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Draft Plan - One Year Anniversary

First Gateway City Council / Planning Commission Joint Study Session – August 22, 2023

The first Gateway City Council / Planning Commission Joint Study Session took place on August 23, 2023. At this meeting, the three-person sitting Council unanimously affirmed that there will be no new road on L Street. The concept of a couplet with K Street and L Street is to be eliminated from the draft Gateway Area Plan. There is plenty to write about as take-aways from this meeting. Much good was said, and many misconstrued or false notions expressed also. All that will be in a separate article.

Where are the 3D images? We need them now, more than ever before.

Solar shading, building massing, and the "feel" on the street are easily and quickly seen in a 3D image. Without the 3D image, every design aspect becomes theoretical. With 3D images, the proposed buildings become more real. Despite this, the city planners have provided practically no 3D images.

The Draft Gateway Area Plan – July 11, 2023 – Version 3

The third version of the DRAFT Gateway Area Plan. Much has been added -- and lots of internal errors are not yet corrected.

“Confused About Arcata’s Gateway Area Plan?” Lost Coast Outpost , January 29, 2022

This article appeared in the Lost Coast Outpost on January 29, 2022. Written by Stephanie McGeary. At that time, the Gateway Plan was proposed to be sent to the City Council by April 2022 -- 1-1/2 years ago.

The “Other Considerations” table – Multiple versions

The "Other Considerations" table supposedly consists of a list of recommendations for changes to the draft Gateway Plan that were in conflict with the draft. The first table came out four months after the 2nd Gateway draft arrived, and contains only a small fraction of the comments from the City's Committees, from the public, and even from the Planning Commissioners that "do not comport" with the official viewpoints.

Gateway Density and Feasibility Study – Introduction

This is the introduction to the lengthy article on the Urban Field Studio "Code Site Test. PLEASE READ THE FULL ARTICLE ALSO. It will take about 30-45 minutes to read. The full article has both critique and support by an expert of the Gateway Plan, and a good Q&A from Arcata's Planning Commissioners.

The Planning Commission needs to step up to the plate

The following is a letter sent by Fred Weis to the City Councilmembers. According to the Planning Commission's absurdly accelerated schedule, they are expected to deliver recommendations of a draft of the Form-Based Code, a draft of the Gateway Plan, and a draft of the General Plan following their meeting on July 11th. It is expected that these drafts will be rough and incomplete. With all the work that the Planning Commission has to do, you'd think they'd be working overtime, right? Nope. Their meetings have been shorter than ever. 

From high-speed rail to the Olympics, why do big projects go wrong?

"By his reckoning, only 8.5% of projects meet their initial estimates on cost and time, and a piddling 0.5% achieve what they set out to do on cost, time and benefits." -- "Over-optimistic time and cost estimates stem from both psychological and political biases: a reliance on intuition rather than data, and . . . “strategic misrepresentation”. This is when budgets are deliberately lowballed in order to get things going, on the premise that nothing would ever get built if politicians went around being accurate."

The Gateway Area Plan at 18 months: The Promises Still Seem Unlikely

Now at eighteen months from the introduction of the Draft Gateway Area Plan, the wonderful world that was promised by the plan seems ever more unlikely. I refer to that wonderful world of “thousands of housing units that are environmentally sustainable and affordable to people in all income ranges” and “a broad range of housing densities and types, including rental and owner‐occupied options” that is promised on the opening page of the Draft Plan and continued in that theme throughout the document. *** Let’s look at what’s been ignored over these past eighteen months.

Economic Development Committee’s recommendations on Parking: Lost in the process?

Here's what they said on parking: "Must ensure that sufficient parking provided for both residents and visitors to and employees of local businesses, given rural nature of area and to ensure that parking doesn’t infringe on nearby/local residential neighborhoods. Don’t presume that students, staff, or residents won’t have cars needing to be parked somewhere. 80% of current students are non-local. " **** Here's what ended up in the General Plan recommendations: "Ensure adequate parking for local businesses and employees."

Economic Development Committee says: Where’s the parking?

During the transition from discussion to final document, it seems that many issues raised by the Economic Development Committee are not included in the final document. Among what is absent was their stance on adequate parking for business and residential purposes. Also: "Don't presume that students, staff, or residents won't have cars needing to be parked somewhere. 80% of current students are non-local."

Economic Development Committee – Gateway Plan recommendations, drafts, and video

UPDATED WITH DRAFTS and the August 2, 2022 video ---- The Economic Development Committee's Recommendations for the General Plan update. From their August 2, 2022 meeting.

​“Anxiety on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.”

At their March 1 and April 5, 2023, meetings, the Arcata City Council formally directed the Planning Commission to do as much as it can -- as fast as it can -- to create complete and workable drafts of Arcata's new General Plan update, the new Gateway Area Plan, and the brand-new first-time-ever Form-Based Code for the Gateway area. The Council has requested complete working drafts of these three documents by the end of June, 2023 -- now (at the time of this writing) under 3 months away. ---- As the former Community Development Department long-time employee often said: "ANXIETY ON YOUR PART DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN EMERGENCY ON MY PART."

Your neighborhood is at risk of being rezoned for High Density housing

Do you want your neighborhood rezoned as Residential High Density? **** Come to the City Council meeting on Wednesday, April 5th, and tell our City Councilmembers what you want and do not want for Arcata. The citizens of Arcata have not been informed. **** If you care about your neighborhood, please come and speak. ****

Arcata’s Community Development Department fails again on Executive Summaries

Based on what we've seen, our Community Development Department has an aversion to providing Executive Summaries and actually presenting fact-based conclusions for Arcata's decision-makers. Staff also seems to have an aversion to completing or finalizing ANYTHING. Both the "Strategic Infill Redevelopment Program:  Community Engagement Report (Draft)" -- submitted to the public on June 17, 2022 -- and the "City of Arcata Sea Level Rise Risk Assessment" report from April, 2018, are MISSING entirely their Executive Summaries -- even though those summaries are promoted as being part of the documents.

Gateway Street Parking: Why it will be inadequate

The Draft Gateway Plan pretends that there will be an increase in on-street parking in the Gateway area. In actuality, there will be 50% or so of current parking spaces. In some blocks, there will be less than 25% of what is there now.

Steve Salzman: Let’s answer the basic questions first

Arcata resident, retired professional engineer, and former Greenway Partners partner Steve Salzman asked some basic questions in March, 2022.  What happened to the public input element of Planwest's Scope of Work? Why are we working on an Area Plan before updating the General Plan? How much additional wastewater treatment capacity will be required, how much will it cost and how will it be paid for? Sea Level Rise:  Update the Local Coastal Plan based on the most recent and relevant scientific studies and planning efforts.

Transcription of the Gateway Plan Presentation, with Comments & Opinion

A full transcription of the 1 hour introductory video presentation of the draft Gateway plan. With comments and opinions about misrepresentations and false information in the video.

Watch the Video –Transcription of the Gateway Plan Presentation, with Comments & Opinion

WITH VIDEO -- A full transcription of the 1 hour introductory video presentation of the draft Gateway plan. With comments and opinions about misrepresentations and false information in the video.

The Draft Gateway Area Plan – July 2023 – Version 3

The July 11, 2023, 3rd draft of the "Draft Gateway Area Plan." In chapters for easy viewing. Also includes the 2nd draft from October 2022, and the 1st draft, from December 2021.