Susan Ornelas served on Arcata’s City Council for eleven consecutive years, from 2008 through March, 2020. She was Mayor of Arcata in 2011 and 2017.

Among Susan’s concerns for the future of Arcata’s citizens is the difficulty for younger people to buy a home. Her March 27, 2023, letter to the City Council, City Manager Karen Diemer, and Community Development Directory David Loya was posted on Arcata1.com here.

Below is the full contents of her letter.

Dear Mayor and Council members —

Good Morning! Hope you are all well and anticipating Spring — once it finally is here!

Let me start by thanking you for your service to the citizens of Arcata. I know it is a demanding job.

I’m writing today to present information that (seems to me) gets overlooked in the housing development discussion.

Following is a chart of 50 years (1970-2020) of census Arcata population data, FTE enrollment at CPH (HSU), and housing units built each decade. As you will notice in 1970 there were 8,985 people living in Arcata and the university FTE was 5,200 students. At that time there were ~ 4,000 housing units in town (~2.3 people per household).

Moving forward to 1990 – population of 15,604; FTE was 7,160 students, and housing units developed was ~6,700.(~2.3 people per household)

The FTEs at the university reached 7,500 in mid 1990’s, and peaked at 8,500 students in 2015.

Today the population in Arcata is ~19,114; CPH has a FTE of 5,739 students; and there are ~8,423 housing units (~2.3 people per household).

The student population dropped by 32%. I know it is the goal of CPH to grow the student population, and I agree with that plan, but to say we have a student housing crisis seems incorrect.

The general population has grown over 200% in the last 50 years. The median age in Arcata is 27.5 years. When I talk with people I know in their 30’s and 40’s, they tell me they wish they could buy a house. They want to build financial equity.

I attached a sheet with the above Census Data (in case it is scrambled in the email), and information about CA Senate Bill 9. Senate Bill 9 is written to assist CA communities in being able to develop more housing options, to provide opportunity for medium to lower income people to build generational equity. We know when people own a home in a town, they are more likely to volunteer for City boards, school boards, PTAs, as sports coaches for their kids, etc. Home ownership helps to create the kind of town we all want to live in!

I plan to address this subject at public comment at the next City Council meeting, but want to give you a heads up first. My thought is maybe we could have an ad hoc Senate Bill 9 committee in Arcata, to see if citizens can find ways to incorporate the states idea to open up housing and help young people have an opportunity for home ownership.

May I request this letter and email be included in the next agenda packet under public comments?

[Editor’s Note: Sorry, Susan — this isn’t being done any more. The letters are about zoning and planning and housing issues are put in a batch on the City’s website. To locate your letter on Arcata’s website, a person would have to know where to look.]

Thank you.

Susan Ornelas

Currently have ~ 8,423 housing units (2020 census)

CA Senate Bill 9  – Took effect in Jan 2022

Senate Bill 9 – the California Housing Opportunity and More Efficiency (HOME) Act streamlines the process for a homeowner to create a duplex or subdivide an existing lot. Any new housing created as a result of this bill must meet a specific list of qualifications that protects historic districts, preserves environmental quality and the look of communities, and prevents tenants from being displaced. This legislation will enable homeowners to create intergenerational wealth, and providesaccess to more rental and ownership options for working families who would otherwise be priced out of neighborhoods.

• Provides options for homeowners to build intergenerational wealth.  SB 9 provides more options for families to maintain and build intergenerational wealth a currency we know is crucial to combatting inequity and creating social mobility. The families who own these properties could provide affordable rental opportunities for other working families who may be struggling to find a rental home in their price range, or who maybe looking for their own path to home ownership.

• Benefits homeowners NOT institutional investors. Recent amendments require a local agency to impose an owner occupancy requirement as a condition of a homeowner receiving a ministerial lot split. This billalso prohibits the development of small subdivisions and prohibits ministerial lot splits on adjacent parcels by the same individual to prevent investor speculation. In fact, allowing for more neighborhood scale housing in California’s communities actually curbs the market power of institutional investors. SB 9 prevents profiteers from evicting or displacing tenants by excluding properties where a tenant has resided in the past three years.

• Establishes a maximum number of units. Recent amendments clarify that this bill would allow no more than four units on what is currently a single-family parcel.

• Preserves historic neighborhoods. SB 9 excludes historic and landmark districts.

• Respects local control. Homeowners must comply with local zoning requirementswhen developing a duplex (height, floor area ratios, lot coverage etc.) as long as they do not physically preclude a lot split or duplex. This bill also allows locals to require a percolation test for any duplex proposed to be on septic tanks.

• Promotes strategic infill growth. Under this bill, the parcel must be located in a jurisdiction that is part of an urbanized area or urban cluster, as designated by the US Census. This means that it applies only to areas that meet certain population and density thresholds. It excludes the provisions of the bill being used in very high fire hazard severity zones, prime agriculture land, hazardous waste sites, earthquake zones, floodplains that do not have adequate mitigation, and others. At the end of the day, if local governments do not allow people to build homes in an area, then the bill does not apply.

https://focus.senate.ca.gov/sb9