Special City Council Meeting Agenda: 05-20-2025 scc Page 1 Posted: Friday, May 16, 2025
NOTICE AND CALL OF A SPECIAL MEETING OF THE
TRINIDAD CITY COUNCIL
The Trinidad City Council will hold a special meeting on TUESDAY, MAY 20, 2025, at 6:00 PM
at the Trinidad Town Hall, 409 Trinity Street, Trinidad, CA.
NO CLOSED SESSION
For your convenience, this meeting will also be held via videoconference, hosted on the Zoom platform. Learn more about Zoom here: https://zoom.us
PUBLIC COMMENT: Public comment may be submitted via email in advance of the meeting, or in an orderly process during the meeting. If you do not have access to email and you would like to provide a written statement, please deliver your comments to 409 Trinity Street, Trinidad CA, by 2:00pm on the meeting day, or email to [email protected] HOW TO PARTICIPATE: You are invited to participate in person at the Trinidad Town Hall, or by Zoom. The City will publish a direct link to the Zoom teleconference, along with the participant code, on the City Calendar page online at http://trinidad.ca.gov/calendar
To phone in, dial 1-888-278-0296, Conference Code: 685171 Meeting ID: 865 3162 2159 Passcode: 032204 PLEASE NOTE that live meeting logistics will be prioritized. Connectivity issues on the part of the City may result in the meeting being delayed or rescheduled but technical challenges experienced by individuals will not interrupt or halt progress of the meeting.
I. CALL TO ORDER
II. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
III. APPROVAL OF AGENDA
IV. ITEMS FROM THE FLOOR
At this time, members of the public may comment on items NOT appearing on the agenda. Individual comments will be limited to 3 minutes or less. Please direct your comments to the Council as a whole, maintain decorum and avoid personal attacks on staff, members of the Council and/or other members of the public. Council and staff responses will be minimal for non-agenda items.
V. CONSENT AGENDA - No consent items scheduled
VI. DISCUSSION/ACTION AGENDA ITEMS
1. Trinidad Trail Closure Issues: Discussion/Action regarding future management of City Trails, particularly related to the Axel Lindgren Memorial Trail, Van Wycke Trail, and Galindo Trail. The discussion will focus on the approaching expiration of the temporary, permitted closure of the Axel Lindgren Memorial Trail and a phased reopening plan.
2. Discussion/Decision to Appoint two (2) Councilmembers to the Tsurai Management Team.
X. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS
XI. ADJOURNMENT
DISCUSSION AGENDA ITEM 1
SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION ATTACHED
1. Trinidad Trail Closure Issues: Discussion/Action regarding future management of City Trails, particularly related to the Axel Lindgren Memorial Trail, Van Wycke Trail, and Galindo Trail.
The discussion will focus on the approaching expiration of the temporary, permitted closure of the Axel Lindgren Memorial Trail and a phased reopening plan.
Trail Closure Issues May 20, 2025 Special CC Meeting
CITY OF TRINIDAD STAFF REPORT
DATE: Tuesday May 20, 2025
TO: Trinidad City Council and Planning Commission
FROM: Trever Parker, City Planer
AGENDA ITEM: Trinidad Trail Closure Issues: Discussion/Action regarding future management of City Trails, particularly related to the Axel Lindgren Memorial Trail (ALMT), Van Wycke Trail, and Galindo Trail. The discussion will focus on the approaching expiration of the temporary closure of the ALMT and a phased reopening plan.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION
• Provide input on these projects and direction to staff on trail management. • Consider approving the ALMT Phased Reopening Plan and direct staff to continue implementing it.
BACKGROUND/DISCUSSION
Trails and their repair and maintenance have been significant ongoing issues for several years. During this time, several trails have been temporarily closed, some for multiple years. Trail closures, and many maintenance activities require Coastal Development Permits (CDPs). Therefore, the Planning Commission has had primary responsibility for discussing and acting on the various closures and maintenance/repair proposals. A timeline of recent closure actions are listed below:
• Van Wycke
o August 2020, the PC approved a 6-month temporary closure that was appealed to the City Council (appeal denied) and the Coastal Commission o September 2023, the Coastal Commission found the appeal raised no substantial issues, but made it clear they wanted a solution o March 2024, the PC approved another 6-month closure
o September 2024, the PC denied an extension of the closure o October 2024, the City Council approved a 3-month extension of the closure o December 2024, City staff made some minor repairs (not requiring a CDP) and the closure expired.
• Axel Lindgren Memorial Trail
o February 2023, City staff authorized an emergency CDP for closure at the request of the TAS
Trail Closure Issues May 20, 2025 Special CC Meeting
o April 2023, the PC followed up to authorize a 6-month closure (2 months for Parker Creek Trail, which was reopened in May 2023)
o May 2023, the PC issued a CDP for repair of the Parker Creek Trail and remediation actions for erosion and impacts to cultural resources at the toe of the bluff along Old Home Beach
o October 2023, the PC approved a 4-month extension on the condition that City staff develop a short-term reopening plan.
o March 2024, the PC approved another 4-month extension to the closure o July 2024, the Planning Commission denied a new CDP for continued temporary closure of the ALMT for up to a year (appealed to the City Council who upheld the appeal and overturned the PC decision, which was in turn appealed to the Coastal Commission who found the appeal raised no substantial issues).
o August 2024, the Planning Commission conditionally approved a CDP for vegetation removal along the realignment.
The Planning Commission has expressed growing frustration with the continued closures of trails in Trinidad, particularly in the face of public opposition to the closures. This frustration is exacerbated by the fact that the Planning Commission does not have any authority to direct staff or resources to address trail issues or to otherwise affect progress towards reopening the trails other than acting on CDPs. Although they recognize that staff have been doing what they can, the Planning Commission wants the City Council to take a more active role in directing resources and following through to ensure that solutions are being actively pursued. This includes agendizing trail issues at City Council meetings to provide the public with a forum to provide input to the Council and for the Council to provide clear direction to staff.
ALMT
The City has continued to work with the Tsurai Management Team (TMT) to look at both short and long-term repairs to the ALMT and ways to address the bluff instability. The current closure will expire on May 23. There was some discussion at the TMT about the possibility of opening a portion of the trail. The City requested a TMT meeting on 3/31 and 4/2, but did not receive any responses from Yurok Tribe or TAS representatives.
However, more recent direction given to staff is to reopen the entire trail on the existing alignment as quickly as possible.
It has always been the City’s intent to reopen the trail as soon as safely and sensitively possible. This was what various parties agreed to when the City temporarily closed the trail in February 2023 at the request of TAS. The City took several follow-up actions in 2023 as requested by the TAS, including installing fencing at the top and bottom of the trail, placing jute matting along the toe of the bluff, and installing snow/sand fencing on the beach along the base of the bluff. The City has continued to meet with the TMT to work in good faith to reopen the trail along the traditional alignment as requested by the TAS. However, that process has taken longer than anticipated and now does not appear to
Trail Closure Issues May 20, 2025 Special CC Meeting
present a viable option for reopening the trail in the short-term. Therefore, the City plans to move forward with a phased approach that will reopen the trail in the existing, permitted alignment in the immediate short-term, and it will also commit the City to continuing to work on improving the ALMT to protect cultural resources, including moving forward with the realignment in both the long and intermediate terms.
The attached phased reopening plan essentially consists of four basic steps: 1) immediately trim vegetation and install cable steps at the toe of the existing, permitted alignment, remove the fencing, and allow the temporary closure to expire; 2) replace existing steps as needed and work with the TMT to install fencing or a railing along the east side of the trail or portions of the trail to discourage people from leaving the trail; 3) work with the TMT to plan studies and improvements necessary to reroute the bottom of the trail to the traditional alignment; and 4) apply for grant funding to implement the long-term boardwalk plan developed by GHD and TAS.
As part of the initial phase, the City plans to process an amendment to the CDP/Design Review/Use Permit that was issued in 1996 to construct/improve the Hogback Trail for public use. This hearing is scheduled to occur at the regularly scheduled Planning Commission meeting of May 21, 2025. The proposed amendment will authorize ongoing maintenance and periodic repair of the trail consisting of vegetation trimming and placement of new cable steps at the base of the trail to replace the old cable steps that were washed away. The trail specifications and conditions of approval from the 1996 action will remain in effect.
It should be noted that the TAS object to the existing, permitted alignment of the trail.
However, that alignment was properly permitted and constructed by and in coordination with the Yurok Tribe and Axel Lindgren II in 1997. The City intends to continue to work with the TAS/TMT to reroute the base of the trail. But since it has become apparent that cannot be accomplished in the short term, the City feels that reopening the trail in its current configuration best meets the City’s obligations to provide public access, meet the needs of the community, and to comply with the terms of the 1994 settlement agreement.
Galindo Trail
The Galindo can be seen on aerial photos dating back at least to the 1960’s, and it is included in Trinidad’s original 1980 LCP (Plate 4 and Policy 64). It was reconstructed in 1992 as a “repair and maintenance” project. Although the TAS assert that the City agreed to close the trail in 2001 as part of the “Walkway Project,” which resulted in construction of the boardwalk along lower Edwards, and again as part of the development of the TMP, there is no evidence or support of that claim in the file record. If such an agreement was made, it was not done in a public forum. I only mention this because it is likely to come up at the meeting. I don’t think the question can be easily resolved, but it appears to be a moot point, since the City has publicly agreed to pursue closure of the trail now.
Trail Closure Issues May 20, 2025 Special CC Meeting
As far as my files indicate, the current trail closure discussion first arose in November 2017, when the TAS presented a petition (https://www.change.org/p/trinidad-citycouncil-close-galindo-street-trail-in-trinidad-ca) to close the Galindo Trail as an “item from the floor” at the City Council meeting. The stated reason is because the trail passes over or near to Tsurai gravesite(s). Although the Council could not take action on an item not on the agenda, they indicated an interest in following up on the issue. Staff researched the files, and the City Council held a Government-to-Government (G2G) meeting with the Yurok Tribe in February 2018. There was also an onsite meeting around the same time with representatives from TAS, the Yurok Tribe, Trinidad Rancheria, the City Manager only, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. At that meeting, it was reported that there was a general consensus that the trail should be closed.
City staff then met with Coastal Commission staff in March 2018 to discuss the process for closure of the trail. Coastal Commission staff did not support trail closure at that time and suggested that an LCP amendment would be required and that detailed analysis and justification to close the trail would be necessary. In addition, they suggested that some type of pedestrian pathway between the bottom of Edwards Street and the bottom of the Galindo Trail would be required in order to provide alternative access in the “same time, place, and manner” pursuant to their interpretation of Coastal Act § 30214. Coastal Commission staff additionally suggested that prescriptive rights could interfere with closing the trail. Therefore, little progress was made due to these significant hurdles.
The issue came up again in 2020, and the City Council officially directed staff to work on a proposal for closing the Galindo Trail at their August 11, 2020 meeting. (Motion to direct City staff to work with Coastal Commission staff and stakeholders to put together a proposal to close the Galindo Trail, which will eventually become an application for a CDP and LCP Amendment.
Passed 4-1.) Note that in the minutes for that meeting, there are several comments from then current and former Councilmembers that they had already voted to close the trail.
However, I cannot find a record of it being on a previous City Council agenda, and my best guess is that they were referring to the G2G meeting with the Yurok Tribe in February 2018, the results of which I cannot find any details of in the record.
However, progress towards trail closure was not made until 2022 due to the previously mentioned challenges presented by Coastal Commission staff, because City staff did not have the information and resources to address them. That changed in 2022 with a change of leadership at the local CCC office and likely as the result of new executive and legislative directives requiring state agencies to more comprehensively consider environmental justice and tribal consultation/issues. The TAS met with Coastal Commission staff directly in July 2022. And City staff met with the TAS and Coastal Commission staff in August 2022, where Coastal Commission staff agreed that the trail should be closed and provided suggestions for an achievable path forward.
City staff continued to meet and work closely with the TAS and Coastal Commission staff into early 2023 to plan a small parklet that would serve as a memorial and an overlook at
Trail Closure Issues May 20, 2025 Special CC Meeting
the top of the bluff along the trail with closure and restoration of the lower portion of the trail. The conceptual plan is attached. The City was also working on coordinating repair of the boardwalk along lower Edwards at that time, which provides a critical alternative pedestrian access route. City staff were planning on presenting the plan to the City Council and the public at the February 2023 meeting. Unfortunately, we all got pulled away to deal with the erosion along Old Home Beach instead. And staff have continued to be busy with trails other issues so that we have not gotten back to working on Galindo. In addition, there have been delays with the easement for the boardwalk repair, which may impact the ability to move forward with the closure anyway.
Van Wycke Trail
As of May 15, 2025, the CIRA’s Board (the City’s insurance provider) voted to remove the exclusion on the Van Wycke Trail, so it now has liability insurance coverage again.
Although the immediate issue of the temporary closure has been solved for the short-term, the future of this trail is still in question. The slide that is impacting the trail will continue to move, further compromising the condition of the trail. As previously noted, the City will need to decide whether to pursue repairs and to what extent, and consider if/when the trail should be closed as has been requested by the Tsurai Ancestral Society and Yurok Tribe. Staff recommends that the City Council request formal consultation with the Yurok Tribe to better understand the potential impacts to cultural resources from the use of the trail in order to inform the Council’s decision.
ATTACHMENTS
• Draft ALMT Phased Reopening Plan
• Draft Galindo Closure Plan
DRAFT Phased ALMT Reopening Plan
Initial Phase: Immediate Reopening
• Complete the minimum necessary to allow reopening of the trail. • Process is an amendment to the 1996 CDP.
• Remove fencing at the top and bottom of the trail.
• Trim vegetation along the trail – 6 foot width.
o Include periodic trimming to 6-foot width.
• Install cable steps at the toe of the bluff.
o Preferred: anchor steps to sturdy alder trees.
o If needed, anchor with helical screws to minimize soil disturbance. o Steps may be removed and the trail closed during winter or storm events as determined by staff.
o Provide for continued monitoring and repair over the term of the permit. • Pile rocks from the beach at the base of the trail/bluff as needed to decrease improve safety and transition to the beach.
• Allow the current temporary closure to expire on May 23, 2025.
Short-Term Phase (< 1 year): Continued Repairs and Maintenance on Existing Alignment • Repair existing steps as needed.
• Install sand fencing or posts interlinked with rope along the east side of the trail to discourage people from leaving the trail.
o Allow vegetation to grow and fill in at trail edges.
o Consult with the TMT to determine the most appropriate barrier type and to prioritize locations.
• Consult with the TAS on whether any additional signage is desired at this phase. • Any other periodic repair and maintenance as needed/requested. • Process another CDP amendment.
Intermediate Phase (1-3 years): Open Traditional Alignment • Consult with the TMT to plan for opening the traditional alignment at the base of the trail.
o Conduct studies as needed (e.g. Geotech).
o Assess and plan the alignment (e.g. optimize curves, steepness) and necessary improvements (e.g. stream crossing(s)).
o Develop a method for safe pedestrian access to the beach at the base. • Seek funding as needed.
• If the traditional alignment is opened, the old alignment will be closed and restored as recommended by the TMT.
o Consult with TMT to determine restoration actions (e.g. scarify and revegetate).
Long-Term Phase (3-5+ years): Boardwalk Along Traditional Alignment • The City is currently working with the TMT on a grant application related to this project.
VAN WYCKE ST.
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P:\Arcata\2016\016105A-CityOfTrinidad\013-Galindo-Trail\GIS\GMP_Fig1_ConceptualPlan.mxd USER: jsousa DATE: 2/1/23, 3:19PM
EXPLANATION
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PHOTOSOURCE:
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GalindoMemorialPark
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ConceptualPlan
February2023-016105.013
1 Figure
DISCUSSION AGENDA ITEM 2
SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION ATTACHED
2. Discussion/Decision to Appoint two (2) Councilmembers to the Tsurai Management Team.
TRINIDAD CITY COUNCIL
Committee Assignments: Revised January 14, 2024.
COMMITTEE REP ALT
Humboldt Waste Management Authority HWMA
https://www.hwma.net
Kelly Kenny
Humboldt County Association of Governments HCAOG
https://www.hcaog.net
Kelly Kenny
Tsurai Management Plan Implementation Committee Varela Breckenridge Redwood Regional Economic Development Corp. RREDC
https://rredc.com/
Varela Breckenridge
HTA Humboldt Transit Authority HTA
https://hta.org
Tuttle Kenny
Redwood Coast Energy Authority RCEA
https://redwoodenergy.org
Tuttle Kelly
CCNM Trinidad Gateway Committee Kelly Kenny
Humboldt County Convention & Visitors Bureau HCCVB. No rep. Chamber should take on this role
Office of Emergency Services OES
https://humboldtgov.org/356/Office-of-Emergency-Services Kelly Kenny
Hazardous Materials Response Authority HMRA
Quarterly Meetings
Kelly Varela
Humboldt Mayors Committee Kelly Kenny
League of CA Cities City Manager Kelly/Kenny
Trinidad Trails Committee Kenny Kelly
Water Advisory Committee Kelly Tuttle
Animal Advisory Committee Breckenridge Tuttle
North Humboldt Bay Fire District Discussions Kelly Kenny