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.

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.

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.

Gateway Code Issues – Important
View Gateway, General Plan, Environmental Impact Report documents and more. The EIR and Gateway code are deficient.

“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?

★  What does a 5-story apartment look like in a residential neighborhood? See the photos, here. 

★  Arcata speaks: Home Ownership is of supreme importance. Read 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. Council says “Yes” to the Linear Park and Woonerf. Read more:  The issue is not yet resolved.

See what’s current: 
Council / Planning Commission portal page
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A plan that is not feasible is not a plan.
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 buy a home and can’t afford the rent, then we need to think this through more.
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Want to see what the City’s proposed truck-route road along the L Street pathway would have looked like?

♦Contents – Chapters
♦All of the new articles
♦ City Council and Planning Commission portal page

•  Cómo cambiar el idioma  •   How to change the language on the website

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.

• Maps, Aerial Views, and 3D Images

• The L Street Pathway and Linear Park

• Arcata and Community

• Gateway Density & Feasibility Study

• Form-Based Code Overview

• Affordability and Home Ownership

• Look & Feel and Planning in the Gateway Area

• Parking in the Gateway Area

• Sea Level Rise and Groundwater issues
• The Creamery District

• Cal Poly Humboldt

• Parks, Open Space, and Solar Shading

• Infrastructure: Fire Protection, Police, Wastewater Treatment

• Gateway and City documents

• Opinions and Viewpoints (coming)

• Selected Letters and Articles from the Community

• The 99 most popular articles

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.

Quick Links:      

• Top Articles  •  Latest editorials  
• Planning Commission / City Council members: Click here — and here, for the portal page.  Also: See what’s new, and watch the sliding images here to check what’s important.                
• Getting Started   •   An Overview
• Questions, Issues, and Suggested Solutions
• Cómo cambiar el idioma  •   How to change the language on the website   •   How to use this website

“I think it’s very considerate of people to separate their trash.”
Click here to link to the food waste article.