CITY OF ARCATA
SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING
COUNCIL CHAMBER MAY 29, 2024
1 A special meeting of the City Council of the City of Arcata was held on the above date at 5:30 p.m. as a hybrid meeting, via teleconference utilizing Zoom Video Communications and in person with Mayor Matthews presiding. Notice of this meeting was posted on May 24, 2024.
PRESENT: Matthews, Stillman (arrived at 7:20 p.m.), Atkins-Salazar (arrived at 7:20 p.m.), Schaefer, White. STAFF PRESENT: City Manager Diemer, City Attorney White, Director of Community Development Loya, Deputy Director of Community Development Dart, IT and Digital Media Specialist Carrillo, City Clerk Varley.
OLD BUSINESS
A. Consider Approval of the Gateway Area Plan, Gateway Code, and the Program Environmental Impact Report.
Mayor Matthews announced that there would be opportunities during each item on the agenda to provide public comment.
Mayor Matthews opened the public hearing.
Colin Fiske with the Coalition for Responsible Transportation Priorities spoke in support of the Gateway Plan and Gateway Area Code. He shared that he thought the process for developing the code had been extensive and not rushed.
Cody Freitas with the Operating Engineers Local 3 said he wanted to express the members' support for the Gateway Code and EIR, he said it would lead to remediation of infill and he hoped to see the Council's support on July 17, 2024.
Gregory Daggett referenced a letter he said the Council had received from the Fire District and asked why the Council was not waiting for the fire survey to be done before proceeding and asked for it to be addressed.
Noah Levee expressed his support for the Gateway Area Plan and said that his position was informed by the fact that he had served on the Humboldt County Planning Commission for ten years, he said he looked to the Gateway Plan as a model of planning success.
Lulu Michaelson expressed her support for the Gateway Plan as it came to the Council and emphasized that it would prevent sprawl and protect open spaces. She said that limiting building heights was a form of exclusion that would mean less homes in the community.
An unidentified speaker encouraged a vote for the plan, she said that by creating density that they would be preserving open space. She said the new documents worked well in reference to inclusionary zoning and thanked the Council for their progressive stance.
Fred Weis spoke in support of the Gateway Area Plan but said it was still incomplete and in need of improvement. He said that the Linear Park was not protected from solar shading, that he May 29, 2024
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disagreed with administerial review, and noted that there was a discrepancy with changes in feet for Zoning Administrator jurisdiction.
Chris Richards requested a written response from the City to the letter from the Arcata Fire District regarding their concerns. He voiced concern about letters from the community going missing and asked for protection of the Linear Park area.
Marika Jane spoke in favor of protecting the Rails with Trails Corridor and said the General Plan was not a great public process. She expressed that she thought the Gateway Plan was being introduced too quickly and that City staff felt pressure to satisfy State requirements.
James Becker recommended the first paragraph in CM-5e.7 be separated from the second paragraph in terms of no net loss for trails. He spoke in favor of designating the L Street Rails with Trails corridor as a Linear Park.
Melody Myer spoke in support of the Gateway Area Plan and said she was excited to see an increase in housing supply. She spoke about high rates of poverty and how the plan would make the community accessible to more people.
Lori spoke in favor of not creating too much density. She asked for the creek to be daylighted and for a mandate to only plant native plants.
Patricia Cumbianica shared her concerns regarding the General Plan including location of the Wastwater Treatment Plant, the Fire District's concerns, solar shading protection, and preserving L Street Linear Park.
Glen Colwell spoke in support of the Gateway Plan and shared considerations he hoped the Council would take.
Joanne McGarry said that there was a need for safe, sane, and affordable housing. She spoke in favor of three stories with a functional rooftop.
Anthony DeLuca stated his concerns regarding the Gateway Area Plan and population density in the area.
Ben Stillman expressed that more housing needed to be built, that he hoped Arcata would not sprawl out, and that the only option left was density.
Mayor Matthews closed the public comment period.
Director of Community Development Loya spoke about the Environmental Impact Report (EIR), Gateway Area Plan, and Gateway Area Code. He said that the resolution was in the General Plan for adoption and that the public hearing would need to be continued to the June 5, 2024, he noted that there would not be a quorum for discussing the Gateway Area Plan on June 5, 2024, which was why it would need to be continued to July 17, 2024. He explained that the May 29, 2024
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Council could anticipate the three of them adopting the resolutions and introducing the ordinance on July 17, 2024, and that the ordinance would be adopted on August 7, 2024. He stated that he was anticipating formal direction for modification. Director Loya gave an overview of the CEQA requirements regarding the EIR and explained that it was a program level EIR where future projects would have subsequent environmental review. He spoke about version management and explained that the Council's comments from the May 15, 2024, regular City Council meeting had been incorporated in the May 29, 2024, version. He emphasized that if there was anything that the Council wanted to change, changes could still be made. He outlined non-substantiative changes that had been made in the Gateway Area Plan and said that maps had not been updated officially yet so there were indications of the changes in writing instead.
Councilmember Schaefer spoke in favor of there being an implementation measure for L Street.
She requested for there to be a definition of a "woonerf" within the plan. She said that there was a need for understanding the development and accessibility of buildings in regard to first responders and other vital parties having access between 7th and Samoa. In reference to Gateway Code 2-38, pages 27 and 28, she presented the idea of advancing the stepback to Samoa and 7th Streets to include three blocks along L Street. She requested to add the Linear Park to the map in the Gateway Area Plan in Figure 7, and to add language to reflect the linear park in Gateway Area Plan policy GA-6.
Councilmember White suggested the development of detailed design within two years for the proposed implementation measure for the Linear Park and asked for specific verbiage to protect the Gateway Area portion of L Street.
Councilmember Matthews asked to speak about setbacks, and what public outreach for what a woonerf would look like.
BY GENERAL CONSENSUS, THE CITY COUNCIL AGREED THAT A DEFINITION OF "WOONERF" SHOULD BE INCLUDED IN THE GATEWAY AREA PLAN.
On inquiry by Councilmember Matthews, Director Loya confirmed that having a two-year implementation measure would be feasible.
Councilmember Schaefer recommended adding protective language in policy Ga-6x so that there would be preserved open space and the Linear Park, she mentioned the Annie and Mary Trail as well and requested to include no-net loss language while including preservation of certain trails.
City Attorney White recommended to add intent goal language while still allowing flexibility for the project to go before the Council and for them to go into specifics at the time that it was presented to the Council.
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BY GENERAL CONSENSUS, THE CITY COUNCIL INSTRUCTED STAFF TO ADD
PROTECTIVE LANGUAGE TO THE GATEWAY AREA PLAN TO PRESERVE THE L STREET LINEAR PARK.
Councilmember White spoke about inclusionary zoning and requested that text of the General Plan Land Use Element would include a policy that would kick in at 15 units, including an indication that the 2027 Housing Element would address housing affordability needs.
Deputy Director of Community Development Dart explained that this was being updated in the Land Use Code through an ordinance.
Councilmember Schaefer spoke in favor of including clarification of where ministerial review would kick in. She acknowledged that the public had some concern regarding buildings over three stories and how a full Planning Hearing around buildings over three stories could allow discussion regarding those topics as well.
Councilmember White spoke against ministerial approval for seven-story buildings and requested that larger projects that qualified for ministerial approval would still be announced to the public with public input being received through the Planning Commission.
On inquiry by Councilmember Matthews, Councilmember White confirmed she was requesting that the Planning Commission review anything over four-stories.
Director Loya explained the process for a Planning Commission ministerial review and acknowledged that it provided more opportunities for the public to review it.
BY GENERAL CONSENSUS, THE CITY COUNCIL AGREED TO HAVE THE
PLANNING COMMISSION REVIEW APPLICATIONS FOR BUILDINGS THAT WERE FOUR-STORIES OR MORE.
Councilmember White requested a K Street safety redesign as a two-way street to be identified as a policy in the Circulation Mobility Element with an implementation measure for two years.
Director Loya asked for clarification of the Council's support for making changes to ministerial review.
On inquiry by Councilmember Schaefer, Director Loya explained the standards that a project needed to meet to qualify for a ministerial review process and that ministerial review would only kick in if there was a housing component.
Councilmembers Schaefer and Matthews spoke in favor of guaranteeing that at four to sevenstories, there would be a public hearing and a Planning Commission ministerial review of the project.
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Councilmember White stated that she did not want to see ministerial approval of any sevenstory building.
On inquiry by Councilmember Matthews, Director Loya stated that discretionary design review could be added to the Gateway Area Code to be required for a seven-story building in effect, but in process, it would be the same thing.
On inquiry by Councilmember Schaefer, Councilmember White agreed to not create an additional requirement for discretionary design review of seven-story projects.
Councilmember Schaefer asked to revisit the L Street corridor and said that the original road idea was to go all the way to Alliance, in reference to the portion from 12th Street to Alliance was already essentially a woonerf.
BY GENERAL CONSENSUS, THE COUNCIL AGREED THAT THE L STREET
LINEAR PARK CORRIDOR WOULD RANGE FROM SAMOA BOULEVARD TO ALLIANCE STREET.
City Manager Diemer noted that the original design of the trail with the crossing of Highway 255 was not necessarily the first choice of design and that even a small modification to better align where the trail could pass the 255 could be a better user experience. She said this is why staff recommended allowing flexibility for this area.
On inquiry by Councilmember White, City Manager Diemer said the details of the facade and the possibility of loading ramps would come down to the design of the implementation for the access to people's properties.
Mayor Matthews Continued the Public Hearing for the Gateway Area Plan to the July 17, 2024, regular City Council meeting, in the Council Chamber, without objection.
The Council Recessed from 7:14 p.m. to 7:22 p.m.
Councilmembers Stillman and Atkins-Salazar arrived at the Chamber at 7:20 p.m.
B. Consider Adoption of the General Plan Comprehensive Update with the Exception of the Gateway Area Plan.
Mayor Matthews opened the public hearing.
Colin Fiske said that the General Plan would help foster a more affordable an equitable plan, he stated that the current proposed changes reflected years of work and that he thought the result was an improvement.
Gregory Daggett requested that the Fire District letter be addressed, he spoke about the weight of firefighter gear and how it might impact the movement of first responders between floors. He May 29, 2024
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emphasized that smoke could cause harm to people in stairways who could not get through and said that this needed to be addressed with the Fire District before a vote was taken.
Melody Meyer expressed her support for the General Plan and said she hoped that the Council would approve it.
Chris Richards spoke about inconsistencies that he saw in the General Plan and said that he supported getting it together with the Local Coastal Element as soon as possible. He spoke in favor of waiting for the fire study to be done before moving forward and said that the implementation process for upzoning should be scrapped.
Colin Colwell asked for implementation measure LU-9 to be removed from the General Plan and said that Arcata had already densified. He said he thought is was Cal Poly Humboldt's responsibility to provide housing for the students.
Fred Weis recommended removing LU-9 implementation measure, removing LU-1f, protection of the L Street corridor trail, and changing the term co-housing to shared housing. He shared there were items moved from Gateway Area Plan to the General Plan that still needed rewording.
Elizabeth Connor said that she thought the updates being considered were excellent and encouraged the Council to pass them. She spoke about affordable housing and recommended that the City pass more progressive policies.
An unidentified speaker said that two-story buildings on Sunset Avenue should be the maximum height. She shared her concerns about taller buildings being installed and road safety for bikers.
James Becker spoke about CM-5e.7 and encouraged excluding L Street Rails with Trails pathway from that language, he requested not to limit this to just the L Street trail. He asked that the language in design policies including D-6b, D-6g, D-1c, D-1f, D-1a, and LU-1d all be looked at by the Council.
An unidentified speaker spoke about CM-5e.7, she asked that the portion saying "in general" should be stricken and instead say maintain total linear feet. She shared concerns regarding cars being included on pathways in areas such as woonerfs and asked to cut out the discretion of developers to change right-of-ways.
Lisa Brown spoke in favor of providing ample housing while maintaining historical features and community character by continuing to be thoughtful in development. She opposed ministerial review over two stories and asked to remove LU-9 from the implementation measures in the General Plan.
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Kathleen Stanton recommended that any building three stories or higher be brought to the Planning Commission for ministerial review. She spoke in favor of more parking and including electric vehicle charging stations in the General Plan.
Carisee Geronimo expressed her support for the general plan, having modes of transportation that were better for the environment, and a community that was both livable and walkable.
Mayor Matthews closed the public comment period.
Director of Community Development Loya discussed the approval process for the General Plan and gave a brief overview of version management. He noted that the General Plan was noticed for June 5, 2024, and continuation would be made to the July 17, 2024, Council meeting. He stated that track changes in the current version of the General Plan reflected direction given by the Council at the May 15, 2024, City Council meeting and said that any needed corrections would be made by July 17, 2024, if possible. He spoke about the Sphere of Influence in the Growth Management Element, he explained that the Sphere of Influence currently showed areas outside of the City boundary. He explained that cross hatching reflected what would stay in the sphere of influence and the dashed line outside of the City boundary reflected what would be removed. He noted that maps would be finalized to show the requested changes in the final version of the General Plan.
Councilmember Atkins-Salazar spoke about the Arcata Fire District and the varying levels of concern that had been expressed by the community. She acknowledged that the safety of the community was important but that the Fire District also had to work on their end to make proper modifications to be successful. She explained that the General Plan could be amended if it was passed before the fire study was completed.
City Manager Diemer stated that all of public safety services would need to be built out as the General Plan was implemented. She explained that the City had stepped up to support the Fire District with future planning and that the fire study would depend on what the General Plan looked like.
Councilmember Matthews spoke in favor of adding recommended language from the Fire Marshall once it was provided to the City.
On inquiry by Councilmember Atkins-Salazar, Director Loya said that three measures were being discussed with the Fire District to potentially incorporate into the Zoning Ordinance.
Councilmember Stillman noted the work that was already being done between agencies to conduct the fire study.
Councilmember Schaefer expressed that the issue was bigger than the Gateway Area Plan or the General Plan and that what she thought needed to happen was to go beyond Arcata to the County level. She spoke in favor of the creation of a sub-committee with members representing each agency. She explained that she felt that the fire study would show that they already could May 29, 2024
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not service the community and referenced Humboldt Bay Fire working the with City of Eureka when speaking about the community pooling together on this issue. She asserted that the General Plan needed to be passed to create a standard for the district to follow.
Councilmember White said that her takeaway was that all was not well with the Arcata Fire District. She read the letter that the had mailed to the Council and said it was signed by the Board President and the Fire Chief. She stated that they were not comfortable and were asking for protective language at the very least. She requested that language be added to make sure there was a plan for when the City moved forward.
City Attorney White reminded the Council that they were working items at the program level, he explained that the start of building would be at the project level which the Council was not at yet. He said that the project level was where protections would be implemented.
On inquiry by Councilmember White, City Manager Diemer confirmed that the building being constructed by Cal Poly Humboldt was being built to a very high standard. She said that if the City had a plan that comported to the City's planning documents and the State fire code, she felt that the Fire Marshall would sign off. She said that by the time the Zoning Ordinance was in front of the Council, they would have answers from the fire study to take into consideration as well.
Councilmember Stillman asserted that she did not agree with holding up the General Plan any longer.
Councilmember Atkins-Salazar shared that when she met with the Fire District on Friday, May 24, 2024, there was a lot of frustration expressed with issues that were beyond the City's capacity to address such as securing funding.
BY GENERAL CONSENSUS, THE CITY COUNCIL AGREED TO MOVE FORWARD
WITH THE EXISTING SCHEDULE TO ADOPT THE GENERAL PLAN, WITH THE
UNDERSTANDING THAT POLICIES RECOMMENDED BY THE ARCATA FIRE DISTRICT WOULD BE INCLUDED IN THE ZONING ORDINANCE.
Councilmember Schaefer asked staff to give some background on where inclusionary zoning would be included in the plan.
Deputy Director of Community Development Dart explained that inclusionary zoning would be a chapter in the Land Use Code. She said that the changes recommended by the Council, including the 15-units, would take effect via an ordinance which staff was working on with the City Attorney.
On inquiry by City Manager Diemer, Deputy Director Dart confirmed that an implementation measure could be included for it as well.
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On inquiry by Councilmember Atkins-Salazar, Director of Community Development Loya confirmed that in regard to policy CM-5e.7, only the City Council would have the authority to decide if a trail could be moved. He offered that a simple resolution to clarify the language would be to change from "in limited circumstances the City shall", to "in limited circumstances the City Council may".
Councilmember Matthews spoke in favor of removing "in general" and changing the language to "in limited circumstances the City Council may".
Councilmember Atkins-Salazar requested a brief update on the Local Coastal Plan.
Director Loya explained that updates could possibly be adopted in 2025. He said that there were portions of the coastal zone that overlapped with the General Plan policy and they had decided to separate the policies because they had tried to combine them in the past and it did not go well. He said that adopted changes to the General Plan would not necessarily affect the Local Coastal Program.
Director Loya addressed Councilmember White's concern of increased development in the coastal zone. He explained that the Local Coastal Plan would not allow for densification of areas that would be impacted by sea level rise but did allow for change of land use to incentivize cleaning up sites.
Councilmember White said she agreed that sites should be cleaned up but she was not sure about having mobilehome parks in those areas. She said she was looking forward to the Local Coastal Plan update.
On inquiry by Councilmember Atkins-Salazar, Director Loya shared that the historic preservation element had prohibition and preservation policies.
Councilmember Stillman spoke in favor of having more information in the General Plan regarding billboards.
Director Loya shared that the policy in the General Plan was not very strong. He said that Supervisor Mike Wilson shared three policies that the County was taking into consideration and might be beneficial for the City to incorporate.
BY GENERAL CONSENSUS, THE CITY COUNCIL DIRECTED STAFF TO
INCORPORATE THE THREE POLICIES REGARDING BILLBOARDS FROM THE COUNTY.
Councilmember White spoke in favor of removing implementation measure LU-9 from the General Plan because she felt that the neighborhoods would not do well with going from Residential Low to medium or high density.
Director Loya said that the implementation measure did not change the zoning anywhere.
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Councilmember Schaefer spoke in favor of keeping the implementation measure and that she would be fine with extending the time frame for it.
BY GENERAL CONSENSUS, THE CITY COUNCIL AGREED TO EXTEND THE TIMELINE FOR IMPLEMENTATION MEASURE LU-9 TO YEAR FOUR.
Councilmember Atkins-Salazar acknowledged that there were individuals who preferred to live in neighborhoods with sprawl but that it was important to keep in mind that these decisions were not just about preferences but also had to take climate change into consideration.
Councilmember Matthews said that she wanted the economic strategic plan to be addressed sooner than later.
Councilmember Atkins-Salazar expressed that she agreed and that she felt it was important to work with the business community and that the County was working with a company to create a strategic plan and the City might be able to do something similar.
Councilmember Stillman agreed and said they had gotten to a point where they could not let it go any longer.
On inquiry by Director Loya, Councilmember Matthews confirmed that the change would be reflected to address LU-3 immediately.
On inquiry by Director Loya, Councilmember Stillman agreed to have the implementation measure to open Historic Designation be extended to year three to five.
Mayor Matthews continued the public hearing to the June 5, 2024, regular City Council meeting, in the Council Chamber, without objection.
NEW BUSINESS
A. Consider Authorizing an Application to the Competitive Permanent Local Housing Allocation Program for Funding for an Affordable Housing Project at 1622 Old Arcata Road.
Mayor Matthews invited public comment.
Councilmember Stillman left the Council Chamber at 9:14 p.m. and returned at 9:16 p.m.
Chris Richards said that in regard to the Danco loan application, the community had not seen any studies or references to studies. He spoke in favor of delaying the process.
Fred Weis said that he felt that grants were consistently brought to the Council at the last minute and asked for a policy to change that. He said he would like to see something from Danco and that it was the wrong place for a large building.
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Gregory Daggett said that he felt that it was vague as to what type of project was going to be implemented. He said he wanted to know what the general parameter for height would be and requested more details about what funds would be used for.
Lisa Brown said that the staff report indicated that Danco had performed an environmental analysis of the site, she requested that the financial feasibility for the cleanup be shared with the community. She spoke about the contamination on the site and shared concerns about the contaminates being disturbed during construction.
Nancy Pelletier inquired if Danco ever gave a report to the City Council regarding the feasibility study, she said that they needed to know the results and that the surrounding neighborhood would be impacted by cleanup.
Kathleen Stanton stated that she felt the development would be too dense for the neighborhood.
She said that a project half the size limited to two stories with parking would be preferred and shared her concerns regarding the remediation process to remove contaminated soil.
Mayor Matthews closed the public comment period.
Director of Community Development Loya explained that there was a deadline to submit the grant application by June 5, 2024, and wanted to be sure the Council had time to review it. He said that the decision to go after funds happened in May due to changes around the assessment of the project in terms of competitive funds. He shared that a project like this could have different funding sources throughout its completion and that they were requesting to apply for the maximum amount of funding. He stated that funds would not be committed until all funding sources were in place and that the grant did not authorize the project but would help the Council be poised to make the decision. He said that a soft loan typically would benefit a project like this and stressed that the project would not happen unless the site was up to residential environmental standards. He then shared a few typographical changes that would happen to the resolution included in the May 29, 2024, agenda packet which included adding the resolution number to the title, the Clerk's name, and Mayor's name.
Councilmember Atkins-Salazar emphasized that the project was not exempt from CEQA even though the loan was.
Chris Dart from Danco gave a report that the site known as Roger's Garage was in the early stages of development and shared that they had made some progress which included engaging a consultant to do an environmental assessment. He said that he had received the results the week of May 20, 2024, and that the consultants tested for contaminants and found that there were no contaminants on site except for heavy metals. He noted that a work plan had been submitted to the regional board to remove the heavy metals from the site before construction. He said that a local architect had been retained and their latest design allowed one and a half parking spaces per unit and that the building height would likely be three or two stories. He said that the project was intended for mixed-income households. He reported that action either on May 29, 2024, or June 5, 2024, would allow them to go to the State to request a funding source that would help May 29, 2024
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being the project to life, and shared that the soonest they could apply to tax credits would be the first quarter of 2025. He highlighted that the State encouraged projects like this to have close proximity to schools and that it would be an infill site rather than urban sprawl.
On inquiry by Councilmember White, Director Loya explained that loan amount and application approval would be brought back at a later date. He also noted that an environmental analysis would come at a later stage as well.
Chris Dart explained that the Phase II Report was still in draft status but could be sent over for review when it was finalized.
ON MOTION BY STILLMAN, SECONDED BY SCHAEFER, AND WITH A
UNANIMOUS VOICE VOTE, THE CITY COUNCIL AUTHORIZED AN
APPLICATION TO THE COMPETITIVE PERMANENT LOCAL HOUSING
ALLOCATION PROGRAM FOR FUNDING FOR AN AFFORDABLE HOUSING PROJECT AT 1622 OLD ARCATA ROAD. AYES: MATTHEWS, STILLMAN, ATKINS-SALAZAR, SCHAEFER, WHITE. NOES: NONE. ABSENT: NONE.
ABSTENTIONS: NONE.
The resolution number, 234-56, detailed in the Attachment section of the Staff Report for this agenda item was added to the title of the final resolution after the meeting.
DATES OF FUTURE MEETINGS
A. Confirm the June 12, 2024, Special City Council Meeting at 6:00 p.m. in the Council Chamber to Discuss and Adopt the Fiscal Year 2024/2025 Budget.
BY GENERAL CONSENSUS, THE CITY COUNCIL CONFIRMED THE JUNE 12, 2024, SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING AT 6:00 P.M. IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBER TO DISCUSS AND ADOPT THE FISCAL YEAR 2024/2025 BUDGET.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 9:47 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Rhea Varley
City Clerk