SANTA CRUZ >> About 60 community members gathered at the London Nelson Community Center in Santa Cruz on a stormy Thursday evening to give feedback on the city’s recently completed draft 50-year Community Vision for West Cliff, the final public meeting before the document is considered by the Santa Cruz City Council next month.

The farsighted vision imagines the state of West Cliff Drive five decades into the future and was composed by order of the Santa Cruz City Council in May 2023 after the delivery of a progress report about the damaged road and pedestrian path given by city staff.

Since last spring, a series of meetings were held, both in-person and virtual, which included a public Santa Cruz City Council study session in August, and the final public feedback meeting about the nearly finished vision document Thursday evening.

Like the 50-year Community Vision for West Cliff draft document, the public meeting began with a few words from Santa Cruz City Manager Matt Huffaker.

“This is really about taking a moment to reflect on the longer term and be really intentional about how we can preserve West Cliff for the generations to come,” said Huffaker. “And tonight is all about hearing more of your feedback on that plan — what you like and what you’d like to change.”

Following Huffaker, Transportation Manager Matthew Starkey, cosplaying as “Doc Brown” from “Back to the Future,” and Assistant City Manager Laura Schmidt acted out a short skit set in 2073 where Schmidt played the role of a 65-year old, celebrating her birthday on the scenic roadway as she reminisced about what it was like in 2024, which is an imagined narrative taken directly from the vision document.

“As I walked up the pathway to the bluff overlooking Cowell Beach, I couldn’t help but smile remembering my first time surfing Steamer’s Lane on the calmest day of the year,” said Schmidt during the performance. “Further along the pedestrian path, with bicycle lanes to my right, and just that single one-way lane for the periodic vehicles, I’m struck by how adapting to climate change created community opportunities and how that has shaped us since.”

After the performance, Michael McCormick, president of consulting firm Farallon Strategies, which composed the vision document alongside city staff, spoke to the process of creating the draft document and explained the difference between the vision, which acts as more of a guide, and plans such as the Resilient West Cliff: Accessible to All Roadmap, which is still under construction and will contain the city’s concrete plans, policies and programs regarding the esteemed roadway.

“This is a distillation of everything we’ve heard over the past six months to a year,” said McCormick. “This is about a high-level vision to help guide plans and policies moving forward. It’s not a plan itself.”

Public Works Director Nathan Nguyen gave a brief update at the meeting about the coastal construction projects meant to repair and re-armor the roadway.

“As many of you know, we are working on four infill walls along West Cliff and three of them are near completion,” said Nguyen. “The fourth wall does have a sea cave in there and so we are working with a design team to fill that cave and get that wall constructed later this summer.”

Meeting participants were then divided into breakout rooms throughout the community center to prioritize and discuss the 10 primary topics outlined in the vision document, which include “Balancing Change and a Collective Future, Beauty, Resilience, and Continued Uses — Prioritizing Pedestrian and Bicycle Access — One-way Vehicle Access and Additional Traffic Control, Limited Hard Armoring, Exploring Nature-based Solutions and Engineered Natural Feature Restoration, Park Space as Recreation Area and Buffer, Planned Relocation, Collaboration and Context.”

In the meeting, the topics of “Exploring Nature-based Solutions and Engineered Natural Feature Restoration” and “Prioritizing Pedestrian and Bicycle Access,” were highlighted by participants as some of the highest priority subjects.

One of the big questions on the minds of many at the meeting and in the city and county at large is whether the scenic drive will ultimately transform into a one-lane road or if it will be restored to two.

According to the vision draft document “When asked whether they preferred one-way vehicle access or two-way vehicle access after being presented information about both options, 61% of survey respondents preferred one-way and 32% preferred two-way with 7% either unable to decide, preferring both, or unsure. In the impacted neighbors region, 48% of those preferred one-way and 47% preferred two-way with 5% either unable to decide, preferring both, or unsure. Of those in the rest of the city, 63% preferred one-way compared to 30% preferring two-way with 7% either unable to decide, preferring both, or unsure.”

Under the topic heading, “One-way Vehicle Access and Additional Traffic Control,” the document states that “To prioritize pedestrian and bicycle access, the city will transition from two-way vehicle traffic along West Cliff Drive to one-way westbound vehicle traffic. This will allow additional space to create separated pedestrian and bicycle lanes. The city will manage these new movement patterns by installing additional traffic control measures.”

After the participants returned from the breakout rooms, staff from the city and Farallon Strategies shared the community’s thoughts and outlined the next steps for the guiding document. The city will continue to take public feedback until March 8 and will revise the document in the coming weeks with the final version going before the Santa Cruz City Council in early April.

To read the draft document and fill out the feedback survey, visit cityofsantacruz.com.