The Gateway Area Plan:  Getting Started

If you are new to Arcata1.com you may first want to read “How to Use this website” for some good hints and suggestions.

Scroll down to see some suggested articles and videos.

These are just a few of the hundreds of articles on the Gateway Area Plan that are here on Arcata1.com. Another good way to get acquainted is to go to the “Newest Articles” page and just pick out articles that look interesting to you. Or, use the “Search Arcata1.com” searchbox that’s at the upper right of every page, and enter a phrase or topic that you want to read more about.

The Gateway Area Plan is critical to how Arcata will look, feel, and operate in our future — and permanently. Will there there be six-story ad seven-story buildings in Arcata? Will there be housing for the people who most need it, including our general working population?

Because of the way that the Gateway Area Plan has been presented by Arcata’s Community Development Department, the plan, with all of its caveats and convolutions, explanations and excuses, is not easy for citizens of Arcata to understand.

I first started Arcata1.com just to supply information to the public that the Community Development Department seemed unwilling to supply. This included maps and aerial views where you can see more of what the Gateway area includes. Maps, 3D images, and aerial views can be seen here.

If you have suggestions on how I can help to make understanding this plan easier for you, please do write with your ideas. Thank you.
— Fred Weis    fred @ arcata1.com

A good place to start is with this 4-minute video, as a summary of what the Gateway Area Plan is, what area of Arcata is included, and some of the issues.  And, as you will see, there are varying opinions on just about everything.

Here’s an assortment of aerial views of the Gateway area.  The borders have been drawn on Google Earth views, looking to the North, East, and West, from different viewpoints and altitudes.

This shows just where the Gateway area is and its overall size, in relationship with downtown Arcata and the entire Arcata region.

The letter from by Andrea Tuttle, PhD (environmental planning). Originally written February 13th, 2022, and sent to the Arcata Planning Commissioners, but not made available to the public until two months later. Many readers encouraged Dr. Tuttle to send the letter to the Eureka Times-Standard, which she did, and the letter appeared in the May 5, 2022, newspaper.

Excerpts:
“3500 units is a mathematically-derived number. It is NOT a “factual” number that reflects the carrying capacity of the city to support such growth. It has no relationship to the ability – or desire – of the town and infrastructure to accommodate that many people.”
“Building height and scale: With apologies to the drafters, the very idea of 8-story housing blocks in Arcata is an insult. It is disingenuous to propose a plan that is dependent on unrealistic building types.”

We are all aware that Cal Poly Humboldt is seeking to expand the size of the student body. How many more students (and faculty and support staff) will be here, and how many dormitories are they planning to build? This article has the numbers.

Originally written:  May 17, 2022

In Arcata, 63% of the housing units are rentals, and 37% are owner-occupied.  Are you concerned?  What types of new development would be required so that we would have more opportunity to own our homes? This article looks at the possibilities.  Hint: It’s not going to be easy.

Originally written:  May 19, 2022

Here’s the link for the actual “DRAFT Gateway Area Plan 2022” that was released to the public on December 1, 2021. Also included is the 2nd draft from October, 2021.

This is the official video introducing the December 2021 “draft Gateway Area Plan.” The video is 1 hour 4 minutes.  It goes through the draft Plan chapter by chapter.

The entire video has been transcribed, and the article is set up so that you can read the transcription and watch the video at the same time. Mixed in with the transcription is my commentary and opinion.

This video is very informative about the design and nature of the Gateway Area Plan. The video also has the effect of exposing the many, many misleading and false aspects of the Gateway Area Plan. The degree to which the plan is poorly conceived and impossible to achieve is illustrated throughout the video. 

The same video, but this time it is better set up to LISTEN to the video and at the same time read the transcription and commentary.

You can change the speed of the video so that it more closely corresponds with your reading speed, pause or repeat the presentation, spend more time looking at the diagrams, etc.

This Arcata1.com website includes humor and some light-hearted poking fun at the Gateway plan and the process. After all, what’s Life without a little levity?

“A Modest Proposal” was written in May, 2022. The title refers to the Johnathan Swift satire written in 1729. 

For more humor, music, and interesting articles, see the “Humor & Music & Fun” menu heading, on the right side of the menu near the top of the website pages. Humorous articles can be found here including writings from the April Fools issue of Arcata1.com.