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Home Depot Hits Snag as Capitola Objects to Traffic Impacts
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Home Depot Hits Snag as Capitola Objects to Traffic Impacts
By Michael Thomas
On Dec. 14, the Santa Cruz County Planning Commission approved a proposal to expand a development plan for the Home Depot site on 41st Avenue. The plan had been previously approved for the owners of the Soquel center, McNellis Partners of Palo Alto, prior to the announcement that McNellis Partners had signed a lease with Home Depot.
With the County’s approval, the project was poised to begin this year. However, immediately after the approval, the City of Capitola filed an appeal over traffic impacts that will send the project back to the Board of Supervisors.
The Board is expected to hold a public hearing on the appeal on Feb. 7.
The expanded proposal includes about 7,000 more square feet of retail space. Instead of renovating the existing building that had been home to a Kmart, McNellis Partners proposes demolishing it and building a new one with a larger garden center and display mezzanine.
To partially balance that increased square footage, a planned 7,000 square foot building fronting Highway 1 would be eliminated and the developers say it would be a more attractive center.
“This is a terrible eyesore,” John McNellis said of the existing building. “This is not a wonderful piece of forested land. It’s a wonderful location for a retail project.”
Capitola Files Objection
McNellis said that Capitola officials failed to file objections when the original traffic studies were conducted. While Capitola’s council did consider formally objecting to the Home Depot project earlier last year, the City didn’t officially lodge a protest.
However, Capitola officials now say the expanded proposal requires 66 new parking spaces, and the recent addition of electronics retailer Best Buy as a tenant has them concerned that an even busier shopping center would be too much of a strain on 41st Avenue and the Highway 1 overpass.
Shop owners in Soquel Village are also concerned about the impact of traffic flow on the neighborhood commercial area. Likewise, Caltrans has also objected to the County’s determination that no significant traffic impact will be felt despite the predicted increase in traffic.
“We are not going to war with them,” said Capitola Council member and Mayor Dennis Norton. “We’re just trying to resolve the issues so that 41st Avenue doesn’t get so bad that everyone avoids it like the plague.”
He recognized that the developers have agreed to pay $1 million towards traffic mitigations that include a new traffic signal at the center’s entrance, but he thinks more can be done. He wants the developer to participate with public agencies to remove the divider on the overpass and create a new southbound lane on the overpass. One County official notes the overpass right-of-way belongs to Caltrans.
Norton also thinks a new right turn lane from the northbound Highway 1 off-ramp towards the center would be needed. The City also asked for a complete analysis of traffic mitigations for Soquel Village, including Wharf Road and Bay Avenue.
In addition to Best Buy signing on for space in the Center, McNellis confirmed that negotiations are underway to add a Starbucks coffee shop as well. If the Board of Supervisors decides that the appeal warrants a public hearing, it will be scheduled for a meeting on Feb 7. Otherwise, the Planning Commission’s approval of the project would stand.
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