Sign up for our Arcata1.com Newsletter

Arcata1.com on your desktop for a bigger view. Learn more about our city.

No menu items!
type here...
Search Arcata1.com


CATEGORY

Density

Gateway Plan and General Plan Updates – Newsletter – May 27, 2024

THIS NEWSLATTER WAS SENT OUT ON MONDAY, MAY 27, 2024. The two scheduled public hearings with the Arcata City Council take place on Wednesdays -- May 29 and June 5, 2024. If needed, the public hearing meetings will be continued. The City Council will consider, take public comment on, discuss, and perhaps vote to adopt the Gateway Area Plan, the Gateway Zoning Code, the Arcata General Plan 2045, and the Final Environmental Report.

Four-Story Buildings do not belong in the Bayview, Sunset, and Upper I & J Street Neighborhoods

The LU-9 Implementation Measure in the draft General Plan would allow 4 and 5-story buildings in the Bayview, Northtown, Upper I & J Street, and Sunset neighborhoods. A rezoning would allow "Local-serving commercial uses such as corner grocery stores and coffee shops" throughout those neighborhoods. **** LU-9 does not belong in Arcata's General Plan **** WITH IMAGES OF WHAT COULD BE BUILT.

Do we want 5-story apartments in a residential neighborhood?

What happens when a city's zoning allows 5-story buildings in an established residential neighborhood? "When new residential architecture enters into an established neighborhood, the results are often unpredictable. The towering next door apartments upset the smaller scale of the older houses."***** "It makes me wonder if developers will eventually gobble up the remaining houses for nothing but apartments."

3D images from the Gateway Code — and no Linear Park !

For two years we have been waiting for 3D images of what a build-out might look like for the design of the Gateway Area Plan. Finally, here in February 2024, we have some 3D images of what multiple buildings in the Gateway area might look like.

Lessons from a Modern Master of Low-Rise Housing

Good design is the make-or-break element on whether dense housing is livable and uplifting or whether it feels packed and depressing. Affordable housing should not be burdened with poor design. And just because we are in need of housing here in Arcata does not mean that we should accept poor designs and general unawareness of the human needs for enjoyable living spaces. Reading time: 9 minutes.

A clash over housing pits UC Berkeley against its neighbors

"Additional students will put more pressure on the local housing market and increase rents for everybody, hitting low-income students and low-income nonstudent families the hardest."  An interview with Phil Bokovoy, leader of the group "Save Berkeley's Neighborhoods."

500 or 3,500 apartments in Gateway? Please clarify.

The Gateway Area Plan calls for a build-out of 3,500 apartments. If each building were the size of the block-long Sorrel Place, this would amount to 70 or 80 Sorrel-Place-sized buildings. It also calls for a build-out of 277,000 square feet of commercial space. This is equivalent to about 21 buildings that are the size of the Arcata Co-op, or the equivalent of about 150 or 200 standard retail, office, or restaurant spaces. **** There is not physical room for 70 or 80 block-long buildings. There's not room for half that many.

Extend the Gateway Area Plan policies to ALL of Arcata? Absolutely not!

Arcata’s Community Development Directory, David Loya, is asking the City Council whether the policies that are in process of being developed for the Gateway area should be put into the General Plan – so that the policies can be in place throughout all of Arcata. And, yes, he is asking for 4, 5, 6, and possibly 7-story buildings be allowed -- everywhere in Arcata.

Density: How many units per acre for apartments around Humboldt

Here are examples of the density, shown in units per acre, of local known buildings in Humboldt County and specific buildings outside of our area. Includes a discussion of Net units per acre vs. Gross units per acre, and number of bedrooms vs. number of units.

Louis Sauer, architect: Low-rise dense housing in an urban setting

Reading time: 5 minutes -- The architect Louis Sauer specialized in high-quality, high-density, low rise housing. His urban designs were typically just three stories tall, with configurations of intertwined townhomes, set in patterns so that each home had a separate and private yard. 

Menu

Popular Categories

Top Stories