and counties. Map amendments affecting parcels located in the Coastal Zone require certification by the Coastal Commission. Batch B of the Housing Element Rezone Program includes Coastal Zone properties proposed for rezoning. Following adoption by the Board of Supervisors, Batch B will be submitted to the Coastal Commission for final certification. See project timeline above for more information on Board adoption and CCC submittal schedules.

Visit the Public Meetings page to learn more about the Housing Element Rezone Program and to find information on how you can attend upcoming public hearings.