Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

At some point in the approval process of the Gateway Area Plan, State law requires that the plan come to the California Coastal Commission for review. They will also be reviewing an update of Arcata’s Local Coastal Program (LCP) — the current plan dates from 1989. Yes, Arcata’s Local Coastal Plan is 34 years old. 

Just about half of the area of the Gateway area is located within the Coastal Zone. The Barrel district is entirely within the Coastal Zone. The Corridor and Neighborhood districts are each about half inside the Coastal Zone. The Hub district, other than a very small sliver, is outside of the Coastal Zone.

A disapproval or request for substantial modification by the Coastal Commission could throw a serious wrench into much of the Gateway designs and intentions. Or a delay in the approval could substantially impact the timeline for moving the Gateway Plan forward.

Among the many factors that the Coastal Commission and its staff looks at include the following. For more information, see Introduction to the Coastal Act.

• Sea Level Rise issues, including SLR impacts on people, infrastructure, and economics;
• Scenic and visual qualities of coastal areas, and consideration of water views as a resource of public importance;
• Overall climate change factors, including minimizing energy consumption and vehicle miles travelled;
• Housing needs, including affordable housing;
• Environmentally-sensitive areas, and impacts of development on those areas, including coastal water quality.

The California Coastal Commission conducted their monthly three-day meeting in Eureka in September, 2023. The meetings include a time for members of the public to speak on topics that are not on the agenda. Speakers can appear in person or by phone or Zoom, and are allotted two minutes.

Recognizing that the Coastal Commission would one day be seeing the Gateway Plan, and taking advantage of the Commission’s not-common visit to Humboldt County, I presented a brief introduction to the Gateway Area Plan at the Thursday, September 8, 2023, Coastal Commission meeting. 

In my presentation I specifically did not make any requests or suggestions. I simply wanted to acquaint the Commissioners with Arcata’s Gateway Area Plan.

To listen to the 2-minute presentation while you read and view the slides, start the audio player by pressing the Play button on the left.

California Coastal Commission meeting
Presentation of Arcata’s Gateway Area Plan

Thursday, September 7, 2023    General Public Comment

Good morning. I am Fred Weis with Arcata1.com

In the months ahead, you will be seeing the Arcata Gateway Area Plan — a rezoning and redevelopment plan of about 64 city blocks. Half of this is within the Coastal Zone. There are single-family homes, apartments, and commercial and industrial uses there now.

Here is Eureka, Arcata, Samoa and Manila along the ocean. The Gateway Area is marked in red.

Arcata Bay, with the ponds of the Arcata Wastewater Treatment Plant at the edge of the Bay.

The Coastal Zone Boundary. The Gateway area is in red, above the downtown Arcata area, tinted white.

A little more than half of the Gateway Area is inside the Coastal Zone.

The red district, at the lower left, is completely within the Coastal Zone, with potential 7 story buildings and a build-out of 1,300 apartments.  Yellow and Brown districts are each about half in the Coastal Zone. Total Coastal Zone build-out is about 1,800 apartments.

Arcata’s current Local Coastal Plan is from 1989 — 34 years old. It’s being updated currently.

To learn more about Arcata’s Gateway Area Plan, you can come to Arcata1.com

You can see where the Gateway Area Plan is relative to Arcata Bay on Samoa Boulevard west of K Street.

Thank you very much, and thank you for your service.