Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Westcliff Roadmap topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
City adopts five-year roadmap for Westcliff projects, including revetment repairs and monitoring program
Summary
The council adopted a five-year Westcliff roadmap listing five priority projects — revetment repair, Lighthouse Field roadway relocation, coastal-change monitoring, an infrastructure financing feasibility study and a signage master plan — and committed to continued community engagement and project integration into the city’s capital program.
The Santa Cruz City Council adopted a five-year roadmap to guide near-term projects at Westcliff, including revetment repairs, a Lighthouse Field roadway relocation study, a coastal-change monitoring program and an infrastructure-financing feasibility study.
Assistant City Manager Michelle Templeton presented the roadmap as the product of more than a year of outreach with the Westcliff Implementation Committee, dozens of city staff and hundreds of community participants. She said the roadmap condenses an initial list of roughly 82 candidate actions into five prioritized projects that align with the 50-year community vision the council adopted last year.
The five priority projects are: revetment repair; Lighthouse Field roadway relocation; a Santa Cruz coastal-change monitoring program; a Westcliff infrastructure financing feasibility study; and a quarter-wide master signage plan and design standards. Templeton and staff stressed the roadmap is one tool among many and that other Westcliff projects are already underway, including the Bethany Curve culvert work, multi-use path rehabilitation and a Lighthouse hazard analysis.
Public commenters and councilmembers discussed surf-break preservation and the role of engineering work at Lighthouse Point. Local surf community representative Kim Stoner said two sea caves under Lighthouse Point have grown and warned their eventual connection could compromise the surf break; Public Works Director Nathan Nguyen told the council the city is procuring a consultant to perform the Lighthouse hazard analysis and aimed to have a consultant on board by the summer to inform decisions.
Councilmember Golder moved to adopt the staff recommendation; the vice mayor seconded. The motion carried on roll-call vote. Councilmembers emphasized continued community engagement, integration of Westcliff projects into the city’s capital investment program and that many projects in the roadmap will return to council for project-level approvals and permits.
Next steps: staff will integrate roadmap projects into the city’s capital program, advance procurement of technical studies (including the Lighthouse hazard analysis) and continue public outreach and regulatory coordination as projects proceed.
