Consent Agenda Item 3l
STAFF REPORT
Consent Agenda Item
DATE: August 17, 2026
TO: Honorable Mayor and Council Members
FROM: Brendan Byrd, Community Development Director/City Engineer THROUGH: Amy Nilsen, City Manager
SUBJECT: Approve a Joint Letter of Support with the Cities of Arcata and Rio Dell for Draft Opportunity Zone 2.0 Designations within Humboldt County STAFF RECOMMENDATION:
Approve a regional joint support letter for Opportunity Zones 2.0 designation in the Cities of Arcata, Fortuna and Rio Dell and direct staff to submit the letter to the GO-Biz public comment portal.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
At the July 20th meeting the Council approved the submission of three eligible census tracts within the City of Fortuna to the Opportunity Zones 2.0 program. Staff subsequently submitted applications for those tracts to the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GOBiz), and on August 3rd the City was informed that the State has selected City census tract 06023010901 (the Upper Mill District) as a draft tract to be submitted to the federal government for review and approval under Opportunity Zones 2.0.
The Cities of Arcata and Rio Dell also received draft Opportunity Zones designations for a census tract within their city boundaries, and staff at the three agencies are proposing to develop a joint support letter for the proposed census tracts. A regional support letter will help convey to the state and federal governments the regional alignment with the proposed designations across the county and further strengthen the broader narrative that opportunity zone designation within Humboldt County is identified as a regionally significant issue, not simply a local one.
Attached to the staff report is a draft letter of support that will also be considered by the Council’s of Arcata and Rio Dell. Should the Council approve being signatory to this letter staff would move to finalize the letter with those partnering agencies and submit the letter to the Go-BIZ Opportunity Zones 2.0 portal before the close of the public comment period on August 28th.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
As noted in the staff report presented to the Council on July 20th regarding the Opportunity Zone program, there is no fiscal impact or City budget required as part of being included in the Opportunity Zone program. The program is designed to encourage and incentivize private equity investment to drive economic development in rural and struggling communities and not use state or local public funds.
Consent Agenda Item 3l
RECOMMENDED COUNCIL ACTION:
Staff recommends that the Council approve a regional joint support letter for Opportunity Zones
2.0 designation in the Cities of Arcata, Fortuna and Rio Dell and direct staff to submit the letter to the GO-Biz public comment portal. Consent Agenda vote.
ATTACHMENTS:
1. Draft Joint Letter of Support for Designation of Census Tracts in Arcata, Fortuna, and Rio Dell as California Opportunity Zones