This article is from November 10, 2023. It is ” bumped up” with a new date to have it be more visible.
See also:
- Extend the Gateway Area Plan policies to ALL of Arcata? Absolutely not!
- Exposing David Loya’s notions: Retain the Gateway Area Plan for Gateway only, or make its policies be City-wide? Reading time: 5 to 20 minutes. Article includes videos, transcriptions, specific proposed policies and a “What’s next?” section of what is still missing (after two years of talking) from the Gateway Area Plan.
Is this what we want?
Since its arrival, just under two years ago, the Arcata Gateway Area Plan has been the subject of considerable inspection and discussion, by the Planning Commission, our City Council, and by the public. Among the contentious issues is whether the people in Arcata are interested in seeing four, five, six, and seven-story buildings built right up to the sidewalk, potentially filling entire blocks and without much regard to the existing neighboring single-family homes.
“When new residential architecture enters into an established neighborhood, the results are often unpredictable.”
The Gateway Area Plan could be seen as an experiment, as an attempt to create a denser, more urban, more walkable and bikeable environment, where more people could live and work. All development would be “mixed-use” — meaning there could be offices, light manufacturing, shops, restaurants, and the like in the same buildings as where there’d be apartments. Much of the Gateway area is already a blend of commercial and residential uses, so in theory this mixed-use zoning would blend right in. Automobile use would be discouraged, and parking would be minimized, with as few as zero parking spaces required for the apartments, and a maximum number of parking spaces, in the central Gateway districts, of one parking space for every four apartments.
These policies might work in the Gateway area.
Could it work in the rest of Arcata?
“It makes me wonder if developers will eventually gobble up the remaining houses for nothing but apartments.”
Arcata’s Community Development Director, David Loya, wants to know. He has asked the City Council if the policies that are being developed for the Gateway Area — still in process at this time — should be considered for the entire City of Arcata. That’s right: The full city would have that same (or very similar) zoning. Six- and seven-story buildings would be permissible in completely residential neighborhoods. Existing houses could be converted to commercial uses. No parking would be required.
This discussion is on the City Council’s agenda, scheduled for the November 15, 2023, meeting. Also on the agenda for that night is a discussion and possible vote for a resolution from the City of Arcata to promote a cease-fire in Gaza and support for humanitarian aid in the one-month old Israel-Hamas war — so there may not be a lot of time left over to discuss this city-changing matter.
What happens to residential neighborhoods when tall buildings are allowed?
This is what happens when 5-story and 6-story buildings are allowed to be built in what was once an established residential neighborhood.
It can start with one apartment building… and where does it end? What happens to the neighborhood when tall apartment buildings are built in a residential area?
Here’s the view from the back porch of the Portland Craftsman-style house:
Aerial view. Three big old houses, with an apartment building right behind it.
From the front:
Side view:
Comments from old house loving folks after seeing these pictures:
I’d be worried about the condo building behind. It looks like it wants to eat all the small houses.
Picture 16 [the photo from the back porch, above] tells a lot about mistaken zoning policies.
When new residential architecture enters into an established neighborhood, the results are often unpredictable. The towering next door apartments upset the smaller scale of the older houses. I should know, I had the same situation of towering apartment blocks surrounding me on 3 sides in Texas and I wrote about the “canyons” between the large apartment blocks ruining the look of the neighborhood. It makes me wonder if developers will eventually gobble up the remaining houses for nothing but apartments.
The building behind is unfortunate, but the house itself is absolutely a gem. Maybe some pretty landscaping out back to detract from the view above the fence would help.