Help us out here, David.
From the the Planning Commission meeting of November 8th, 2022. Some passages are highlighted.
David Loya – Community Development Director 1:08:51
[Reading through suggestions from participants using Slido for input]
“What about review the 2010 L Street trail study?”
I’m not sure what’s being referenced there.
Kimberly White (Commissioner) 1:10:53
I think that 2010 L Street — it was a prior study is what they were referring to, if I’m not mistaken.
David Loya – Community Development Director 1:10:59
Yeah, I’m not sure which study that references.
Kimberly White (Commissioner) 1:11:06
So there was an L Street, I believe, an initial study that we did in 2010 that was talking about the linear park, if I’m not mistaken. Is that what we’re referring to?
David Loya – Community Development Director 1:11:21
Okay, well, maybe you can share with me what that document is because I’m not familiar.
Kimberly White (Commissioner) 1:11:26
Okay. I think I might have seen it on Arcata1.com. But I can get it to you.
David Loya – Community Development Director 1:11:34
I’m sorry. I’m not a frequenter [he laughs] of that website.
[Patricia Cambianica was permitted to stand and explain which document Commissioner White was referring to. Her voice is not audible on the video recording.]
David Loya – Community Development Director 1:11:49
“Yeah, sorry. Patricia, let me know. It’s, it’s actually — there’s not a — it’s not — I think it’s being taken a little out of context here. The document is the Rail With Trail Operations Plan. It is not the L Street Linear Park Plan or not the L Street…you know.
It’s been — it’s been taken a little out of context. The L Street operations plan was one of the documents that was developed during — the operations plan, it was developed during the feasibility work that was being done on the Annie & Mary Trail and the Bay Trail work that we were doing. And so the document is — all of those documents are on our website. Certainly a great resource. If you Google “Rail With Trail Arcata” you should land on that page. I believe, in fact — I’m certain actually — that I’ve sent each of you a link to that webpage. In response to some of the comments that were made in the public about how this document had disappeared from the internet. I was showing you where the documents were. And so all the documents associated with that project are located there.
It’s not in fact, a master plan to create a linear park. I don’t think linear park was a word until we started doing the Gateway Plan.”
The foundations for the L Street Linear Park are found in the 2010 Feasibility Study.
David, no one suggested that it was a master plan to create a linear park. It’s a Rail With Trail Feasibility Study.
But for anyone who takes a few minutes to look at that 2010 plan, it sure has an outstanding linear park concept for the L Street corridor. Complete with a “woonerf” style design — multi-use streets where bicyclists and pedestrians have priority over motorists.
You said that you are not a frequenter of the Arcata1.com website. Too bad for you! You may want to open your eyes and open your mind a bit, and check it out. There is a lot here — something for everyone.
Here’s the link for the “2010 Rail With Trail Feasibility Study and Operations Plan” — it’s here — in an easier-to-view format than the straight PDF file that is located somewhere on the City’s website, and has additional information.
At the meeting, you said:
“It’s been it’s been taken a little out of context.”
I disagree. It is completely applicable to what we are doing with the Gateway discussion.
At the meeting, you said: “It’s been — it’s been taken a little out of context.” I disagree. I find it to be completely applicable to what we are doing with the Gateway discussion.
Perhaps you could benefit from looking at this document, in the context of what is going on with the development of the Gateway Area Plan.
I invite you to look at document from pages 10-1 through 10-6. It’s all on the Arcata1.com website in an easy-to-read format. Looking at those pages — the streetscapes, the list of amenities and design features, and the rendering of what the L Street corridor could look like — isn’t this exactly what we’ve been talking about for the Gateway area? Isn’t this what a linear park is?
There’s an image of an L Street park-like setting on the cover.
The many people who put that 2010 Rail With Trail Feasibility Study together really gave some thought to the different sections of the trail. They devoted nine pages just to the L Street portion of the Rail With Trail area — and they put a color rendering of an L Street park-like setting on the cover of the document. But you are 100% correct in stating that there is no actual use of the phrase “linear park” in this document. They just don’t call it a linear park.
Looking at the drawing and the diagram — Is there any doubt that what they are showing is a linear park? Showing community garden planters, spaces for food trucks, site furnishings, bicycling, jogging, bike racks… It’s a park.
For more fun with words, you can look up “Gateway Project” in that document — yes, it’s there, but it’s a different Gateway Project. (Sometimes called Gateways (with an “s”) Project and sometimes Gateway Project.) Yes, there was a Gateway Project on Samoa Boulevard before there was this current Gateway Project.
By the way — you said: If you Google “Rail With Trail Arcata” you should land on that page.
Well, sort of. Not really. You don’t land on that page, but you might land on a page that has a link to the desired page — that page has over 65 links, in fact. A search for “Rail With Trail Arcata” might land on the “Humboldt Bay Trail North” web page. On the list of links, at a spot 3rd from the bottom out of 65 links, is “Rail with Trail Operational Plan (PDF).” So if a person knows that’s the name by which it is referred — as opposed to its real name, “2010 Rail With Trail Feasibility Study and Operations Plan” — then they can find it.
Even on the City’s website, if you search for “Rail With Trail Arcata” the search doesn’t offer that document. Or search for “Rail With Trail Arcata 2010” — it can’t be found, not with Google, not with the City’s website. Even the full title — “2010 Rail With Trail Feasibility Study and Operations Plan” — a search on the City’s website doesn’t show it. And it doesn’t get there with a Google search either.
David Loya wrote to Patricia Cambianica:
Please find the study you referenced at https://www.cityofarcata.
And that is the point: It is not searchable. Patricia saw it, couldn’t find it again, and had to ask where it is. Basically you have to stumble across it — or know that it exists, know how it’s referred to (not by its name), and then keep looking and looking. I won’t be shy about admitting this: I even knew that it existed, and I knew it was somewhere on the City’s website, and it still took me an hour to find it.
The best way for the member of the public to find this 2010 Feasibility Study would be on Arcata1.com, as Commissioner White mentioned. And there’s a link on the arcatalinearpark.org website.
David, a request
You might consider reading some of the other articles on this website, too. You’d find information there that would be useful to you and to other people in helping them understand the many aspects of the Gateway Area Plan. And you might, in fact, learn something that you did not previously know.
For example, there are the videos — along with transcriptions — of your generally excellent five-part presentation on Building and Massing. It’s set up so that a person can watch the video while reading the transcript. I recommend it regularly to people who want to learn about the how buildings might be designed in the Gateway area.
The Arcata1.com article on your Building and Massing presentation does, however, discuss the various misrepresentations in Section 3. You know, where you describe properties as being “vacant and ready to develop as soon as this plan is adopted.” The problem, as you know, is that some of these sites are not vacant at all. There are buildings on those sites, and working businesses. I’ve written to you and Karen Diemer about this — it seems it wouldn’t be too difficult to re-record a portion of that one section, to at least remove that misstatement, and change the map that shows “Vacant — Ready to Develop” on it.
So if you don’t want to see critique about either things you’ve written or said or of the Gateway plan in general, perhaps it would be best to avoid the Arcata1.com website — or at least parts of it. Other parts might be very informative and useful.
There are transcriptions of sections of City Council meetings, Planning Commission meetings, Transportation Safety Committee meetings. I’ve received thanks from City Council members for these. I find it easier to learn from reading a transcript than from watching a video.
There’s an article, with maps, of the new Creamery-area Gateway district that Planning Commission Julie Vaissade-Elcock proposed. You remember that.
There are numerous articles on Form-Based Code, including a full transcription and images of Ben Noble’s initial presentation on June 29, 2022 — an article I describe as “This is a MUST-SEE presentation for everyone who is involved in the Gateway planning process.“
There’s an article about a 6-story building that was originally designed for Santa Cruz, presented here as acknowledgement that a well-designed taller building can indeed fit in and be an asset to the community.
There are aerial views and maps that aren’t in any City document — although they should be. There’s an article here that shows an example of a building for the car wash site that Julian Berg designed, and illustrates how a five- or six-story building could fit in quite well, if it is of a good design and placement. Putting two buildings of that size and mass on two adjacent parcels — well, that could be more of an issue.
And there are articles there that are critical of the Gateway process and critical of what seems to be a lack of leadership and direction… so perhaps you’d want to avoid those too.
But definitely check out the “2010 Rail With Trail Feasibility Study and Operations Plan” article. [It can be seen here on Arcata1.com] After all, the creators of that 160-page document put a drawing of an L Street park setting on the cover. Doesn’t that tell you something about the importance of L Street as a linear park? It’s worth looking at, thinking about, discussing.
Arcata1.com was created to provide people who are interested in the Gateway Area Plan with more information than the City is providing. And to provide fact-checking at those times when the City’s information is misleading or less-than-accurate.
So: Are you interested in learning more about the Gateway Area Plan?
It’s really up to you.