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Zoning panel pans Rittenhouse plan

A downtown retail and office building planned for a lot that has been vacant for more than a decade will be considered by the City Council on Tuesday.

The four-story, 90,442-square-foot structure proposed for the corner of Pacific Avenue and Church Street was shot down last week by the Zoning Board, which unanimously voted against recommending permits for Santa Cruz developer Louis Rittenhouse’s project. Rittenhouse, a former councilman, owns the property.

An amendment last year to the downtown recovery plan limits building height to 50 feet or three stories.

"If you want to go above that, you have to make a case for yourself," said Kaitilin Gaffney of the Zoning Board. "This ... didn’t make a strong enough case for why it should be larger than the standard."

In addition to the building height, the board objected to a flagpole that exceeded the 75-foot height limit, a tower that was "visually incongruous," the lack of bicycle and vehicle parking, the use of stucco building materials rather than masonry and the use of a traditional decorative motif of eagles and garland-decked rams’ heads.

"It is good to have some visual interest," Gaffney said. "But it’s not a wedding cake. It’s a building."

Rittenhouse, who developed the Flatiron Building, which houses Jamba Juice, said he will not alter his plans before presenting the project to the City Council. But he is open to discussion, he said.

"Art is in the eye of the beholder," Rittenhouse said. "If the council doesn’t like it, we can change it."

Since the project was made public in January, Rittenhouse said he has heard only compliments.

Despite earlier public outcry for a downtown plaza at the site — the last vacant downtown parcel left from the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake — there was no public opposition at Thursday’s zoning board meeting.

"Last Thursday, I met the five people who don’t like the building," Rittenhouse said. "They happen to be five members of the Zoning Board."

Rittenhouse has not leased retail space for three of the floors, though he has hinted at courting an unidentified major department store.

If the building is approved, Rittenhouse said he is prepared to begin construction as early as summer.

Contact Marina Malikoff at mmalikoff@santa-cruz.com.

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