Four-story buildings, commercial uses, convenience stores, and more are proposed for neighborhoods all over Arcata

Bayview ♦ Northtown ♦ Upper I & J Streets ♦ Sunset ♦ Eye Street ♦ Alliance & Spear ♦ and more

Do you live in these neighborhoods? Know someone who does?
Do you care about the future of Arcata?

Do you want your neighborhood rezoned as Residential High Density?

Come to the City Council meeting this Wednesday, April 5th, and tell our City Councilmembers what you want for Arcata.
The citizens of Arcata have not been informed about possible zoning changes. If you care about your neighborhood, please come and speak.

This is happening right now

The City of Arcata is in process of updating the General Plan — the document that sets the tone for development in Arcata for the next 25 years. The General Plan that’s in use was adopted in October, 2000, twenty-three years ago. That plan represented the work and input of hundreds of people over a four-year period.

The process of updating this General Plan is not like the way it has ever been done. Our history and legacy involves the collective input from many, many Arcata citizens — and that is not happening now.

Arcata’s Community Development Director, David Loya, has asked the City Council to authorize him to conduct the completion of a staff-driven draft of the new General Plan by the end of June — with very little input from the community. Just three months to “finalize the review” of what took 4 years of continuous, concentrated effort last time.

And “finalize the review” of the entire Gateway Plan and complete the initial Form-Based Code that determines the look and feel of all Gateway area development — all at the same time. Over the Summer months, they will “address community comment on the draft.”

How about listening to public comment right now?

In the words of Planning Commissioner Peter Lehman:

“It seems slightly nuts to me to not have enough time to get through everything.”
“We are in the danger zone, we have too much work between now and July. We just do.”

What you can do

Please come to the City Council meeting this Wednesday, April 5th. The meeting starts at 6 p.m. It is good to get there on time, or earlier. You can also attend by Zoom or by phone.
On Zoom:  https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85303267372
By phone: *67 1-669-900-6833   Enter Meeting ID: 853 0326 7372
    and then when you wish to comment, press *9 on your phone.

The specific agenda item is:  “Provide Direction to the Planning Commission Regarding the Timeline for the Strategic Infill Redevelopment Program.” The agenda and the staff report are below, click here.

[You can note that this agenda title does not include the words “General Plan update” or “Gateway” or “Rezoning” or any other clue as to the importance of this discussion.]

The Community Director is requesting that the City Council tell him to pursue an accelerated schedule that will provide basic, simplified drafts — and only drafts — of the General Plan, and the Gateway Plan, and the Form-Based Code to include with the City’s Environmental Impact Report.

Please tell the City Council:  I do not support this accelerated schedule.

How to contact your Mayor and City Council members

What else can I do ?

• Send this message to as many people as you can who also care about Arcata’s future — and ask them to pass this on to others — quickly. People need to know about what’s going on.
• Visit the Arcata Gateway District Community Facebook page. (You do not have to be a member of Facebook to use that link.)
• Visit Arcata’s official website for the Strategic Infill Redevelopment Program.
• See and read articles on Arcata1.com
  Arcata1.com was started out of concern that information needed for good decision-making for the future of Arcata was not being accurately presented — and has in many cases actually been not factual.
• Contact Fred Weis if you want to chat or talk.  Future @ Arcata1.com  707 822 4400

Let’s create an Arcata that continues to be a wonderful place to live — for everyone.

Other Questions

• Why haven’t I been sent a notice of this rezoning?

The rezoning intentions are going into the General Plan as “Implementation Measures” of the Land Use Element of the new General Plan. Legally, you do not have to be notified until the rezoning is actually brought forward, sometime within two years of the Plan’s adoption. Your voice is not being heard now, and it’s unlikely your voice will be heard then. Now is the time to act. 

Because of continuous mismanagement of the Gateway Plan and General Plan updates, we’ve been stuck in the mud.

 

And as anyone who’s been stuck in the mud knows, simply putting the accelerator down to the floor is not going to get you out.

 

You have to use your brains — and bring in more people to help.

• Don’t we need housing? Couldn’t the Gateway Plan be completed, so Arcata can get some apartments built?

Sure — if this whole process had been managed properly from the start. The Arcata Gateway Plan was underway and the Planning Commission was moving forward on its progress.

In reality, the General Plan should have been done first — prior to the Gateway Plan. Because of continuous mismanagement of the Gateway Plan and General Plan updates, we’ve been stuck in the mud. And as anyone who’s been stuck in the mud knows, simply putting the accelerator down to the floor is not going to get you out. You have to use your brains — and bring in more people to help.

Arcata’s housing problem is not going to get solved by passing the Gateway Plan

This is the biggest con of this entire process. If developers wanted to build apartments, they’d already be doing it. The costs of construction in California right now are so high that apartments cannot be built — not ones that working people can afford, at least.

The Agenda

The City Council agenda for Wednesday, April 5, 2023

The Staff Report for the Timeline 
“Provide Direction to the Planning Commission Regarding the Timeline for the
Strategic Infill Redevelopment Program”

The City Council full agenda packet