Our friend and ally Colin Fiske of the Coalition for Responsible Transportation Priorities sent this request for Arcata residents to comment at the Arcata Planning Commission and City Council meeting Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively. 350 Humboldt supports the request. So please check out the plan then call or email your comments.

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We’ve reviewed Arcata’s draft Gateway Area Plan, and it’s the most bike and pedestrian friendly land use plan we’ve ever seen in our area. It’s adjacent to downtown and calls for dense, mixed-use development focused on housing, along with new trails, wider sidewalks, protected bike facilities, single-lane roads, and minimal off-street parking. It checks almost all the boxes of what CRTP looks for in a good development plan.

This would, of course, mean major changes for Arcata. Change can be scary, and there are already some naysayers. So it’s important that we show city leaders that there’s a lot of support for this too!

On Tuesday (tomorrow) at 6:00 pm, the Arcata Planning Commission will discuss the plan. Then the next night, on Wednesday, also at 6:00 pm, the Arcata City Council will hold its first discussion of the plan. Both meetings are on Zoom: click the links for information on joining.

Please attend one (or both) of these meetings if you can. Here are some things you could say:

  • Please support the proposed Gateway Area Plan.
  • This is the most bike and pedestrian friendly land use plan this region has seen. The density and mixture of uses will make it inherently walkable, and the proposed trails and streetscapes will dramatically improve safety and comfort for active transportation. Arcata should be proud of this plan.
  • The plan will go a long way toward addressing Arcata’s housing crisis. It will also do a lot to help meet our greenhouse gas reduction goals.
  • By concentrating development in a central area like the Gateway District, the plan helps protect the fields, forests and wetlands around the city from development.

If you can’t make it to a meeting, you can send an email instead:

Thanks for supporting good land use and transportation planning in our communities!