418 Pennsylvania Development Appeal
Donation protected
The purpose of this GoFundMe site is to help Beth Purcell with the legal fees she has incurred by enlisting the help of the Wittwer Parkin Law Firm as it pertains to the Appeal of the Development at 418 Pennsylvania Avenue, next to her property.
We are taking our Appeal of the Development at 418 Pennsylvania Ave. to the Santa Cruz City Council because we believe we can do better than this type of design and massing within a residential neighborhood. If you, like us, believe this project warrants a redesign, a redesign that is neighborly, does not infringe on adjacent properties privacy, and falls in-line with our affordability and sustainability goals, then please consider donating to help Beth recoup this money. After all, any one of us could face this very same predicament if this building, the first of its kind, is allowed. If enough Seabright neighbors donate $100 or more to this important cause, we will be in a better position to foster neighborly development in our cherished Seabright neighborhood.
Continued Reading:
The Wittwer Parkin Law Firm is assisting us in preparing our case for the council hearing. The level of complexity we encounter while reading through the city zoning ordinance and the new amendments to the state’s Housing Accountability Act requires us to hire some experienced legal minds, and the Wittwer Parkin firm has a well-earned reputation for helping neighborhood groups in battles like this one.
Our appeal challenging the permit for this massive project will be heard by the City Council on February 9, 2021. Like the Planning Commission hearing, it will be held on-line.
We submitted a 3½ - page appeals letter, which can be found here . We already see areas where we could have improved our arguments, but we were working under a deadline. The key point is this – we should now get our 15 minutes to make our best presentation. And, depending on how much time the council chooses to allot to this, public comment may also be allowed via call-ins.
The February 9th date is later than what we expected. We were told that the Council’s agendas for January meetings are already full. Might they choose to reduce the amount of time allotted for our hearing on the 9th ? The Council has total discretion to do what they want to do.
We believe our best strategy is to solicit letters to the Council in behalf of our appeal. We feel that 20 or 30 well-written letters will do much more for us than any petitions might. The email address to be used for these letters is [email redacted]. Please also copy [email redacted] so we can keep track of who writes letters to the City Council.
Will you write a letter supporting our appeal? The new council will be seated during the first week of January, and a large public response this month should capture their attention. Can you contact other neighbors and friends and lobby them to do the same? These letters could be detailed and argumentative, or just a simple paragraph objecting to the project’s massiveness or its incompatibility with our residential neighborhood. If you need more content for your letter, contact Alan or Travis.
We will also look for ways to reach out to the individual Council members. Here again, your help could be critical.
Other notes:
We have initiated contact with the Developer through his architect team at Workbench. There appears to be little hope for a compromise solution, but it’s worth a try.
Your continuing advice and suggestions are much appreciated. If we haven’t responded directly to you recently, it’s only because we are pretty much stretched to the limit by the size of the job ahead of us.
A hard look at SB 330, the Housing Crisis Act of 2019, and the state’s Housing Accountability Act reveals how dire the situation is for the Seabright neighborhood and for our city in general. We may find the time to address that in a future bulletin. Clearly a broad neighborhood response will be needed to moderate the impact of these draconian State laws. The next couple years will be critical in the unfolding history of Santa Cruz’s Eastside.
Bet wishes to you all for a happier New Year!
Alan Speidel & Travis Tinsey
We are taking our Appeal of the Development at 418 Pennsylvania Ave. to the Santa Cruz City Council because we believe we can do better than this type of design and massing within a residential neighborhood. If you, like us, believe this project warrants a redesign, a redesign that is neighborly, does not infringe on adjacent properties privacy, and falls in-line with our affordability and sustainability goals, then please consider donating to help Beth recoup this money. After all, any one of us could face this very same predicament if this building, the first of its kind, is allowed. If enough Seabright neighbors donate $100 or more to this important cause, we will be in a better position to foster neighborly development in our cherished Seabright neighborhood.
Continued Reading:
The Wittwer Parkin Law Firm is assisting us in preparing our case for the council hearing. The level of complexity we encounter while reading through the city zoning ordinance and the new amendments to the state’s Housing Accountability Act requires us to hire some experienced legal minds, and the Wittwer Parkin firm has a well-earned reputation for helping neighborhood groups in battles like this one.
Our appeal challenging the permit for this massive project will be heard by the City Council on February 9, 2021. Like the Planning Commission hearing, it will be held on-line.
We submitted a 3½ - page appeals letter, which can be found here . We already see areas where we could have improved our arguments, but we were working under a deadline. The key point is this – we should now get our 15 minutes to make our best presentation. And, depending on how much time the council chooses to allot to this, public comment may also be allowed via call-ins.
The February 9th date is later than what we expected. We were told that the Council’s agendas for January meetings are already full. Might they choose to reduce the amount of time allotted for our hearing on the 9th ? The Council has total discretion to do what they want to do.
We believe our best strategy is to solicit letters to the Council in behalf of our appeal. We feel that 20 or 30 well-written letters will do much more for us than any petitions might. The email address to be used for these letters is [email redacted]. Please also copy [email redacted] so we can keep track of who writes letters to the City Council.
Will you write a letter supporting our appeal? The new council will be seated during the first week of January, and a large public response this month should capture their attention. Can you contact other neighbors and friends and lobby them to do the same? These letters could be detailed and argumentative, or just a simple paragraph objecting to the project’s massiveness or its incompatibility with our residential neighborhood. If you need more content for your letter, contact Alan or Travis.
We will also look for ways to reach out to the individual Council members. Here again, your help could be critical.
Other notes:
We have initiated contact with the Developer through his architect team at Workbench. There appears to be little hope for a compromise solution, but it’s worth a try.
Your continuing advice and suggestions are much appreciated. If we haven’t responded directly to you recently, it’s only because we are pretty much stretched to the limit by the size of the job ahead of us.
A hard look at SB 330, the Housing Crisis Act of 2019, and the state’s Housing Accountability Act reveals how dire the situation is for the Seabright neighborhood and for our city in general. We may find the time to address that in a future bulletin. Clearly a broad neighborhood response will be needed to moderate the impact of these draconian State laws. The next couple years will be critical in the unfolding history of Santa Cruz’s Eastside.
Bet wishes to you all for a happier New Year!
Alan Speidel & Travis Tinsey
Organizer and beneficiary
Travis Tinsey
Organizer
Santa Cruz, CA
Beth Purcell
Beneficiary