Michelle Camerlingo

Staff Writer

Tightening of the Santa Cruz Greenbelt

Cathy Puccinelli (right) would like to build her daughter and grandkids a place but can't.  (Photo by Curtis Cartier)

IN THE CRISP light of a spring day, Cathy Puccinelli stands quietly, her eyes taking in the land that has been in her family for more than 100 years. The echo of flowing water from the adjacent Pogonip Creek is a perfect backdrop for the sprawling seven-acre property, made up of a cottagelike farmhouse with a well-kept yard and a large organic farming field.
Puccinelli says the land hasn’t changed much since her Italian immigrant grandparents bought it in 1900 to farm. “But no one wanted it then,” she says. “It was right next to the tannery, so it smelled of blood and hide.” (With slide show)

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