♦ Council / Planning Commission portal page
♦ Arcata Fire District issues
♦ All website Contents ♦ 99 most popular articles
♦ Gateway Area Plan, General Plan, EIR & more
Documents and articles.
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.
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.
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.
“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 importance. Read 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….
♦ What’s New ♦ Contents
♦ Contact your Councilmembers and Commissioners
♦ Write a letter
• Cómo cambiar el idioma • How to change the language on the website • How to use this website
- More on the L Street Linear Park
Lots and lots of reasons why the Linear Park is crucial for Arcata. - Transportation Safety Committee Chair Dave Ryan says: Abandon the L-K Street Couplet & Embrace the Linear Park
- To Dr. Tom Jackson, Cal Poly Humboldt President: You can do more — Please.
- Arcata speaks — Home Ownership is of supreme importance
- Sea Level Rise articles
- The Brown Act and transparency laws — and how Arcata has numerous violations
Table of Contents
Special! The 99 most popular articles
• Maps, Aerial Views, and 3D overall views
• Look & Feel and Planning in the Gateway Area
with 3D images of buildings
• Arcata and Community
• Gateway Density & Feasibility Study
• Parks, Open Space, and Solar Shading
• The L Street Pathway and Linear Park
• Form-Based Code Overview
• Affordability and Home Ownership
• Parking in the Gateway Area
• Sea Level Rise and Groundwater issues
• The Creamery District
• Cal Poly Humboldt
• Infrastructure: Fire Protection, Police, Wastewater Treatment
• Gateway and City documents
• Opinions and Viewpoints (coming)
• Selected Letters and Articles from the Community
- Planning Commission / City Council portal page
See what’s current - Getting Started • An Overview
- Questions, Issues, and Suggested Solutions
- Brown Act violations in Arcata
- Cómo cambiar el idioma • How to change the language on the website • How to use this website
Top Stories
Letters • Community Input
City Planning
Maps • Aerial Views
News • Media • Arcata City documents
Opinions • Facts • Articles