Here's a 6-story building that could work in Arcata, with some modifications. Originally proposed for Santa Cruz, it incorporates many of the design elements and features people here have said are important.

Richard & Mimi Fariña -- House Un-American Blues Activity Dream. A 1965 "protest" song about the plight of a man who happens to be travelling in Cuba when Castro takes over...and is thrown in jail as a result. --------------- It was the red, white and blue making war on the poor. Blind Mother Justice on a pile of manure.

"So the way that we add equity into our community... is by increasing the demand." David Loya speaks at the Feb 12 2022 Planning Commission on housing supply and demand. This article was originally written May 30, 2022 -- over a year ago. It exposes the vast misunderstandings and distorted viewpoints of David Loya, Arcata's Community Development Director, with regard to what determines the costs of housing. Please read and see if you can make any sense out of what Mr. Loya is proposing for Arcata.

Here are some aerial views of the Gateway area. The aerial views give a more clear vision of the size of the Gateway area, relative the area of Downtown and Northtown Arcata.

Is this really the Community Engagement Report? The one we've been waiting FIVE -- no make it SIX -- months for? It's supposed to be a summary of what Arcatans want. Oh well. There's no Summary, no compilation of what people have said. Do we want 8-Story apartment buildings in the Gateway area? It still might be a while before we find out -- from official sources -- what the community wants. Unless, that is, we already know.

Original article: June 16, 2022 --We've been promised the 3D modeling for at least four or five months now. *** ONE AND A HALF YEARS NOW **** Why is 3D Modeling so important? Look at the pictures here and decide for yourself.

Which words are repeated hundreds of times in the draft Gateway plan? And which words are conspicuous by their absence? Hint: You won't find the word "sun" or "sunshine" there. Or "solar shade" or "solar shadow" either. There are over 28,000 words in this document. "House" and "Home" do not appear even once.

We are completely off from the Planwest schedule for the Gateway plan. Let's re-evaluate where we are, and adjust accordingly. With specific requests for what the City Council can do.

Reading time: 5 minutes -- Cal Poly Humboldt looks to expand by 6,000 students, and that may be 3,000 students more than they are building housing for. Adding students also means adding 700-1,000 faculty, staff, and support employees, plus their partners and children. Ancillary jobs in the community would add another 2,000 people. Where are they all going to live?

Why this website exists? Because this is what Ministerial Review looks like.  The data center building on 11th Street goes against everything that's important to us. No jobs, no vitality. This is the blight in Arcata

How is it that McKinleyville has all of the info for their Town Center plan in one location?  And in Arcata, the same info is scattered all over the place -- or is in obscure locations that so buried that it might as well not exist. Read more here.

READ THIS LETTER ! Arcata resident Andrea Tuttle Ph.D. environmental planning, former Director Calif Dept. Forestry (CDF), past Calif Coastal Commission & North Coast Water Quality Control Board, principal consultant State Senate.

Original article May 2022, updated October 2023. Arcata's Gateway plan could add 3,500 apartments to our town, as Cal Poly Humboldt expands. Unless more than 60% of all new apartments are owner-occupied condos, Arcatans will have a small chance of owning their homes.

Transcript with added commentary. Includes misguided views on the cost of housing. Public comment from Carlisle Douglas.

Video of portion of the April 12, 2022 Planning Commission meeting. Vice-Chair Judith Mayer says Form-Based Code and discretionary review are not mutually exclusive, and will work hand-in-hand well together. Comments from David Loya on Form-Based Code and what went wrong with the Village project.

Original article: June 16, 2022 --We've been promised the 3D modeling for at least four or five months now. *** ONE AND A HALF YEARS NOW **** Why is 3D Modeling so important? Look at the pictures here and decide for yourself.

Which does Arcata want? Ministerial review, to smooth the way for developers, or Planning Commission and public input, which allows for greater oversight? We can have both.

The Community Development Staff packet for the April 12, 2022 Planning Commission meeting had correspondence received by the City about the Gateway plan. Some letters were over 4 months old, not previously available to the public or the Commission.

Dr. Steve Railsback points out 5 major questions with the draft Gateway plan. A thoughtful and concise summation. From December, 2021.

A plan for Downtown Vancouver, British Columbia involves new building heights of 40-stories, seriously changing the existing neighborhood.

A letter from Nick Lucchesi of Pacific Builders, dated January 15, 2022. ** A must-read letter. **

Arcata's Village project was stalled in public comment for almost 2 years. A year after it was eventually approved, the developers withdrew. What went wrong?

A density guide that shows the variety of types of housing that is suitable for different density levels.  Which types would be suitable for Arcata?

What's the fiscal aspect of development in the Gateway area? What will be the changes to Arcata's over-stretched Police & Fire Departments? Who will pay for it? Will the City be running at a deficit in 10 years?

A single panel from "City of the Future" as imagined by Robert Crumb in 1967. "Everyone will be tuned in to everything that's happening all the time!" Note the captions on the buttons on the electronic devices: Economy, Politics, Science, Literature, Art, Facts, Fancies, Opinions, Ideas, Notions  -- just like a modern website news page.

The classic Robert Crumb 12-panel masterpiece of a history of America, as seen from a single street-corner. Video 1 minute 12 seconds.

Partial build-out of the Gateway Area Plan. The Plan was finally adopted in 2031, following nine years of discussion and community input. A minor typographical error in the final version resulted in a 70-story maximum height, rather than the previously agreed-upon 7 stories. As anticipated, many developers opted to build smaller buildings than the allowable maximum.

Aerial image from 7th Street, looking north. The point-of-view is from a spot above the current Amerigas site. All the blocks to the left (west) of K Street are part of the Gateway area. According to the December 2021 Draft Plan, six-story apartments could be built across the street from these homes.

Sea Level Rise could affect plans for the Gateway area. See maps here of what Sea Level Rise looks like.

Bob Gearheart helped create the Arcata Marsh in 1985. Gearheart was honored with an environmental award on May 7, 2019 for his longtime work on natural treatment systems such as the Arcata Marsh. This artic;le originally appeared the Times-Standard.

The Open House for the Draft Gateway Area Plan was January 21 & 22 -- FOUR MONTHS ago. Here are the results from hundreds of comments and feedback from Arcata's citizens.

At their March 14, 2023, meeting, Arcata's Planning Commission put into place a new "Framework" designed to help make the Commission meetings more efficient. The Framework includes the provision that:   "1) Commissioners will provide a ranked priority list of the policies they wish to discuss [on a set number of days] in advance of the meeting"; and then  "2) Staff will collate the responses to facilitate discussion and send the compiled list out to Commissioners by 5 p.m." [that day]. (Quoted from the "Framework" guidelines.) THE BROWN ACT SPECIFICALLY AND CLEARLY PROHIBITS THIS.

I regard the removal of letters from the public from the Agenda Packets, as has been done after May, 2022, and placing them away from the agenda packet at a later time, ranging from 2 weeks to 3-1/2 months later, to be against the wishes and interests of the public, and a continuous, gross violation of State law — and one which, since it can be remedied with only a small amount of effort on the part of Staff, represents a clear, obvious, and evident disregard for applicable law and for recognition of public engagement. ---- As I have said to the City Manager, to the City Council, and to the Planning Commission: This process of developing a Gateway Plan is difficult enough. Why augment a legal risk when to do things in accordance with State law involves such a relatively minor amount of effort? ******** On a risk / reward basis, current City actions make no sense. *****

We don’t have to go far to uncover transparency issues. We can look right here at Arcata’s Gateway Plan. Crucial letters from the public about this plan have been hidden. They aren’t seen until after the meeting the letter was written for has passed. Do Arcatans want to see L Street — right next to the Creamery, where we come for festivals and fun — turned into a truck route? I don’t think so. Nor does Arcata’s Transportation Safety Committee. But that committee’s voice likewise has been ignored. --- California’s Brown Act: “The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know.”

Why did new Planning Commissioner use the word "segregated" when describing existing Arcata neighborhoods? Was his purpose to inflame the discussion? To add confusion to the conversation? -- Unless what Matt Simmons means is racial segregation, there is no valid use of this word -- other than to create controversy.

If the Gateway Plan is not going to provide truly affordable housing for the people who need it, then what’s the point? --- If working people can’t buy a home and they can’t afford the rent, then we need to think this through more.

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?

Since the aim of the Gateway plan is to provide housing for lots of people, then we’d want to see as many dwelling units per acre as possible, right?  To achieve more dwelling units per acre, we can do two things:  Build taller apartments or have more units on a floor (or both). And how do the number-crunchers make more units on a a floor?  They make smaller units.

To regard a three-bedroom apartment in the same way — as one “housing unit” — and equal to a studio apartment is just engineering-thinking. Instead, count the bedrooms. Count the number of people — adults and children — who might be living there. Homes are for people. Let’s not forget that.

If the City Council chooses to go forward without the formation of this Advisory Committee, the completion of a good Gateway plan is, in my view, doomed to fail. Sorry to say that, but it’s sure how it seems to me.

The "couplet" created by making K Street and L Street be one-way, one-lane streets seems unlikely to happen. And if it were to take place, the joyful humanity of the current L Street Pathway would be destroyed. Why does it seem that the City is not being forthcoming on this? Why aren't we presented with alternatives?

This article is a re-print of the article of the same name in the July 25/August 1, 2022, issue of The Nation. It is...

Here's a 6-story building that could work in Arcata, with some modifications. Originally proposed for Santa Cruz, it incorporates many of the design elements and features people here have said are important.

The "plan" for human-access parks in the Arcata Gateway area is woefully inadequate. To make the Gateway area livable for thousands of people, we need real parks.

Sure, there's open space.  But where are the parks? Gateway needs parks! How is Arcata going to supply adequate parks for 2,000 people? Parks = Community. Places to meet, talk, hang out. Children's playgrounds too. If we don't insist on this, it's not going to happen.

To the Planning Commissioners and the City Council members: Let's move forward. While it's all good to be looking at the different pieces of the draft Gateway plan as you've been doing, there are larger unanswered questions present. It is my view that if you can get matters settled, then there'll be more efficient motion toward accomplishing what we all want:  A good plan for the Gateway area.

Why this website exists? Because this is what Ministerial Review looks like.  The data center building on 11th Street goes against everything that's important to us. No jobs, no vitality. This is the blight in Arcata

In June, 2010, the City of Arcata published a 160-page document titled "Arcata Rail With Trail Feasibility Study and Operations Plan." This detailed study is significant now for the Gateway Area Plan because of its depiction of how L Street would be converted into a Linear Park. With images and street designs. **** THIS IS A "MUST SEE" DOCUMENT by the Planning Commissioners, the City Council, and all citizens who want to see how exciting and desirable an L Street Corridor Linear Park could be.

The Arcata Fire District wrote a letter that they wanted the Planning Commissioners to see. The Community Development Director did not send them the letter. Instead, he wrote a watered-down summary -- leaving out what is important, and adding in a summary that is not what the AFD said.

3 MINUTES TO READ -- On April 9, 2024, the Arcata Fire District Board sent a letter to the City Council, stating that the AFD cannot ensure the safety of people living in a building that is over 40 feet tall — a three-story building. On April 18, 2024, the Arcata Fire District Board wrote to Community Development Director with a simple request:  To provide that April 9, 2024, letter to the Planning Commissioners. Director Loya did not honor this simple request.

The Arcata Fire District sent a letter to the City, stating that the AFD cannot ensure the safety of people living in a building that is over 40 feet tall, which would be a three-story building. A subsequent letter requested that the earlier letter be provided to the Planning Commissioners. The Community Development Director David Loya did not do this. Instead he wrote a watered-down version as a summary, and created a summation that was not in the letter.

An open message to Arcata's City Council, and to every living, breathing person in Arcata who cares about our future. ---- Does a decision need to be made as to the fate of L Street, whether it's going to be a park or a thoroughfare street, prior to Ben Noble formulating much of the Form-Based Code? ---- This is the Council's chance to take an appropriate leadership position. To act otherwise is hypocrisy.

“L Street will be where the city and the trail converge, creating a vibrant community gathering space.”  ---- “Implementing the Arcata Rails With Trails] will help the region achieve a world-class recreation and transportation system. A multi-use trail facility will result in expanded recreation and mobility options for Arcata, Eureka, and Humboldt County residents and visitors, especially those who seek to integrate a healthy lifestyle into their daily activities.”

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.