Mar
7
2011
Asks Supervisors to Put Process on Hold and Calls for Citizen Advisory Committees
At its March 1st meeting the Eureka City Council discussed its concerns related to how the General Plan Update (GPU) is being conducted, specifically with regard to public input as called for in the current plan.
Councilman Lance Madsen brought the matter forward along with a draft letter outlining the City’s concerns
After hearing comments from a wide range of local groups and individuals, including HumCPR, the council held a spirited discussion and the voted 4-1 in favor of sending the letter to the Board of Supervisors. The letter stated in part, “It is incumbent upon us as elected representatives of our communities, to ensure that the policies and measures in this document do not unfairly burden any segment of our communities. Therefore, we believe that Citizen Advisory Committees as provided for in section 1550 et seq. of the current General Plan are a necessity in making this process inclusive.”
It is unclear when or if the Supervisors will address this letter. We’ll keep you posted and will update our website as soon as we know.
In the meantime, you can find section 1500 of the General Plan by clicking here. (To see the section regarding Community Advisory Committees scroll down to Section 1550).
And here’s the letter that Eureka sent to the Board of Supervisors:
Mar
7
2011
The Importance of Section 1500
A major flaw in the current General Plan Update (GPU) process is that it has thus far, failed to follow the process as outlined in the current (Framework) General Plan.
Section 1500 outlines how updates to the existing plan should ensure public participation and specific structures that can be used (section 1550) to accomplish that.
The writers of the Framework Plan understood very well the importance of an inclusive process: One of the first goals approved in the beginning of this program was: “To maximize the opportunity for individuals and groups to have meaningful participation in the planning process.”
“This goal was developed from the understanding that the public will be more able to support policies guiding the development of the County when an opportunity to participate in the development and review of the General Plan has been provided.”
Jan
31
2011
Two Community Workshops also Added
The week beginning Monday, Feb. 14th will be a busy one for those interested in the proposed Multi Family rezone ordinance.
The County has scheduled three meetings that week culminating at a Planning Commission meeting on Thursday, 17th.
According to the county all three meetings are described as “community workshops” whose purpose is: ” to help explain the parcel selection process and to collect information from community members about the suitability of properties proposed to be rezoned to Residential Multifamily”.
The bottom line: This will deal with “ZONING CHANGES OF PARCELS TO MULTIFAMILY TO IMPLEMENT THE 2010 HOUSING ELEMENT UPDATE”.
The county’s public notice can be found online, however, it’s important to note that the correct dates for the community workshops are Monday, Feb 14, 6-8 PM, (McKinleyville) and Tuesday, Feb 15, 6-8 PM, (Eureka).
So far, the County has not announced any community workshop for Southern Humboldt.
When the county released the maps (earlier HumCPR report) there was a very strong reaction from throughout the targeted areas and HumCPR is aware of numerous concerns that are being raised by community members. ‘Though the press has focussed a lot of it’s coverage on McKinleyville residents’ concerns, we know that residents of Cutten, Pine Hill, Ridgewood and Redway, among others are very concerned about both the feasibility of the rezones and their impacts on county neighborhoods.
Please plan on attending these meetings if you can.
Dec
28
2010
Target Parcels Identified
Just before the Holidays the County Planning Department added ten (10) new maps to its’ General Plan Update (GPU) website. These maps reveal parcels in communities from McKinleyville to Redway which are proposed to be re-zoned to high density Multifamily development.
The outlined parcels are currently listed as “Candidate Multifamily Sites” which means that they will be listed in the Housing Element as sites for Very Low Income and Low income housing.
This will also entail a proposed new County Ordinance that would prioritize development in these areas over any other development, essentially meaning that projects in these areas will be fast-tracked and will jump to the head of the line with regard to building permit issuance.
The new ordinances will be addressed at the Jan 6th Planning Commission Meeting. At the December 16th meeting Planning Staff informed the public that the Multifamily Zoning will not be on that agenda. We’ll keep you posted when this item will be up for discussion.
For a quick glance, you can scroll here to find your area or you can access the County’s GPU Website for larger maps.
Cutten Area
Pine Hill
Ridgewood
Central McKinleyville
East McKinleyville
South McKinleyville
Myrtletown
Humboldt Hill, Fields landing
Manila/Humboldt Bay
Redway
Dec
14
2010
Hearing on New Zoning and Regulation Ordinances Continued to January 6th
On Dec 2nd, the Humboldt County Planning Commission opened a hearing on Amendments to the Humboldt County Zoning Regulations, Subdivision Regulations, General Plans and Local Coastal Plans. The new proposed changes are tied to implementation of the 2010 Housing Element. The hearing was well attended, especially by residents of the McKinleyville area which would see huge changes to its’ character and make-up if the proposed changes were to go through.
After a large amount of public testimony, most of which aired concerns about the impact on the community of McKinleyville the hearing was continued to January 6th 2011
The proposed changes are concentrated in several communities throughout Humboldt and are part of the move toward high density housing in “urbanized” areas and away from more rural settings.
If the proposed changes are adopted, new housing will be encouraged in several “Housing Opportunity Zones” by easing up on regulations and offering incentives to development in those areas.
Special zones will also be set aside for establishing Emergency Shelters on a principally permitted basis, which means they will not be subject to taking input from the community.
A third aspect of the new ordinances would re-zone parcels within those areas to a very high density to accommodate “Multi-Family Housing”.
The County has provided maps of the “Housing Opportunity Zones” and the Emergency Shelter zones. Maps of the parcels to be re-zoned to “Multi-family” housing will also be available soon
We will bring you more details and updates as they become available. In the meantime, if you have input about these changes, please try to attend the January 6th hearing of the Planning Commission (6:00 PM at the County Courthouse).
On the following maps, the Orange outline = “Housing Opportunity Zones” and the Green outline = Emergency Shelters principally permitted.
If you would like to examine the maps more closely you can access a full size (5.2 mb) .pdf file by clicking here County Housing Element Maps
McKinleyville
Cutten and Pine Hill
Humboldt Hill
Weott
Redway / Garberville
