*** A MUST-SEE VIDEO *** 2-minute 47-seconds by Eric Black, taken from the January 10, 2023, Planning Commission meeting. Eric Loudenslager of the Arcata Fire District Board of Directors spoke on how the AFD is unable to provide adequate fire protection and emergency services to the residents of a building over four stories -- and even a four-story building is a dicey situation. The AFD is saying that no more taller buildings should be built until this situation is conclusively resolved. *** A MUST-SEE VIDEO ***

An article from the Northcoast Journal from September 2022 concerning how the Arcata Fire District is not set up to provide fire and emergency protection in the taller buildings. ----- The proposed dorms are is not larger than the existing BSS building, but this does not mean that the dorms are safe. The AFD maintains that in the current staffing situation, neither the BSS building nor the dorms would be safe.  -------To say that it "will built to the highest degree of fire safety standards, including full concrete and steel structures with a full sprinkler system" doesn't help either. Fatalities come from smoke inhalation. In a regular living environment there is plenty that will smolder and burn: Carpet, bedding, clothing, books, furniture, etc. The firefighters aren't concerned with trying to save the building. They are concerned with trying to save lives.

A view of the whole story. In Arcata, California, the Gateway plan calls for 8,000 people, possibly within 8-10 years. This will alter our town forever. Is it feasible?

Sea Level Rise expert Aldaron Laird, Danco president Chris Dart, and the Arcata Fire District Board of Directors, Chief, and Staff all agree -- for three different reasons. ---------- “Gulliver’s Travels” map from 1726 depicts Arcata and the Brobdingnagian Gateway Plan. ---- The Gateway Plan was anticipated in 1943 as: “The can-do spirit of the times that led people to devise a number of illogical schemes that would purportedly solve social and economic ills.”

A view of the whole story. The Gateway plan for 8,000 people, possibly within 8-10 years. Is it feasible?

Selected articles on the Arcata Fire District and fire safety -- from the Mad River Union.

On May 14, 2024, it took the Arcata Planning Commission only 15 minutes of their time for a discussion and vote to recommend that...

The Cal Poly's EIR says "Therefore, no additional fire protection facilities are anticipated to be necessary for AFD to adequately serve the project site, and no significant decrease in response time is expected. Impacts would be less than significant." -------- This is directly refuted by the Arcata Fire District. It is not safe for people to live in 7-story buildings that do not have adequate fire and emergency protection.

Three local experts are telling us that tall buildings can not feasibly be built in the Gateway Plan: the Arcata Fire District, Danco president Chris Dart, and renown sea level rise specialist Aldaron Laird. Has the time finally arrived that we might want to listen to people with knowledge and experience?

I concur with Planning Commissioner Kimberley White who mentioned that the Gateway Plan feels more like it’s staff driven than led by community input. So my main request to you tonight is to bring us - the community - along with you! -- What’s missing in the Gateway Plan is the evidence that the Plan is fiscally responsible or feasible (i.e. wastewater, roads, traffic, schools, police, etc, etc) -- Sea Level Rise, Arcata Fire District - Susan Ornela's letter - I am concerned that our letters are not getting into the agenda packets.

If you tried to watch the live video stream of that May 29th meeting or wanted to review it by video, you may have felt some frustration or confusion. On the live video stream or in the video, we can hear the City Council -- but we couldn't see the Council. Some times for long stretches in the video -- up to 19 minutes in one case -- there is no image of any human being. With a SUGGESTION to correct this.

THIS NEWSLATTER WAS SENT OUT ON MONDAY, MAY 27, 2024. The two scheduled public hearings with the Arcata City Council take place on Wednesdays -- May 29 and June 5, 2024. If needed, the public hearing meetings will be continued. The City Council will consider, take public comment on, discuss, and perhaps vote to adopt the Gateway Area Plan, the Gateway Zoning Code, the Arcata General Plan 2045, and the Final Environmental Report.

This “May 14, 2024” version contains changes that the Planning Commission has never seen or discussed. It contains changes where the Commission said not to change. It contains inadequate changes for things that the Commission wanted changed. It's still missing many things that the Commission brought up and did not fully resolve. It has Inclusionary Zoning wrong. And still no planning for the L Street woonerf and linear park.

There has been no economic Analysis of Gateway construction -- even though the Commissioners requested this. In June, 2023, Planning Commission Chair Scott Davies asked for an economic analysis about cost feasibility -- what it would take to build in the Gateway area. It has never happened.

Here's the 88-page document of comments on the draft Environmental Impact Report that was compiled and sent in by Fred Weis. With summary notes and a linked table of contents for easy viewing and to find what is of interest to you.

For their September 26, 2023, joint study session, City Councilmembers and Planning Commissioners were invited to supply their pre-meeting policy ideas. Their ideas were supplied a few hours prior to the meeting, as an addendum to the standard agenda packet. Each person's comments are included in this article.

If we want to build equity into the Gateway Plan, the percentage for inclusionary zoning (for affordable units) is much too low at 3% to 5%. I can't get behind the GAP Plan at all if it's just going to be mostly market rate housing. That's a plan for gentrification, not equity. I do understand about Density Bonus Law, and the pressure from the State. However, we don't need a gentrification plan (i.e. the GAP) to start building affordable housing that fits in with the character of our town.

As a preview to the August 22, 2023, joint City Council / Planning Commission study session, the City Council says a big NO*NO*NO to the L Street Couplet, and a Yes to the Woonerf and full-width Linear Park. PLUS - thoughts on Inclusionary Zoning and BUILDING HEIGHTS in the Gateway area.

Everyone in California who has held office or been appointed to a Commission or Committee is familiar with the Brown Act, or at least with the basic aspects of it. Designed to promote transparency and accountability in all government matters, the procedures outlined in the Act and in subsequent amendments are requirements of governance. ***** Following Brown Act procedures is not optional. It is the law. *****

A special page for City Council and Planning Commission members -- and a great place for all readers to learn more about the Gateway Plan. This page will be updated regularly. Come back for more!

People want housing, but once the problems are explained to them  they normally say, “Oh, I didn’t know that,” and start to question the plan.  So I take my hat off to and am extremely grateful to those who attend your meetings regularly and speak out on our behalf.  ----------- I watch the city council meetings and it actually seems a waste of time for anybody to comment.  It looks like your minds have been made up since the beginning. --------- Fred Weis’s opinion piece in the Mad River Union states the obvious reasons very efficiently why you need to reign in the scope of the Gateway Plan. He has, along with many, many  members of the community stated these concerns since the plan was “unveiled.”

"I believe you need to seriously work with Cal Poly to address the capacity of Arcata Fire to address buildings higher than 4 stories.... The Planning Commission and staff are spending a great deal of time discussing and selecting amenities before it is even clear that building greater than 4 stories is either desired by the Arcata Community (no valid representative survey has been conducted) or feasible economically for contractors to build, particularly if we are trying to construct affordable housing, due to the enormous cost of the required foundations and other building materials."

"Policy LU‐1c calls for reducing or eliminating parking mandates in walkable areas near transit. We appreciate this direction, but we call on you to go further and eliminate all parking mandates citywide." --- "If AFD can't serve buildings which are 4 or more stories tall, that is an urgent problem. In other words, AFD's presentation seems to imply that it could not currently respond effectively to a fire at the Jacoby Storehouse, or Sorrel Place, or the university's BSS building. If that's true, we've got to solve this problem now, not in the future. Which means it won't be a limitation by the time any new development could take place in the Gateway Area. In fact, Gateway development would help pay for the increased service needed to protect Arcata's existing mid‐rise buildings."

The Building & Massing Presentation that arrived on August 12 provides so much needed information, along with the first glimpses of the long-awaited 3D modeling. 3: Proposed Setbacks and Massing Impacts