Local Developer Workbench Under Scrutiny

Santa Cruz is a charming town. Surfers, skateboarders, artists, coffee shops, engineers, electricians, carpenters, handymen — banana slugs, and an enduring affection for doing things differently.

It's the sort of place where you can look up and find the sun.

It's the sort of place you want to protect.

It's the sort of place where everybody seems to know somebody, and somebody always knows somebody else. 

Sometimes, that's part of the charm.

Other times, it's where the story begins.

The Neighborhood Fights Back

Tim Gordin’s Dual Role as Planning Commissioner and Workbench Executive Under Scrutiny

As residents challenge Workbench's development project at 841 Capitola Road, public records raise questions about the developer's former role on the Santa Cruz County Planning Commission. (Santa Cruz County Superior Court, Case No. 26CV00891, filed March 17, 2026.)

A five-story apartment development in Live Oak has ignited two controversies: a lawsuit challenging Santa Cruz County’s approval of the project and a conflict-of-interest complaint questioning the developer’s ties to County government.

Residents represented by attorney Mark Wolfe are challenging Workbench’s development project at 841 Capitola Road. At the heart of the controversy is Workbench's April 9, 2024 preliminary application, submitted just three days before the County's Housing Element compliance date was established.

Meanwhile, records indicate that Live Oak resident Michael Reis filed a complaint with California’s Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) concerning Workbench executive Tim Gordin’s dual role as a Santa Cruz County Planning Commissioner and a private developer with a documented financial interest in the property at 841 Capitola Road.

While serving on the Planning Commission Gordin helped shape the County’s housing policy. On October 25, 2023, acting as the Planning Commissioner, Gordin made the motion recommending adoption of the very Housing Element whose compliance status remains the central issue in the litigation. His own financial disclosures confirm that he held an interest in 841 Capitola LLC and the property at 841 Capitola Road dating back to January 2022. Gordin's financial stake is not an allegation. It is a matter of public record. 

The Builder’s Remedy Dispute

The lawsuit centers on California’s Builder’s Remedy, which allows qualifying housing developments to bypass certain local zoning restrictions when a county lacks a legally compliant Housing Element.

Attorney Mark Wolfe argues that Santa Cruz County was already in substantial compliance with state housing law before Workbench submitted its preliminary application.

The County submitted revisions to its Housing Element on February 23, 2024. On March 15, the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) informed County officials that its preliminary review had addressed earlier deficiencies and that it was prepared to certify the plan, pending confirmation that no further Board of Supervisors action was necessary. 

The residents contend that the subsequent delay in issuing a formal compliance letter was administrative rather than substantive.

In March 2026, the County Board of Supervisors supported that interpretation, formally requesting that HCD recognize March 15, 2024, as the compliance date.

However, HCD's internal records identify April 11 as the date its final review was completed. Its corrected compliance letter is dated April 12.

The legal question is whether substantial compliance existed on March 15 or whether the later formal determination controls. If the residents prevail, Workbench's eligibility for the Builder's Remedy could be invalidated.

Tim Gordin’s Overlapping Roles

Residents have also questioned whether Tim Gordin’s simultaneous roles as a Santa Cruz County planning commissioner and Workbench executive created a conflict of interest.

Rob Oliveros, who runs the Facebook group Santa Cruz Against Runaway Development, reported raising the conflict of interest issue with Supervisor Manu Koenig at an October 10, 2024, community meeting on another Workbench project.

Gordin resigned from the County Planning Commission on November 18, 2024, less than two months before his four-year term was scheduled to expire on January 4, 2025. He told Lookout Santa Cruz that he had “a lot going on with Workbench” and that the commission required considerable time and energy, while maintaining that no real conflict existed.

The concerns extended beyond that meeting and Gordin's subsequent resignation. Live Oak resident Michael Reis informed the County Planning Commission in an October 2025 submission that he had filed a complaint with California’s Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) on July 2, 2025, questioning Gordin’s overlapping public and private roles.

The April 9 Application and the Compliance Window

The timing of Workbench’s application lies at the heart of the legal dispute. April 9, 2024 was the anticipated date for HCD to issue its Housing Element compliance letter.

By March 15, 2024, the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) had completed a preliminary review of Santa Cruz County’s revised Housing Element and indicated that the revisions appeared to address its earlier findings.

However, a procedural question remained: Did the County Board of Supervisors need to formally readopt the Housing Element before HCD could issue its compliance letter?

On March 20, County planner Mark Connolly informed HCD that the revisions were considered non-substantive and that another adoption vote was unnecessary. Instead, County staff planned to present a director’s report to the Board on April 9 to place the revisions on the public record.

On March 25, HCD specialist Anthony Errichetto sought clarification about whether the Board would readopt the Housing Element. Addressing the anticipated compliance letter, he wrote:

“I can definitely try my best to get a letter to your team by April 9.”

On the morning of April 9, at 10:18 a.m., Connolly informed HCD that the Board of Supervisors had accepted staff’s minor revisions without requiring a second formal adoption vote.

Just 36 minutes later, at 10:54 a.m., Errichetto responded:

“That is great news, thanks for the update Mark! We will definitely have a formal letter over to your team by the 23rd.”

The anticipated April 9 compliance letter would not arrive that day.

On that same day, April 9, Workbench submitted a preliminary application for 841 Capitola Road. And it is here that the timing becomes central to the dispute. The preliminary application was subsequently accepted by the County as establishing the project’s Builder’s Remedy eligibility.

The timing of the preliminary application raises questions. For attorney Mark R. Wolfe, Michael Reis, and the neighborhood group Supporters of Reasonable Development for Live Oak, the sequence of events is central to their challenge.

County records confirm an earlier March 11, 2024 pre-application. According to HCD’s subsequent internal memorandum, the department completed its review on April 11 and issued its formal compliance determination on April 23. HCD later corrected the effective compliance date to April 12, 2024.

Workbench in the crosshairs

While Gordin has maintained that no actual conflict existed, and Supervisor Manu Koenig has defended his conduct on the Planning Commission, the court's upcoming rulings will determine whether the 841 Capitola Road approval stands.

Two separate challenges have emerged from the same development: a lawsuit questioning whether Workbench was legally entitled to invoke the Builder’s Remedy, and a complaint filed with the Fair Political Practices Commission questioning Gordin’s overlapping public and private interests.

One challenges the development’s legal foundation. The other questions the conduct of a public official who helped shape County housing policy while holding a personal financial interest in property subject to that very policy.

Both lead back to 841 Capitola Road.

By Ian Gibb
Santa Cruz, CA

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