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At the April 23, 2024, Planning Commission meeting, at about 6:45 PM, Arcata’s Community Development Director David Loya attempted to explain why the proposed L Street corridor linear park was not in the Gateway Code. “We’re implementing the direction that we received in September,” he said.

By 10 AM the next morning, he presented a different outlook.

“I believe Mayor Matthews is going to recommend adding the linear park/woonerf designation to the plan,” he wrote.

Of course, the Mayor had already recommended adding the linear park/woonerf designation to the Gateway Area Plan — eight months earlier.

The City Council requested the L Street corridor full-width linear park. For eight months, Arcata’s Community Development Director did nothing. David Loya said, “I understand why it could have been confusing.”
But the Council’s direction was not confusing to anyone but him.

“We are all so passionate about this linear park and about being able to bike and walk and play safely.”
Then Vice-Mayor Meredith Matthews (now Mayor)

 

“We need to direct staff to develop a detailed scenario for L Street as a full-width 50-feet-wide linear park without routine car access, but with emergency access and providing car-truck access to land sites west of L Street, mainly from the East-West streets.”
Councilmember (and former Planning Commissioner) Kimberley White

Here is Arcata Community Development Director David Loya, speaking at the April 23, 2024, Planning Commission meeting on the “final” revisions to the Gateway Code. A Commissioner asked why there is no reference to the L Street linear park in the Code.

“The L Street corridor was taken up by the City Council at a joint study session of Planning Commission City Council in September of last year, and the City Council made an action that had three components.” [Note: Actually it was August 22, 2023.]

“And then the third thing that they asked was for the City to start the process of evaluating a woonerf – “woonerf” was the term of the night – and put a full-width linear park on L Street.“

“We have not gone through the public process that’s necessary to establish what the L Street will look like.”

“And so we’re implementing the direction that we received in September [Note: August]. And I understand, you know, I went back and listened to the tape from September, I understand why it could have been confusing, and why the public would have understood the Council’s action to be change the document so that it shows L Street as a linear park. We haven’t gone through that planning process yet.”

From what the Community Development Director said, I ask him:

You see how it could have been confusing for the public to have understood how the Council’s direction to the Planning Commission was: “Change the document so that it shows L Street as a linear park.”

What is it about what the Council said that you do not understand?

Perhaps you can read the transcript and the pre-meeting notes below, and look at what the Councilmembers wrote and said highlighted in red.

What is it that you did not understand?

Video of the August 22, 2023 meeting – 13 minutes
Transcription of what the Councilmembers said
The Councilmembers’ pre-meeting written comments

The August 22, 2023 meeting

Arcata’s City Council and Planning Commission met on August 22, 2023, for a joint study session to discuss major aspects of the Gateway Area Code — and for the Council to, as they say, “provide direction” to the Planning Commission on how to proceed.

Among the determinations that came out of this meeting was the Council’s whole-hearted endorsement for the creation of a full-width linear park in the 10-block “L Street” (it’s not a through-street) corridor. 

The three-hour meeting included a song performance set to the Sesame Street theme song (“Families come and play / Everything’s A-Okay / Here in Linear Park, it will stay that way / Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Linear Park”) and a letter in support of the linear park from the Humboldt County Beer Runners, and a reminder of the 2010 City of Arcata “Rail with Trail Feasibility Study” that shows a beautiful artist’s rendition of a linear park on L Street on its cover.

At a prior meeting, representatives from Arcata L Street Linear Park brought in a petition to create the park, with over 1,100 signatures.

A video of the 13-minute section of the joint study session on the Linear Park plus the video of the full meeting is below.

Also here is a complete transcription of what was said by the Council on the L Street corridor linear park issue, and the Councilmember’s pre-meeting written comments.

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Transcript of the 13 minute section on the L Street corridor linear park

(Note: Subtract 9 minutes for the YouTube video times.)

Sarah Schaefer (Mayor)  1:38:12
Great, thank you, Netra, for clarifying that. Any other Commissioners want to weigh in on that initial recommendation for?  I think we’re going to ask some questions. And after kind of reviewing the comments that were submitted by the Councilmembers, it seems that we are pretty unanimous and seeking alternatives to the K and L couplet and supporting kind of this original vision of a linear park on L Street. [Referring to the 2010 City of Arcata report that included a linear park on L Street corridor.]

I also have a little bit of a vision of this idea of that was presented in the plan, the Dutch idea of the Woonerf, and as you’re talking about the chicanes and so, you know, to think about how — because we did you know, it’s interesting, we got like a letter from somebody who works for Pacific Builders, and so thinking about like these businesses that already do exist in that area and do have local traffic that does need to go through there, even in the area now between Seventh Street and 11th Street, there is still a lot of local traffic and and some cars that do need to access that area. And so the idea kind of behind the Woonerf is like this living street, basically, where priority is given to pedestrians and bicyclists and people just using that street area, whether it be you know, playing ball, riding your bike, kids hanging out in the street. And that the way that the street is intentionally designed so cars *have* to go slow, like 10 miles per hour, etc. And so, to look at kind of what I know, we all recommended on policy here, that we also, I know, I think we all pretty unanimously supported safety improvements to K Street as well. But to be able to also kind of begin to conceptually think that there is going to also need to be some improvement made to L Street, if it’s not going to be a full project that has to have a thoroughfare and new construction on it. And so, where it currently is, there is no labeled parking, it’s full of potholes. It’s impossible really to utilize right now even comfortably. Like I always avoid riding my bike on the actual part of L Street because it’s super-bumpy a nd there’s tons of potholes. And so that is also something I’d like to maybe propose for my Councilmembers to think about, is just looking at this kind of Woonerf-style living street that could really exist between Seventh Street and 10th and 11th. Like between 10th and 11th, it kind of already has that with the — what are those things called, the poles that stop you from going over things? Bollards? Yeah, that exists there. So that’s kind of where I’m sitting on this. And I’ll ask my fellow Council colleagues to kind of share any thoughts you have, or any questions that we might have of staff or other Commissioners.

Meredith Matthews (Vice-Mayor)  1:40:56
All right, I guess it’s my turn. I really want to thank the Planning Commission. I know that this has been hard, long conversations, and not easy conversations to have, there’s been a lot of passion from the community, which can sometimes be intimidating. And I really appreciate all you’ve done. You know, I was telling David earlier, you know, the first time I heard about the Gateway project at all, the Gateway Area Plan, pardon me, was in 2018-2019, when I was on the Economic Development Committee, and the way David had, — he was the liaison — and the way he was talking about K Street was, you know, wide sidewalks and trees and slow traffic. And that has always, I think, been the vision in my head when I first think of the Gateway Area Plan. I really, I’m really against building any new streets. I don’t think that is something that I really want to pursue, I am really interested in making K Street look like the vision that I had in my head initially, when I started talking about the Gateway Area Plan. So I really am intrigued by Sarah’s idea of this Woonerf. I’d really, really like to explore that and see what it looks like. But for me — and I was on that walk with Dan Burton, I was at when he had in Eureka, when he was showing slides and talking about everything as a whole — and I was a big proponent of complete streets. That that was something that I brought to the Transportation Safety Committee. I really, really believe in that. And I’m talking too long. So I guess at the end of the day, I am in favor of removing the L-K couplet from the Gateway Area Plan. I would love to explore this Woonerf. And I’d really like to make K Street and also 11th Street kind of look like the vision that I would like. I just want to ask, like: Is that a possibility? Can we make K Street like look like that that vision? Probably not. But can we get close? Can we make it safe for all modalities and slow the speed down? And let me tell you I drove K Street 20 miles an hour. It’s flippin slow. So you saying you want this but don’t yell at me later. It’s really sad. But, um, at the end of the day, you know if that’s what’s going to keep everybody safe, then that’s what I’d like to explore.

Kimberly White (Councilmember)  1:44:15
All right. I just want to say first, just to make it clear, I’m really happy that there has been consensus among the City Council to abandon the K and L Street couplet. I’m in favor 100% — 110% — of addressing transportation issues on K Street that can be mitigated. Now, I also want to piggyback on what Judith said. I recommend that we direct — We need to direct staff to develop a detailed scenario for L Street as a full-width 50-feet-wide linear park without routine car access, but with emergency access and providing car-truck access to land sites west of L Street, mainly from the East-West streets. I do disagree, I don’t think we can have it both ways. I would be an inferior linear park. And even if the engineers were able to fit vehicles, parked vehicles, bicyclists, pedestrians, strollers, rollers, wheelchairs, walkers, etc. into this space, the feel of the pathway would be significantly altered, and the peace and tranquility would no longer exist. I think if we can address the issues — and I don’t need to waste anybody’s time, because I think that everybody is in agreement that there are ways to mitigate the safety issues — is probably going to be a moot point, I don’t know that we would even need to look for an alternative. So that’s where I stand.

Sarah Schaefer (Mayor)  1:45:49
Do we have any responses from Commissioners on those comments?

Scott Davies (Chair)  1:45:52
Yeah, I’m just I hear the concerns about adding traffic to L Street. I absolutely get that. Again, the Planning Commission recommended that because of removing a lane from K Street is what made making K Street into the vision that you described. And so I’m curious how if we keep both lanes in K street with a fixed width, how do you two or three proposed to make K Street safer while maintaining the traffic?

Meredith Matthews (Vice-Mayor)  1:46:28
Taking away parking? Don’t come at me.

Sarah Schaefer (Mayor)  1:46:30
I mean, yeah, the solution is, you definitely got to remove parking on both sides probably have a bike lane on one  direction and then increase sidewalk width, like Dan was saying, to be able to plant trees on probably the west side would be fine. That’s my vision.

Meredith Matthews (Vice-Mayor)  1:46:48
And that’s the thing. And I think that, you know, Sarah said it, too. That, you know, we are all so passionate about this linear park and about being able to bike and walk and play safely. And if this is what we really want. then we all really, really have to be comfortable having not only in this instance, in this linear park, but holistically around all of the Gateway Area Plan and around all of Arcata. Because we just can’t have it once. We have to have it all over. So if we want K Street to be safe and take away parking, then we’re going to have to be comfortable with making those same concessions around other places in Arcata.

Scott Davies (Chair)  1:47:33
I agree with that. Yeah, thank you.

Sarah Schaefer (Mayor)  1:47:33
Yeah, precisely. And that, you know, we see everybody coming out here tonight to support you know, people-centric, walkable neighborhoods that people want to be in. And I think that’s the biggest thing that I took away from when Dan Burton was here. He said, you build for for place, not necessarily for cars or for housing, right? You build for a place that people want to be in, right. And so if you build a space that is comfortable for walking, and biking and being around, then people are going to want to be there and enjoy it. And that should be, you know, across our city as well. And so “Coming to a General Plan near you,” I guess. But just, you know, seeing the support makes me say — Okay, let’s let’s support that other places, too, and be involved. And it’s great to see it. So thank you, folks.

Sarah Schaefer (Mayor)  1:48:25
All right. So at this point, we can maybe kind of straw poll our Councilors. And what I’ve I’ve written down here is some staff direction. David’s getting excited, he’s getting the clipboard out. Staff direction, here we go. To remove the L and K couplet from the Plan as it’s currently written. And to seek some of these alternatives, which include improvements to K Street for Council discussion. And it will be nice to see those improvements separate from the Gateway Area Plan as well to be able to enjoy the feedback from our other Council members as well on that topic. And then I propose, as Meredith said, I’d also like to explore the Woonerf option for L Street and see what kind of traffic calming measures we can have to the currently existing L Street as it is currently configured, that relate to the original kind of 2010 Linear Park Plan [the 2010 Rail with Trail Feasibility Study], looking at that. And then how to utilize, as Netra said, chicanes and all of that stuff to make a more usable L Street. Because it’s not usable right now for cars or people really, it’s just kind of a gravel parking lot. So that’s my direction if we have Council consensus on that.

Meredith Matthews (Vice-Mayor)  1:49:46
Yeah, as many times as we can say “Woonerf.”

Sarah Schaefer (Mayor)  1:49:49
That’s my word. I’m on it. WOONERF — it’s a Dutch word. And it’s spelled w o o n e r f. So look it up. There’s some great stuff on YouTube about it.

Meredith Matthews (Vice-Mayor)  1:50:04
A fun and educational study session.

Sarah Schaefer (Mayor)  1:50:09
So do we have consensus on that stuff recommendation? Are we absolutely nodding? Okay. Yep.

David Loya – Community Development Director  1:50:15
And can I just add back in there was Councilmember White’s recommendations for improvements on 11th Street as well as part of that.

Sarah Schaefer (Mayor)  1:50:24
Yes, yeah. We like improvements to 11th Street and that, yeah, that can kind of be kind of part of that conversation with K Street too. I think there’s a lot of connectivity between those two areas and with the trail corridor and the crossings of 11th Street, etc.

Meredith Matthews (Vice-Mayor)  1:50:38
Yeah, and because I will add there are schools that are in that area. There is North Coast Preparatory High School. There’s Redwood Coast Montessori. There is Coastal Grove is very close to there. So for what it’s worth.

Kimberly White (Councilmember)  1:50:51
We received an e-mail from a mom who had her 10 year old daughter get hit with it on K Street. Okay, okay. Well, I think that there’s just I have a whole list I can read of things that we can do for improvements, but I guess I’ll save them for later. Perfect, wonderful.

Kimberly White (Councilmember)  1:51:12
Looking at improvements to 11th and K that follow a complete streets policy. All right, any final thoughts on the K and L couplet before we move to our next item? All right.

Start:  1:38
End:    1:51    13 minutes

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Councilmembers’ pre-meeting ideas on the K/L couplet and the linear park

Prior to the meeting, Councilmembers were asked to address — in writing — a series of questions on issues that would be discussed at the meeting, in order to make the time at the joint study session more effective.  Their full responses on Inclusionary Zoning, the Linear Park / K and L Couplet, Building Height / Massing, Community input, and more can be seen on Arcata1.com here.

Summary:

No new through-road on L Street. No couplet. Explore all the many safety improvements to K Street, while retaining K Street as a two-way street. Perhaps 4 blocks of a Woonerf in the L Street corridor (pedestrian-oriented, with 5 mph yielding car traffic, for access to existing homes and businesses). And 6 blocks of totally car-free natural pathway.

Sarah Schaefer (then Mayor)

Questions:

Does the plan anticipate the development of Q street as part of the barrel district? It appears that Q street will go through to Samoa?

Has this circulation plan been looked at or discussed with Cal Poly Humboldt as they are growing their healthcare hub building on Samoa Blvd? With Caltrans who oversees Hwy 255?

Policy Recommendations:

People- and place-centric development. We need to start prioritize walking and biking in the downtown area over cars. More congestion on K street does not need to be alleviated by building more roads. 

Development of L street should be limited to between 10th and 7th streets and it should be designed in the “woonerf” style with low speed limits, local traffic only, with cars yielding to pedestrians and bikes in the roadway. This woonerf could prioritize public art space in roadway or green belt/trail. In my conversations with Dan Burden, he believes that one-way street couplets are a car-centric solution to congestion. Solving congestion is thinking about the needs of cars above all else. (See street park Seattle or Wharf St. in Washington, DC) L Street should only be an implementation measure in the future if all other options or K street solutions have been explored and implemented.

K street needs to have parking reduced between Samoa and 11th to allow for a bike lane. The fact that K street doesn’t have a bike lane is unacceptable. I am requesting staff to provide options for making safety updates to K street including, removing parking to favor bike lanes, providing bulb outs, enhanced crosswalks especially in the school zone at 8th and K streets, reduced speed limits and speed feedback signs. 

Meredith Matthews (then Vice Mayor)

The K/L Couplet is a part of the GAP that has been met with much conjecture, passion and conversation. I have been following the conversation closely, but really wanted to give the Planning Commission time to thoroughly discuss and come to their conclusions before I weighed in. Though I appreciate all the input from the community, in the end I came to the decision that I feel is best for the City and most accurately aligns with our values and desire to have a walkable, safe community.

While revisiting the draft circulation element, several things jumped out at me, such as the removal of the couplet and removing parking on K.  If we are going to have a complete streets City we have to be comfortable with not just making one street  — L — accessible for all modalities, we have to continue that vision throughout the City when possible. In updating the GAP we have to prioritize shifting transportation from being car-centric to “one in which transit and active transportation are competitive, or superior, in terms of convenience, perceived and actual safety and accessibility for all residents.”

The backbone of my campaign was safer streets and responsible transportation, with an emphasis on public transportation and streets that are safe for all modalities. To that end, I would recommend not building any new roads, and maintaining L street as a linear park, and to continue to look for other alternatives to alleviate not only the congestion on K street but the barrier that K Street provides to safe access of the Creamery District and Gateway Area. 

Kimberley White – Councilmember and former Planning Commissioner

Abandon K & L street couplet, in favor of addressing transportation safety issues on K street that can be mitigated now. 

1. 1. I recommend investing in immediate safety improvements for K Street now.
      1. Reduce speeds to 20 mph (as HCAOG and Planning Commissioners have recommended)
      2. Add additional crosswalks
      3. Increase frequency of crosswalk maintenance
      4. Designate crosswalk corners as no parking to increase visibility at intersections
      5. Add radar speed feedback signs
      6. Add multiple stop signs
      7. Install flashing crosswalk signals
      8. Begin discussion about removing sections of on-street parking spaces
      9. Install speed humps, bumps or lumps
      10. Install curb extensions at intersections
      11. Implement the other recommendations from Dan Burden’s audit
   2. I recommend directing staff to develop a detailed scenario for L Street :
      1. 1. As a full-width (50 feet wide) Linear Park without routine car access (but WITH emergency access) AND providing car/truck access to land/sites west of L Street mainly from East-West streets
         2. Bring this scenario to the Planning Commission and Council for further discussion.

• • • • • The City of Arcata Transportation Safety Committee has strongly recommended and has declared four times that they are against this K-L Street couplet.
        • Over 1,000 residents have signed the petition to create a car-free linear park along L Street.
        • The Sierra Club Redwood Chapter North Group has endorsed the designation of the L Street Corridor as a Linear Park.

iii.      This corridor is already a beautiful “community benefit,” a treasured safe pathway and the perfect “opportunity zone” to become an even more amazing community treasure.

I could not have said this better so I will quote a community member:
         [Note from Fred Weis:  This is not a quote from me.]

“This is a rare opportunity we have to potentially turn this corridor into something really special. That potential doesn’t currently exist anywhere else in Arcata. I feel it’s imperative we emphatically designate it as a people’s gathering place/destination that remains car-free. I’m not closing my eyes to the effect this would have on a proposed K St./L St. couplet, but I believe we can commit to this while also committing to doing something to ultimately improve K St. We may not have the best answers right now, right in front of us, but surely, we can work together as a community and even enlist additional experts, if necessary, in order to arrive at viable options that may not have been considered.”

iv.   Even if engineers were able to fit vehicles, parked vehicles, bicyclists, pedestrians, strollers, rollers, wheelchairs, walkers, etc into this space, the feel of the pathway would be significantly altered and the peace and tranquility would no longer exist.

v.    The Creamery District has worked on visioning since 2012, let’s not undo all of their hard work.

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Videos from the August 22, 2023, joint study session

The 13-minute section of discussion on the Linear Park

The full August 22, 2023, joint study session meeting
The “Linear Park” song starts at 2 minutes 35 seconds — below are the lyrics.

The first public speaker was Leslie Quinn. She is a founding member of the beloved local band “Vanishing Pints.” She sang this song:

Tap / click here for more than two dozen articles about the Gateway Code.