The LookOut is a monthly
digest of climate issues and recent developments in our neighborhood.
Arcata’s planning commissioners grappled with the
affordable housing element of the Gateway Plan at the June 27
meeting. The 138-acre infill redevelopment is Arcata’s response to
the challenges of population growth and climate change. Taller
buildings would provide higher density for the area than the rest of
the town, and a certain portion of the housing should be affordable.
However, the inclusionary zoning of the Gateway Plan proposed that
developers be required to make only 3% of their projects affordable
for people with low incomes and 5% for people with median incomes.
Several of the commissioners have proposed increasing those numbers
to somewhere between 10 and 20 percent. But after a long discussion of the constraints, trade-offs, and hurdles involved, the Planning
Commission voted 4 – 1 to change those numbers to only 4%
affordable for low incomes and 9% for median incomes. Those numbers
are far from set in stone. The developers have the last word in many
ways, and it’s not possible to coerce them to take up these
projects unless they can make what they consider a reasonable profit.
The inclusionary zone’s new proposed 4 and 9% percentages are
calculated to not overlap the state’s Density Bonus parameters. If
builders plan for a certain percentage of affordable housing, the
Density Bonus law allows them to build denser projects (higher
buildings) than what the base zoning allows. They also get to choose
up to four concessions from development standards in order to
decrease their costs. Also, there are bound to be other requirements
waived when the density of a project is increased as long as the
developer can show that those regulatory constraints would make the
new proposed density not feasible. Under state law a city cannot turn
down these developer rights.
The city wants more control. The Gateway Plan aims to design
neighborhoods featuring certain amenities detailed in its Community
Benefits Program. Extra landscaping, higher than required energy
efficiency, and green building materials are a few examples. When a
developer chooses from this large menu, points are pegged to each
chosen item, and these points are bid credits. One of the community
benefits is affordable housing.
So there are two routes to affordable housing. One comes through
state law but the developers have the right to turn down a certain
number of desirable development standards. The other route comes
through local inclusionary zoning with extra affordable housing
incentivized through the Community Benefits Program.
The big question is if the Community Benefits Program is worth the
trade-offs. (You can read a critique of the Community Benefits
Program here.) People who already object to the proposed
building heights in the Gateway area should realize that developers
complying with the state’s Density Bonus law will be able to
increase those heights without anyone’s input.
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Local
climate activists sent a message
to
101 motorists
on the morning of June 9. A banner demanding “End the Era of Fossil
Fuels” was hung on both the northbound and southbound sides of the
overpass walkway connecting north G St. with LK Wood.
An
anonymous press release with photos stated that the “urgency to
transition to renewable energy has never been more critical. Our
future—the future of our communities, our children, and our
planet—hangs in the balance.” Learn more about #EndTheEra here.
Anonymous photo sent to media
At the first public hearing for two giant wood pellet factories proposed for Tuolomne and Lassen counties, twenty four people
protested manufacturing a product that will worsen the climate
emergency. The one voice in favor of the idea obligingly offered his
opinion that climate change is a hoax.
Many of the commenters also spoke about the various polluting,
dangerous aspects of manufacturing and transporting wood pellets. 350
Humboldt focused on the bottom line for the climate, which is that
the carbon footprint of burning one million tons of wood
pellets every year severely challenges the benefits of thinning the
forest to make it healthier and less vulnerable to catastrophic fire.
To complicate matters further, fuel load reductions in the forest
must be done so carefully that the science behind them has become controversial. Some foresters believe that thinning projects
do not remedy the problem and may even make forests more prone to
wildfire. Whatever the solution may be, burning the resulting wood
waste from these projects makes matters worse.
Golden State Financial Authority is the lead agency for the EIR
process, which has presumably begun now that the first public review
period has ended. Humboldt county supervisor, Rex Bohn, serves on the
board of that agency and also on the board of Golden State Natural
Resources, which is the agency that dreamed up this idea.
You can sign a petition and make a comment through EPIC’s website here.
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On the local biomass front, we are still trying to persuade
Redwood Coast Energy Authority to stop buying biomass electricity
from Humboldt Sawmill Company. RCEA’s current contract with the biomass plant in Scotia runs into 2031 despite its pledge to supply Humboldt county with a
hundred percent clean energy by 2025. HSC’s numerous federal and state law
violations [see our fact sheet] gives RCEA sufficient grounds
to terminate its contract if it wants to do so.
Making electricity out of wood waste turns a disposal problem into a
profitable business. That wouldn’t be such a bad idea if
atmospheric CO2 weren’t at a crisis level. Nowadays the
challenge is to find ways to handle wood waste that emit minimal
carbon over the longest period of time as possible. The old-fashioned
incineration method must quickly yield to less carbon-intensive technologies.
We have also signed on to the legal petition submitted to CPUC
to close its greenhouse gas loophole for biomass electricity
producers. They are not required to conform to the Emissions
Performance Standard that applies to other electricity producers. The
Center for Biological Diversity delivered the petition to the CPUC on
June 20th.
anonymous Scotia resident
Fifty
high school students in California
will participate in a climate program
to learn climate activism skills this summer. The CA Youth Climate
Policy Leadership Program is a collaboration between the Bay Area
Sierra Club and Ten Strands, a non-profit that specializes in k-12
environmental literacy. Students who make it through the three month
course will receive a $500 stipend. Ten of those students will
receive their stipend because of the generous support from the 350
Humboldt donors who responded to our fundraiser. No student from
Humboldt will participate in the program, but maybe next year.
We are also
proud to announce that 350 Humboldt member Jamie Blatter will be one
of the mentors chosen to pass along their organizing skills. Upon
graduating from the program, the students will test their skills by
leading a campaign with well-defined climate policy goals in their
school or district. May they rock the boat!
The 350
Humboldt Book Club
is reading a book with the therapeutic title, I
want a Better Catastrophe: Navigating the Climate Crisis with Grief,
Hope, and Gallows Humor
by Andrew Boyd. The book club will discuss this book at 7 PM on July
24.. People who haven’t finished it or read it at all are still
welcome to attend. Zoomlink: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87104876080?pwd=Q1Z2Z0d3K3V0UE9EN2Z0TlFweTZndz09
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CalPERS, largest public pension fund in the nation, and CalSTRS,
second largest, oppose a proposed California bill SB 252 that
would force them to divest from fossil fuels. Both funds would have
eight years to liquidate investments in the 200 companies that have
the biggest carbon reserves and biggest potential for future
emissions. Marcie Frost, CEO of CalPERS said the divestment
movement isn’t operating “through an investor lens. It feels like
they’re coming through a morality lens.”
Despite widespread support from many of their own members, the
pension funds CEOs cite their responsibility to maximize their
members’ financial security. This is the concept of fiduciary duty. Three New York City pension funds that divested from their fossil
fuel holdings were recently sued for not making decisions
solely calculated on maximum financial returns for pension members.
Considering the intense uncertainty and outright perils of a
world in the throes of climate change, “security” is a peculiar
word to use as a reason to keep financing the fossil fuels that are
mechanically sowing chaos throughout civilization.
After the Senate passed 252, Assemblywoman Tina McKinnor, chair of
the Public Employment and Retirement Committee kicked the can down
the road by scheduling an informational hearing in the fall. SB 252
will hibernate after that until the next legislative session starts
in February. Its opponents’ security may be short-lived.
Tina McKinnor may be contacted here, or you can send her a
letter at One West Manchester Blvd. Suite 601, Inglewood CA 90301.