This article was originally published on September 24, 2023, as “2nd draft from Ben Noble, September 22, 2023.” It received 161 views. This article has now been updated to included the 3rd draft of the Gateway Code — the form-based code for the Gateway Area Plan
There is still no mention or code for the L Street Linear Park.
This third draft is dated January 31, 2024, and was released to the public on February 5, 2024. It appears to have no changes to the body of the code from the September 2023 version 2 — none whatsoever. The big addition is the “Gateway Area Potential New Development” images, found on the cover and on pages 2 and 3 of the document. For expanded views and closeups of these images, see 3D images of Gateway Area build-out, from the Gateway Code.
For two years we have been waiting for 3D images of what a build-out might look like for the design of the Gateway Area Plan. Finally, in February 2024, they are here.
In this 3rd draft, and there are no improved graphics — as the $118,000 allocation approved by the City Council in December 2022 specified.
The same typos are there in version 3. And the same odd “Greenways” map is there — it’s on Page 49. This is a conceptual map that shows non-vehicular walking greenways in a dozen locations in the Gateway area. These are not “woonerfs” which can have low-speed car traffic (see Linear Park and Woonerf examples for us to look at), but rather are for walking and biking only. What’s odd is that Ben Noble, the author of this Gateway Code, has placed these Greenways in the middle of privately-owned parcels, through an existing parking lot, on three sides of one city block area and on all four sides of another city block area, and in front of four houses on 7th Street — meaning that the people living in the houses in the middle of the block would have no vehicle access to their homes.
No mention of the L Street Corridor Linear Park
The City Council approved the formation of the L Street Corridor full-width Linear Park on August 22, 2023. (See here for more on the Linear Park.) Why wasn’t the linear park included in the 2nd draft of the Gateway Code, from September 22, 2023, a month later? And, more importantly, why isn’t the L Street Linear Park included in this new version — after FIVE months?
The 3D graphics “Potential New Development” are certainly new — at least we’ve never seen these images before. (If these images date from prior to the City Council decision, then for us to have been deprived of them would be scandalous.)
What’s more, there is no accommodation for building height, building massing, building setbacks from the borders of the linear park, or changes to upper-floor step-backs.
This Gateway Code calls for an upper-floor step-back of eight feet starting at the 5th story of a 5, 6, or 7-story building. For a building of 4 stories or less, no upper-floor step-back is required.
But the step-back is only specified as being on 75% or more of street-facing frontage.
The Gateway Code calls for a minimum setback from the property line of 10 feet “from property lines abutting a street” for “Active Building Frontage Types” in the Hub and Corridor Districts, and 10 feet for all building frontage types in the Barrel and Neighborhood Districts.
From all other property lines, there is no setback requirement — Zero feet.
From a literal reading of what this Gateway Code has provided, since the Linear Park is not a street, a building could be placed right up to the property line. And since it is not street frontage, there is no upper-floor step-back requirement.
From a literal reading of the Gateway Code, a building could be constructed with a sheer vertical wall — straight up, with no upper-floor step-back, right up to the property line of the Linear Park. In the Barrel District, this could be a 7-story vertical wall — 80 feet straight up. In the Hub District, 6 stories — 70 feet. In the Corridor District, 5 stories, or 60 feet.
It is my hope and expectation that these flaws (and there are others) in the wording of the Gateway Code will be altered, so that the code does not allow buildings of this scale to be built right along the edges of the L Street Corridor full-width Linear Park — and thus blocking all but a small fraction of a view of the sky and the sun.
Below is the article from September 24, 2023, with the 3rd Draft viewer added.
When the first draft of the form-based code came out, I was very unimpressed.
As I wrote at the time:
“But this is just not a very good or complete Form-Based Code. It does not fulfill our needs.”
In my view, it is inadequate, and will lead to sub-standard results.
Without fanfare or announcement, the second draft of the Gateway Code (form-based code) was released on Friday afternoon, September 22, 2023.
This second draft is said to provide “Planning Commission recommendations incorporated through August 8 2023 meeting date” — but I don’t think that it fully does. I don’t think that all of what the Planning Commission has discussed regarding the form-based code is in this new draft, as purported.
It would be helpful if the author had included a table of the changes and updates, so we could see what is changed and what is new. But he didn’t.
I have gone through the June 5 and September 22 versions and made note of the differences. That can be seen in the article Gateway Code form-based code – September 22, 2023 version — What’s new.
When the first draft of the form-based code came out, I was very unimpressed. As I wrote at the time, “But this is just not a very good or complete Form-Based Code. It does not fulfil our needs.“
This code is perhaps half of what we need. Or less. In my view, it is inadequate, and will lead to sub-standard results.
Over the past 20 months, the Community Development Director has made many promises about what will be included in the Gateway Form-Based Code. There is much that is missing. This will be discussed in a future article.
The text of the June 6, 2023, article The draft Form-Based Code: First Impressions is below.
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Third draft – January 31, 2023
This is the 3rd draft of the Gateway Code, the form-based Code for the Gateway Area Plan. It is dated January 31, 2024 and was released to the public on February 5, 2024.
Cell phone:
Second draft – September 22, 2023
This is the 2nd public draft of the Form-Based Code for the Gateway Area Plan, as delivered from the City’s consultant Ben Noble. It is 61 pages, dated September 22, 2023, with an internal version 5.1 — Filename and date are: Gateway-FBC-v51-Final 9/22/23, 2:44:34 PM. Why it should have a filename as “Final” is unclear.
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First draft – June 5, 2023
The first version that we saw came out on June 5, 2023. The first draft was draft is 58 pages, internal version 4, file date is 6/5/23, 2:59:18 PM.
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June 6, 2023
The Gateway Plan Form-Based Code has arrived
arcata1.com/council or arcata1.com/pc
- We acknowledge that this is a draft. Still, there is much in this draft Form-Based Code which appears to have ignored what Planning Commissioners have discussed and requested.
- As is typical for documents from our Community Development Department, there is no date or version number written on this draft. Nor is the word “draft” anywhere on the document.
- Inclusionary Zoning is shown as: For projects with 30 dwelling units or more, a minimum of 3 percent of the units affordable to low income households or 5 percent of the units affordable to moderate income households.
I see this is an unacceptably low amount of low- or moderate-income housing. - It calls for approval of four-story apartment buildings by a single person — the Zoning Administrator. That is, a building the size of Sorrel Place would be approved by one person. For buildings of 2 or 3 stories, no noticing of the public and no hearing where the public might speak are required.
- The Plaza-sized public space shown in the Gateway Plan as a square block in the Barrel District has been reduced to a half-acre — that is, roughly one-third of the size shown in the draft Gateway Plan.
- There is no mention or any requirement for smaller buildings along the proposed L Street Corridor Linear Park. These commercial-below / apartments-above buildings could be two stories, or three-stories with a deep stepback on the 3rd story with an open patio, perhaps. But this is not brought up even as a concept.
- This draft Form-Based Code allows the construction of two-story buildings throughout the Gateway area. To me this defeats the entire purpose of providing dense, walkable, ecological housing for the people of Arcata. If what is built in the Gateway area are two-story apartments, then we have failed.
- This Form-Based Code allows the construction of a five-story building that could be built as a vertical wall right on the property line — even if the adjacent property has a one-story single-family home.
- I’ve looked at or read a half-dozen or so Form-Based Codes, and I am not an expert by any means. To me, this draft Form-Based Code has about 40% of the information and code that is needed for a good Form-Based Code for the Gateway Plan.