Form-Based Code is not in itself the solution.

Thoughtful design that benefits the all of Arcata — alongside with good Form-Based — will help create the community that we want.

Ben Noble is the Arcata’s consultant charged with developing the Form-Based Code for the Gateway Plan. On June 29th he gave what was a pretty introduction presentation of what Form-Based Codes are via Zoom. That presentation is available with a full transcription (you can read it or watch it) on this website here.  It is highly recommended. 

As has been discussed in other articles on this website (here and at the May 24th Planning commission meeting at 2:35:15 on the video here and numerous other times) a draft of the Form-Based Code was originally contracted to appear alongside the draft Gateway plan back in December, 2021.  At David Loya’s direction this was not done, and so here we are (July 2022 at the time of this writing: Seven months later) without any clue as to what a Form-Based Code for the Gateway plan might look like.

The Ben Noble presentation, for all of its value, does bring up some, shall we say, less-than-pleasant aspects of Form-Based Code.  Further, there are a variety of flaws and missing aspects of his presentation (in my view), one of which is other than Hopefully we can learn from what we see, so that we can avoid the same errors for our Gateway plan here in Arcata.

Form-Based Code will help to enable the vision.

If the vision isn’t beneficial for the community, bad planning will result.

Form-Based Code is a tool, and like any tool is not good or bad — it’s up to how the tool is used.  If the vision for the plan is not clearly defined, or if it’s clearly defined but just isn’t a a good plan, the Form-Based Code, as a tool, will enable that plan to come into existence.  If the plan is not good, the results won’t be pretty.

What do I mean by a plan that is not good?  Well, if it is counter to the community’s values, or if it does not bring to fruition what the verbiage of the plan may have promised.  In short, if the people of the community are not well-served by it — then I’d call that a bad plan.

If, for example, the plan calls for a policy of equitable housing and housing that’s:

• “environmentally sustainable and affordable to people in all income ranges”
  “a broad range of housing densities and types, including rental and owner-occupied options”

And if the Form-Based Code doesn’t follow through on this, then I’d call that a bad plan. 
If the stated policies of the plan says that the plan will:

• “Encourage new home ownership opportunities for lower-income households including through condominium (e.g., deed restricted owner-occupied condominium units and for sale micro units)”
• “Employ multiple strategies to promote the creation of affordable housing, including affordable-by-design studios, student housing, deed-restricted affordable housing, single
  room occupancies, and housing for low-income families.” 

And if the Form-Based Code doesn’t follow through on this, then I’d call that a bad plan. 

Why the Chico Meriam Park development is a terrible example of Form-Based Code

At around the 31 minute, 48 second, point in the video or audio of Ben Noble’s presentation, he discusses the Meriam Park development in Chico. This development is about as opposite of what we envision here for Arcata as can be imagined.

When I first read the December 2021 draft Gateway plan, among my immediate thoughts was:  “This document reads like a promotional marketing brochure.” 

The Meriam Park development is the same. The plan uses phrases like “a cycling- and pedestrian-centric community built around a ‘Green River’ of open space that connects every resident and user to the regional trail network.”  Sounds great, doesn’t it?  And while Meriam Park purports to be designed by the tenets of Andrés Duany and the New Urbanists — it even has a main building named “The Andrés Building” — it is pretty darn far from all the good things that the New Urbanists brought to city planning.

In short, other than having a converted barn as a community center, it is the Wolf of car-centric sprawl hidden in the Sheep’s clothing of marketing buzzwords. Would you consider these apartments to be pedestrian-friendly? You can ignore judgement on the new (sparse) vegetation. It does have painted-stripe minimal bike lanes, so that’s a baby-step in the right direction.  But overall:  How is this different from any other hideous development in California?  And yet it was developed with Form-Based Code.  In other words, if the plan is bad, the Form-Based Code will serve to enact that bad design.

And here’s “The Andrés Building.”  Do these streets look pleasant to walk along?  Would you enjoy walking from those apartments in the background, just 4 or 5 blocks away, to grab a bite to eat?  I wouldn’t.

This is a rendering (i.e. a fake photo) of the MarKet Building.  No cars are parked there yet, since this a computer rendition.  Note the fake people walking — where are they walking to?  Also note:  No bike lane, and no place to put a bike lane.

How Chico’s Meriam Park is nothing like what we want for Arcata

Some background:

Meriam Park is a 272-acre development constructed on previously open land by a single development company. They project 2,300 to 3,200 residences, with both single-family and multi-family units, and the area includes a total of ~68 acres of total open space. Note:  Just because it is open, that doesn’t mean that people will want to use it or walk on it. The area along the river, yes.  Among the fruit trees? Maybe, except those are labeled “Future Block.”  The sprinklered expanses of grass?  When it’s 90-105 degrees outside?  Probably not.

Most buildings are 2-story, with some 3-story.  Major plans were approved by the city in 2007, but development did not start until 2016 because of the recession. The website is https://www.meriampark.com/ — it’s all advertising.  Still fun to look at.

From my perspective, Meriam Park is a perfect example of how a development can have lofty goals, can utilize Form-Based Code, can have a plan that uses all the right buzzwords – and can still completely fail the community.

It is promoted as being cycling- and pedestrian-friendly and of New Urbanist orientation, but, Reader:  Look at these photos. Doesn’t this look like typical suburban unwalkable sprawl to you?  Long sidewalks along featureless car-centric streets – this is the opposite of the walkability orientation of the New Urbanists. People living closeby can walk, if they chose to, to get coffee, have their nails done, buy some juice, engage on a climbing wall, exercise in a Pilates studio.  Pretty much everything else requires getting in a car. 

Fortunately here in Arcata, a car-minimal existence is indeed possible.

I recognize that Ben Noble is presenting this as an example of Form-Based Code, and not as an example of planning that we’d in any way want to emulate. But it does show that Form-Based Code can be used to create bad planning as well as good.

Businesses at Meriam Park now include the following. Any you’d like to walk from your home to visit?  There will be lots of medical and technical-oriented office space in Meriam Park — for workers making the 2 or 3 or 4 mile drive from Chico proper.  The Butte County Courthouse is there, and the VA Clinic, so plenty of cars coming to those buildings. 

All this is noble and fine, but it is not New Urbanism.

What do you think of this list of businesses in Meriam Park?
Sounds kind of like a gentrified version of “everywhere” — and exactly what we do not want for Arcata.

“Alley Kitchen” is a shared commercial kitchen space of 3,200 sq.ft.  That sounds good.  But so far there is no light-manufacturing space — perhaps there’ll be some in the forthcoming med/tech office buildings.

Some facts about Chico and its growing population

The population of Chico is listed 110,882 in 2020, with a metropolitan area population of over 205,000  – hardly a “small” city, by Arcata standards. To put in perspective, Redding is shown as 92,000, Santa Barbara at 88,000. The population in Chico has increased sharply in recent years. In 40 years, its population has tripled – from 27,000 to 110,800.  By comparison, in the same 40 years, Arcata’s population grew ~47%, from 12,850 (around half of Chico’s) to 18,850 (now just 1/6th the size of Chico).

Arcata has been growing at under a 0.5% growth rate, and according to the 2019 Housing Element was projected to grow for the next 8 years at between a 0.25% and 0.5% growth rate.  The 2019 Housing Element was prior to the announcement of Cal Poly Humboldt, of course.  A 0.5% growth rate results in 5% in 10 years; 1% yields about 10.5%; and 1.5% amounts to 16% in 10 years.

Chico State had 14,200 Full-Time Equivalent students in 2021, the then-Humboldt State had approximately 5,600. And Cal Poly Humboldt has a goal of over 12,000 students by 2030 — just eight years away.