Final vote on alternative traffic-reduction rules for school district housing projects

In plain English

City rules currently require that any residential project with 20 or more units built within a half mile of public transit sign a contract with Santa Cruz METRO to give all residents unlimited local transit passes. This ordinance would let a public school district that is the applicant for such a project choose a different path instead: propose its own Transportation Demand Management Plan (a package of measures meant to cut car trips and miles driven), which the Public Works Director may approve at their discretion. A yes vote gives the ordinance its second and final adoption, after the Council passed it for publication on October 13, 2026 by a 7-0 vote.

It directly affects the school-district employer-sponsored housing development at 313 Swift Street, where city staff and Santa Cruz City Schools have already developed trip-reduction measures, and it means future tenants of school district housing might receive alternative transportation measures rather than guaranteed unlimited METRO passes.

Key facts

Amends Santa Cruz Municipal Code Section 10.46.040, which applies to residential developments of 20 or more housing units within one-half mile of public transit.
The alternative is only available when a public school district is the applicant; all other applicants still must contract with Santa Cruz METRO for unlimited local transit passes for all residents.
Alternative measures must come from Appendix B of the City of Santa Cruz SB 743 Implementation Guidelines, or be other measures shown to reduce vehicle trips or vehicle miles traveled.
The Public Works Director's approval is discretionary and may weigh the measures' anticipated effectiveness, feasibility, duration, and enforceability, and may add conditions to ensure they keep operating.
Passed for publication October 13, 2026 (AYES: Trigueiro, Brunner, Newsome, Golder, O'Hara, Vice Mayor Kalantari-Johnson, Mayor Keeley; NOES: None). Staff report states no impact to the General Fund.

Reasons to support

The change preserves the existing transit-pass requirement for everyone else while giving school district housing flexibility to propose a package tailored to the specific project.
Staff and Santa Cruz City Schools have already worked out trip-reduction measures for the 313 Swift Street employee housing project, which the ordinance is designed to accommodate.
Staff says the change supports the city's Health in All Policies goals of healthy environments and stable, affordable housing by providing multimodal transportation options and supporting workforce housing.

Reasons to oppose or change it

Residents of school district housing could lose the guaranteed benefit of unlimited local METRO passes that residents of other large projects receive, depending on what the Director approves instead.
Whether an alternative plan is good enough rests on one person's discretionary judgment — the Public Works Director — rather than the fixed, measurable transit-pass contract with METRO.
METRO loses the revenue from a pass contract for projects that take the alternative path, and the ordinance does not set a minimum standard the substitute measures must meet.

Official wording

2nd Reading and Final Adoption of Ordinance No. 2026-17 Amending Section 10.46.040 of the City of Santa Cruz Municipal Code to Provide an Alternative Transportation Demand Management Compliance Option for School District Residential Projects (PW) LOCATION: Citywide Motion to adopt Ordinance No. 2026-17 amending Section 10.46.040 of the City of Santa Cruz Municipal Code to provide an alternative Transportation Demand Management compliance option for residential projects where a public school district is the applicant.

Official agenda

Summary written by claude-opus-5 from the agenda and the Staff report (agenda packet, pages 96-101). It can contain mistakes. The official documents govern.