A couple weeks ago we told you about a Humboldt County Planning Commission meeting (that Action Alert is reproduced below).
The commissioners were scheduled to vote on a sorely deficient plan to
assess the impacts of people driving to and from new developments
proposed across our county.

That August 20 meeting ended with the Commission running out of
time to consider the Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) proposal, bumping it
to a meeting that begins this Thursday, September 3, at 6 PM.

Many of you emailed the commissioners asking them to send the VMT proposal back for repair. Others attended the Commission’s Zoom meeting and waited fruitlessly to comment live.

We thank you for your efforts!

But the delay gives us another opportunity to ask the commissioners to improve the plan. So, email the Planning Commission at [email protected].

Tell them it’s ridiculous to “screen out” the most developable parts of the county from consideration; that even stores that are small by state standards can bring a lot of new traffic in Humboldt County; and that in our far-flung county, the number of trips people take is a poor way to predict how many miles they drive. And driving is Humboldt’s number one contributor to climate change.

Even better, attend the Zoom meeting this Thursday starting at 6 PM (Click here to join by Zoom, Passcode 200525).
Once again the item is at the end of a long agenda but if you can stick
around until they get to it (assuming they do!) live comments are the most effective.

*        *        *        *        *        *

Earlier Action Alert from August 17:

 

We’re asking you to take action. A
Humboldt County Planning Commission meeting is scheduled at exactly the
same time as our General Meeting. We’re hoping climate activists will
either attend (by Zoom, if you can handle missing the General Meeting),
or send an email with your comments. Here’s the scoop:

California now requires counties to begin lowering Greenhouse emissions
by assessing how proposed developments will affect the amount of driving
people do (called “VMT,” for Vehicle Miles Traveled). The idea is that
if the number of miles people are likely to drive is too great, a
proposed project can be changed or possibly rejected altogether — so
this could be a powerful tool to reduce driving-related emissions. In
Thursday’s meeting the Planning Commission will consider a plan for how
to meet the state requirements.

Unfortunately, the plan the Commissioners will look at would simply
avoid the new requirements by “screening out” nearly all possible
developments. Under the county’s plan, every new subdivision or
apartment building in the areas shown in green or yellow on the map
below would be assumed to generate little driving, and are “screened
out.”

Does the County really think that people who move to a subdivision in
Kneeland or Phillipsville won’t be driving a lot more than people living
in Eureka?

Tell the Planning Commission to assess VMT impacts honestly. Revise the
maps and treat this as the serious issue it is: driving is the single
largest source of Greenhouse emissions. You can attend the Zoom meeting
at 6 pm on Thursday (8/20) to make your comments (Password: 200525) or,
if you can’t make it, email the Commissioners right now.
Thanks to Colin Fiske for putting this information together. And thank you for taking action on it!