Update
About 25 members of the Arcata Community were present at the April 17, 2024, City Council meeting to issue an exuberant standing ovation to former Planning Commissioner Judith Mayer, to celebrate her efforts and contributions in helping to keep Arcata on a sane and thoughtful path.
City Councilmember and former Planning Commissioner Kimberley White read the proclamation, and Dr. Mayer gave a short speech of thanks. Community gratitude was extended by much clapping, many thankful smiles, and the gift of a large bouquet of flowers. A larger photo of Dr. Mayer and the bouquet is below.
At the City Council meeting on April 17th, Dr. Judith Mayer will be honored with a Certificate of Appreciation for her seventeen years of service on Arcata’s Planning Commission.
The earlier article, from April 14, 2024:
Please come!
Members of the public are invited to attend and show our own respect for Dr. Mayer, for all the many ways that she has consciously added to our community.
The City Council meeting starts at 6:00 p.m., and the awarding of the Certificate of Appreciation is the first item on the agenda that the Council will enact. Don’t be late!
It’s a mystery
Judith’s knowledge, wisdom, diligence, and care have shown as being especially important during the development of the new General Plan updates and the Gateway Area Plan.
That the City Council opted at this time to not renew her position on the Planning Commission — when the General Plan, the Gateway Area Plan, the Gateway form-based code, and the Local Coastal Plan and California Coastal Commission hearing are all so close to completion — will remain as a mystery. The Council’s views on their vote were perhaps partially explained only by these words:
“But when we’re talking about institutional knowledge, at some point, you know, other people are going to have to start building that institutional knowledge. And we need fresh ideas. We need people with different perspectives. And I think maybe it’s time to have a little bit of changing of the guard.”
At the Council’s March 20, 2024, meeting, Councilmember Kimberley White spoke for close to two minutes on the merits of reappointing Dr. Mayer to the Commission. Other than Dr. Mayer and Commissioner Dan Tangney, at that time no other member had been on the Commission for even four years.
Councilmember White concluded with a motion to reappoint Dr. Mayer to a four-year term on the Planning Commission. No other Councilmember came forward to second the motion.
Dr. Mayer’s credentials
Dr. Mayer holds a B.A. in History from Swarthmore College, an M.S. in Urban and Regional Planning, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning, University of California, Berkeley. She has been the only member of the Planning Commission — ever — to hold an advanced degree in urban planning, a degree that no member of Arcata’s Planning Department has ever had as well.
She has taught at the undergraduate and graduate levels in such areas as Environmental Science and Management, Geography, Sociology, Women’s Studies, Social Sciences Environment and Community Masters program, Urban Affairs and Planning Masters program, Local Government Planning, Environmental Law & Regulation, Planning & Politics: Community Visions, and Community, Ecology & Social Action.
Dr. Mayer has over 30 years’ experience in research and teaching in the U.S., in Asia, and in Europe. She is a founding member of the Borneo Project of Earth Island Institute to assist in supporting Borneo community initiatives for sustainable livelihoods and environmental justice; she has served as its Director & Coordinator, and continues on its board of directors. She also currently serves on the board of directors of the Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC) here in Arcata. She is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP).
Tap / Click here to read the Certificate of Appreciation for Dr. Mayer’s seventeen years of service on Arcata’s Planning Commission.
The freshest, youngest, least-experienced Arcata Planning Commission — ever
There’s been a larger than normal turnover in the Planning Commissioner seats recently. Arcata has seven Planning Commissioners. Two new Commissioners came on board in January, 2023. One new Commissioner was appointed in April 2023, and another new Commissioner was appointed in August 2023. In 15 months, there have been five new Commissioners. That is, a majority of the Commissioners were appointed during 2023, and five of the seven Commissioners have been there less than a year and half.
Those five have were not present a the start of the major education and discussions on the General Plan and the Gateway Area Plan. Only the two senior Commissioners have been present since before the Gateway Area Plan was introduced, in December 2021, two years and five months ago.
Two of the Commissioners missed the entire first year of General Plan and Gateway Area Plan discussions. Another two Commissioners missed the first year and a half, or more. The newest member joined on April 1, 2024, two weeks ago. He has given presentations and workshops to the Planning Commission on form-based code, on August 16, 2022, June 29, 2022, February 11, 2023, and February 23, 2023. Two Commissioners have participated in all workshops. Two more participated in two of them. Three Commissioners arrived after those workshops took place.
In terms of a combined number of years of Commission experience, Arcata has never had such a “young” group of Commissioners. Not even close.
When this General Plan update and Gateway Area Code process started in earnest, in December 2021, the experienced members of the Planning Commission included John Barstow (formerly of Design Review), Julie Vaissade-Elcock (then Chair), Dan Tangney, and Dr. Mayer, with a cumulative total of years of experience in 2022-2023 of over 60 years among them. Commissioner Tangney is now the longest-serving member of the Planning Commission.
The Certificate of Appreciation
