Arcata City Council
September 16, 2026

5 August 2026 Executive Summary
The approach most likely to move Arcata’s economy is not a fixed set of projects but a shared adaptive strategy.

An economy is shaped by many factors, most of them outside any one organization’s control, so the City’s role expands beyond projects to convening for collaborative impact, bringing together a standing group of partners who read where the economy is heading through a shared set of indicators, identify what each effort needs to succeed, and help one another improve the economy. Sustaining that convening work requires a designated convener responsible for keeping the practice alive between gatherings, maintaining the shared landscape of indicators, and connecting with the partners advancing individual actions to clear the path in front of them.

Dedicating capacity for that role is among the most consequential commitments the City can make to this strategy’s success. Progress is read through the direction those indicators show rather than a count of completed projects, which is what ensures accountability to the strategy while the plan adapts. Actions may be added, revised, or retired as Arcata and its partners learn, and the strategy holds its direction steady throughout. Within that adaptive approach, five near-term actions have been identified as an impactful starting point, reflecting where momentum, funding, and community readiness align today. They are highlighted throughout this plan and described together in their own section.

When fully realized, this Plan positions Arcata to grow on its own terms: a community that values connections and quality of life, with a diversified, resilient economy, businesses and places that reflect who Arcata already is, and a shared practice for navigating the next five years together.

Introduction &
Methodology
SECTION 1

7 August 2026 Introduction & Methodology
Introduction & Methodology
The City of Arcata is updating its economic strategy to better understand ways to grow and diversify the local economy and tax base. The City undertook this work to set adaptive strategies and actions the community can pursue over the next five years.

In commissioning this strategy, the City set out the objectives it intended the work to serve:
• Enhance quality of life for the community
• Retain and strengthen existing businesses
• Create jobs and diversify the local economy
• Support vitality in the City’s commercial and tourism areas • Grow the tax base and improve the City’s fiscal stability • Strengthen the Arcata brand to attract businesses and visitors These objectives are the City’s aims for the work of creating this plan. What the community defines as good growth sets the direction for pursuing them.

Arcata stands at a threshold. Cal Poly Humboldt’s evolution into California’s third polytechnic university promises to reshape the regional economy. Recent land-use changes prioritize strategic infill and urbanization over sprawl.

The legalization of the cannabis industry diminished the flow of cash through Arcata. The community grapples with questions about what “growth” means and how to build resilience in an era of climate uncertainty and economic transition. This strategy works within this context to set forth a path for economic growth in line with community and city values and with a focus on the primary objectives identified above.

Arcata recognizes its unique quality of character. The City and its people have chosen to do things differently for decades. From maintaining local character and businesses, to creating a one-of-a-kind solution to water quality, recreation, and environmental protection at the wastewater treatment plant, Arcata centers its values in how it grows. This strategy is no different. It begins with what the community and city have defined as Good Growth, and works toward it.

1.1 Methodology
This strategy was built with the community in multiple phases. In the Discovery phase, Civic* Possible studied Arcata’s economy and listened across the community, then gathered what it learned into a Landscape Report that reflected those conditions back to residents. That shared foundation anchored the Planning phase, where community members in two co-design workshops defined what good growth means for Arcata and shaped the priorities this strategy now carries. In the Delivery phase, City staff refined that community-built work into the strategy that follows.

This Plan builds on findings from a Discovery Phase and engagement with community economic development stakeholders from a variety of fields. The effort began in August 2025 in partnership with Civic* Possible. It included a review of background reports and data, a 10-day site visit in September to conduct interviews in person, attend community events, and gain first-hand experience of the community, and interviews with 56 individuals connected to the Arcata economy representing government, local businesses, education, social services, health care, real

8 August 2026 Introduction & Methodology
estate, property development, finance, small business support organizations, arts and culture, environmental stewardship, and specific under-represented communities. A community survey ran from September through November 2025 and received 256 responses. The team also participated in community meetings including the Rotary Club and hosted a city booth at the Friday Night Market in September 2025.

These inputs informed a Landscape Report covering background context, methodology, land and infrastructure considerations, an economic snapshot, key sectors and trends, municipal fiscal context, community insights, early project ideas, survey findings, and guidance for the co-design workshops that followed. Central to the Landscape Report are six key findings for consideration in the Planning Phase, seen below.

Following the Discovery Phase, Civic* Possible facilitated two in-person co-design workshops in February and March 2026 with community economic development stakeholders. Workshop participants reviewed the Landscape Report and then worked through the foundational elements of the plan: defining what good growth means for Arcata, brainstorming projects, identifying measures of long-term community success, and establishing and prioritizing the plan’s strategic direction.

Language and process shape what’s possible. Some in the community have negative connotations for the word “growth,” and some have felt excluded from past planning efforts. Successful economic strategy creation needs to consider and navigate this context to ensure broad community support.

By framing economic development around resilience, quality of life, and supporting what exists, this work may generate broader support than if it is framed about expansion.

Arcata’s economic future lies in deepening what already works. Niche manufacturing and small businesses have been the historic backbone of Arcata’s economy, and can continue to be into the future.

Cal Poly Humboldt is the community’s greatest competitive advantage. The University distinguishes Arcata from all other Northern California coastal communities, bringing intellectual capital and youthful energy to the community. Expanding ways to connect the University to the City will benefit both.

Housing is the bottleneck through which every other challenge flows. The shortage of housing that is affordable for people who wish to call Arcata home makes it more difficult for healthcare providers to recruit staff, schools to maintain enrollment numbers, entrepreneurs to gain the necessary discretionary capital to take on risk, and university students to have housing stability.

Physical and financial capital are the binding constraints. Shoring up Arcata’s physical and financial capital—meaning addressing housing, broadband in industrial areas, aging infrastructure, and access to capital—will enable the community to better leverage areas where it is strong, such as intellectual and human capital.

The City operates within fiscal constraints. While Measure H, passed in 2024, demonstrates the City’s willingness to raise revenue, the City operates within California’s tax structure, which ultimately limits capacity. Economic strategy should be realistic about what the City can actually do and how it can build networks to expand what is possible.

9 August 2026 Introduction & Methodology
From March through June 2026, Civic* Possible worked with City staff to further refine the work of co-design workshop participants into the strategy and recommendations presented here.

The outcome of this process, this Economic Strategic Plan update for 2026-2031 provides a framework for the City of Arcata and its partners to pursue economic growth on its terms and with its vision at the center.

1.2 Ecosystem Approach
This strategy approaches economic development through an Ecosystem Lens.

This represents a national shift in thinking about local economies. Rather than treating a community’s economy as a collection of discrete parts—industries, workforce, infrastructure, capital—an emerging paradigm views it as an ecosystem.

An ecosystem approach recognizes that local economies are more complex, dynamic, and interwoven than traditional lenses account for. The relationships between components shape outcomes as much as the components themselves.

A manufacturer’s success depends not just on its equipment and workforce, but on the networks that connect it to suppliers, the culture that supports risktaking, the institutions that enable permitting, and the housing that allows workers to live nearby.

The data- and numbers-driven foundation that traditional Economic Strategic Plans require—sector analysis, labor market trends, fiscal modeling, land-use evaluation, project feasibility—still matter. They ground planning in evidence and establish shared facts from which strategy can emerge. “...in my 20 plus years
being part of this
community, in on both
sides of the highway,
right, the University
and the larger Arcata
community, is that
there is, there’s very
few things that are
not intertwined.”
— Interviewee

10 August 2026 Introduction & Methodology
Several frameworks have emerged to help communities work with this complexity. One accessible example is the Seven Capitals model described by Brad Feld and Ian Hathaway in The Startup Community Way and extended by organizations such as the Kauffman Foundation and ESHIP Alliance. The model is useful here for what it makes visible. Alongside the financial and physical capital that traditional measures already track, it names the network and cultural capital that shape whether an economy thrives.

The Seven Capitals framework identifies seven distinct capitals that together constitute a local economic ecosystem:

Entrepreneurs
& Businesses
Institutional
Capital
Physical
Capital
Human
Capital
Intellectual
Capital
Financial
Capital
Community
Network Capital
Cultural Capital
More traditional capitals,
easier to measure,
more tangible
Less traditional capitals,
harder to measure,
less tangible
Intellectual Capital: Ideas, research, creative knowledge, and innovation assets Human Capital: Skills, education, experience, and demographics Physical Capital: Infrastructure, space, mobility, and place-based amenities Institutional Capital: Governmental capacity, governance structures, enabling policy Financial Capital: Investment flows, access to funding, grant opportunities Cultural Capital: Community identity, openness to risk, inclusion, creativity Network Capital: Relationships, trust, mentorship, and connectivity

11 August 2026 Introduction & Methodology
Sector and labor market trends
Traditional Economic Indicators Seven Capitals Framework Fiscal and tax-base modeling
Land-use scenario evaluation
Equity-grounded interpretation
Project feasibility analysis Network Capital
Cultural Capital Network Capital
Cultural Capital
Intellectual Capital
Intellectual Capital
Physical Capital
Physical Capital
Human Capital
Human Capital
Human Capital
Financial Capital
Financial Capital
Institutional Capital
Institutional Capital
Institutional Capital
This framework does not replace traditional economic indicators or priorities. It offers a more holistic lens through which to interpret them. The diagram below shows how these capitals map to traditional indicators:

By integrating this ecosystem lens with traditional assessment tools, this report aims to give Arcata a more holistic picture of its economic landscape.

1.3 Guide to Terms
There are a few unique terms used in this strategy. While these are fully defined and described later in the strategy, this section shares those terms, a brief definition, and provides a visual diagram that illustrates how the terms relate to one another.
• Good Growth Means are aspirational statements the community identified to express what good growth looks like in Arcata. They describe a direction this plan should focus its efforts toward. • Strategic Priorities are the community’s thematic priorities, the focus area commitments it chooses to pursue as it moves toward the Good Growth Means. They are worked toward rather than completed, and they guide the initiatives and actions taken beneath them.
• Initiatives are collections of actions within a Strategic Priority. They group related actions together where doing so makes the strategy easier to navigate. Not every priority uses them; where actions do not share a common grouping, they sit directly under the priority.
• Actions are discrete projects and efforts, organized by Strategic Priority and Initiative, that the City and

12 August 2026 Introduction & Methodology
its partners can take over the next five years to advance the Strategic Priorities. The strategy is adaptive:
it reassesses, revises, and replaces actions over time so they continue to serve the Strategic Priorities and move the economy toward the Good Growth Means.
• Indicators are proxy signals that show whether the economy is moving toward the Good Growth Means. They do not measure the success of individual actions or of the strategy itself. They read direction, not completion.

Strategic
Priority
Strategic
Priority
Strategic
Priority
Good Growth Means
Initiative Initiative Initiative Initiative Initiative
Indicators
Indicators
Action
Action
Action
Action
Action
Action
Action
Action
Action
Action
Action
Action
Action
Action
Action
Action
Action
Action
Action
Action
Action
Action
Action
Action
Action

What Good Growth
Means
SECTION 2

14 August 2026 What Good Growth Means
What Good Growth Means
As the Discovery phase of this Economic Strategic Plan unfolded in the Fall of 2025, it became clear that there was not a single definition or response to the word ‘growth.’ Some individuals embraced growth as a necessary thing to ensure future generations could live in Arcata. Some saw growth as a death knell to their way of life and the uniqueness of Arcata. The Landscape Report highlights the importance of language, and in particular, creating a definition of what good growth means in the Arcata context.

The Economic Strategic Plan intends to create a future for Arcata that centers quality of life, interconnectedness, and what Arcata defines as Good Growth. These statements of What Good Growth Means act as a framework in which the Strategic Priorities, Initiatives, and Actions operate.
“...we need to look at
economic development
from a cultural perspective,
in recognizing that the
community of Arcata views
it... as how do we enrich
the community as a whole,
in the quality of life of
everyone that lives here.”
— Interviewee
Good growth means a quality of life worth staying for, with good schools, affordable housing, healthcare, infrastructure, and a community where families can put down roots and thrive.

Good growth means Arcata continues to sustainably grow while holding onto the creativity, openness, and distinct character that makes it worth living in.

Good growth means everyone can participate in the economy, in decisions, and in the life of the community, with all voices included and no one left behind.

Good growth means the cities, county, and institutions of this region work together through shared plans and joint investments rather than operating in isolation.

Good growth means a thriving local economy built on entrepreneurship, living wages, and businesses that the people of Arcata are proud to call their own.

Good growth means expanding access to outdoor recreation while protecting the green spaces and natural environment that make this place worth living in.

15 August 2026 What Good Growth Means
It is important to note how these statements
came to be. Arcata, for decades, has made
decisions on how it approaches challenges in
a way that is entirely unique and responsive
to its community values. As an example: Arcata
made a determination to not allow chain stores
around the Plaza, the heart and center of the
community, so that locally owned businesses
are afforded that prime real estate. This
decision centered Arcata values in a way that
continues to define Arcata to this day.

During the co-design workshops, participants worked together to define what good growth means for Arcata.

These six statements are what the co-design participants arrived at, drawing together what they heard across interviews, surveys, and their own experience of the community, and they serve as the north star for this strategy.

The community also identified how it will read progress toward these statements over time. A set of indicators, drawn from regional data already tracked through Live Well Humboldt, an annual community survey, and measures the community develops as the work matures, signals whether Arcata is moving in the direction these statements describe. The indicators and their sources are detailed in the appendix. “Arcata succeeding economically into the future will require some fundamental readjusting of how we think about who we are as a community and the best way to
maintain some of the qualities that we treasure, while
finding ways to shift and adapt. I feel deeply that we
need to embrace an expansive creative future if we are
going to continue to evolve.”
— Survey respondent
“Quality of life is the single most important thing that the city needs to focus on so that’s much bigger than the generic metrics of gross metric product job growth things like that. The community really wants growth but we also want to remain true to our character of a rural and remote community.” — Interviewee

Strategic
Priorities
SECTION 3

17 August 2026 Strategic Priorities
Strategic Priorities
The three Strategic Priorities organize the work the community and City identified. Each carries a set of initiatives and actions, and every action was selected for how well it advances the Good Growth Means and fits within its priority, evaluated through the criteria described in the appendix. The actions represent the strategy’s current best recommendations for moving each priority forward, not a fixed program to be executed in order. As conditions change across the five-year term, the City and its partners revise, replace, and add actions, while the Strategic Priorities and the Good Growth Means hold steady. The Implementation section and the Implementation Guide in the appendix describe how the City and its partners navigate the strategy adapting to real world circumstances over time.

This Strategic Priority focuses on Arcata’s
investment in the businesses, producers, and
entrepreneurs who are rooted and grow from
what makes this community distinct. Food
producers, outdoor gear manufacturers, artisan
makers, cooperatives, and creative enterprises
have developed here over decades, built from
the culture, environment, and values of the
place rather than recruited from outside. The
priority is to expand what is possible for these
businesses, whether that means the industrial
land and zoning that give them room to
operate, shared infrastructure that helps them
scale, development services that support them
at every stage, or pathways into national and
international markets. An economy rooted in
Arcata circulates wealth locally, generates
pride as much as revenue, and strengthens the
community’s identity rather than diluting it.

Economy of the Commons is about Arcata
becoming known for how it approaches
collective challenges: local innovation applied
to shared problems, producing solutions that
address local needs and can be adopted
and learned from by other communities.

The priority intentionally focuses on that
unique quality as a source of both community
and economic growth. It encourages deep
collaboration and investment in collective
work, from municipal infrastructure to
cooperative ventures, and approaches the
complex challenges facing the community as a
living laboratory where local experimentation
produces real working solutions. These
approaches and accomplishments become
models and knowledge that can be shared,
taught, or built into services beyond the region.

The projects under this priority strengthen the
City’s capacity to work this way: deepening the
University partnership, coordinating across
departments and partners, and improving the
City’s own processes as economic development
infrastructure.

Economy of Place is Arcata’s commitment to
the idea that the quality of this place is the
City’s most important economic asset. The
natural environment, the downtown and Plaza,
the neighborhood business districts, the trail
network, the University campus woven into the
community’s daily life: these are what draw
people to live here, visit here, and choose to
stay. Investing in the vitality, accessibility, and
connectedness of these places strengthens
the economy that grows from them. When the
place works well for the people who are here,
residents stay, businesses root, visitors come,
and the activity that generates feeds back into
the community that created it.

Economy of Place Homegrown Economy Economy of the Commons

READING THE

ACTIONS PROFILES

CITY ROLE TIMELINE
Near-term
Initiation in the
first year.

Medium-term
Initiation in years
two or three.

Longer-term
Initiation in years
four or five.

Delivers
The city executes this
action with its own staff
and resources.

Leads
The city drives the work;
partners contribute to
design or delivery.

Shares
The city and partners
carry this action with
shared responsibility.

Enables
The city creates
conditions for partners
to lead.

Influences
The city advocates
or supports; another
organization leads.

TOP FIVE

PRIORITY ACTIONS
Of the actions this strategy carries,
five stand ready to begin now.

18 August 2026 Strategic Priorities

STRATEGIC PRIORITY
Economy of Place
Community
Vitality

1.1 UNIVERSITY-PLAZA CONNECTIVITY

CORRIDOR IMPROVEMENTS
Arts-as-infrastructure enhancements to the primary routes connecting campus and downtown, including murals and
pedestrian-scale lighting. Comparable corridors report measurable gains in foot traffic and business activity along improved segments.

1.2 CITYWIDE VACANT PROPERTY

ACTIVATION PROGRAM
A citywide program to activate vacant and underutilized properties, building from the existing infill lands inventory. Research links activation to increased property tax receipts, new business formation, and neighborhood investment.

1.3 DOWNTOWN VACANT STOREFRONT

ACTIVATION PROGRAM
A program connecting vacant downtown storefronts with emerging entrepreneurs through short-term tenancies and structured business support. Similar programs report higher business formation and survival rates, reducing storefront vacancy.

1.4 PLAZA MASTER PLAN
A master plan for the Plaza and its surroundings, carrying Task Force progress into a sequenced capital strategy with evaluation of an entertainment zone designation. Coordinated public space investment raises property values and reduces vacancy.

1.5 PERMANENT OUTDOOR

DINING PROGRAM
A permanent program letting downtown restaurants extend service into sidewalks and Plaza-adjacent areas through streamlined permitting. California cities that made COVID-era authorizations permanent report higher restaurant revenue and foot traffic.

Arcata’s downtown, Plaza, and
neighborhood business districts are
where the community’s economic
and social life concentrates. This
initiative focuses on making those
places more active, welcoming, and
easier to reach, strengthening the
conditions that keep storefronts
occupied, streets lively, and local
businesses in the community.
“When I think of Arcata, I think
of landscaping. The nature
and environment makes it so
special; the marsh and the
redwoods and the beaches
and everything in between.”
— Survey respondent

19 August 2026 Strategic Priorities
Outdoor
Recreation and
Access

1.6 GREAT REDWOOD

TRAIL COMPLETION
Local coordination and visitor readiness as Great Redwood Trail segments reach completion, connecting the trail to business districts.

Comparable rail-trails generate significant visitor spending.

1.7 TRAIL TOWN

PROGRAM RECOGNITION
Formal Trail Town recognition, aligning business engagement and visitor amenities around a trail-based economy. Great Allegheny Passage communities report tenfold visitor growth and 270 new jobs.

1.8 TRAIL FRONT DEVELOPMENT

DESIGN STANDARDS
Design standards for trail-front development, extending the Gateway Area Plan approach before development interest follows trail investment. Standards in place early capture the value that investment generates.

Arcata’s residents and visitors share
a deep connection to the natural
environment, from the Arcata
Marsh and Community Forest to
the trail network and coastline. This
Initiative focuses on strengthening
the links between those assets and
the people who use them, improving
access, building coordination across
recreation providers, and ensuring
the local economy benefits from the
activity these places generate.
“Arcata is possibly one of the
best cities in the State of
California for the amount of
outdoor activities in a very
close proximity.”
— Survey respondent

STRATEGIC PRIORITY
Economy of Place

20 August 2026 Strategic Priorities
Outdoor
Recreation and
Access (cont’d)

1.10 OUTDOOR RECREATION

BUSINESS SUPPORT PROGRAM
A pilot providing business support tailored to outdoor recreation guide, outfitter, and rental businesses. States investing in this sector report more business formation and longer visitor stays.

1.11 OUTDOOR RECREATION

SECTOR WORKING GROUP
A standing working group bringing recreation organizations, businesses, campus programs, and land managers around shared priorities. Formalized coordination improves funding access and reduces duplication.

1.9 OUTDOOR RECREATION

PARTICIPATION AND IMPACT

ASSESSMENT
A comprehensive assessment of participation, visitor behavior, spending, and economic contribution across Arcata’s recreation assets, giving the City a baseline for evaluating investments and securing funding. Arcata’s residents and visitors share a deep connection to the natural
environment, from the Arcata
Marsh and Community Forest to
the trail network and coastline. This
Initiative focuses on strengthening
the links between those assets and
the people who use them, improving
access, building coordination across
recreation providers, and ensuring
the local economy benefits from the
activity these places generate.

STRATEGIC PRIORITY
Economy of Place
“Arcata is possibly one of the
best cities in the State of
California for the amount of
outdoor activities in a very
close proximity.”
— Survey respondent

21 August 2026 Strategic Priorities
Sharing Arcata 1.12 TOURISM COORDINATION ENTITY
A dedicated entity responsible for destination strategy, stakeholder coordination, itinerary creation, and marketing of Arcata.

Organizational capacity converts the City’s visitor economy investments into measurable spending and reinvestment.

1.13 DESTINATION BRANDING
A cohesive destination brand, one possibility being Arcata as a basecamp for outdoor adventure across the Humboldt region.

Comparable communities investing in a local brand see increased visitation, occupancy, lengths of stay, and foot traffic.

1.14 TOURISM COMMUNITY

BENEFIT FUND
A fund reinvesting a share of visitor revenue into the infrastructure and programs that strengthen Arcata, considered once a coordination entity exists and a brand drives visitation. Bend, Oregon’s fund has distributed $3.8M across 42 projects since 2021.

Arcata draws visitors for its outdoor
environment, culture, and university.

When those visitors have a clear,
welcoming experience, the revenue
they generate comes back to the
places and people that create
it. The Actions in this Initiative
build the coordination, brand, and
reinvestment structures that make
sharing Arcata a strong economic
strategy.

STRATEGIC PRIORITY
Economy of Place

22 August 2026 Strategic Priorities
Local Production
and Making

2.1 FOODWORKS CULINARY

CENTER EXPANSION
An expansion of the Foodworks Culinary Center, adding production capacity, commissary kitchens, and scaling pathways for producers.

It enables more direct food-production employment, local supply chain spending, and value-added processing in the region.

Arcata has a long tradition of people
making things here including
timber, cannabis, food products,
outdoor gear, marine equipment,
and artisan goods. All are rooted
in the community’s culture and
natural environment. The Actions
in this Initiative invest in shared
production infrastructure that gives
local producers the physical capacity
to start, grow, and stay.
“Don’t underestimate the
ability of a community that
maintains a healthy and
fantastic quality of life to
draw business. Where people
want to live; businesses want
to locate.”
— Interviewee

2.2 AGRICULTURAL COLD-PACK AND

FOOD LOGISTICS COOPERATIVE
Support for the North Coast Growers Association’s Harvest Hub expansion, adding cooperatively owned cold storage and packing capacity. Impacts include expanded sales for member producers, reduced spoilage, and regional food system resilience.

2.3 OUTDOOR GEAR ACCELERATOR

PROGRAMMING
Accelerator programming connecting outdoor gear entrepreneurs with mentorship, industry networks, and investor exposure.

Potential impacts include higher business formation, job creation, and retention of entrepreneurs who would otherwise relocate.

2.4 COMMUNITY FABRICATION AND

PROTOTYPING ACCESS
Accessible fabrication and prototyping infrastructure letting local manufacturers and makers develop products with equipment no single business can justify alone. Structured access lowers the capital barrier for product development across sectors.

STRATEGIC PRIORITY
Homegrown Economy

23 August 2026 Strategic Priorities
Business
Support

2.5 BUSINESS RETENTION AND

ATTRACTION PLAN
A plan for retaining and strengthening the businesses Arcata has and attracting firms whose values and operating models fit what the community offers. Retention and attraction carry a proven record of business formation and sales tax capture.

A strong local economy depends
on whether people who want to
start, run, and grow a business in
Arcata can find the advising, capital,
and clear processes they need to
do it. The Actions in this Initiative
strengthen the support available
to businesses at every stage of
development.

STRATEGIC PRIORITY
Homegrown Economy

2.6 EXPAND THE SBDC / STARTUP

HUMBOLDT REACH
Expand the reach of the North Coast Small Business Development Center and Startup Humboldt, supporting underserved
entrepreneurs. Expanded advising capacity grows business formation and survival rates, job creation, and capital investment.

2.7 LITTLE LAKES PROPERTY REUSE

AND REDEVELOPMENT STRATEGY
A reuse strategy for the Little Lakes property, developed through participatory planning as remediation advances the site toward readiness. Buildable inventory adds property value and construction employment, with business formation to follow.

24 August 2026 Strategic Priorities
Economy of the Commons works
differently from the other two
priorities. Its actions address distinct
facets of how Arcata approaches
shared challenges, and they do not
group into a common theme the
way initiatives elsewhere do. They
sit directly under the priority.

STRATEGIC PRIORITY
Economy of the Commons

3.1 UNIVERSITY-LED COMMUNITY

INNOVATION LAB
A standing, cross-disciplinary program directing university capacity toward community-identified opportunities. Education-government partnerships may produce work with local commercial or operational value and stronger graduate retention.

3.2 ECONOMIC COORDINATION

FOR CLIMATE ADAPTATION
A coordinated municipal approach treating the City’s climate adaptation spending and procurement as economic development.

It captures adaptation dollars locally while building Arcata’s role as a demonstration community.

3.3 ECOSYSTEM STEWARD POSITION
A dedicated position tending the relationships and collaborative conditions across Arcata’s economic development ecosystem. Its value flows through the projects it enables, from faster multipartner action to improved grant competitiveness.

3.4 PERMITTING AND

REGULATORY PROCESS AUDIT
A formal audit of the City’s business-facing permitting and regulatory processes, framed around the experiences of local entrepreneurs and small business owners. Smoother permitting reduces time-tooperation and lowers predevelopment costs.

Top Five Priority
Actions
SECTION 4

Top Five Priority Actions
Of the actions this strategy carries, five stand ready to begin now. The City has identified them as its Top Five, selected because conditions already in place, from awarded grants to work in motion, position the City to start immediately and build early momentum. They are on this list because of readiness more than any other factor.

While these may begin soon, some will require more than a year to complete, and all remain within the adaptive practice this strategy describes, revisited alongside every other action as circumstances change. Starting where the existing conditions allow gives the strategy visible progress in its first year and gives the community early evidence that the City follows through.

Five actions beginning soon, and carrying forward through the life of this plan, ask a great deal of the City and its partners as they work toward the Good Growth Means. Because of this, the strategy also recommends starting with one of the most consequential commitments the City can make: dedicated capacity for the convening role that keeps the whole strategy in view and sustains momentum across the partners advancing individual actions.

Resourcing that role is what turns an adopted plan into a working practice, and it is what positions each of these five, and every action that follows, for its greatest likelihood of success. The Implementation section that follows describes that practice and the convener who carries it.

Plaza Master Plan. The 2020 Plaza Improvement Task Force made considerable headway, and a master plan for the Plaza and its surroundings is the next step, connecting that progress with programming and a sequenced capital strategy. Its scope includes evaluating an entertainment zone designation for downtown, which carries standing support from the City Council and City staff alongside downtown businesses, and which would make it easier for storefronts to take part in the events that animate the heart of the community.

Trail Town Program Recognition. Recent bicycle and pedestrian counts show trail use growing quickly, and residents consistently place trails among their highest priorities. Pursuing formal recognition now places Arcata early in a regional wave of trail development and gives local businesses a shared structure for the visitor economy those trails support.

Trail Front Development Design Standards. Completion of the Annie and Mary Trail has already drawn business interest in trail-facing development. The Gateway Area Plan established design standards for exactly this kind of growth, and extending that approach to the corridors where interest is emerging puts clear expectations in place as proposals arrive.

Destination Branding. A cohesive destination brand strengthens the return on the City’s wider investments in the visitor economy. The City can begin the elements it carries directly, including the update of the Visit Arcata website as the brand’s digital home, while the Tourism Coordination Entity, once formed, leads the broader branding effort.

Little Lakes Property Reuse and Redevelopment Strategy. Work at the Little Lakes property is already in motion. Soil remediation funded through an Environmental Protection Agency Brownfields Cleanup Grant began in 2025, and a Community Development Block Grant award now supports planning and technical assistance for redevelopment. Advancing the reuse strategy in parallel with restoration keeps economic planning apace with the site’s physical readiness, with future uses shaped through the community process.

Implementation
SECTION 5

28 August 2026 Implementation
Implementation
This Economic Strategic Plan belongs to the community it was built with. Everyone who calls Arcata home has a part in carrying it forward, and the work of doing so reaches well beyond City Hall to the many organizations and people whose efforts shape the local economy. Implementation is the practice of bringing those people together to move in a shared direction, to understand where the economy is heading, and to help each other do their work well. It is built to be flexible. The strategy is a guide the community navigates over a five-year horizon, holding its direction steady while adjusting the specific actions as it learns. Some actions will prove not to have the right conditions to launch when expected, and new opportunities will surface that no one anticipated when the strategy was written.

Revising, replacing, and retiring actions as conditions change is the strategy working as intended, not a sign of it falling short.

That practice asks the City to hold two roles at once. The City owns and delivers actions directly, leading many actions outright and supporting the remaining actions. Each action identifies the City’s level of ownership, set by how directly the City can move that work forward. At the same time, the City cannot, on its own, produce the economic outcomes the community is reaching for, because an economy is a living system shaped by many participants. The City therefore also convenes: it serves as the coordination layer that brings community partners together, keeps a shared view of where the economy is heading, and works alongside the organizations leading individual actions to clear the path in front of them. Two pieces make this convening work possible: a group the City brings together to do the shared work, and a person responsible for keeping that work alive between gatherings. The practice depends on both. The group provides the shared accountability; the person provides the continuity that keeps the work from losing momentum between meetings. Dedicating the capacity to sustain that role is part of what makes this approach to implementation work.

5.1 The Convening Group
The convening group is the standing body at the center of implementation: a set of organizations the City brings together regularly to look after the direction of the economy as shared work. Its members are the organizations whose work touches Arcata’s economy, including City staff, the County, neighboring cities, Cal Poly Humboldt, the Chamber, and others who carry a meaningful share of the work. They come together as practitioners accountable to a shared vision and to one another. No one in the room reports to anyone else; each organization owns its own efforts and answers for them to the shared direction the group holds in common. The group’s shared work is to “The region does pretty well with
communication because everybody knows each other but there’s no coordinated effort to make
sure that everybody is talking. We
could all really do better about
amplifying each other because
a lot of organizations and businesses tend to operate in their own silos.”
— Interviewee
“Fundamentally, people often create plans, but do not focus on executing the plan. I’m encouraged to see this update, but I would emphasize that execution and commitment to making it real is the key to making change” — Interviewee

29 August 2026 Implementation
understand whether the economy is moving toward what the community defined as good growth, and to respond well together when it is not.

The group meets periodically to read the shared landscape of indicators together to understand trends in the economic landscape. A central part of each gathering is to work through the active projects that advance this strategy. Rather than simple project reports, the group examines how the work is actually going: what each effort needs to succeed, what friction it is encountering, and where the people in the room can help clear the way. The conversation extends to the work partners are leading toward the Good Growth Means whether or not it appears as an action in this strategy, because the purpose of the gathering is to advance a shared direction rather than to account for this strategy’s specific projects alone.

The detailed design of these meetings is described in the appendix.

5.2 The Convener
The strategy recommends that the City designate a convener: a single person responsible for holding the practice together and keeping it active between the group’s gatherings. The role can be filled by a staff member already close to the economic development work, defined by the function rather than any specific position. The convener facilitates the periodic meetings, keeps the shared landscape of indicators current, connects with the leads and partners advancing individual actions to support their work and reduce friction, and keeps the community and Council informed of where the economy is heading. The convener reads progress at the level of the economy’s direction, through the indicators, rather than tracking the status of individual projects. The actions belong to the organizations leading them; the strategy belongs to the community.

The convener’s work is to hold the whole in view of the strategy and to help the people doing the work move together. Without this continuity, the shared practice this section describes loses its coordinating value, and the strategy’s collaborative elements are left without the through-line that keeps them active.

The Ecosystem Steward position this strategy recommends elsewhere is a natural home for this role, should the City choose to establish it.

5.3 The Shared Landscape
The strategy proposes that the community read the direction of its economy through a set of indicators that signal whether Arcata is moving toward the Good Growth Means. Read
together, these indicators form a shared landscape, a common picture the group reads at the start of each meeting to ground its conversation in where things actually stand. The landscape informs that conversation rather than dictating its conclusions; what to do with what it shows is for the group to work out together.

A strategy that adapts over time
requires a person responsible
for holding it together as a living
practice. The convener keeps the
whole view so that the organizations
carrying individual actions stay
connected to the direction they
share. This role can be served by
the Ecosystem Steward position
recommended in this plan or by an
existing staff member close to the
economic development work.
“What I’ve come to understand from working  for Cal
Poly is there are few things
that are not intertwined.

Every step we take, it has
to be in lockstep with the
city. Whatever we intend to
do- large or small- has to be
shared and accepted to ensure the work is successful.” — Interviewee

30 August 2026 Implementation
The indicators draw on three sources that fill in over time. Many already exist and are tracked regionally through Live Well Humboldt. Others come from an annual community survey that captures the qualitative signals, such as pride, belonging, and sense of opportunity, that are not otherwise tracked. As the practice matures, the group will identify additional indicators it needs and locate the data to support them. The landscape is therefore something that grows with the work rather than a fixed instrument built once at the outset. The City is best served by assembling it from tools already in hand or familiar to the convener, building the practice from what exists rather than adopting a new system to maintain. Guidance on the indicators, their sources, and how to assemble and display them is provided in the appendix.

5.4 Surfacing New Opportunities
The same flexibility that lets the strategy adjust its actions also lets it take on work no one foresaw. When a new opportunity emerges, the convener brings it to the convening group, which weighs it against the same questions that shaped the original set of actions: whether it advances the Good Growth Means, whether a willing organization is ready to lead it, and whether it is achievable with available resources and partnerships.

The group does the work of judging fit; the convener keeps track of the ideas under consideration so that promising ones are not lost between meetings and can be revisited as conditions change. Opportunities that fit are taken forward by their leads and, where appropriate, brought to City Council for formal incorporation.

5.5 Keeping Council and Community Informed
City Council and the community stay connected to the work through the direction of the economy rather than a tally of completed projects. Council receives periodic updates read through the indicators and the Good Growth Means, including the work happening across the community because of this strategy and the convening it sets in motion, not limited to the actions named in this document. The community is kept informed of where the economy is heading and how the work connects to what Arcata defined as good growth, with the annual survey serving as one channel for the community to shape the picture in return.

5.6 A First Cycle
This way of working is an experiment in its first cycle, an approach to adaptive strategic planning that grows from the same ecosystem lens this plan has carried throughout. It treats the economy as something the community tends together rather than something any one entity can manage. That collective tending is itself an expression of the Economy of the Commons, the strategic priority concerned with the assets and responsibilities Arcata holds in common: the shared landscape, the convening group, and the practice of reading and responding together put that priority into practice. The convening group, the shared landscape, and the periodic meetings are a recommendation the community will test, learn from, and refine. The five-year reassessment that accompanies plan renewal is the moment to evaluate whether the indicators measure the right things, whether the meetings are serving their purpose, and whether the Good Growth Means and Strategic Priorities still describe what the community is reaching for. The appendix provides the operational detail the City and its partners need to put this into practice.

Appendices

32 August 2026 Appendices
Community Vitality 1.1 University-Plaza Connectivity Corridor Improvements

1.2 Citywide Vacant Property Activation Program

1.3 Downtown Vacant Storefront Activation Program

1.4 Plaza Master Plan

1.5 Permanent Outdoor Dining Program
Economy of Place

STRATEGIC PRIORITY
Homegrown Economy

STRATEGIC PRIORITY
Economy of the Commons

STRATEGIC PRIORITY
Outdoor Recreation
and Access
Sharing Arcata
Local Production
and Making
Business Support

1.6 Great Redwood Trail Completion

1.7 Trail Town Program Recognition

1.8 Trail Front Development Design Standards

1.9 Outdoor Recreation Participation and Impact Assessment

1.10 Outdoor Recreation Business Support Program

1.11 Outdoor Recreation Sector Working Group

1.12 Tourism Coordination Entity

1.13 Destination Branding

1.14 Tourism Community Benefit Fund

2.1 Foodworks Culinary Center Expansion

2.2 Agricultural Cold-Pack and Food Logistics Cooperative

2.3 Outdoor Gear Accelerator Programming

2.4 Community Fabrication and Prototyping Access

2.5 Business Retention and Attraction Plan

2.6 Expand the SBDC / Startup Humboldt Reach

2.7 Little Lakes Property Reuse and Redevelopment Strategy

3.1 University-Led Community Innovation Lab

3.2 Economic Coordination for Climate Adaptation

3.3 Ecosystem Steward Position

3.4 Permitting and Regulatory Process Audit

READING THE

ACTIONS PROFILES

CITY ROLE TIMELINE
Near-term
Initiation in the
first year.

Medium-term
Initiation in years
two or three.

Longer-term
Initiation in years
four or five.

Delivers
The city executes this
action with its own staff
and resources.

Leads
The city drives the work;
partners contribute to
design or delivery.

Shares
The city and partners
carry this action with
shared responsibility.

Enables
The city creates
conditions for partners
to lead.

Influences
The city advocates
or supports; another
organization leads.

TOP FIVE

PRIORITY ACTIONS
Of the actions this strategy carries,
five stand ready to begin now.

33 August 2026 Appendices

1.1 UNIVERSITY-PLAZA CONNECTIVITY CORRIDOR IMPROVEMENTS In this action, the primary routes connecting the Cal Poly Humboldt campus and downtown Arcata will be enhanced through arts-as-infrastructure corridor improvements. Pedestrian improvements along the Green and Gold Corridors including the US 101 footbridge crossing help to create a welcoming, safe, walkable corridor that supports movement between these two activity nodes and strengthens the University’s role as a primary economic driver in Arcata. Specific enhancements include murals, pedestrianscale lighting, plantings, and other similar elements that improve walkability and safety. Recent private investment in Northtown, including a new hotel, reflects growing momentum that corridor improvements can reinforce, strengthening the district’s emerging identity as a destination between campus and Plaza.

To accomplish this, the City will engage with Cal Poly Humboldt, students, and key partners including Caltrans to identify priority corridor segments and potential elements to improve connectivity. This effort will also integrate with the Reconnect Arcata effort to ensure recommendations and next steps are aligned. The City will then create a phased approach to sequence improvements, identify funding sources for improvements such as the Caltrans Active Transportation Program, and integrate efforts into its capital improvement plan.

ECONOMIC IMPACT
Communities that invest in comparable pedestrian corridor improvements between university and town center have reported measurable increases in foot traffic and spending, and increased business activity along improved segments. In Arcata, this means increases in sales tax capture, enhanced property values along corridor segments, and a larger geography that people feel comfortable exploring on foot. An example of a similar corridor improvement and methodology for measuring impact is the Syracuse Connective Corridor effort.

PARTNERS
Public Works Department, Community Development Department, Cal Poly Humboldt, Caltrans, students, Playhouse Arts

ESTIMATED DURATION
• Lighting, wayfinding, and placemaking improvements can proceed within existing capital programming.
• Footbridge and freeway-adjacent elements require Caltrans coordination on a longer timeline.

INVESTMENT CONSIDERATIONS
This Action has moderate investment complexity given multi-agency coordination. Funding sources to consider include: Caltrans Active Transportation Program, California Transportation Commission, City Capital Improvement Program (CIP), and Safe Routes to School.

STRATEGIC PRIORITY

ECONOMY OF PLACE INITIATIVE

COMMUNITY VITALITY

34 August 2026 Appendices

1.2 CITYWIDE VACANT PROPERTY ACTIVATION PROGRAM
This Action will establish a citywide program to activate vacant and underutilized properties by identifying parcels with development potential, engaging property owners, and facilitating productive new uses. As described in the infill study, development potential exists across the City in industrial parcels, commercial buildings, and vacant lots. A comprehensive activation program would extend beyond individually identified sites to serve the full range of vacancy conditions, property types, and scales. The city’s existing infill lands inventory provides a mapping foundation that the program will build from with owner outreach, available incentives, and defined pathways from temporary community activation to longer-term development.

To initiate this Action, the City will conduct a legal review of available incentives, fees, and registry tools under California law. It will then update the property inventory as a public-facing database and design an owner outreach strategy with key partners. Staff will present Council with a recommended program structure, including any required ordinance changes.

ECONOMIC IMPACT
Vacant and underutilized properties generate little or no tax revenue while depressing values on surrounding parcels. Research links activation of such properties to increased property tax receipts, new business formation, and neighborhood investment. The 2021 Infill Study shows 73 acres and 110 parcels that could be part of this work, and potentially move toward productive economic use.

PARTNERS
Community Development Department, Humboldt Association of Realtors, Arcata Chamber of Commerce, North Coast Small Business Development Center, property owners

ESTIMATED DURATION
• Legal review and inventory update in the first year from initiation. • Program design and Council adoption in subsequent years.

INVESTMENT CONSIDERATIONS
The City’s investment in this Action is primarily staff time for inventory update, legal review, owner outreach, and ongoing program administration. External funding sources to consider include: Environmental Protection Agency Brownfields grants for contaminated parcels, and state infill development programs. An Enhanced Infrastructure Financing District (EIFD) could also support additional activation programs.

STRATEGIC PRIORITY

ECONOMY OF PLACE INITIATIVE

COMMUNITY VITALITY

35 August 2026 Appendices

1.3 DOWNTOWN VACANT STOREFRONT ACTIVATION PROGRAM
In this Action, the City will develop a program framework to connect vacant downtown storefronts with emerging entrepreneurs through short-term tenancies and structured business development support.

The purpose is to activate underused commercial space while lowering the cost and risk of launching a new business. Available storefronts can be activated by providing entrepreneurs a structured, affordable pathway to test business concepts before committing to investing in a building or a long-term lease. The program would place a selected business in a temporarily available space on defined terms, and connect the business owner to existing business development and microfinance resources.

First steps to execute this Action will be to establish a project team of key partners. This group will then evaluate similar models such as Spaceworks Tacoma, the Mount Vernon Main Street storefront incubator program, and similar programs in Salinas and Kansas City, Kansas, and how elements of their programs— such as licensing, liability, and property owner participation—could work in the Arcata context. From that, the team will present the City Council with a recommended program structure and any required funding commitment. To launch the program, the City may want to work with a single participating property owner and initial entrepreneur for a pilot run. Results from this will then be assessed prior to expanding the program to additional storefronts.

ECONOMIC IMPACT
Communities that activate programs like that have seen increases in business formation and higher survival rates from participating entrepreneurs. This translates into reduced storefront vacancy, more activity in commercial districts, high sales tax capture, and increased property values.

PARTNERS
Community Development Department, Arcata Chamber of Commerce, North Coast Small Business Development Center, Startup Humboldt, North Edge Financing

ESTIMATED DURATION
• Partner convening and program design in the first year. • Pilot activation in the second year.
• Expansion contingent on pilot assessment.

INVESTMENT CONSIDERATIONS
While the City’s investment in this Action is estimated to be low and predominantly staff time, there is moderate implementation complexity given the partnership agreements, licensing, and liability framework. Potential costs relate to lease subsidies or liability coverage during the pilot phase. Funding sources to consider include Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) and state small business technical assistance programs.

STRATEGIC PRIORITY

ECONOMY OF PLACE INITIATIVE

COMMUNITY VITALITY

36 August 2026 Appendices

1.4 PLAZA MASTER PLAN
Building from the 2020 Plaza Improvement Task Force recommendations and their implementation, the City would conduct a master planning process for the Arcata Plaza and its immediate surroundings. The Plaza anchors Arcata’s downtown commercial core and carries a concentrated share of the City’s retail, dining, cultural, and event activity. While individual improvements have addressed specific Task Force priorities, a master plan will establish an integrated framework connecting physical design, circulation, programming, and evening activation into a sequenced capital strategy. The plan’s scope includes evaluating an entertainment zone designation for the downtown area, carrying forward a direction set in the prior Economic Development Strategic Plan and the Arcata Strategic Arts Plan. It will draw on demonstrated results to address the Plaza’s role as the cultural and retail heart of the City, and to connect to anticipated residential growth projected in the Gateway Area Plan.

To execute this Action, the City will engage a planning consultant and convene residents, downtown businesses, venue operators, and key partners to evaluate outcomes from prior improvements and identify priorities. The regulatory component will address entertainment zone boundaries and conditions. The Planning Commission will review prior to Council consideration and adoption.

ECONOMIC IMPACT
Research from the Brookings Institution and Project for Public Spaces consistently show that coordinated public space investment increases adjacent property values, reduces commercial vacancy, and strengthens business activity in the surrounding commercial core. Cities with entertainment zone designations report additional gains in evening foot traffic and downtown spending. This can translate to increased sales tax capture and greater vitality in and around the Plaza.

PARTNERS
Community Development Department, Public Works Department, Arcata Police Department, Arcata Chamber of Commerce, Playhouse Arts, Cal Poly Humboldt, downtown venue operators, property owners, business operators, and adjacent residents

ESTIMATED DURATION
• Twelve to eighteen months from consultant engagement to Council adoption. State-required entertainment zone review every two years following designation.

INVESTMENT CONSIDERATIONS
The primary investment from the City will be in hiring the consultant and dedicating staff time for coordination, including noise and regulatory analysis for the entertainment zone component. External funding sources to consider include National Endowment for the Arts Our Town grants, and California Office of Planning and Research planning grants. The City may also consider a financing district or business improvement district to sustain ongoing activation and improvement efforts beyond initial investment.

STRATEGIC PRIORITY

ECONOMY OF PLACE INITIATIVE

COMMUNITY VITALITY

37 August 2026 Appendices

1.5 PERMANENT OUTDOOR DINING PROGRAM
Arcata will establish a permanent outdoor dining program that enables downtown restaurants and cafes to extend service into sidewalks, parking spaces, and Plaza-adjacent areas through a streamlined permitting framework and adopted design standards. The Plaza Improvement Task Force, General Plan 2045 Policy LU-3e, and temporary COVID-era authorizations have each confirmed community and policy support for integrating outdoor dining into the downtown streetscape.

A year-round authorization with community design standards that account for Arcata’s coastal climate would reduce administrative burden for staff and operators while activating ground-floor commercial frontages and strengthening pedestrian life in the commercial core.

The first step to implementing this Action is to engage downtown restaurant operators and key partners to identify priority locations, design standard preferences, and infrastructure needs. The City will review permanent outdoor dining programs adopted by comparable California cities to inform design standards and permitting structure. The City will then draft an outdoor dining program. The Planning Commission will review the ordinance before Council consideration and adoption.

ECONOMIC IMPACT
California cities that converted temporary COVID-era outdoor dining authorizations into permanent programs report increased restaurant revenue from expanded seating capacity and stronger pedestrian activity along participating streetscapes. For example, San Luis Obispo adopted a permanent program in 2022 after demonstrating sustained economic benefit. Such programs result in increased sales tax capture, increased restaurant revenue, and increased foot traffic to districts where these programs are in place.

PARTNERS
Community Development Department, Chamber of Commerce, Downtown restaurant and cafe operators, Public Works Department

ESTIMATED DURATION
• Ordinance development and adoption within twelve months.

INVESTMENT CONSIDERATIONS
The City’s investment is primarily staff time for leading the ordinance creation and adoption process, including all public engagement efforts.

STRATEGIC PRIORITY

ECONOMY OF PLACE INITIATIVE

COMMUNITY VITALITY

38 August 2026 Appendices

1.6 GREAT REDWOOD TRAIL COMPLETION
The City will continue to support the Great Redwood Trail Agency construction efforts through local coordination, trail connections to commercial districts, and visitor readiness as Arcata-area segments reach completion. The trail’s master plan was adopted in early 2026, and the Annie and Mary Trail, the Arcata Rail-with-Trail, and connecting corridors are in active construction. In this Action, the City will ensure that completed segments connect effectively to downtown and neighborhood business districts through wayfinding, trailhead amenities, and trail-facing access along the Gateway corridor. Aligning these investments with the Trail Town Program strengthens Arcata’s standing as the trail’s primary service community in Humboldt County.

Components of this Action where the City plays a stronger role include: facilitating segment completion, local integration, mapping connections between the trail and City points of interest, developing wayfinding standards, and providing trailhead amenities, aligned with the Active Transportation Circulation Plan in the General Plan.

The City will prioritize improvements that can be achieved within existing capital and parks budgets before pursuing additional funding.

ECONOMIC IMPACT
Long-distance rail-trail projects generate significant visitor spending in gateway communities. One example is the Great Allegheny Passage, which produces $50 million in annual economic impact across small cities comparable in size to Arcata. Research consistently shows that overnight trail visitors spend several times more than day users. The convergence of three regional trails in Arcata concentrates that spending potential, particularly as completed segments bring through-travelers who need lodging, dining, and supplies. In addition, being a primary service community to the trail may result in increased employment by trailrelated services, maintenance, and trail-oriented retailers.

PARTNERS
Community Development Department, Great Redwood Trail Agency, Redwood Coast Mountain Bike Association, Friends of the Arcata Marsh, Redwood Region RISE

ESTIMATED DURATION
• Ongoing. Coordination and partnership engagement track active construction. • Visitor readiness improvements align with segment completion timelines.

INVESTMENT CONSIDERATIONS
The City’s investment includes staff time, supporting wayfinding and signage, trailhead facilities, and connectivity infrastructure within existing rights-of-way. The Trail construction is funded through the Great Redwood Trail Agency, the Caltrans Active Transportation Program, Proposition 4, and State Coastal Conservancy allocations.

STRATEGIC PRIORITY

ECONOMY OF PLACE INITIATIVE

OUTDOOR RECREATION AND ACCESS

39 August 2026 Appendices

1.7 TRAIL TOWN PROGRAM RECOGNITION
The City will pursue recognition for its trail networks to strengthen its reputation with the local community and visitors. Multiple national designation frameworks exist, including the International Mountain Bicycling Association Trail Town program and the Progress Fund Trail Town model. Designation formalizes and recognizes what local organizations have built through years and creates a shared structure for aligning wayfinding, business engagement, visitor amenities, and marketing around a trail-based economy.

Implementing this Action has a number of factors to be determined: if it is a City or regional pursuit; if a tourism coordination entity exists to play a role; and which designation is being sought. To initiate this work, partners will first evaluate frameworks and organizations that recognize trail systems to determine which is the best fit. It will then use that agency’s criteria to conduct needed inventories and studies for the designation. It is likely local businesses will play a part in compiling materials for an application.

ECONOMIC IMPACT
The Progress Fund’s Trail Town Program along the Great Allegheny Passage demonstrates that formal designation paired with business development and marketing coordination produces measurable results beyond what trail infrastructure alone generates. Communities along the corridor report a tenfold increase in visitors, 65 new trail-facing businesses, and 270 new jobs since the program launched in 2007. For Arcata, a designation could result in increased visitor spend at trail-adjacent businesses, transient occupancy tax, and sales tax. With supportive marketing, it is possible that the designation could extend the visitation window and its associated economic impact into shoulder seasons.

PARTNERS
Community Development Department, Redwood Coast Mountain Biking Association, Arcata Chamber of Commerce, Great Redwood Trail Agency, Humboldt County Convention and Visitors Bureau, local hospitality and food service businesses

ESTIMATED DURATION
• Framework selection in the first year from initiation. • Application and business engagement in years two and three.

INVESTMENT CONSIDERATIONS
The City’s investment includes staff time to coordinate partners and gather materials for an application.

STRATEGIC PRIORITY

ECONOMY OF PLACE INITIATIVE

OUTDOOR RECREATION AND ACCESS

40 August 2026 Appendices

1.8 TRAIL FRONT DEVELOPMENT DESIGN STANDARDS
With work underway on the Great Redwood Trail and potential recognition as a Trail Town, Arcata can develop and adopt design standards applicable to trail-front development. These standards would examine entrances oriented towards the trail, active ground floor uses, and public space that treats the trail as a primary frontage. The Gateway Area Plan already establishes trail-facing building orientation, active frontage requirements, and mid-block connectivity standards for the Barrel District and adjacent parcels.

Corridors beyond the Gateway district, including Great Redwood Trail segments outside the plan area, Community Forest access routes, and key urban connectors, carry no comparable standards.

Extending the Gateway approach to all priority corridors through a zoning overlay or code amendment ensures the regulatory framework is in place before development interest follows trail investment.

To implement this Action, the City would engage property owners and trail user groups along candidate corridors to identify where standards apply and what design expectations fit each context. The process can use design standards from the Gateway Area Plan as a point of beginning, then tailor as needed for other corridor-specific conditions.

ECONOMIC IMPACT
Trail-oriented development is an emerging national framework with documented property value and spending effects in comparable communities. While the economic impact of this Action may be more localized, establishing such standards prior to development being built ensures the City captures assessed value and commercial activity that trail investment generates.

PARTNERS
Community Development Department, Redwood Coast Mountain Biking Association, Great Redwood Trail Agency, property owners along candidate corridors

ESTIMATED DURATION
• Corridor identification and standards development through the first year. • Adoption in the second year.

INVESTMENT CONSIDERATIONS
The City’s investment includes staff time or consultant engagement for developing design standards and leading a public engagement strategy.

STRATEGIC PRIORITY

ECONOMY OF PLACE INITIATIVE

OUTDOOR RECREATION AND ACCESS

41 August 2026 Appendices

1.9 OUTDOOR RECREATION PARTICIPATION

AND IMPACT ASSESSMENT
The City will support a comprehensive assessment of outdoor recreation participation, visitor behavior, and economic contribution across Arcata’s recreation assets. The effort will include building shared data on how residents and visitors use the City’s trail network, marsh system, forest, and water access points and what that activity generates for the local economy. The Arcata Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary draws an estimated 150,000 users annually, creating an opportunity to measure participation patterns, cross-asset movement, spending, property value effects near recreation corridors, and contributions to quality of life and workforce retention. This assessment will give the City a baseline for evaluating recreation investments and their economic impacts.

To accomplish this Action, the City will work with a research partner such as Cal Poly Humboldt or the California Center for Rural Policy to develop the scope, explore the BEA Outdoor Recreation Satellite methodology, establish geofencing of facilities and other parameters to track usage, spending, seasonal patterns, and cross-asset use. The effort may leverage the Redwood Region RISE’s proposed regional sector datahub since it will offer a platform for sustained measurement, with Arcata-specific findings informing local decisions alongside the regional picture.

ECONOMIC IMPACT
This impact study will serve as the factual economic baseline foundation to inform other investments, help secure grant funding, attract private investments, and target infrastructure spending. It can also support evidence-based marketing through other Economic Strategic Plan Actions. Other similar community-level studies have occurred in Maine, Vermont, and the Central Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

PARTNERS
Community Development Department, Cal Poly Humboldt, California Center for Rural Policy, Redwood Region RISE, Humboldt Lodging Alliance

ESTIMATED DURATION
• Partner identification and study design in the first six months. • Assessment completion within eighteen months of initiation.

INVESTMENT CONSIDERATIONS
The City will work with other partners to establish this research. Investments may be needed for data collection tools. External sources of funding include: Redwood Region RISE, Cal Poly Humboldt research grants, Economic Development Administration planning grants.

STRATEGIC PRIORITY

ECONOMY OF PLACE INITIATIVE

OUTDOOR RECREATION AND ACCESS

42 August 2026 Appendices

1.10 OUTDOOR RECREATION BUSINESS SUPPORT PROGRAM
The City will create a pilot program providing business development services tailored to outdoor recreation guide, outfitter, and rental businesses, whose operating models differ from conventional retail or food service in seasonality, liability structure, and public land access requirements. Arcata’s recreation assets create an opportunity to connect residents, students, and visitors to organized experiences that deepen engagement with the outdoor environment and support the businesses that make those experiences available. A program designed around the specific needs of recreation businesses complements the broader business development capacity available through key partners and will highlight if there is sustained demand for a dedicated support function.

To accomplish this Action, the City will partner with organizations such as the North Coast Small Business Development Center or the Arcata Chamber of Commerce to design and operate a two-year pilot with city funding and staff support. The scope of the pilot program will be crafted through engagement with prospective recreation businesses. Results of the pilot will be assessed after three years to determine the best next steps.

ECONOMIC IMPACT
States and regions that have invested in outdoor recreation business development programs—including New Mexico’s ActivatOR accelerator, Nevada’s Adventure Centers, and Travel Oregon’s Why Guides Program— report increased guide and outfitter formation in communities where general business support had not reached this sector. Having a system of outdoor recreation business support uplifts business development, results in longer stays, and can generate demand for experiences in shoulder seasons.

PARTNERS
Community Development Department, North Coast Small Business Development Center, Arcata Chamber of Commerce, Startup Humboldt, Cal Poly Humboldt Recreation Administration program, Redwood Region RISE

ESTIMATED DURATION
• Partner selection and program design in the first year. • Pilot operation and assessment in years two and three.

INVESTMENT CONSIDERATIONS
The city will provide staff time and some funding to the partner organization to support the pilot phase.

The operating partner will carry the majority of program and operating costs.

STRATEGIC PRIORITY

ECONOMY OF PLACE INITIATIVE

OUTDOOR RECREATION AND ACCESS

43 August 2026 Appendices

1.11 OUTDOOR RECREATION SECTOR WORKING GROUP
The City will facilitate the creation of a standing working group bringing together outdoor recreation organizations, businesses, campus programs, outfitters, and land managers to establish shared priorities and reduce fragmentation across providers currently operating in parallel. Redwood Region RISE established an outdoor recreation community of practice at the regional level in late 2025; a local working group would ensure Arcata-specific coordination needs feed into that regional structure while giving the sector a durable venue for collaboration on priorities the participants determine together. The city’s role is enabling the group’s formation and providing sustained support through funding and staff coordination, with a partner organization facilitating ongoing operations.

The first steps to execute this Action are to identify a facilitation partner and invite core participants spanning recreation organizations, outdoor businesses, campus programs, land managers, and visitorfacing services. Next, the City will provide funding and staff support to establish a meeting cadence and participatory process for setting initial priorities. The working group will coordinate with Redwood Region RISE to align with the regional outdoor recreation community of practice.

ECONOMIC IMPACT
Regions that have formalized outdoor recreation sector coordination report improved access to federal and state funding, reduced duplication among providers, and stronger positioning of recreation as an economic cluster rather than a collection of isolated operators. For example, Michigan’s Central Upper Peninsula’s ORIAN collaborative, a comparable university-adjacent rural region, secured $320,000 in EDA funding to develop a sector-wide growth strategy after formalizing the coordination structure that enabled the application. Other impacts include: reduced duplication across recreation providers, improved crosspromotion that extends visitor stays and enriches resident access, and a shared voice for the sector in regional planning and funding decisions.

PARTNERS
Community Development Department, City Manager’s Office, Redwood Coast Mountain Biking Association, Friends of the Arcata Marsh, Cal Poly Humboldt Outdoor Recreation and Recreation Administration programs, Redwood Region RISE, Local outdoor recreation businesses

ESTIMATED DURATION
• Partner selection and initial convening within the first year of initiation. • Ongoing coordination thereafter.

INVESTMENT CONSIDERATIONS
The City’s investment in this Action is low, and consists primarily of staff time to support a facilitation partner.

STRATEGIC PRIORITY

ECONOMY OF PLACE INITIATIVE

OUTDOOR RECREATION AND ACCESS

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1.12 TOURISM COORDINATION ENTITY
While a Visit Arcata name exists, it is currently housed at the City without dedicated staff. To strengthen coordination across Arcata’s visitor economy and to strengthen marketing of Arcata as a destination, this Action will examine and create a dedicated entity responsible for the destination. Such organizations typically lead destination strategy, local coordination of stakeholders, itinerary creation, and marketing.

Additional functions in different destinations include supporting visitors’ centers, product development, destination management, and stewardship.

Steps to implement this Action begin with understanding the current context of tourism in Arcata and Humboldt County, learning what regional tourism partners’ considerations are on creating a stronger coordination entity, and assessing a model for the organization and how it will be established.

ECONOMIC IMPACT
Several Actions in Arcata’s Economic Strategic Plan invest in the City’s visitor economy, from trail infrastructure and outdoor dining to basecamp branding and recreation access. A dedicated entity to coordinate destination marketing, manage industry partnerships, and deploy visitor-generated revenue will help the community see even greater returns on those efforts. Comparable visitor economies demonstrate that organizational capacity is what converts assets into measurable visitor spending, transient occupancy tax growth, sales tax growth, and reinvestment.

PARTNERS
Community Development Department, City Manager’s Office, Arcata Chamber of Commerce, Humboldt Lodging Alliance, Redwood Region RISE, Humboldt Made, lodging and hospitality operators, Cal Poly Humboldt

ESTIMATED DURATION
• Creation and activation of a tourism coordination entity for Arcata in one year.

INVESTMENT CONSIDERATIONS
The City’s investment will be staff time or hiring a consultant to perform the study and support the entity formation.

STRATEGIC PRIORITY

ECONOMY OF PLACE INITIATIVE

SHARING ARCATA

45 August 2026 Appendices

1.13 DESTINATION BRANDING
Creating a cohesive brand for Arcata will drive visitation and make Arcata better known as a destination.

One possibility is creating a brand as a basecamp for outdoor adventure across the Humboldt region, while enjoying the comforts of the Arcata community. This frames Arcata as a services hub where visitors stay, connect, and support local businesses and can easily launch outside the City to enjoy trails, the coastline, national parks, and other natural environments.

The Tourism Coordination Entity created in the first Action within this Initiative will take the lead coordination role on this effort. This entity will convene local partners and other expertise to understand core components of the Arcata brand, desired visitors, core messaging, and visitor markets. This work will include clarifying brand roll-out to maximize its impact.

ECONOMIC IMPACT
Comparable small communities that have invested in creating a local destination brand see increased visitation, hotel occupancy, transient occupancy tax, sales tax, lengths of stay, and foot traffic. With the dedicated resource of a tourism coordination entity and intentionally sharing Arcata’s story, Arcata will see such impacts.

PARTNERS
Tourism Coordination Entity, Arcata Chamber of Commerce, Humboldt Lodging Alliance, Humboldt Made, Redwood Region RISE, Cal Poly Humboldt Recreation Administration program

ESTIMATED DURATION
• Governance and revenue source clarification in the first six months. • Brand strategy through the first year.
• Content production and rollout in subsequent years.

INVESTMENT CONSIDERATIONS
While the overall investment for this Action is moderate, the City’s investment in this is low, as it will be the tourism coordination entity and its related funding through transient occupancy tax that will be the primary budget resources for this effort.

STRATEGIC PRIORITY

ECONOMY OF PLACE INITIATIVE

SHARING ARCATA

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1.14 TOURISM COMMUNITY BENEFIT FUND
Once a tourism coordination entity is established and a brand has been driving visitation, the City will consider the creation of a tourism community benefit fund. This type of fund, governed by a community advisory board, reinvests a share of visitor-generated revenue into the infrastructure and programs that strengthen Arcata as a place residents want to live and visitors enjoy.

While the prior Economic Development Strategic Plan established the Valley West TOT reinvestment fund, which is a neighborhood-level precedent, there is no other similar mechanism in Arcata today. With this type of a fund, the City could direct funds towards areas of community benefit such as public space improvements, cultural facilities, and recreation infrastructure.

The first step to implement this Action is to convene key partners to evaluate the potential impact such a fund could have, what revenue mechanisms exist, how to identify a preferred mechanism, what types of projects could benefit from this program, and what a governance structure would look like. Possible revenue mechanisms include, but aren’t limited to a dedicated transient occupancy tax allocation and a Tourism Business Improvement District assessment.

ECONOMIC IMPACT
Other communities that have a similar fund, such as Bend, Oregon’s Sustainability Fund, show marked investment into community amenities from tourism dollars. Since 2021, $3.8M has been distributed across 42 projects including investments in trails, cultural facilities, and recreation access. By investing in the community, Arcata could also see enhanced quality of life, possible heightened workforce retention, more amenities that drive longer stays and return visits.

PARTNERS
Community Development Department, City Manager’s Office, Tourism Coordination Entity, Humboldt Lodging Alliance, Arcata Chamber of Commerce, Redwood Region RISE

ESTIMATED DURATION
• Revenue mechanism evaluation and governance design through the first year. • Council adoption and initial fund cycle in the second year.

INVESTMENT CONSIDERATIONS
While the overall investment for this Action is moderate, the City’s investment in this is balanced by that of the tourism entity to do the study and coordination to make this happen. Funds for any community investment would come from the funding source identified through this Action.

STRATEGIC PRIORITY

ECONOMY OF PLACE INITIATIVE

SHARING ARCATA

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2.1 FOODWORKS CULINARY CENTER EXPANSION
The City and partners will expand the Foodworks Culinary Center model to build on a successful track record to support the next generation of Arcata’s food production economy. This will increase production capacity, update processing and co-packing equipment, and add commissary kitchens for mobile food vendors. Full occupancy of the current facility since its founding in the early 1990s demonstrates sustained demand for shared commercial kitchen infrastructure. Expanding services and facilities to match what emerging food businesses require will strengthen the entrepreneurial pipeline and open scaling pathways for established producers ready to grow into larger production space.

To initiate this Action, partners will conduct a needs assessment with current tenants, prospective users, and NCGA to define scope details.

Those findings will inform capital budget requests and grant applications through USDA Rural Development, Community Facilities, and Value-Added Producer Grant programs. The City Council will review and decide on the capital allocation once funding is identified.

ECONOMIC IMPACT
Arcata has pent up demand for expanding its food production sector. This expansion will enable more direct employment in food production, greater local supply chain spending, and value-added processing in the region. Further, national data demonstrate that shared kitchens disproportionately serve women and minority entrepreneurs, so this Action will support these historically disadvantaged populations.

PARTNERS
Community Development Department, North Coast Growers Association, North Coast Small Business Development Center, Cal Poly Humboldt Food Science and Business programs, Redwood Region RISE

ESTIMATED DURATION
• Needs assessment and funding identification in the first year. • Design, procurement, and construction in subsequent years.

INVESTMENT CONSIDERATIONS
This Action will have moderate investment given the presence of existing infrastructure. External funding sources to consider include: USDA Rural Development, Value-Added Producer Grants, Community Development Block Grants, and state food systems grants.

STRATEGIC PRIORITY

HOMEGROWN ECONOMY INITIATIVE

LOCAL PRODUCTION AND MAKING

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2.2 AGRICULTURAL COLD-PACK AND

FOOD LOGISTICS COOPERATIVE
The City will support the North Coast Growers Association’s planned expansion of the Harvest Hub to scale local food production for wholesale and institutional markets. This expansion will add cooperatively owned cold storage, packing, and distribution capacity. The Harvest Hub has operated on West End Road since 2023 and a larger facility is in pre-development. Catalyst funding has been secured through Redwood Region RISE. Expanded capacity lets small and mid-sized farms deliver on contracts with Cal Poly Humboldt, area schools, and regional grocers, reach Bay Area and other export markets, and keep value-added processing inside the county as food businesses scale.

The City will engage with the North Coast Growers Association to identify the City’s role in supporting the cooperative. This may include capital co-investment, siting support, regulatory facilitation, and postCatalyst sustainability planning.

ECONOMIC IMPACT
Infrastructure such as cold-pack and smart logistics are necessary for the agricultural industry to thrive.

Establishing this infrastructure as a cooperative empowers economies of scale that are not possible by a single business. This Action will result in construction jobs; direct facility employment; expanded sales for member producers through wholesale, institutional, and export channels; reduced spoilage and transportation losses; value retention through cooperative ownership; and regional food system resilience during road closures and other disruptions.

PARTNERS
Community Development Department, North Coast Growers Association, Redwood Region RISE, Cal Poly Humboldt, Humboldt County, North Edge Financing

ESTIMATED DURATION
• City role confirmed in the first year alongside NCGA’s construction timeline, facility construction. • Operations launch in subsequent years.

INVESTMENT CONSIDERATIONS
This Action will have high investment predominantly from NCGA. Additional external funding sources to consider include: Redwood Region RISE Catalyst funds, USDA Rural Development programs, and California Department of Food and Agriculture Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure grants.

STRATEGIC PRIORITY

HOMEGROWN ECONOMY INITIATIVE

LOCAL PRODUCTION AND MAKING

49 August 2026 Appendices

2.3 OUTDOOR GEAR ACCELERATOR PROGRAMMING
The City will invest in sector-specific accelerator programming connecting Arcata’s outdoor gear entrepreneurs with the mentorship, industry networks, and business development support that earlystage product companies require to grow. Outdoor gear and marine manufacturing firms have emerged organically from Arcata’s outdoor culture for over fifty years. Accelerator programming modeled on proven approaches, such as Bend Outdoor Worx in Central Oregon, would give emerging gear businesses structured access to experienced industry mentors, investor exposure, and peer networks. The city’s role is to initiate a pilot and convene the local industry relationships that make it possible. A partner organization will design and operate the program.

Steps to execute this Action include first learning about other similar programming such as Engage Bend Outdoor Worx. Partners will then convene local manufacturers, entrepreneurs, and students to assess interest and identify mentor capacity from established firms. Partners will contribute funds to a pilot cohort or workshop series, then assess results before committing to ongoing programming.

ECONOMIC IMPACT
Exploring, articulating, then acting on the needs of the outdoor gear industry to bring products to market supports the overall economic health of this sector. Impacts from this Action include potential higher rates of business formation and survival, job creation, and retention of entrepreneurs who would otherwise relocate to scale.

PARTNERS
Community Development Department, North Coast Small Business Development Center, Startup Humboldt, Cal Poly Humboldt engineering and business programs, Established local outdoor gear firms, Redwood Region RISE

ESTIMATED DURATION
• Partner engagement and pilot design in the first year. • Pilot programming and assessment in the second.

INVESTMENT CONSIDERATIONS
This Action will have low investment, with the City supporting coordination and the partner that is running the pilot. That partner will carry program and mentorship costs.

STRATEGIC PRIORITY

HOMEGROWN ECONOMY INITIATIVE

LOCAL PRODUCTION AND MAKING

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2.4 COMMUNITY FABRICATION AND PROTOTYPING ACCESS
Investment in accessible fabrication and prototyping infrastructure enables local manufacturers, entrepreneurs, and makers to develop products using specialized equipment that individual businesses cannot justify independently. Cal Poly Humboldt’s fabrication facilities and the City’s established maker culture offer a foundation for extending prototyping and production access to local manufacturers and entrepreneurs alongside enrolled students. A structured access program, whether hosted by the University, operated independently, or organized as a cooperative would lower the capital barrier for product development across sectors. Outdoor gear manufacturing is a primary beneficiary alongside food production, artisan manufacturing, and circular economy enterprises.

To kick off this Action, the City will engage Cal Poly Humboldt to evaluate expanding fabrication access beyond enrolled students and identify what equipment and facility capacity already exists. The City and University will convene local manufacturers and makers to assess the highest-value equipment gaps. Next steps include designing an access and governance model that draws from community fabrication programs such as ADX Portland and the Chimera Arts model in Sonoma County. The City and University may consider operating this as a pilot prior to committing to a permanent facility or equipment investment.

ECONOMIC IMPACT
Numerous micro manufacturers have found their start at operations such as ADX Portland. With a similar facility in Arcata, the economic impact will include: reduced capital barriers for product development and business formation, increased prototyping and small-batch production capacity, and retention of entrepreneurs who would otherwise relocate to access fabrication infrastructure.

PARTNERS
Community Development Department, Cal Poly Humboldt, North Coast Small Business Development Center, Startup Humboldt, Local manufacturers and makers, Redwood Region RISE

ESTIMATED DURATION
• Equipment needs assessment in the first year.
• Pilot program in the second year.

INVESTMENT CONSIDERATIONS
This Action involves moderate investment given equipment and facilities costs and the pre-operations governance design. External sources of funding to consider include: Economic Development Administration planning and public works grants, California Community College workforce development funds, and Redwood Region RISE sector funding. The University or operating partner will carry facility and staffing costs.

STRATEGIC PRIORITY

HOMEGROWN ECONOMY INITIATIVE

LOCAL PRODUCTION AND MAKING

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2.5 BUSINESS RETENTION AND ATTRACTION PLAN
The City and partners will develop a plan for retaining and strengthening the businesses Arcata has, and for attracting new entrepreneurs and firms whose values, workforce needs, and operating models fit what the community offers. The plan will establish how to engage existing businesses through regular outreach and retention support, coordinate available commercial space with prospective tenants, and conduct targeted recruitment of people and businesses suited to Arcata’s economy, from niche manufacturing and remote work to the outdoor and food economies and other emerging sectors.

Partners will first meet to develop the plan, updating the prior Economic Development Strategic Plan’s attraction criteria through a community process and building out the retention, outreach, and coordination components. The convener will identify who is responsible for executing both retention and attraction activities. If necessary, City staff and partners will present the City Council with the completed plan and a recommended model for ongoing execution.

ECONOMIC IMPACT
Business retention and attraction are central to economic strategies and have a proven track record for positive economic impact. Primary impacts include: greater rates of business formation and retention, increased sales tax capture, and a defensible framework for targeted recruitment grounded in community priorities.

PARTNERS
Community Development Department, City Manager’s Office, Arcata Chamber of Commerce, North Coast Small Business Development Center, Cal Poly Humboldt

ESTIMATED DURATION
• Community engagement and plan development through the first year. • Council adoption and implementation in the second year.

INVESTMENT CONSIDERATIONS
This Action involves lower investment, primarily in staff time for the engagement process, legal review, and plan development. There is low to moderate complexity in implementing this Action given the Commerce Clause review and the need for genuine community engagement to establish legitimacy.

INITIATIVE

BUSINESS SUPPORT

STRATEGIC PRIORITY

HOMEGROWN ECONOMY

52 August 2026 Appendices

2.6 EXPAND THE SBDC / STARTUP HUMBOLDT REACH
Community partners will invest in expanding the reach of the North Coast Small Business Development Center and Startup Humboldt.

The SBDC and its Startup Humboldt already catalyze local business support, and the Startup Humboldt accelerator’s inaugural year demonstrated both the demand and the model’s capacity to generate ventures, jobs, and investment. Expanding the reach of these will include supporting underserved entrepreneurs, deepening services for businesses ready to scale or transition ownership, and making the path from idea to operating business in Arcata clearer and more navigable. The City’s role is catalytic: sustained funding that leverages federal matching dollars, and reducing friction on the municipal side of business formation.

First steps to implement this Action include convening SBDC leadership and key partners to identify the highest-value expansion opportunities and to develop a city funding commitment structured to leverage Small Business Administration matching requirements. Partners will then focus on how to coordinate with City permitting staff to produce a plain-language business startup guide that translates the regulatory landscape into accessible terms. Last, partners will explore formalizing the succession planning and employee ownership advising that the SBDC has piloted, and aligning with the Redwood Region RISE coordination as timelines allow.

ECONOMIC IMPACT
SBDCs provide countless supports and services to emerging businesses, and investing in its expansion grows its ability to support more businesses. Impacts include: increased business formation and survival rates, job creation, and capital investment from expanded advising capacity. Succession planning and cooperative conversion warrant separate treatment, since each retained business avoids the community cost of closure and wealth extraction.

PARTNERS
Community Development Department, North Coast Small Business Development Center, Cal Poly Humboldt, Startup Humboldt consortium, North Edge Financing, Redwood Region RISE

ESTIMATED DURATION
• Programming expansion builds over time with sustained annual investment.

INVESTMENT CONSIDERATIONS
Investment for this Action is moderate, anticipated to be sustained annual contributions rather than capital expenditure. Each city dollar leverages federal matching funds. Partner costs for hub operations and programming will be carried by the Startup Humboldt consortium.

INITIATIVE

BUSINESS SUPPORT

STRATEGIC PRIORITY

HOMEGROWN ECONOMY

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2.7 LITTLE LAKES PROPERTY REUSE

AND REDEVELOPMENT STRATEGY
The City will develop a reuse strategy for the Little Lakes property through a participatory planning process to identify feasible uses as the site approaches development readiness. Soil remediation through an Environmental Protection Agency Brownfields Cleanup Grant began in 2025, and the City has applied for Community Development Block Grant funding for site planning. Proposed uses, from production-oriented development to coastal recreation, will be tested against the site’s environmental, seismic, and regulatory constraints. The planning process will engage residents, stakeholders, and subject matter experts.

To implement this Action, the City will engage residents and stakeholders through a participatory design process, then use outcomes to scope a feasibility study aligned with remediation progress. A prioritized development program will be brought before the City Council for review.

ECONOMIC IMPACT
Bringing land into a buildable inventory enables more economic development in the future. Impacts of this Action include increased property value and property taxes from remediation and reuse, construction employment, and business formation from eventual site uses.

PARTNERS
Community Development Department, Cal Poly Humboldt, College of the Redwoods, California Coastal Commission, Humboldt County

ESTIMATED DURATION
• Participatory design process and feasibility study in the first year. • Development program for Council review in subsequent years.

INVESTMENT CONSIDERATIONS
Investment for this Action is high and includes engagement, planning, and feasibility. Complexity is high given environmental remediation, coastal zone regulation, and seismic constraints. Primary external funding sources to consider include: Community Development Block Grants, Environmental Protection Agency Brownfields Cleanup Grants, and Economic Development Administration public works grants. “The city of Arcata, the businesses and organizations and Community really need to have a deep focus on resilience and that goes everything into the economy the infrastructure business everything needs to be built in a way that it can be resilient regardless of what happens with the rest of the world and that not only helps us as a community but where the type of community that would deeply invest in it and then we could teach others across the world how we did it.” — Interviewee

INITIATIVE

BUSINESS SUPPORT

STRATEGIC PRIORITY

HOMEGROWN ECONOMY

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3.1 UNIVERSITY-LED COMMUNITY INNOVATION LAB
The City and Cal Poly Humboldt will develop a standing, cross-disciplinary program that directs university capacity toward community-identified opportunities. Applied collaborations between the University and Arcata have produced nationally recognized work in clean energy systems, ecological infrastructure, and appropriate technology.

A formalized innovation lab expands from these foundations into a coordinated structure where faculty across departments engage community-posed opportunities, local organizations gain consistent access to university expertise, and graduates build professional roots through applied work in the place they studied.

To initiate this Action, the City and Cal Poly Humboldt will investigate and create an agreement to establish the lab. Once established, leadership will identify community opportunity areas, in concert with local organizations, to anchor the first program cycle. Similar programs can be seen at the University of Oregon Sustainable Cities Initiative and Southern Oregon University’s Institute for Applied Sustainability.

ECONOMIC IMPACT
Similar programs in other areas demonstrate strong economic impact from education-government partnerships, with many efforts finding traction and momentum as a result of the investment. Impacts may include: business and programmatic advancement across the community with local commercial or operational value, and higher graduate and talent retention.

PARTNERS
Cal Poly Humboldt, City Manager’s Office, Community Development Department, California Center for Rural Policy, North Coast Small Business Development Center

ESTIMATED DURATION
• Program design in the first year.
• Initial challenge cycle in the second year.

INVESTMENT CONSIDERATIONS
The City’s investment in this Action is low, predominantly focused on staff coordination time and sustained partnership. The University investment may be higher as faculty time is dedicated to endeavors outside the institution, and will require an expansion of its existing research budget.

STRATEGIC PRIORITY

ECONOMY OF THE COMMONS

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3.2 ECONOMIC COORDINATION FOR CLIMATE ADAPTATION
Arcata faces adaptation pressures from sea level rise, wildfire risk, energy disruption, and food system vulnerability. Compounding these pressures with the geographic isolation that makes local resilience an economic necessity, this Action will invest in a coordinated municipal approach to climate adaptation that positions the City’s infrastructure spending, procurement, and research partnerships as economic development. Coordinating the City’s response across departments and with regional partners captures adaptation spending locally while building Arcata’s role as a demonstration community whose applied solutions reach well beyond the region. The Arcata Marsh, the Schatz Energy Research Center’s microgrid partnerships, and the Cal Poly Humboldt Sea Level Rise Institute have each produced work with national reach. This establishes a foundation that a coordinated approach formalizes and connects to Redwood Region RISE’s regional sector strategies.

This Action begins with designating a cross-departmental coordination function responsible for identifying adaptation-related capital projects, procurement opportunities, and research partnerships across city operations. Next, the City will engage with Cal Poly Humboldt and key partners to align infrastructure needs with applied research capacity and workforce development programming.

The City will also connect with Redwood Region RISE to position local projects for regional and state funding. This work aligns with and supports the Humboldt County Climate Action Plan, whose regional approach the City has endorsed.

ECONOMIC IMPACT
Economic impacts of this Action may be seen in the local capture of adaptation-related infrastructure spending through procurement alignment, workforce development in climate-related trades, applied research outputs with commercial or operational value, and attraction of federal and state climate resilience funding.

PARTNERS
Community Development Department, City Manager’s Office, Environmental Services Department, Cal Poly Humboldt, Sea Level Rise Institute, Schatz Energy Research Center, Redwood Region RISE

ESTIMATED DURATION
• Coordination structure and initial partnership alignment in the first year. • Integration with capital planning and procurement cycles in subsequent years.

INVESTMENT CONSIDERATIONS
The City’s investment in this Action is moderate, focused on staff time for cross-departmental coordination, partnership development, and project tracking. The inter-agency and intra-agency coordination for this action is of moderate complexity. Primary external funding and adaptation sources include Economic Development Administration grants, National Science Foundation awards, and California Climate Investments.

STRATEGIC PRIORITY

ECONOMY OF THE COMMONS

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3.3 ECOSYSTEM STEWARD POSITION
Arcata’s economic landscape includes hundreds of businesses, dozens of nonprofits, city departments, Tribal entities, Cal Poly Humboldt, Humboldt County, and the State of California, where work intersects but coordination remains largely informal. This Action will establish a dedicated position responsible for tending the relationships, coordination, and collaborative conditions across Arcata’s economic development ecosystem as part of this five-year strategy. The role’s purpose is to surface connections participants cannot see from inside their own organizations, reduce the friction that stalls collaborative work, and move multipartner efforts from conversation to action. The Kauffman Foundation and ESHIP Alliance have funded and refined this concept for over fifteen years as a distinct professional skill set within economic development.

The International Economic Development Council’s 2025 State of the Field research documented a profession-wide shift toward what it calls systems stewardship, with over sixty percent of practitioners identifying partnerships and networks as core to their work. Arcata would be among the first communities to formalize the role at a municipal scale, creating an applied model with replication value well beyond the region.

To implement this Action, the City and key partners will define the position scope, organizational home, and shared funding structure for the position, then recruit for facilitation skill, community credibility, and multi-stakeholder navigation ability. Once hired, it is recommended that the person direct early work toward the plan’s implementation framework and the highest-priority collaborative projects identified through portfolio sequencing.

ECONOMIC IMPACT
The steward is a coordination mechanism whose economic value flows through the projects it enables. Impact channels include reduced time-to-action on multi-partner initiatives, improved grant competitiveness from demonstrated collaboration, and stronger university-community alignment across workforce, research, and institutional spending.

PARTNERS
City Manager’s Office, Community Development Department, Cal Poly Humboldt, North Coast Small Business Development Center, Arcata Chamber of Commerce, Redwood Region RISE, Humboldt Area Foundation

ESTIMATED DURATION
• Partner convening and position design in the first six months. • Recruitment and onboarding by the end of the first year.

INVESTMENT CONSIDERATIONS
This Action entails moderate investment in salary, benefits, and operating costs for a single position sustained across this Plan’s five-year term. Carrying out this Action is moderately complex, given the suggested multipartner funding model and the need for community-wide trust.

An economy is shaped by many participants, and no single organization can manage it. The steward holds the wider view, tending connections across partners and keeping each accountable to the shared direction. This position is the plan’s recommended home for the convener role described in the Implementation section.

STRATEGIC PRIORITY

ECONOMY OF THE COMMONS

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3.4 PERMITTING AND REGULATORY PROCESS AUDIT
The City will conduct a formal audit of its business-facing regulatory and permitting processes, document their current state and baseline, identify where improvements can be made, then propose and adopt those improvements. Throughout, the City will communicate with businesses on the process to provide transparency and to set expectations in the work and its purpose, and to help the business community recognize the City’s commitment to improving services. Framing the audit around the experiences of local entrepreneurs and small business owners, rather than as a general regulatory review, keeps the scope grounded in the community’s economic priorities.

This work will begin by engaging business owners and recent applicants to document the current experience across permit types. The City will then conduct a process review with key partners and an external facilitator.

Findings and recommendations will be shared with interested parties for review. Recommended action will be adopted into permitting and regulatory processes.

ECONOMIC IMPACT
Having smoother permitting and review processes reduces time-to-operation for new businesses, lowers predevelopment costs, and improves business formation rates.

PARTNERS
Community Development Department, City Manager’s Office, Arcata Chamber of Commerce, North Coast Small Business Development Center

ESTIMATED DURATION
• Twelve to eighteen months from initiation to adoption.

INVESTMENT CONSIDERATIONS
The primary investment in this Action is staff time and an external consultant supporting the audit. The work is moderately complex, depending on the specific permit or regulation under review.

STRATEGIC PRIORITY

ECONOMY OF THE COMMONS

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CO-DESIGN WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS
Alexandra Stillman, City of Arcata Councilmember
Bethany Gilden, Cal Poly Administration
Carly Tambling, Bright and Green
Fernando Paz, Cal Poly Campus and Community
Development
Gloria Baker, Chamber of Commerce
Jacqueline Dandeneau, Playhouse Arts
Jen Rice, Jen Rice Consults
Joe Bishop, City of Arcata Building Department
Justin Woehler, Ruf Collective
Kathy Moxon
Leila Roberts, Amaranth Consulting
Lucy Salazar, CUMBRE
Meredith Maier, Chamber of Commerce
Meredith Matthews, City of Arcata Councilmember
Michael Davies-Hughes, Humboldt County Department
of Education
Michael Fisher, Cal Poly Administration
Natalie Waltston, The Plaza
Nick Kieselhorst, Ironside Metal
Chris Kieselhorst, Ironside Metal
Peggy Murphy, Humboldt County Economic
Development Department
Portia Bramble, North Coast Growers Association
Rosamel Benavides, Cal Poly Humboldt - Office of
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Rob Davies
Rob Holmlund, Humboldt Bay Harbor District
Ross Welch, North Edge Financing
Scott Davies, Ridgefield Weddings
Scott Pesch, Pacific Partners Commercial
Susan Seaman, North Edge Financing
Swan Asbury, City of Eureka Economic Development
Department
Tory Staff, Open Door Community Health
Wil Franklin, North Coast SBDC
Brenda Perez, Centro del Pueblo
Lonny Graphman, Cal Poly Entrepreneurship Program

CITY COUNCIL
Kimberley White, Mayor
Stacy Atkins-Salazar, Vice-Mayor
Meredith Matthews, Councilmember
Sarah Schaefer, Councilmember
Alexandra Stillman, Councilmember

CITY STAFF TEAM
Merritt Perry, City Manager
Tabatha Miller, Assistant City Manager
David Loya, Community Development Director
Jen Dart, Community Development Deputy Director

CONSULTANT TEAM
Jason Schneider
Stacy Humphrey
Hannah Lewis
Jomiro Eming

SERVICE LEARNING STUDENTS
Abigail Carlson
Tibora Girczyc-Blum
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the many people who participated in interviews, community forums, the community survey, as well as participants at the two Co-Design Workshops. This Plan is founded on the engagement and thoughtfulness of the Arcata community.

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Resources Links and Program Examples
The following resources are referenced throughout this plan. In the electronic version of this document, each resource is linked at its point of reference. This appendix provides full web addresses for all linked resources so that readers of the printed document can access them directly. All links were verified as of July 2026.

Introduction and Methodology
The Startup Community Way, by Brad Feld and Ian Hathaway. The book describing the Seven Capitals model referenced in the Ecosystem Approach section of this plan. https://www.startuprev.com/the-startup-communityway/ Kauffman Foundation. National foundation supporting entrepreneurship research, including the ecosystem and Seven Capitals frameworks referenced in this plan. https://www.kauffman.org/ ESHIP Alliance. National network of communities practicing ecosystem-based economic development, referenced in the Ecosystem Approach section. https://www.eship.org/ Economy of Place
Syracuse Connective Corridor, Syracuse University. A university-to-downtown corridor improvement initiative referenced as a comparable model in the University-Plaza Connectivity action. https://connectivecorridor.syr.edu/ Spaceworks Tacoma. A storefront activation and creative enterprise program referenced in the Downtown Vacant Storefront Activation action. https://www.spaceworkstacoma.com/ Pop-Up Mount Vernon, Downtown Mount Vernon Main Street Program. A storefront incubator program referenced in the Downtown Vacant Storefront Activation action. https://www.downtownmountvernon.org/the-pop-upmount-vernon National Endowment for the Arts, Our Town Grants. A federal grant program referenced as a funding source in the Plaza Master Plan action. https://www.arts.gov/grants/our-town City of San Luis Obispo, Permanent Outdoor Dining Program. A California city program referenced as a comparable model in the Permanent Outdoor Dining action. https://www.slocity.org/government/department-directory/ community-development/downtown/outdoor-dining
California Senate Bill 969 (2025). State legislation authorizing open-container zones, referenced in the Entertainment Zone Designation action. https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_ id=202520260SB969
Fort Wayne, Indiana, The Landing Entertainment District. An entertainment district referenced as a comparable model in the Entertainment Zone Designation action. https://www.visitfortwayne.com/the-landing/ City of Redding, California, Entertainment Zone. An entertainment district referenced as a comparable model in the Entertainment Zone Designation action. https://www.cityofredding.gov/visitors/arts___culture_/entertainment_ zone_businesses.php
City of Tempe, Arizona, Entertainment District. An entertainment district referenced as a comparable model in the Entertainment Zone Designation action. https://www.tempe.gov/government/community-development/ entertainment-district
Great Allegheny Passage Conservancy, Research and Economic Impact. Economic impact studies of the 150-mile

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trail system referenced in the Great Redwood Trail and Trail Town actions. https://gaptrail.org/about/research/ International Mountain Bicycling Association, Trail Town Designation Program. A national trail community designation framework referenced in the Trail Town Program Recognition action. https://www.imba.com/ designation/trail-town
The Progress Fund, Trail Town Program. A trail community economic development program referenced in the Trail Town Program Recognition action. https://www.trailtowns.org/about-us/ U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Outdoor Recreation Satellite Account. The federal methodology for measuring the outdoor recreation economy, referenced in the Outdoor Recreation Participation and Impact Assessment action. https://www.bea.gov/data/special-topics/outdoor-recreation Maine Office of Outdoor Recreation. A state outdoor recreation program referenced as a comparable assessment model in the Outdoor Recreation Participation and Impact Assessment action. https://www.maine.gov/decd/ programs/maine-office-of-outdoor-recreation
Vermont Outdoor Recreation Economy Toolkit. A state outdoor recreation data platform referenced as a comparable assessment model in the Outdoor Recreation Participation and Impact Assessment action. https://vtcoretoolkit. com/dashboard/
Central Upper Peninsula of Michigan, ORIAN Collaborative. A university-adjacent rural outdoor recreation coordination initiative referenced in the Outdoor Recreation Sector Working Group and Outdoor Recreation Participation and Impact Assessment actions. https://innovatemarquette.org/orian/ New Mexico ActivatOR, Outdoor Recreation Business Accelerator. A state outdoor recreation business development program referenced in the Outdoor Recreation Business Support action. https://nmoutside.com/our-work/ outdoor-recreation-business-accelerator/
Nevada Adventure Centers. A state visitor information and outdoor recreation program referenced in the Outdoor Recreation Business Support action. https://adventure.travelnevada.biz/landing-page/adventure-center-visitorinformation/ Travel Oregon, Why Guides Tour Guide and Outfitter Registration Program. A state program supporting outdoor recreation guides and outfitters, referenced in the Outdoor Recreation Business Support action. https://industry. traveloregon.com/programs/outdoor-recreation/tour-operators-guides-and-outfitters/why-guides-tour-guideand-outfitter-registration/ Bend, Oregon Sustainability Fund, Visit Bend. A tourism community benefit fund referenced as a comparable model in the Tourism Community Benefit Fund action. https://sustainability.visitbend.com/ Homegrown Economy
Bend Outdoor Worx, Outdoor Industry Accelerator. An outdoor industry business accelerator referenced as a comparable model in the Outdoor Gear Accelerator Programming action. https://www.bendoutdoorworx.com/ ADX Portland, Art Design Xchange. A community fabrication and makerspace referenced as a comparable model in the Community Fabrication and Prototyping Access action. https://artdesignxchange.com/ Chimera Arts and Makerspace, Sebastopol, California. A community arts and makerspace referenced as a comparable model in the Community Fabrication and Prototyping Access action. https://www.chimeraarts.org/ Economy of the Commons

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University of Oregon, Sustainable Cities Initiative. A university-community applied research program referenced as a comparable model in the University-Led Community Innovation Lab action. https://sci.uoregon.edu/ Southern Oregon University, Institute for Applied Sustainability. A university sustainability institute referenced as a comparable model in the University-Led Community Innovation Lab action. https://sustainability.sou.edu/ institute/
Kauffman Foundation Ecosystem Playbook. The playbook describing the ecosystem stewardship concept referenced in the Ecosystem Steward Position action. https://www.kauffman.org/ecosystem-playbook-draft-3/ ecosystems/
ESHIP Alliance. Referenced in the Ecosystem Steward Position action for its role in developing and funding the ecosystem stewardship practice. https://www.eship.org/
International Economic Development Council, 2025 State of the Field Report. National research documenting the profession-wide shift toward systems stewardship, referenced in the Ecosystem Steward Position action. https:// www.iedconline.org/edrp-reports/data/2025-state-of-the-field-general-report/?back=edrp_publications Implementation
Live Well Humboldt, Regional Indicator Platform. The regional data platform from which the plan’s starting set of economic and quality-of-life indicators is drawn. Individual indicator links are embedded in the Indicator Catalog section of this plan. https://www.livewellhumboldt.org/

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Refinement Criteria
This appendix compiles project concepts surfaced through community engagement, existing plans, and research into comparable communities. These ideas are organized around eight priority themes we created from stakeholder input. They are offered as seeds for co-design. Starting points for conversation, not final recommendations.

These ideas will be refined through co-design workshops where community members will help come up with new ideas, prioritize, combine, and develop the most promising concepts into actionable strategies. This further refined the number of potential project ideas from 200 to 50. These 50 projects were examined in more detail to determine which concepts and ideas advanced as part of the work plan, resulting in the 25 actions identified in this report.

Impact on Strategic Priorities (15 pts)
Impact on Good Growth Means (10 pts)
Demonstration Effect (6 pts)
Organizational / Operational Capacity (5 pts)
Relationship Feasibility (4 pts)
Financial Feasibility (4 pts)
Political Feasibility (4 pts)
Dependency Feasibility (2 pts)
Legal / Regulatory Feasibility (1 pt)
Urgency (1 pt)
Reversibility (3 pts)
Speed to Launch (5 pts)
Existing Momentum (6 pts)
Community Ownership and Governance (2 pts)
Scalability and Replicability (2 pts)
Ecological Contribution (4 pts)
Cultural and Relational Contribution (10 pts)
Network Position (12 pts)
Systems Value: 30pts
What does this project do to
everything around it?
Strategic Value: 35pts
What is this project worth
if it succeeds?
Feasibility: 20pts
Can this actually happen?
Strategic Timing: 15pts
When is now the right moment?
100pts
Selection Criteria

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Pipeline
Over the past year, this planning process gathered several hundred project ideas from residents, business owners, students, and community organizations across Arcata. The concepts collected here came out of that work and sit outside the focused set of Strategic Priorities the strategy advances in its main body. They remain a valuable part of Arcata’s shared inventory of what is possible. Some may already be underway or reflected in an existing plan of the City’s or a partner’s, while others are new to this process. Each is offered so that residents, partners, and organizations can recognize an idea, build on it, or carry it forward when the right moment and the right champion arrive.

GATEWAY AREA HIGH-DENSITY INFILL
Strengthening the economic-development throughline of the Gateway Area Plan as the district east of downtown grows into a vibrant center, with up to 3,500 new homes envisioned.

SEA LEVEL RISE ADAPTATION PLANNING
Active Arcata participation in the regional sea level rise adaptation effort for Humboldt Bay, focused on the wastewater treatment facility and the Marsh.

VALLEY WEST ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT FOCUS
A commitment to geographic equity ensuring Valley West, a major lodging and healthcare hub, shares fully in the City’s economic development work.

FOOD, CHILDCARE, AND SPANISH TRANSLATION AT COMMUNITY MEETINGS Providing food, childcare, and Spanish-language interpretation at public meetings to widen participation in civic and economic decisions.

WIYOT TRIBAL CO-STEWARDSHIP
A commitment to involve the Wiyot Tribe in the stewardship and future of Arcata’s land and natural assets, led by the Tribe’s pace and direction, building on the 2019 return of Duluwat Island.

CIVIC DIALOGUE SERIES
A recurring series of public events that build civic trust and shared understanding through genuine dialogue on the issues facing Arcata.

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CIVIC HACKATHON PROGRAM
A recurring program convening students, designers, and residents around specific civic challenges to prototype solutions, with Cal Poly Humboldt a natural pipeline.

REGIONAL LIAISON ROLE
A dedicated role maintaining Arcata’s relationships with the county, neighboring cities, tribal governments, and regional bodies, so the City is consistently represented at regional tables.

CREEK DAYLIGHTING PROJECTS
Uncovering buried segments of Jolly Giant Creek as it flows to the bay, creating riparian habitat, distinctive green amenities, and more desirable land around it.

FRIDAY NIGHT MARKET PILOT
A recurring weekly evening market at the Arcata Plaza featuring local food vendors, artisans, and musicians, drawing foot traffic and community connection downtown.

HOUSING POLICY TESTBED AND EXPERIMENTAL ORDINANCE PROGRAM A program to pilot experimental housing policies on a time-limited basis, testing what works in Arcata’s context before committing to permanent change.

ANTI-DISPLACEMENT STRATEGY
A planning effort to help existing residents remain in Arcata as housing demand grows, drawing on tools like tenant support, land trust expansion, and affordable housing preservation.

RAPID PILOT PROJECT FUND
A small, flexible fund offering rapid seed money for community-initiated pilot projects, with decisions made by a community panel.

CROSS-SECTOR BUSINESS COLLABORATION PROGRAM
A program bringing business owners together across sectors around the shared challenges they face, from financing to workforce to permitting, for peer learning and collaboration.

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STUDENT ENTREPRENEURS HUB
Deeper ties between Cal Poly Humboldt student entrepreneurs and local business, building on Startup Humboldt by pairing student ventures with local mentors and pathways to build here.

LARGE-SCALE INCUBATOR FARMS WITH PUBLIC OPEN SPACE
Larger-scale agricultural incubator sites giving new farmers access to land, equipment, and mentorship, paired with public open space that connects the community to food production.

SHOULDER SEASON PROGRAMMING
A coordinated effort to develop and market experiences during Arcata’s slower seasons, extending visitor activity and steadying the local economy year-round.

COMMITTEE FOR THE FUTURE
An advisory body that weighs significant city decisions through a long-horizon lens, representing the interests of future generations.

USE CITIZEN ASSEMBLIES
A deliberative tool convening a randomly selected, representative group of residents to study a contested issue and offer a recommendation to decision-makers.

HOUSING INNOVATION SUMMIT
A think-tank-style convening of leading thinkers from across the globe to examine and rethink the systemic roots of housing affordability.

HAPPY VALLEY ECO-INDUSTRIAL PARK
An eco-industrial park concept for the former mill site in northeastern Arcata, organized around industrial ecology, with shared energy and ownership-based light-industrial space for small businesses.

ALLEY ACTIVATION AND PUBLIC ART
Activating downtown alleys as pedestrian-friendly spaces through murals, lighting, seating, and pop-up uses that connect destinations and showcase local artists.

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SINGLE-STAIRCASE SMALL-LOT MULTIFAMILY
A zoning approach enabling small-lot missing-middle housing, including single-staircase buildings modeled on Seattle’s reform, to add modestly scaled homes in existing neighborhoods.

COMMUNITY MICROGRID PILOT
A community-scale microgrid that can run independently during outages, building energy resilience, with Blue Lake Rancheria’s system as a regional model.

MORE COMMUNITY POTLUCKS AND GATHERINGS
A city-supported program of regular, low-barrier gatherings across Arcata’s neighborhoods, building the social connection that collaborative economic activity depends on.

PERMIT NAVIGATOR POSITION
A dedicated staff role guiding businesses and developers through Arcata’s permitting process, especially valuable for first-time applicants and small businesses.

REGIONAL COORDINATION PLATFORM
Shared tools and a convening rhythm that embed economic-development coordination into durable systems, sized for Arcata’s own ecosystem.

REGIONAL FOOD AND AGRICULTURE RECOGNITION INITIATIVE
A storytelling effort that raises the profile of Arcata and Humboldt County’s place-rooted food and agriculture beyond the region.

COMMUNITY LAND TRUST
Support for and expansion of Arcata’s community land trust, holding land in trust to keep homeownership and rental housing permanently affordable.

VALLEY WEST CONNECTIVITY INVESTMENT
Infrastructure and programming that better connect Valley West to downtown through pedestrian, bike, transit, and streetscape improvements that integrate the neighborhood with the rest of Arcata.

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OUTDOOR RECREATION BUSINESS INCUBATOR
Sector-specific support, mentorship, and industry connections for early-stage outdoor recreation businesses, modeled on Bend Outdoor Worx.

BUSINESS SUCCESSION APPRENTICESHIPS
A structured apprenticeship in which a prospective owner works within an established business before completing a succession, keeping local businesses through ownership transitions.

JACK PASS EXPANSION
Expanding the existing Jack Pass to widen access to the Community Forest trail system, through options like reduced-cost passes for residents and digital passes for visitors.

PAID PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
Compensating residents for time spent in civic processes, through stipends, childcare reimbursement, or similar support, so participation is open to more people.

APPLIED RESEARCH PARTNERSHIP OFFICE
A brokering function that matches Cal Poly Humboldt faculty and students with local businesses, nonprofits, and city departments for applied research that gets used.

ARTISAN TRAIL EXPERIENCE
A self-guided route connecting visitors to Arcata’s artisans, makers, and food producers, modeled on winecountry and farm-trail circuits.

ANNUAL LEADERSHIP EVENT
A recurring annual gathering that brings community leaders and residents together to celebrate local progress and strengthen cross-sector relationships.

PROGRAM TO SUPPORT RESTAURANTS THAT USE LOCAL FOOD
Incentives and recognition for restaurants that source from local producers, strengthening the link between Arcata’s food system and its restaurants.

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TRADES EDUCATION PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM
A partnership among local employers, the City, and College of the Redwoods to expand access to trades education and certification aligned with local hiring needs.

CITY-SPONSORED LOCAL EVENTS FUND
A dedicated fund offering grants to community-organized events that animate public space and support local vendors and artists.

CONSTRUCTION AND TRADES JOB ACCESS PROGRAM
Pathways into skilled construction and trades careers for more Arcata residents, combining pre-apprenticeship preparation, College of the Redwoods programs, and local contractor partnerships.

INTERGENERATIONAL COMMUNITY AND BUSINESS CONNECTION PROGRAM A program connecting longtime residents and retiring business owners with younger entrepreneurs and newcomers to pass along knowledge, relationships, and community history.

YOUTH COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
A program building leadership, civic knowledge, and community connection in Arcata’s middle and high school youth through mentorship and project-based work.

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Implementation Guide
Purpose
How this strategy is carried out matters as much to its success as any of the Actions it contains, if not more.

The body of the plan explains the transition from traditional, report-based meetings to an adaptive, convened approach to implementation, and names its parts: a convening group, a convener, and a shared landscape of indicators the group reads together. This appendix is the operating guide for that work. It carries the practical detail the body points to: how to form and run the convening group, how to read and assemble the indicators, how the community survey fits, and how to keep the strategy alive and relevant across the five-year term.

The premise is straightforward. A city’s economy is shaped by many forces, some within the City’s control and many outside it. Finishing a list of projects does not, by itself, move the economy where the community wants it to go.

The strategy is organized in layers and built to adapt. The Good Growth Means are the six statements the community defined to describe what good growth looks like in Arcata, and they set the direction the whole strategy works toward. The three Strategic Priorities are the thematic commitments the community pursues as it moves toward the Good Growth Means. The Actions beneath them are the discrete projects and efforts the City and its partners take up over the five years. The Good Growth Means and Strategic Priorities hold steady; the Actions are implemented, revised, or replaced as conditions change, which is the adaptive strategy working as intended. Progress is read through indicators that signal whether the economy is moving toward the Good Growth Means, not by counting finished Actions.

The City carries this out in two ways. First, it delivers the Actions it owns, leading some outright and supporting others. Second, it periodically convenes partners to assess current economic conditions and trends, so the group can evaluate and strengthen the work that moves the economy in this direction, whether or not that work appears as an Action in this plan.

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The Convening Group
The convening group’s value is to understand the economy as a whole and create a practice of mutual support between staff departments and other organizations to make the aims of the strategy a reality.

Attendees should be a mix of departments and organizations responsible for some aspect of the local economy:
the City, the County, neighboring cities, Cal Poly Humboldt, the Chamber of Commerce, and others across business, education, nonprofits, and Tribal government whose efforts move the local economy. The convener assembles a group large enough to represent the ecosystem and small enough to think well together, and tailors the roster to who is doing the work in Arcata at the time.

This is not a formal city structure; this is an informal gathering of practitioners involved with economic development. They engage because it helps them in their own work and keeps the whole economy moving in a shared direction, despite different organizational missions. The convener extends the invitation in those terms, approaching each prospective member around the value the group offers their work and the direction it serves, rather than as a request to sit on a committee.

Members come as peers without a formal reporting structure. Each organization owns its work and answers to the shared direction. What makes the group valuable to the strategy is the relationships among its members and the mutual support they give one another.

Those relationships let members move each other’s work forward and speak honestly about what is and is not working.

Membership may change over the five years as projects change and new partners become relevant. When a new member joins, the convener briefs them on the shared direction, what the group has worked through recently, and how it operates, including the expectation that members speak honestly about their work. The schedule and procedures are easy to pass along. Sustaining the group’s relationships and shared purpose as members change takes deliberate effort, and it falls to the convener.

Running the Meetings
The convening group should meet quarterly. The City may decide a different rhythm fits better, three times a year, twice, or annually, but quarterly keeps the group close enough to economic shifts and project timelines to remain relevant throughout the year.

Each meeting moves through five parts, each a different view of current and emerging topics related to Arcata’s economy. The parts inform one another, so the convener connects them rather than running them as separate items. Together, they help the group understand where the economy is heading and how the work and the economy shape each other.

Before the meeting: setting the agenda
Before each meeting, the convener asks members what they want on the agenda: updates or materials to circulate in advance, or topics they want the group’s time on, in or outside this strategy. The convener builds the agenda from those responses, so members arrive having reviewed each other’s material and the meeting time goes to discussion rather than catching up.

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The economic landscape
The meeting begins with an open discussion of the health and trends of Arcata’s economy. The group starts from the relevant tracked indicators to see how the economy is doing, then reads past them to what the numbers do not capture, since no set of measures tells the whole story.

What’s new
Members raise new and emerging issues, opportunities, topics, and trends that could affect the economy or the strategy. Items worth a deeper look move to the open agenda, and the convener tracks the rest so they are not lost between meetings.

How the work is going
The group turns to the active projects that relate to this strategy and how each is progressing. Rather than reporting status, members talk through the real work, where a project is moving, where it is experiencing friction, and where others in the room can lend support, capacity, or a connection. This conversation is where the group’s mutual support becomes practical, and where the strategy gets the benefit of having these partners in one place.

The open agenda
The open agenda is where the group does its deeper work, taking up topics that surfaced earlier in the meeting or during agenda-setting beforehand. The earlier parts build situational awareness; here the group carries that awareness into something concrete, whether an action, a decision, or advice to a partner leading the work. For a new opportunity, the group applies the same test the plan uses elsewhere: whether it advances the Good Growth Means, whether an organization will lead it, and whether it is achievable. The convener turns to this part when the agenda calls for it.

Confirming commitments
The meeting ends by confirming what was decided and who will do what before the group meets again. The convener records each commitment and checks that members understand what they have taken on. The group commits only where there is real work to do.

Tracking Progress
The group needs a clear, current view of two things to work well: how the economy is moving, and how the work tied to this strategy is progressing. The convener maintains both and prepares them ahead of each meeting, so the group can read them side by side. The view begins with what the City can already track and grows over time as the group learns what else it needs to see.

The project pipeline
The project pipeline is the group’s running view of the work itself: the active projects advancing the strategy and any new opportunities identified. The convener keeps it current as projects move and opportunities arrive. Holding the work next to the economic picture lets the group see how conditions and projects bear on each other, which is the connection the meetings are built to make.

What the indicators show
The indicators show the direction of the economy rather than the status of any one, or combination of projects, signaling whether Arcata is moving toward the Good Growth Means statements identified

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in the strategy. The indicators are derived from three sources. The first is already in place: Live Well Humboldt tracks a number of high-level directional indicators relevant to Arcata’s economic strategy, and the group draws its starting set from those components. The second is the annual community survey, built to capture the qualitative side of the economy that no dataset holds. The third comes from the group itself: as it convenes over time and sees where the existing indicators fall short, it identifies new measures to add, and the convener works to source them. The full set of indicators that are currently available, from where, and a suggested approach to the survey are in the indicator catalog that follows.

The community survey
The community survey captures how people experience the economy, including their sense of pride, belonging, and opportunity, the part of the picture no dataset holds. It does not exist yet and needs to be built. The convening group validates the questions at its first meeting, confirming that every partner stands behind them and that they will register the kind of movement the group is looking for. The survey first runs after that meeting, then on an annual cadence. The questions hold steady across the five-year term and are revisited at the reassessment, so the survey measures change in a consistent way over the years.

Assembling and displaying the picture
The convener assembles the indicators into an easily understandable format the group can read and discuss, and maintains a visual tracker of the project pipeline alongside it, so the economy and the work are visible in one place. The City is best served by building these from tools it and its partners already have, rather than commissioning a new system to maintain. Whatever tool, and indicators are used should allow one person to keep it current and show the direction of the economy and the state of the work clearly.

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Sustaining the Practice
This way of working is new for the City, and it will take deliberate effort to maintain. Intentional practice looks like a few clear things: the indicators get read and discussed, new opportunities get weighed against the strategy, partners who were not there at the start can join and contribute, and the group can point to real decisions that came out of being in the room together. When those things stop happening, the practice is fading, and the most common way it fades is quiet. Meetings still happen, but they drift back into status reports, attendance thins, and the conversation loses the candor that made it worth holding.

A few risks are worth watching for. The group can slide from reading direction into reviewing projects, which turns the meeting back into the reporting exercise it was meant to replace. The survey can wear out its welcome if it asks too much or continually changes. And the strong relationships the group requires can weaken as founding members move on and new ones arrive without the same history. Naming these early lets the convener correct course and adapt as needed.

Before the end of this plan’s lifecycle, the group should conduct a formal assessment, timed to line up with the renewal of the strategy. It asks whether the indicators are still measuring the right things, whether the meetings are serving their purpose, and whether the Good Growth Means and Strategic Priorities still describe what the community is reaching for. The reassessment treats the whole practice as something the community tests and refines rather than a fixed structure, which is the same adaptive spirit the strategy carries throughout.

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THE RECOMMENDED STARTING SET
These indicators are available now through Live Well Humboldt and can be accessed directly, without assembly or cost. Each is viewable at the Arcata level; the convener accesses the current value and its trend in preparation for meetings. Together, they give the group an immediate, low-effort read on the economic and quality-of-life direction of the City.

Live Well Humboldt is the access point, but the indicators behind it come from different datasets that update anywhere from quarterly to once every few years. Many can be viewed specifically for Arcata, while a few are available only at the regional level because of how that data is collected. The convener notes the most recent update and the geography available when reading each one.

Median household income
Per capita income
Median gross rent
Renters spending 30% or more of income on rent
Families living below the poverty level
Households with an internet subscription
Social Vulnerability Index (County Level)
Air Quality (County Level)

THE COMMUNITY SURVEY
The survey reads the part of the economy that no dataset records: how residents experience pride, belonging, opportunity, and their relationship to place and community. The convening group validates and finalizes the questions at its first meeting, confirming that each will register the kind of change the group is watching for; the items below are a starting point.

Each question is answered on a sliding scale of one to five, from strong disagreement to strong agreement, and each carries an open-ended follow-up inviting the respondent to explain their answer. The closed scale tracks movement consistently from year to year, and the explanations surface the reasons behind it.

Consistency is what makes the survey useful over time. Once the group settles on its questions, those questions stay the same from one year to the next, so the results measure real change rather than changes in wording. The group can add new questions as new interests emerge, but existing questions are not edited or removed. The survey can be built and run in whatever tool the City and its partners already use, from a simple online form to a more developed platform, as long as it is easy to field and easy to repeat each year.

The Indicator Catalog
This catalog has three parts: a starting set of indicators the convener can access today, a recommended community survey framework, and a next tier of indicators the group can add as the practice matures. A coverage summary at the end shows which indicators speak to each Good Growth Means and Strategic Priority. As the Economic Strategic Plan describes, the starting set draws on what Live Well Humboldt already tracks, the survey captures what no dataset holds, and the group adds new measures over time to become more granular and nuanced.

STRONGLY DISAGREE
1 2 3 4 5

STRONGLY AGREE

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PRIDE AND BELONGING
• “Arcata is a place I want to stay and build my life.” • “I feel I belong in this community.”

GROWTH AND CHARACTER
• “As Arcata grows, it is keeping what makes it distinctive.” • “The changes I see in Arcata reflect the community’s values.”

ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY
• “I have a fair opportunity to take part in the local economy.” • “People like me can find meaningful work in Arcata.”

REGIONAL COOPERATION
• “The city, county, and local institutions seem to work well together.” • “Decisions that affect Arcata are made in coordination with the wider region.”

PRIDE IN LOCAL BUSINESS
• “I am proud of and support the locally owned businesses in Arcata.” • “Arcata’s businesses reflect what makes this place distinct.”

SOLVING PROBLEMS TOGETHER
• “The City of Arcata seems to work well with neighboring cities, the county, Cal Poly Humboldt, and other key organizations to solve problems and help the community thrive.” • “Arcata is a place other communities can learn from.”

OUTDOOR PARTICIPATION
• “I have good access to the outdoors from where I live.” • A frequency question across activities: hiking, biking, paddling, beach use, fishing (times per month)

THE NEXT TIER
These indicators would deepen the picture, but each takes more effort than using the Live Well Humboldt indicators. Some require pulling and combining data from outside sources, some depend on the City assembling its own records, and some need a shared definition before the work begins. The group takes these on as it decides more detail is useful and as capacity allows. The likely source for each is noted so the convener knows where to begin.

QUALITY OF LIFE AND PARTICIPATION
• Housing affordability ratio, median home price against median income. Source: city assessor or listing data combined with census income.

STRONGLY DISAGREE
1 2 3 4 5

STRONGLY AGREE

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• Educational attainment and youth not in school or working. Available through Live Well Humboldt at district and county level when the group wants the education read. • K–12 enrollment. Source: California Department of Education, by district. • Labor force participation by demographic group. Source: census data across several tables; disaggregation, and Tribal data in particular, takes assembly and partnership.

LOCAL ECONOMY AND HOMEGROWN ECONOMY
• New locally owned business starts. Source: city business license registrations. • Locally owned business count and share. Source: city license data, once the group agrees on what “locally owned” means; this read anchors several others and is the most involved to set up. • Outdoor gear and niche manufacturing. Source: federal employment data with curated industry codes; Arcata’s anchor manufacturers sit here.
• Outdoor recreation business activity. Source: federal employment data combined with business licenses.

PLACE AND ENVIRONMENT
• Conservation and protected acreage. Source: the California Protected Areas Database, clipped to Arcata and adjacent land.
• Trail and natural-asset use. Source: city trail counter data. • Water quality. Held by Humboldt County for ocean and beach monitoring and by the local water district for drinking water.

REGIONAL COOPERATION
• Joint capital projects. Source: the City’s capital plan combined with county plans, flagging shared work. • Cal Poly Humboldt enrollment. Source: federal education data, a regional-vitality signal the group may choose to watch.

ECONOMY OF THE COMMONS
• Multi-party governance structures in operation. Source: city clerk records and state filings. • Outside grants and investment into living-lab and commons work. Source: city grants office and university sponsored-programs reporting.
• Active living-lab projects and civic experiments. Source: a city inventory, once the group defines what counts.
• Public event count and attendance. Source: standing reporting from event hosts.

Coverage at a glance
The summary below shows which indicators speak to each Good Growth Means and Strategic Priority. Many indicators serve more than one, and so appear in more than one place. Items drawn from the survey or the next tier are noted as such; everything else is in the starting set. Where a Good Growth Means rests mainly on the survey, that reflects the limits of available data rather than a gap in the strategy.

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BY GOOD GROWTH MEANS
Good growth means a quality of life worth staying for, with good schools, affordable housing, healthcare, infrastructure, and a community where families can put down roots and thrive. • Median household income
• Median gross rent
• Renters spending 30% or more of income on rent
• Households with an internet subscription
• Pride and belonging (survey)
• Housing affordability ratio (next tier)
• K–12 enrollment (next tier)
Good growth means Arcata continues to sustainably grow while holding onto the creativity, openness, and distinct character that makes it worth living in.
• Growth and character (survey)
• Pride in local business (survey)
• Locally owned business count and share (next tier)
• Public event count and attendance (next tier)
Good growth means everyone can participate in the economy, in decisions, and in the life of the community, with all voices included and no one left behind.
• Families living below the poverty level
• Households with an internet subscription
• Social Vulnerability Index
• Renters spending 30% or more of income on rent
• Economic opportunity (survey)
• Labor force participation by demographic group (next tier) Good growth means the cities, county, and institutions of this region work together through shared plans and joint investments rather than operating in isolation. • Regional cooperation (survey)
• Joint capital projects (next tier)
• Cal Poly Humboldt enrollment (next tier)
Good growth means a thriving local economy built on entrepreneurship, living wages, and businesses that the people of Arcata are proud to call their own.
• Median household income
• Per capita income
• Pride in local business (survey)

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BY STRATEGIC PRIORITY

ECONOMY OF PLACE
• Median gross rent
• Renters spending 30% or more of income on rent
• Outdoor participation (survey)
• Conservation and protected acreage (next tier)
• Trail and natural-asset use (next tier)
• Outdoor recreation business activity (next tier)

HOMEGROWN ECONOMY
• Median household income
• Per capita income
• Pride in local business (survey)
• New locally owned business starts (next tier)
• Locally owned business count and share (next tier)
• Outdoor gear and niche manufacturing (next tier)

ECONOMY OF THE COMMONS
• Solving problems together (survey)
• Multi-party governance structures in operation (next tier) • Outside grants and investment into living-lab and commons work (next tier) • Active living-lab projects and civic experiments (next tier) • New locally owned business starts (next tier)
• Locally owned business count and share (next tier)
• Outdoor gear and niche manufacturing (next tier)
Good growth means expanding access to outdoor recreation while protecting the green spaces and natural environment that make this place worth living in.
• Air quality (starting set)
• Outdoor participation (survey)
• Conservation and protected acreage (next tier)
• Trail and natural-asset use (next tier)
• Water quality (next tier)

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STAFF REPORT – CITY COUNCIL MEETING
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
FROM: Tabatha Miller, Assistant City Manager
PREPARER: Tabatha Miller, Assistant City Manager
DATE: September 16, 2026
TITLE: Discussion and Possible Action on Ordinance No. 1594, An Interim Urgency Ordinance of the City Council of the City of Arcata Imposing a 45-Day Temporary Moratorium on the Processing and Approval of New Land Use Applications for Data Centers to Allow for the Evaluation of Potential Public Health Impacts and Additional Land Use Regulations; Waive Reading of the Text and Consent to Read by Title Only.

RECOMMENDATION:

It is recommended that the Council discuss and adopt Ordinance No. 1594, An Interim Urgency Ordinance of the City Council of the City of Arcata Imposing a 45-Day Temporary Moratorium on the Processing and Approval of New Land Use Applications for Data Centers to Allow for the Evaluation of Potential Public Health Impacts and Additional Land Use Regulations; waive reading of the text and consent to read by title only.

INTRODUCTION:

On September 2, 2026, the City Council received a staff report from the City’s Building Official, Joe Bishop, regarding data centers generally and the EdgeConneX data center located in Arcata.

Following the presentation and discussion, the City Council directed staff to pursue a temporary moratorium on the processing and approval of applications for data centers within City limits. This direction follows similar discussions regarding data centers by the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors and other local jurisdictions in California and across the nation.

BACKGROUND:

Data centers are facilities used to house computer systems and related components. Due to the growth of cloud computing, artificial intelligence, digital commerce, and other technologydependent services, demand for data center development has increased rapidly.

Depending on their type, size, and design, data centers may require substantial amounts of water, electricity, land, and supporting infrastructure. They may also create noise, aesthetic, and land use compatibility concerns and may occupy large industrial sites while generating relatively few permanent jobs. These concerns may be especially significant when such uses are located in proximity to residential neighborhoods, schools, parks, community facilities, and other sensitive land uses.

Data centers may also provide significant private investment, construction employment, infrastructure improvements, and local tax revenue. However, the extent of these benefits, and the

public costs associated with supporting such facilities, may vary significantly depending on the size, design, location, and operation of a particular facility.

Because of these potential impacts and uncertainties, members of the public and City staff have expressed concerns regarding the City’s review and approval of future data center development applications. To allow the City time to better understand and study data center uses, evaluate their potential impacts, and determine whether the City’s existing land use policies and development standards adequately address those impacts, the City Council may consider imposing a temporary moratorium on the processing and approval of new data center development applications.

DISCUSSION:

A. City Council Authority to Adopt a Moratorium.

Government Code section 65858 authorizes the City Council to adopt a temporary moratorium, by interim urgency ordinance, on otherwise permitted land uses that may conflict with land use regulations the City is considering, studying, or intends to study within a reasonable time.

To adopt a moratorium, the Council must find that: (1) there is a current and immediate threat to the public health, safety, or welfare; and (2) approval of additional entitlements for the affected uses would result in that threat.

An interim ordinance may be adopted as an urgency measure without a noticed public hearing and remains effective for an initial 45 days. It may be extended twice for a total of two years. If adopted, staff anticipate agendizing an extension of the interim ordinance for an additional 10 months and 15 days at a regular City Council meeting held within the initial 45-day period.

Adoption of the interim ordinance and any extension requires a four-fifths vote of the City Council.

B. The City Municipal Code Currently Does Not Define Data Centers.

The Arcata Municipal Code (“AMC”) does not expressly define or identify data centers as a land use within the City. As a result, the locations in which data centers may be permitted, the applicable permit requirements, and the conditions that may be imposed on future data center applications are not clearly defined. Review of a proposed data center may therefore require discretionary determinations regarding the appropriate land use classification and level of permit required within the applicable zoning district.

The existing EdgeConneX facility, located at 1296 11th Street in Arcata, is an approximately 10,000-square-foot colocation data center that serves as a terminal for high-speed fiber-optic cables. The facility was legally permitted and constructed and is currently operational.

The presence of an existing data center does not, however, establish comprehensive standards for the review of future data center proposals, particularly substantially larger facilities that may have different utility, infrastructure, environmental, and land use impacts.

C. Permitting Data Centers Under the City’s Current Regulations Poses a Threat to Public Health.

Depending on their size, design, and operation, data centers can be highly water- and electricityintensive uses. Large-scale facilities may place substantial demands on water and electrical systems and associated public infrastructure. Approval of a large data center without adequate evaluation of these demands could affect the City's ability to reliably serve existing and planned

residents, businesses, and other uses and could therefore create risks to public health and welfare.

Data centers are not currently defined as a specific land use in the City’s Land Use Code, General Plan, or elsewhere in the Municipal Code. As a result, although the City may have discretion to impose project-specific conditions addressing identified impacts, the absence of comprehensive standards specifically applicable to data centers may result in uncertainty regarding the appropriate review process and standards for evaluating future projects.

The City adopted its existing regulations before the recent increase in demand for large-scale data centers and heightened concerns regarding their water and energy demands. Permitting large-scale data centers under the City’s current regulations therefore presents potential risks to public health and welfare because the City has not yet determined whether its existing utility capacity, infrastructure, and regulatory framework are adequate to accommodate these higherintensity uses.

D. A Moratorium Allows the City to Evaluate Regulations Necessary to Mitigate Potential Public Health Threats.

Planning staff are in the process of reviewing the City’s zoning regulations to ensure that they are consistent with the City’s General Plan 2045. As part of that review, planning staff and the consultant can determine whether additional standards are necessary to address water and electric intensive land uses in light of the City’s existing supply constraints. Data centers have been identified as one of the land uses to be evaluated as part of that review.

Any amendments to the City’s zoning regulations will require preparation, public notice, hearings before the Planning Commission and City Council, and compliance with other applicable procedural requirements.

A temporary moratorium would preserve the status quo while this review is completed and provide the City with sufficient time to study the potential impacts of data centers and adopt appropriate regulations before new applications are processed or approved.

E. Possible Future Land Use Regulation of Data Centers.

City staff has not yet completed a comprehensive review of potential data center regulations.

However, possible options may include requiring a conditional use permit, development agreement, and project-specific environmental review for proposed data centers.

These requirements could provide the City with greater discretion to evaluate proposed projects, impose appropriate conditions, address environmental and infrastructure impacts, and ensure that project-specific costs and demands on City services and utilities are adequately mitigated.

A temporary moratorium would provide the City with time to study these issues and determine what regulations are appropriate. It would also allow the City to monitor emerging state legislation and regulatory requirements that may affect the local review and approval of data center projects.

ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW (CEQA):

Adoption of this Urgency Ordinance is exempt from environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act (Public Resources Code section 21000 et seq.; “CEQA”) pursuant to CEQA Guidelines section 15061(b)(3). The Ordinance establishes a temporary moratorium on the processing and approval of new land-use applications for data centers while the City studies potential regulatory amendments. It does not authorize any development, approve any land-use

entitlement, or result in any physical change to the environment. Accordingly, it can be seen with certainty that adoption of the Ordinance will not have a significant effect on the environment.

BUDGET/FISCAL IMPACT:

Adoption of the moratorium will impose additional procedural requirements on the City, including preparation of required reports, publication and notice of public hearings, and preparation of future agenda items for City Council consideration. Compliance with these requirements will require staff time and related administrative expenses. These costs are anticipated to be absorbed within existing departmental budgets.

RECOMMENDED COUNCIL ACTION:

1. Receive a staff report and review questions with staff.

2. Open public comment.

3. Close public comment.

4. Motion to adopt Ordinance No. 1594, An Interim Urgency Ordinance of the City Council of the City of Arcata Imposing a 45-Day Temporary Moratorium on the Processing and Approval of New Land Use Applications for Data Centers to Allow for the Evaluation of Potential Public Health Impacts and Additional Land Use Regulations; Waive reading of the text and consent to read by title only.

ATTACHMENTS:

A. Ordinance No. 1594

ORDINANCE NO. 1594

AN INTERIM URGENCY ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF
THE CITY OF ARCATA IMPOSING A 45-DAY TEMPORARY

MORATORIUM ON THE PROCESSING AND APPROVAL OF NEW

LAND USE APPLICATIONS FOR DATA CENTERS TO ALLOW FOR

THE EVALUATION OF POTENTIAL PUBLIC HEALTH IMPACTS

AND ADDITIONAL LAND USE REGULATIONS
WHEREAS, data centers are facilities used to house computer systems, servers, data storage equipment, telecommunications equipment, and related components. Demand for large-scale data centers has increased substantially due to the growth of cloud computing, digital commerce, artificial intelligence, and other data-intensive technologies; and WHEREAS, large-scale data centers may require substantial quantities of electricity and water to operate and cool their computing equipment and may impose significant demands on public utilities, other land uses, the local economy and infrastructure; and WHEREAS, the Arcata Municipal Code (“AMC”) does not currently define data centers as a land use in the General Plan or Land Use Code. As a result, the locations in which data centers may be permitted, the applicable permit requirements, and the conditions that may be imposed on future data center applications are not clearly defined and may require discretionary determinations regarding the appropriate land use classification and level of permit required within applicable zoning districts; and WHEREAS, an existing approximately 10,000-square-foot colocation data center that serves as a terminal for high-speed fiber optic cables is located at 1296 11th Street within the City of Arcata. The EdgeConneX facility was legally permitted and constructed and is currently operational; and
WHEREAS, City staff have recently received communications from an interested party inquiring about locating a 60,000 square-foot data center facility within the City of Arcata; and
WHEREAS, pursuant to its constitutional police power, the City Council has authority to enact and enforce ordinances and regulations necessary to protect the public peace, health, safety, and welfare of the City and its residents; and WHEREAS, Government Code section 65858 authorizes the City Council, without following the procedures otherwise required for the adoption of a zoning ordinance, to adopt as an urgency measure an interim ordinance prohibiting uses that may conflict with a

contemplated general plan, specific plan, or zoning proposal that the City Council, Planning Commission, or Planning Department is considering, studying, or intends to study within a reasonable time; and
WHEREAS, the City’s existing land use regulations provide little guidance regarding data centers and were adopted before the recent increase in demand for large-scale data center development; and
WHEREAS, the City Council desires to temporarily prohibit the processing and approval of new land use applications for data centers while City staff evaluate their potential public health, environmental, infrastructure, and land use impacts and consider whether amendments to the City’s zoning regulations, development standards, or permitting requirements are appropriate.

NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ARCATA DOES ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS:

SECTION 1. This Ordinance is adopted pursuant to Government Code § 65858, and other applicable law.

SECTION 2. Findings. The City Council finds as follows:

1. Data center development would create a current and immediate threat to the public health, safety, and welfare by causing significant impacts related to energy consumption, water, wastewater, land use, air emissions, noise, infrastructure demands, environmental quality, and community aesthetics. . Approval of a data center project could materially reduce City services available to serve residents, businesses, and other existing and planned uses.

2. The City is in the preliminary stages of reviewing its zoning regulations to determine whether additional standards are necessary for future water-intensive and electricity-intensive land uses in light of the City’s existing supply constraints. Data centers are among the land uses being studied for potential regulatory amendments. The City intends to complete this study, and to determine whether amended zoning regulations are warranted, within a reasonable time.

3. Without a temporary moratorium, the City may be required to process or approve a data center project before completing studies and adopting regulations necessary to evaluate and mitigate potentially significant impacts. Such development could adversely affect the City’s ability to provide essential public services.

4. Adoption of this interim ordinance is necessary to protect the City and its residents, businesses, and visitors from the potential public health, safety, and welfare impacts associated with data center land uses.

5. The moratorium will provide the City with time to study the potential impacts of data center development and prepare comprehensive regulations governing the location,

design, operation, operation, water and energy use, infrastructure requirements, and other development standards applicable to such uses.

6. Based on these findings and the evidence in the record, including the staff report accompanying this interim ordinance, the City Council finds that there is a current and immediate threat to the public health, safety, and welfare, and that the approval of additional land use entitlements for data centers, including conditional use permits, building permits, or other applicable approvals required under the AMC, would result in that threat to the public health, safety, and welfare, within the meaning of Government Code section 65858, subdivision (c).

SECTION 3. California Environmental Quality Act.

The City Council finds that adoption of this Urgency Ordinance is exempt from environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act (Public Resources Code section 21000 et seq.; “CEQA”) pursuant to CEQA Guidelines section 15061(b)(3). This Ordinance establishes a temporary moratorium on the processing and approval of new land use applications for data centers while the City studies potential regulatory amendments. It does not authorize any development, approve any land-use entitlement, or result in any physical change to the environment. Accordingly, it can be seen with certainty that adoption of the Ordinance will not have a significant effect on the environment.

SECTION 4. Imposition of Moratorium.

For the duration of this Ordinance, including any extension thereof, the City shall not receive, accept, process, or approve any application for a data center land use.

This Ordinance shall remain in effect for 45 days from the date of its adoption, unless extended in accordance with Government Code section 65858.

SECTION 5. Effective Date.

This Ordinance shall take effect immediately upon adoption pursuant to Government Code sections 36937 and 65858 because it is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, safety, and welfare. This Ordinance shall be adopted by at least a four-fifths vote of the City Council.

SECTION 6. Report.

Pursuant to Government Code § 65858, the City Manager, or designee, shall prepare a report for City Council consideration describing the measures taken to address the conditions that led to adoption of this Ordinance. This report must be provided to the City Council so that it may be considered and issued not later than 10 days before this Ordinance expires.

SECTION 7 Publication

The City Clerk shall certify to the passage of this Ordinance and shall cause this Ordinance or a summary thereof to be published once within fifteen (15) days after its adoption in a newspaper of general circulation, published and circulated in the City of Arcata.

SECTION 8. Severability.

If any section, subsection, subdivision, paragraph, sentence, clause or phrase of this Ordinance, or any part thereof, is for any reason held to be unconstitutional or invalid for any reason, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portion of this Ordinance or any part thereof.

The City Council hereby declares that it would have passed each section, subsection, subdivision, paragraph, sentence, clause or phrase thereof, irrespective of the fact that any one or more section, subsection, subdivision, paragraph, sentence, clause or phrase be declared unconstitutional or invalid.

DATED:

ATTEST: APPROVED:

City Clerk, City of Arcata Mayor, City of Arcata
22640
CLERK’S CERTIFICATE
I hereby certify that the foregoing is a true and correct copy of Ordinance No. 1594, passed and adopted at a regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Arcata, County of Humboldt, State of California on the _______day of ______, 2026, by the following vote:

AYES:

NOES:

ABSENT:

ABSTENTIONS:

City Clerk, City of Arcata

STAFF REPORT – CITY COUNCIL MEETING
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
FROM: Jennifer Dart, Director of Community Development Department PREPARER: Sara Cunha, Community Development Specialist II DATE: September 16, 2026
TITLE: Public Hearing to Consider the City of Arcata’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Grant Number 22-CDBG-ED-30042 Business Assistance and Microenterprise Accomplishments for Final Closeout; and Adopt Resolution No. 267-13 for Submission of Closeout Documentation.

RECOMMENDATION:

It is recommended that the City Council:

1. Open public hearing, consider the accomplishments to be reported to Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) for the close out of the 2022 Business Assistance & Microenterprise grant (22-CDBG-ED-30042); and

2. Adopt resolution No. 267-13 (attachment A) authorizing submission of all required closeout documentation to the State; and

3. Authorize City Manager to execute all applicable documents.

INTRODUCTION:

The purpose of this public hearing is to receive public input on the accomplishments of CDBG Grant No. 22-CDBG-ED-30042 as part of the final grant closeout process.

The City of Arcata was awarded $500,000 in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds to support the City’s Business Assistance and Microenterprise Programs. The grant also included planning and technical assistance activities to support business development, including business loan program modernization and marketing, technical and financial assistance, and implementation tools for economic development programs and strategies.

BACKGROUND:

The City of Arcata has operated its Business Assistance and Microenterprise program for approximately 20 years. The Business Assistance Loan program provides financing to local businesses that may not qualify for conventional loans and supports job creation and retention. The Microenterprise Financial Assistance Program assists eligible low-income business owners and small businesses with five or fewer employees with both grants and loans.

In July 2023, the City received CDBG Grant No. 22-CDBG-ED-30042 to continue these programs and support economic development activities. In October 2025, the City added an additional $200,000 of program income to this award, resulting in a total of $700,000 to fund economic

development and admin related expenses. The grant period is now complete, and the City is proceeding with the required grant closeout process.

The council adopted Resolution No. 267-05 on August 19, 2026, approving the submission of $500,000 in Program Income to continue this work, and $200,000 in future program income receipts as needed.

DISCUSSION:

The City is required to hold a public hearing to report on the grant accomplishments and provide an opportunity for public comment before submitting the final closeout package to the State. Closing out the grant will complete the City’s reporting requirements and formally conclude Grant No. 22- CDBG-ED-30042.

Through Grant No. 22-CDBG-ED-30042, the City assisted 4 businesses, helping to create or retain 12 jobs and funded 1 Microenterprise grant.

The Community Development Department expended $526,079.72, or approximately 75% of the total grant funds including Program Income.

Breakdown of Grant vs Program Income expenditure can be found below.

Fund Award Amount Amount Spent Amount Remaining
at End of Grant
Period
Grant Funds $500,000.00 $372,472.39 $127,527.61
Program Income
Funds
$200,000.00 $153,607.33 $46,392.67
Total $700,000 $526,079.72 $173,920.28
The remaining $127,527.61 in grant funds will be disencumbered as part of the grant closeout process. The remaining $46,392.67 Program Income funds will return to the City’s available Program Income and can be used for future contracts.

ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW (CEQA):

General Administration costs are National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Categorically Exempt pursuant to 24 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 58.34(a)(3) (Administration of Program). The environmental review determination for General Administration costs was completed prior to the submission of the CDBG grant applications.

Other Environmental review determinations for completed program activities, including the Business Assistance and Microenterprise Programs, were completed. The Community Development Director, acting as the Certifying Officer pursuant to City Council Resolution No. 212-71, determined these activities to be Categorically Excluded, subject to 24 CFR 58.5.

BUDGET/FISCAL IMPACT:

The City received $86,751.91 in administration funds to offset staff costs associated with this grant.

RECOMMENDED COUNCIL ACTION:

1. Open public hearing to consider the accomplishments to be reported to CDBG for the close out of the Business Assistance & Microenterprise (22-CDBG-ED-30042);

2. Receive a staff report and review questions with staff;

3. Open public comment;

4. Close public comment; and

5. Motion to adopt resolution No. 267-13 (attachment A) authorizing submission of all required closeout documentation to the State; and authorize the City Manager to execute all applicable documents.

ATTACHMENTS:

A. Resolution No. 267-13

RESOLUTION NO. 267-13

A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ARCATA
APPROVING CLOSEOUT OF GRANT 22-CDBG-ED-30042.

WHEREAS, The City of Arcata has operated its Business Assistance and Microenterprise program for approximately 20 years to support the economic development and vitality of small local businesses; and
WHEREAS, the City of Arcata was awarded Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Grant No. 22-CDBG-ED-30042 in the amount of $500,000 on July 18, 2023, for an Economic Development Community Development Activity for Business Assistance Loan Program and Microenterprise Loan and Grant Program; and
WHEREAS, the City Council adopted Resolution No.245-55 on June 18, 2025, to add an additional $200,000 in Program Income to the CDBG Grant No. 22-CDBG-ED-30042; and WHEREAS, the City received $86,751.91 in administration funds to offset staff costs associated with this grant.; and
WHEREAS, the City awarded 4 Business Assistance loans and one Microenterprise grant for a total of $206,601 resulting in the creation or retention of 12 jobs, funded through CDBG Grant No. 22-CDBG-ED-30042; and
WHEREAS, the remaining $127,527.61 in grant funds will be disencumbered as part of the grant closeout process. The remaining $46,392.67 Program Income funds will return to the City’s available Program Income and can be used for future contracts; and WHEREAS, the City Council conducted a duly noticed public hearing on September 16, 2026, regarding the accomplishments and closeout of CDBG Grant No. 22-CDBG-ED-30042; and WHEREAS, the California Department of Housing and Community Development requires a public hearing to review accomplishments and approve closeout of the grant.

NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ARCATA AS FOLLOWS:

1. The City Council hereby authorizes submission of all required closeout documentation to the California Department of Housing and Community Development and authorizes the City Manager, or designee, to execute all documents necessary to complete closeout of CDBG Grant No. 22-CDBG-ED-30042.

DATED: September 16, 2026

ATTEST: APPROVED:
________________________________ __________________________________ City Clerk, City of Arcata Mayor, City of Arcata
Clerk's Certificate
I hereby certify that the foregoing is a true and correct copy of Resolution No. 267-13, passed and adopted at a regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Arcata, Humboldt County, California held on the 16th day of September 2026, by the following vote:

AYES:

NOES:

ABSENT:

ABSTENTIONS:
__________________________________
City Clerk, City of Arcata