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♦  All website Contents ♦  99 most popular articles
♦  Gateway Area Plan, General Plan, EIR & more
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If the Gateway Plan is not going to provide truly affordable housing for the people who need it, then what’s the point? If working people can’t afford the rent and can’t buy a home, then we need to think this through more.


Arcata needs an infill and redevelopment plan, and needs to provide more housing — no question there. The Gateway plan is a start. But it’s filled with aspirations and empty promises, and we need more of what’s real.

Image from the Draft EIR showing potential Gateway buildings. Tap / Click for more.

On May 14, 2024, it took the Arcata Planning Commission only 15 minutes of their time for a discussion and vote to recommend that the City Council accept and adopt the General Plan updates, the Gateway Area Plan, and the Gateway Code (zoning code). Included also was the Final Environmental Impact Report, a dense 253-page report that had been released only four days earlier and likely had not been read by the Commissioners.

Unfortunately the General Plan, Gateway Area Plan, and Gateway Plan continue to be filled with errors. The Inclusionary Zoning (low-income and moderate-income housing) requirements were incorrect. The Inclusionary Zoning section was removed, with the intention to add it in later — and the documents were recommended anyway.  The new Gateway Code lets one person approve 4-story buildings. (The Community Development Director, acting as Zoning Administrator.) This had been up to 3-stories and was changed without any note or discussion.  And there still is no decent planning for buildings alongside the L Street corridor Woonerf and linear parks. See more here.

General Plan implementation measure has 4-story buildings in Bayview, Sunset, and upper I/J Streets neighborhoods. Tap / Click for more.

Meanwhile, the Arcata Fire District board has put into writing what they’ve been telling the Community Development Director and the City of Arcata for the past year:  For buildings above three stories we believe it would be imprudent to approve building permits and begin occupancy in the envisioned residential buildings.” Read their letter and more on the Arcata Fire District issue.

The Gateway Code — the form-based code — sets the rules for the “look and feel” of everything that is built Gateway area. Building height, sidewalk width, parks and parklets, bicycle parking, bus stops (there are none planned), greenways, creek daylighting, woonerfs, and more. There’s controversy over whether the consultant-created Gateway Code will actually be a good blueprint for what the City Council has said that we want. For more on this, click/tap here.

The Gateway Code and the Environmental Impact Report are both inadequate and sub-standard. You can read my comments on the issues of the Gateway Code and the draft EIR.

To view the latest General Plan, Gateway Area Plan, Gateway Code, and Final Environmental Impact Report see the Arcata1.com page with all of this and more.

  Click here for the Newest Articles  

 

Special April Fool’s Day issue. Tap here for more.

“You’re traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land of imagination. Next stop, The Twilight Gateway Zone.”

★   Lack of Parking in the Gateway Plan. Want to learn more?  It’s here

What does a 5-story apartment look like in a residential neighborhood? See the photos, here.  Bayview, Sunset, Northtown, Downtown — and anywhere a future City Council or Commission thinks it’s okay — is slated for High Density. The City height limit is 4 stories, and with the State Density Bonus law this can be 5 or 6 stories.

Arcata speaks:  Home Ownership is of supreme importanceRead about it here.

 In Arcata, 64% of the housing are rentals and 36% are owner-occupied. With the Gateway Plan, this will get worse. Read more.

  Our City Council says “No” to the K-L Street Couplet. There will be no new road on L Street. The Council says “Yes” to the Linear Park and Woonerf. Hurray!

City Council /Planning Commission joint study session meetings
Community-Led Meetings

“Have you ever noticed that in the places where they make it good for the developers, it’s usually not so good for people?”
To see images, cartoons, and attractions from previous Arcata1.com home pages, see here.

Arcata, we can do better.

Arcata needs an infill and redevelopment plan, and needs to provide more housing — no question there. The draft Gateway plan is a start. But it’s filled with aspirations and empty promises, and we need more of what’s real.

As is said, “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” And that’s what good planning is all about:
Creating our future.

The promises of affordable housing — of home-ownership —
of an equitable, environmental, walkable, bikeable, vibrant and alive community.

Let’s make those promises real. Let’s be bold. Let’s be creative and innovative and courageous. That is what we want.
Let’s put Arcata on the map as a shining star in America.


 

 

Click here:   Articles on Violations of the Brown Act in Arcata, and other Brown Act information

The people of this State do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies which serve them. The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. The people insist on remaining informed so that they may retain control over the instruments they have created.
      — from the opening paragraph of the Brown Act

In the State of California, the Brown Act is the law. It is my observation that members of City Staff have been withholding information that the People require in order to make an informed decision. Not just the letters from the public, although that is an obvious example. Real and meaningful information is being withheld, misrepresented, disguised, and dismissed.

 


Click here for: Organic Food Waste: It’s very considerate of people….

 


 

Top Stories

Cal Poly Humboldt – Expansion

Reading time: 5 minutes -- Cal Poly Humboldt looks to expand by 6,000 students, and that may be 3,000 students more than they are building housing for. Adding students also means adding 700-1,000 faculty, staff, and support employees, plus their partners and children. Ancillary jobs in the community would add another 2,000 people. Where are they all going to live?

Cal Poly: Craftsman Dorms

At the site of the Craftman's Mall, Cal Poly Humboldt plans to put in dorms for 1,050 students. Is that good? Well, 5,500 dorm beds are needed.

McKinleyville is transparent. Arcata is not.

How is it that McKinleyville has all of the info for their Town Center plan in one location?  And in Arcata, the same info is scattered all over the place -- or is in obscure locations that so buried that it might as well not exist. Read more here.

Rentals Percentage in Arcata: “Do the math”

Original article May 2022, updated October 2023. Arcata's Gateway plan could add 3,500 apartments to our town, as Cal Poly Humboldt expands. Unless more than 60% of all new apartments are owner-occupied condos, Arcatans will have a small chance of owning their homes.

Letters  •  Community Input

Steve Railsback – Times Standard opinion – December 8, 2021

Dr. Steve Railsback points out 5 major questions with the draft Gateway plan. A thoughtful and concise summation. From December, 2021.

Letter from Andrea Tuttle, Ph.D. — February 13, 2022

READ THIS LETTER ! Arcata resident Andrea Tuttle Ph.D. environmental planning, former Director Calif Dept. Forestry (CDF), past Calif Coastal Commission & North Coast Water Quality Control Board, principal consultant State Senate.

Letter from Nick Lucchesi – January 15, 2022

A letter from Nick Lucchesi of Pacific Builders, dated January 15, 2022. ** A must-read letter. **

Letters to the Planning Commission — April 12, 2022

The Community Development Staff packet for the April 12, 2022 Planning Commission meeting had correspondence received by the City about the Gateway plan. Some letters were over 4 months old, not previously available to the public or the Commission.

City Planning

Three things California must do to address Affordable Housing

Changing the RHNA allocation and Tax Credits could do more to help build Affordable Housing. An article from The Marin Post.

Redwood City Downtown Precise Plan – Form-Based Code

Redwood City's Downtown Precise Plan includes Form-Based code and Planning Commission review. It all took 4 years to develop. The Form-Based Code can serve as a model for Arcata.

Vancouver, British Columbia: 40-story buildings proposed

A plan for Downtown Vancouver, British Columbia involves new building heights of 40-stories, seriously changing the existing neighborhood.

Transcript: Planning Commission meeting — February 8, 2022

Transcript with added commentary. Includes misguided views on the cost of housing. Public comment from Carlisle Douglas.

Maps  •  Aerial Views

News  •  Media  •  Arcata City documents

“Arcata News” video of the Gateway Plan

Excellent brief video about the background and basis of the Gateway plan. Date: January 16, 2022. 3 minutes 42 seconds

Facebook Conversations #1: April 9, 2022

Here are some citizens' views, as expressed on Facebook. From April 9, 2022. Tom Wheeler, Chris Richards, Aaron DeBruyn, Meredith Matthews, Bonnie Carroll, Lee Torrence.

Useful Links

A list of useful links, including links to the City of Arcata documents, Community Visioning workshops, and many interesting and valuable websites.

Business Uses in the Gateway Area – Jennifer Dart

10-min video by Jennifer Dart, Arcata Community Development Dept. Condensed version from May 12, 2022 Economic Development Commitee meeting.

Opinions  •  Facts  •  Articles

Three things California must do to address Affordable Housing

Changing the RHNA allocation and Tax Credits could do more to help build Affordable Housing. An article from The Marin Post.

Redwood City Downtown Precise Plan – Form-Based Code

Redwood City's Downtown Precise Plan includes Form-Based code and Planning Commission review. It all took 4 years to develop. The Form-Based Code can serve as a model for Arcata.

Vancouver, British Columbia: 40-story buildings proposed

A plan for Downtown Vancouver, British Columbia involves new building heights of 40-stories, seriously changing the existing neighborhood.

Transcript: Planning Commission meeting — February 8, 2022

Transcript with added commentary. Includes misguided views on the cost of housing. Public comment from Carlisle Douglas.