Fortuna's Voice in the General Plan Update:
Community & Staff Priorities for the Process
Prepared by Jen Rice Consults for the City of Fortuna ● June 2026 What This Document Is & How to Use It
This document is intended to inform the General Plan Update consulting team. It translates nearly a year of community and staff engagement in the “Future Fortuna” process into guidance for the GPU process (City of Fortuna Listening Campaign Report and Future Fortuna Workshop Results Report, 2026). The primary audience is the Planwest team, and it is a public document that should be readable by anyone interested in Fortuna’s future.
A word about scope: Fortuna’s current General Plan 2030 is widely regarded by community members, staff, and the consulting team that helped develop it as largely sound in its direction, yet with a weakness in its implementation. Many of its policies have never been carried out, and several are actively undermined by zoning codes and municipal regulations that work at cross-purposes to the plan’s intent. With this in mind, the GPU’s most critical work is:
1) An overhaul of the City’s zoning codes and related municipal codes, which are overdue for replacement, and
2) An actionable Economic Development Element. Updates to other elements should be targeted and purposeful, building on what is sound.
This document is organized by California’s ten General Plan elements. Each section identifies community and staff direction, specific staff needs or ideas, “cornerstones” to protect or achieve, and design questions to work out through the process. Where the Mill District Specific Plan (MDSP, 2024) is directly relevant, it is noted. The Implementation Element also introduces a performance orientation as an alternative to purely compliance-based policy: where defined conditions trigger responses, reducing the need for case-by-case deliberation and making implementation more predictable. Cross-element priorities that apply across every element appear at the end of this document.
Each GPU element section contains four parts:
• What We Heard: a summary of what the
community and staff want this element to
achieve, drawn from listening campaign and
workshop sources.
• Staff Requests: specific needs from the
people who will implement the General Plan.
• Cornerstones: things most important to this
community that should be reflected in
foundational policy language.
• Design Questions: the questions this
element should answer through the
research, engagement, and policy
development process. These are complex
areas of community interest and strategic
tension that the GPU engagement process
should address.
1. Land Use
What We Heard
Fortuna’s existing General Plan land use framework is largely sound. The priority for this element is ensuring land use designations are internally consistent, are fully aligned with the Mill District Specific Plan (which provides the detailed planning framework for the city’s most significant development opportunity), and are supported by updated zoning codes that reflect the community’s direction.
The community’s vision is strong for a walkable, active downtown that balances a historic feel with vibrant economic activity; a Mill District that fulfills its potential as an employment and commercial center; neighborhoods that feel like Fortuna; and land near US 101 interchanges that attracts travelers off of the interstate and generates revenue without looking like everywhere else.
Staff Requests
● Determine Floor Area Ratio (FAR) for residential/non-residential uses and align with Fortuna Municipal Code coverage and design standards.
● Residential parking requirements have been a deterrent to mixed-use development. Current policy requires designing to the highest level of parking requirements when commercial uses are undefined during construction and should be modified/simplified to allow development and accommodating realistic parking requirements.
● Fortuna’s Municipal Code is due for an update. It would be nice to see the GPU put forward goals such as clarity, brevity, objectivity, and so forth. We need to decrease the discretionary decision points to the maximum extent practicable.
Cornerstones this element should protect and achieve:
• The Mill District Specific Plan (MDSP, 2024) establishes the planning framework for the former mill site.
The GPU should ensure that General Plan land use designations are fully consistent with the MDSP’s vision of a mixed-use employment center — light industrial, flex, commercial, office, residential — connected to the 12th Street corridor, Fortuna Boulevard, and US 101 access. • Downtown Fortuna and the Fortuna Boulevard corridor are the city’s primary commercial areas. Land use policies should actively support their vitality, not passively permit it. • Development patterns should reflect what the community has consistently said it wants: walkable neighborhoods, a living downtown, and a character that is distinctly Fortuna. When asked to choose, Fortuna residents chose their own existing downtown and other walkable streetscapes — by a wide margin — over every other visual preference alternative presented.
Design Questions the planning process needs to answer:
• How do General Plan land use designations need to be updated to ensure full legal and policy consistency with the MDSP?
• What land use designations and policies best support the 12th Street corridor as a connector between downtown and the Mill District?
• How should the General Plan address the commercial opportunity areas near US 101 interchanges in ways that generate revenue and feel distinctly Fortuna rather than generic highway commercial? • Where does the current zoning map need to change to reflect and implement updated land use designations, particularly for mixed-use and employment-supportive zones? City of Fortuna GPU Process Recommendations 2 of 12 June 2026
2. Economic Development
What We Heard
This is the element the community and staff most want from this General Plan Update. Fortuna does not currently have an Economic Development Plan; this GPU section is the closest equivalent the City is likely to have for the foreseeable future. Its purpose is to establish a framework for what kinds of economic activity Fortuna wants to attract, support, and sustain — and the policies, infrastructure conditions, and regulatory environment that make that possible. Feedback to staff from developers indicates that a project that "pencils out" is the biggest motivator to pursue and complete a project.
Economic development work is also where the GPU and the Strategic Plan most directly intersect. The Economic Development Element should be developed in close coordination with the Strategic Plan’s economic priorities, and its implementation will require the City to build organizational capacity alongside policy.
Staff Requests
● Consider economic incentives and partnerships/agreements or Tax Increment Financing to complete necessary infrastructure improvements.
Cornerstones this element should protect and achieve:
• The Mill District, as framed in the MDSP, is Fortuna’s primary economic development opportunity. The Economic Development Element should treat it as one of the City’s most important investment zones and align policies, infrastructure priorities, and incentive strategies accordingly, especially to consider infrastructure as the starting point for investment.
• Downtown Fortuna is the City’s economic and cultural heart. Economic development policy should actively support a downtown that is open, active, accessible, and attractive to businesses, customers, and tourists alike — including uses and events (like the Farmers Market, which emerged independently across multiple engagement channels as a catalytic opportunity) that generate activation and spending. • Economic activity that generates both revenue for the City and living-wage jobs for residents is the measure of success. The GPU should provide a framework for distinguishing high-value economic development opportunities from those that primarily benefit developers or produce low-wage, non-durable employment.
• Regulatory barriers to desired economic development are a documented problem in Fortuna. This element should drive a parallel code reform process — removing barriers to the “right fit” development the community wants is as important as identifying what that development looks like.
Design Questions the planning process needs to answer:
• Interests in the following potential economic development direction/s emerged from community and staff engagement as areas to explore: family-focused businesses and services; outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism; regional sports events and facilities; skills development and entrepreneurship; the regional and local gap in healthcare services and medical facilities; and agritourism. For instance, might Fortuna be able to meet regional needs for family-friendly activities, workforce development, and/or health care as economic development strategy/ies? For each: Would it generate meaningful City revenue and living-wage jobs? Does it align with Fortuna’s character and values? What land use, zoning, or infrastructure changes would be needed to support it? Are creative options like a family-oriented and/or healthcare district zoning useful tools toward these ends? This evaluation should be a structured City of Fortuna GPU Process Recommendations 3 of 12 June 2026 part of the Element’s development, ideally with targeted community input from people with economic development experience and community investment in the outcome. • What are remaining infrastructure prerequisites for Mill District development (utility systems, street network, interchange/roundabout improvements), and how should the City sequence investment to unlock private development?
• How does the Economic Development Element align with and implement the Mill District Specific Plan, and what GP policy language is needed to ensure that alignment is durable? How might priorities in the Economic Development Element – for instance a focus on developing a regional niche in family-friendly activities or health care services – be reflected in other elements, like creative zoning approaches or process incentives?
• What regulatory changes — zoning, design standards, permitting streamlining — would most directly remove barriers to the economic development Fortuna wants? • What is Fortuna’s role in the Great Redwood Trail/regional trail system economy, and what trail-adjacent land uses should the GPU support or incentivize? (See also: Natural & Cultural Resources Element.)
3. Housing
What We Heard
Housing is important to Fortuna’s future both as an economic development driver to attract and retain workers, professionals, and young families, and as a quality-of-life priority, noted emphatically by Spanish-speaking residents and teens. The community has expressed consistent interest in both owner-occupied and family-affordable, also known as workforce, housing options. State RHNA Cycle 7 requirements are a planning mandate to be met thoughtfully in a way that is consistent with Fortuna’s character.
Staff Requests
● Undeveloped areas with larger minimum parcel size will need to be rezoned to allow for smaller parcels.
Other residentially zoned vacant areas should add density. FAR should accommodate multi-story structures. We should revisit the SB9 ordinance as the language currently does not allow for the intended number or size of units.
● Revisit density and permitting of smaller lot sizes in residential zoned areas with smaller setbacks. ● Consider mid-density (4-6 units per parcel) developments in transitional areas built to design standards – may be owner-occupied, e.g. "Cottage Cluster" or "Pocket Neighborhoods" – to provide for a variety of income levels without creating overly dense developments.
Cornerstones this element should protect and achieve:
• Housing types and locations should support economic development goals — providing options that attract and retain the workers, professionals, and young families Fortuna wants to grow. • Community character and neighborhood scale are important to residents. Infill and incremental density increases in appropriate locations are more consistent with the community’s direction than large-scale redensification of established neighborhoods.
• Family-affordable and owner-occupied housing are consistent community priorities. The Housing Element should include policies that actively support these outcomes.
City of Fortuna GPU Process Recommendations 4 of 12 June 2026 Design Questions the planning process needs to answer:
• What housing types, locations, and densities best serve Fortuna’s economic development and demographic goals?
• How should the GPU address RHNA Cycle 7 requirements in a way that is consistent with Fortuna’s community character?
• What opportunity sites — particularly near employment centers and schools — are best suited for family-affordable housing?
• What design standards would allow gradual infill that adds housing capacity without disrupting existing neighborhood character?
4. Transportation & Circulation
What We Heard
Getting around Fortuna on foot, by bike, and by vehicle is central to both quality of life and economic vitality. The community consistently named walkability, sidewalk connectivity, and safe pedestrian access, routes, and crossings as priorities. The 12th Street/Newburg roundabout project (CEQA complete, active development) is a near-term capital priority and should be reflected as such in the Circulation Element.
The GRTA recently released a Master Plan for the Great Redwood Trail. Fortuna has not yet conducted site-specific planning for the GRT corridor within City limits, so full implementation will follow completion of plans and designs, permits, and fundseeking for each trail segment. Communities that have waited for trail development to begin before planning adjacent uses have consistently missed the opportunity to incorporate trail access designs into adjacent projects and attract trail-supportive businesses (lodging, services, outdoor equipment) that need to be planned and incentivized well in advance. One community voice in this process specifically called for a Fortuna-specific GRT Master Plan, and that is a recommendation worth taking seriously. The GPU is an opportunity to get ahead of this.
On trail planning responsibility: Public Works typically plans, engineers, and oversees construction of trail infrastructure; Parks and Recreation should play a role in planning and design, and manages and maintains trails after they are built. The GPU should make this partnership explicit so it is durable across administrations and project teams.
Staff Request
● Reconsider the past practice of not requiring developers to build planned trails as part of the development exaction process. This is atypical and the City has been unsuccessful thus far in securing grants for trail construction.
Cornerstones this element should protect and achieve:
• Pedestrian infrastructure — connected, safe sidewalks linking neighborhoods to parks, schools, downtown, and medical facilities — is a community priority the Circulation Element should actively support and sequence for implementation.
• The 12th Street/Newburg and Kenmar roundabouts are in active development. The Circulation Element should recognize them both as near-term capital projects and as long-term structural connectors between downtown and the Mill District.
City of Fortuna GPU Process Recommendations 5 of 12 June 2026 • Bicycle and multimodal transportation should be planned for in connection with the Great Redwood Trail, Riverwalk and John Campbell Memorial trail corridors. Prior to development of a Trails Master Plan for Fortuna’s aspiring multi-use trail network, the GPU should designate this network as a planning priority and identify how to leverage adjacent development as well as grant funding for project planning, permitting, and implementation to complete these systems.
Design Questions the planning process needs to answer:
• What pedestrian and sidewalk infrastructure gaps are the highest priority, and how should the Circulation Element sequence their resolution?
• How should the Circulation Element address the full connectivity sequence: Mill District — 12th Street — downtown — US 101?
• What intersection and roadway improvements does the network need to support Mill District build-out, and how are they to be funded and sequenced? • What trail-adjacent land uses should the GPU designate or incentivize along the Great Redwood Trail, Riverwalk and John Campbell Memorial trail corridors — lodging, food, outdoor services, support facilities — and what design standards would attract those uses? • Should the GPU call for a Fortuna-specific GRT corridor planning study or master plan tied into the GRTA Master Plan?
5. Natural & Cultural Resources
What We Heard
Fortuna's natural resources are a visible and fundamental part of Fortuna’s identity. The Eel River, Strongs Creek, forested parks and ridgelines, and the open river bottom agricultural landscapes came up across all types of community engagement as one of the most important things residents want to protect. Equally, they are things people want to use and enjoy: river access, trail connections, parks, and outdoor recreation were named across multiple stations and demographic groups as quality-of-life essentials and reasons people choose to stay.
Fortuna's natural setting is an economic asset. The community's outdoor orientation isn't incidental to Fortuna's identity — it is central to it. Development that showcases these resources, improves access to them, and supports the kinds of businesses and experiences they attract is broadly consistent with what Fortuna said it wants.
Culturally, Fortuna has a historic character that is real and worth protecting — even if it is not as architecturally concentrated as neighboring Ferndale’s “Victorian Village.” The lesson from Ferndale is instructive: that character was preserved because policy protected it. Fortuna has a parallel opportunity. Its early-twentieth-century commercial and residential fabric, agricultural heritage, and the community identity enveloping both are worth naming and planning for — before they are incrementally lost to decisions made in their absence.
Fortuna's broader community character — tight-knit, family-centric, rooted in the outdoors, the river and the working landscape — may not be a formal planning category, but it surfaces in development decisions. Land use policy that actively supports this character is different from policy that merely fails to prohibit its erosion.
City of Fortuna GPU Process Recommendations 6 of 12 June 2026 Staff Requests
● Given the community’s strong interests in open space and outdoor activities as a lifestyle and potential economic development opportunity, similar to recent partnerships in Eureka and McKinleyville with neighboring private timberlands, might we negotiate or offer incentives for adjacent open space to be made available to the public?
● How might recovering salmonid populations also offer potential benefits to Fortuna’s economy? ● Based on a strong public interest in river access throughout the process by all ages, might there be existing examples of river and dock access, given strict levee management requirements by the Corps of Engineers and Department of Fish & Wildlife, such as seasonal river access structures installed by the North Coast Redwoods District of California State Parks? Cornerstones this element should protect and achieve:
• The Eel River and creek riparian corridors are protected natural assets. Land use and development decisions in or adjacent to these corridors should be evaluated against their impact on these resources — and also for whether they improve public access, visibility, and enjoyment of them. • Fortuna's natural setting is a competitive economic asset. Land use designations and design standards adjacent to natural resources should affirmatively support development that showcases and draws on those assets — lodging, outdoor hospitality, river access, and recreation-oriented services — not just avoid degrading them.
• Fortuna's existing historic fabric — its early commercial streetscapes, residential neighborhoods, and agricultural heritage — has planning value even where it is not fully intact or formally designated. The GPU should establish a policy foundation for identifying, assessing, and protecting cultural resources before development decisions make that work harder.
• The community character that has developed around Fortuna's natural setting and history — its family-oriented, outdoor-rooted, place-specific identity — is worth treating as a value in planning decisions, not just as a description of current conditions.
Design Questions the planning process needs to answer:
• What natural resource assets in Fortuna are most important to protect from incompatible development, and what policy tools are appropriate — setbacks, view corridor protection, riparian buffers, access easements?
• What land use designations, design standards, and incentive structures best support development that draws on Fortuna's natural assets — outdoor hospitality, river-oriented recreation, fishing, nature-adjacent lodging — in locations and at scales consistent with community character and that contribute toward economic development and revenue generation objectives? • What historic resources or cultural landscapes within Fortuna are potentially eligible for state or federal designation, and what are the CEQA and planning implications of that eligibility? • How should the GPU balance protection of existing historic fabric with the economic development goal of attracting new investment — particularly in the downtown and along commercial corridors? • Is Fortuna's community character — its particular outdoor-oriented, family-centric identity — something that can or should be articulated in General Plan policy language, and if so, where does it fit most naturally?
City of Fortuna GPU Process Recommendations 7 of 12 June 2026
6. Parks, Recreation, & Open Space
What We Heard
Parks, recreation, and open space ranked at or near the top of every engagement instrument in this process. The community’s message is not primarily about expanding what exists — it is about protecting it, maintaining it well, and making it genuinely accessible to all Fortuna residents, including families with young children, teens, and Spanish-speaking residents.
Staff Requests
● Fortuna currently provides well above the standard total acres of parkland per person, but it's all located in two large parks that have poor connectivity to most residential areas. Expansion of these parks should be weighed against the creation of small neighborhood "pocket" parks in close proximity to higher density areas.
● Consider partnerships with schools who own more land than they are likely to be able to use or manage to explore interim or long-term pocket parks development. ● A parks master plan that identifies underserved areas.
Cornerstones this element should protect and achieve:
• No new parks, trails, or recreation facilities should be approved without an evaluation of on-going maintenance costs and funding mechanisms. The maintenance feasibility filter is the single most consistent operational demand from staff, and it belongs in this element explicitly. • Youth and teen recreation — gathering spaces, sports facilities, and programmed activities — is a priority across every generation and demographic group that participated in this process. The GPU should support land uses and facility standards that enable investment in youth. • Equitable access to parks and open space for Spanish-speaking residents, for lower-income households, for residents in areas with less park proximity should be an explicit policy direction. Given that Spanish-speaking students represent close to half of elementary school populations (and therefore are a good indicator of proportionality in the larger Fortuna population, especially since immigrants are undercounted), widespread cultural differences in recreational use preferences and patterns should be acknowledged and included in future parks and recreation planning efforts.
Design Questions the planning process needs to answer:
• How might we balance the desire for open space with the desire for infill development? • What park, trail, and open space deficiencies have the greatest impact on the residents with least access?
• How should the GPU address the long-term maintenance implications of the City’s existing parks and trails inventory before approving new facilities?
• What role, if any, should the GPU assign to a community volunteer corps model for parks and trail maintenance — and what enabling policies would support it? • How might Fortuna learn from and apply lessons from the increasing pressure on open spaces and outdoor recreation facilities by a growing homeless population? City of Fortuna GPU Process Recommendations 8 of 12 June 2026
7. Public Facilities & Services
What We Heard
Fortuna’s community members consistently named quality public services — library, public safety, public works, and utilities — as important to quality of life and civic identity. Staff capacity constraints are real and documented; the GPU should not create new service obligations without accounting for organizational capacity to deliver them.
Staff Request
● Provide clarity on City-funded vs. developer-funded infrastructure and how capacity charge-backs and the like are handled.
Cornerstones this element should protect and achieve:
• No new facility or service commitments should be created without accounting for staffing and maintenance capacity. Development approvals should be contingent on the City’s ability to serve new growth without degrading services to existing residents. • Utility infrastructure — water, sewer, drainage — in and around the Mill District needs significant upgrading to support anticipated development. The GPU should identify these improvements as development prerequisites, not afterthoughts.
Design Questions the planning process needs to answer:
• What public facility and service standards does Fortuna want to establish — and how does the GPU make those standards actionable in development review?
• What specific utility infrastructure improvements are required to serve Mill District development, and how are those improvements to be funded and sequenced relative to development approvals?
8. Health & Safety
What We Heard
Public health and safety emerged during community engagement primarily in terms of livability: safe streets, accessible parks, and the management of flood and wildfire risk. Healthcare access, including medical facilities and services, was named as an economic development priority and a quality-of-life indicator across multiple groups.
Cornerstones this element should protect and achieve:
• Flood hazard management in the Eel River floodplain should be reflected in land use designations and development standards. This is both a safety requirement and a legal mandate. • Wildfire risk in the hillside areas east of Fortuna should be addressed in land use and development policies proportional to Fortuna’s actual risk profile. Other coastal communities in the Pacific Northwest such as Brookings, Oregon have faced wildfire impacts and scares in recent years, so it is not out of the question that Fortuna could face similar threats in the right conditions.
City of Fortuna GPU Process Recommendations 9 of 12 June 2026 • An increase in impacts from significant weather events is a reality that most communities (and insurance entities) are planning for – Fortuna’s proximity to the Eel River and creeks makes this an especially important consideration.
• As learned during the cluster of “Rio Dell” earthquakes during the winter of 2022-23, Fortuna pulls together in times of crisis – and, yet, all of our north coast communities have work to do to continue to become more earthquake resilient.
Design Questions the planning process needs to answer:
• How should the Health and Safety Element address an updated understanding of wildfire risk in a way that is actionable and proportional?
• What is the appropriate relationship between the Health and Safety Element and the Housing Element regarding development in or near flood-hazard areas?
• Might the region’s and community’s demand for improved healthcare be strategically addressed as a niche opportunity in the Economic Development Element by targeting specific land use designations and incentives? If so, does the Health and Safety Element need to say anything about it? • What does long-term hazard planning look like for Fortuna's river and creek corridors, given trends in flood frequency, storm intensity, and insurance availability? • What planning considerations need to be given to infrastructure stability and other potential challenges that will reduce problems for the community during upcoming earthquakes?
9. Community Design
What We Heard
Fortuna has a strong sense of what it looks like and what it wants to look like. When given choices in visual preference exercises, residents chose Fortuna’s own existing Main Street landscape and other walkable streetscapes with landscaping, youth activities, and historic buildings — by a wide margin. The GPU should protect and build on that character, including for residential areas and multi-family developments, instead of accepting generic standards as the default.
Objective, predictable design standards — replacing the current discretionary design review process — are among the most requested tools from staff and the community. This element should drive their adoption through code reform rather than relying on discretionary review to do design’s job.
Cornerstones this element should protect and achieve:
• Design standards — objective, enforceable, and predictable — are a priority. The Community Design Element should establish the policy foundation for standards to be codified in the Municipal Code. • The historic character of downtown and some residential areas of Fortuna is a community asset.
Design policies should protect and reinforce it – perhaps even expand it to other commercial areas. • The Fortuna Boulevard corridor represents an opportunity to shape the City’s primary gateway. The GPU should treat design standards for this corridor as a priority, with particular attention to the segment near US 101 where generic commercial development has historically defaulted.
City of Fortuna GPU Process Recommendations 10 of 12 June 2026 Design Questions the planning process needs to answer:
• What design elements — scale, materials, façade treatment, signage, setbacks, landscaping — define a distinctly Fortuna commercial character worth building toward? • How do objective design standards incentivize the development Fortuna wants without creating barriers that favor chains over local operators?
• How should the Community Design Element address the relationship between new development and Fortuna’s historic buildings and streetscapes?
• What interim design standards could apply during the GPU process to prevent development decisions that undercut the direction this Element will establish?
10. Administration & Implementation
What We Heard
The most carefully written General Plan will not produce results if it is not implemented, which is where Fortuna’s current General Plan has struggled most — not because its policies are wrong, but because zoning codes and organizational practices have worked against them. The Administration and Implementation Element has an opportunity to address this directly.
Critically, the GPU and its implementation program should call out the code update as its essential companion.
The General Plan’s policies are only as good as the codes that carry them out.
Staff Requests
● The General Plan should be a citywide document and promote shared responsibility for program, policy, and goal implementation.
● Consider crafting and making “design questions” available to and easy for the public to review and provide input on during the public engagement process.
● Allow and encourage the use of technology as a “force-multiplier” to help staff accomplish more with less.
Cornerstones this element should protect and achieve:
• The GPU should include a realistic, phased implementation program — with assigned responsibilities, timelines, and explicit connections to the City budget and Strategic Plan. • Implementation priorities should be sequenced to support economic development and quality-of-life goals, not just processed by element number. • Code reform — particularly for zoning and design standards — should be treated as a co-equal companion to General Plan adoption, not a follow-on task of indefinite timing.
Design Questions the planning process needs to answer:
• How should the implementation program account for current and anticipated staff capacity constraints?
City of Fortuna GPU Process Recommendations 11 of 12 June 2026 • How should the City sequence GPU implementation alongside the code overhaul process — and what interim measures are appropriate in the gap?
• What role should community members and partners play in monitoring and accountability for GPU implementation?
• How and where might a performance orientation (over a compliance orientation) in the GPU policies and in the codes that implement them replace some prescriptive rules with measurable outcomes?
11. Cross-Element Priorities
These themes apply across many or all GPU elements, and in some cases are exploratory. They should not be treated as a standalone section — they are a lens to apply throughout.
Maintenance Feasibility Filter
No new parks, trails, facilities, or infrastructure should be approved without an evaluation of on-going maintenance costs and funding mechanisms and a recommendation from the maintaining department. This is the single most consistent operational demand from both staff and community engagement, and it belongs explicitly in the Implementation Element and in the policies of every relevant element.
Youth & Family Lens
Teen and youth needs represented one of the two strongest cross-issue interests (along with economic development) during listening and community engagement processes. Any land use, economic development, or parks decision with implications for youth programming, gathering spaces, or family-affordable housing should be evaluated explicitly through this lens. It would be worthwhile in a place like Fortuna, where youth and families are a strong part of community identity, to consider a creative approach like zoning for family-friendly uses, especially if economic development priorities lean in the direction of Fortuna becoming a place in the region that caters to family-friendly activities.
Improved Health Care for the Region as an Economic Strategy for Fortuna? Northwestern California is widely understood to have poor access to robust medical care – predictably, this issue arose during the listening campaign. Consider if Fortuna wants to become a regional hub for improved access to quality medical care, instead of many residents driving to places like Santa Rosa or Redding or going without adequate care. This could be a consideration both in Economic Development and linked to specific zoning.
Spanish-Speaking Community & Environmental Justice Inclusion Fortuna’s Spanish-speaking population participated actively in this process and identified two cornerstones:
inclusion of Spanish-speaking residents in City processes, and investment in youth. SB 1000 requires environmental justice goals, policies, and objectives for applicable communities. The GPU process should engage Spanish-speaking residents in its own public engagement process, and the resulting document should reflect their priorities. Translation of materials and interpretation at community meetings are baseline requirements, not extras.
City of Fortuna GPU Process Recommendations 12 of 12 June 2026