WATSONVILLE — When Pippin Orchards, a recently-completed affordable housing project on Atkinson Lane, began accepting applications from hopeful renters, about 2,500 poured in.
Demand for new housing in Watsonville is certainly not the issue. The problem is, the development has only 46 units.
“That underscores the great need and demand we have for housing in Watsonville,” Watsonville City Manager Matt Huffaker said.
But Watsonville is making efforts to address the issue that is a nationwide crisis, Huffaker told an audience in the Watsonville City Council Chambers Wednesday during the third annual State of the City.
Since 2015, the city has seen 500 new housing units either constructed or in the pipeline, with “more on the way,” he said. Sunshine Vista, a 150-unit project off of Ohlone Parkway, was recently approved by the city council, and that project is adjacent to another 87-unit project currently under construction.
The Terrace at 445 Main St., which Huffaker calls the first major mixed-use residential development in the downtown area in 50 years, is currently at 80 percent capacity since residents moved in a couple of months ago. Available units range from $1,650 a month for a 349-square-foot studio to $1,950 a month for a 680-square-foot apartment.
Huffaker and Police Chief David Honda also touched on topics such as crime, economic development, upcoming events and more during the State of the City, put on by the City of Watsonville and Pajaro Valley Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture.
Mayor Lowell Hurst, who gave the opening remarks, said 2018, the city’s sesquicentennial, has been a “very busy and historic year.”
“The state of the city is not a state of confusion, it’s not a state of depression; it’s a state of happiness,” he said. “There are issues we certainly need to deal with, but the general feeling I get in Watsonville is one of happiness.”
Huffaker said the Great Recession that struck the nation in the late 2000s and earlier this decade forced the city to cut most of its capital improvement projects. With the city in a better financial situation now, it has started to take on some of those projects that have been neglected, he said, such as upgrading community centers, improving landscaping, adding lighting in the Watsonville Plaza and more.
But rising pension costs are looming, he warned, threatening to put the city in the red. Huffaker said plans are being developed to weather the costs.
Honda said Watsonville has experienced three consecutive years of falling crime rates, with 19 percent less crime in total so far this year compared to 2017.
Violent crime is down 2.7 percent, property crimes have dipped by 26.6 percent, and drug or alcohol crimes have gone down by 26.7 percent, according to Honda.
“These are phenomenal stats,” he said.
But coupled with the encouraging stats are disturbing numbers for traffic injuries. According to the California Office of Traffic Safety, Watsonville had the most traffic injuries out of more than 100 similar-sized cities in the state in 2015.
In 2016, it got worse. According to Honda, the city experienced 187 traffic-related injuries and four fatalities. The numbers dipped in 2017, with 139 injuries and three fatalities, and so far this year, there have been 109 injuries and two fatalities.
Recent grants from the OTS have allowed police to step up enforcement and education, which Honda said will help further reduce the numbers.
Other topics touched on during State of the City:
• Snow Day will return to the Watsonville Plaza during the city’s holiday celebrations, after being absent for a number of years.
• To wrap up the 150th anniversary year, city officials will bury a time capsule in the plaza on Dec. 11.
• Togo’s will open in one of the spots on the first floor of the recently-opened Terrace downtown. In addition, Zameen Mediterranean Cuisine will open alongside Beer Mule in the currently under construction development on 145 Aviation Way.
• The police department is expected to roll out body cameras for its officers in the next year.
