UPDATE: March 20, 9:30 a.m.:

On Tuesday evening, a spokesperson for Citizens for a Better Eureka emailed the following:

Citizens for a Better Eureka today released the following statement regarding Humboldt County Superior Court Judge Feeney’s ruling dismissing the group’s CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) lawsuit concerning legal procedures for parking lots removals:
“We are disappointed with the judge’s ruling on a lawsuit that would have ensured the City follow correct procedures when eliminating relied-upon public parking. Still, we are encouraged that there are other avenues to ensure the city follows legal procedures required by CEQA so that downtown Eureka’s small businesses are protected.

“Citizens for a Better Eureka remains neutral on the Wiyot Tribe’s project.”

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Original post:

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PREVIOUSLY: Wiyot Tribe Urges Judge to Toss ‘Citizens for a Better Eureka’ Lawsuit Over Removal of Parking Spaces

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Late last week, retired Humboldt County Superior Court Judge John T. Feeney signed an order dismissing one of four lawsuits filed last year by special interest group Citizens for a Better Eureka. That group, which is funded by the Rob Arkley-founded firm Security National, aims to preserve parking lots by blocking several multi-family housing developments slated for downtown.

This particular suit concerns the vacant parcel at the corner of Fifth and D streets, one of two downtown locations where the Wiyot Tribe plans to construct multi-income housing developments through its community land trust agency, Dishgamu Humboldt.

The City of Eureka awarded the Tribe contracts for those developments last summer, having already declared the the properties as surplus and designating them for affordable housing development in its updated and state-approved Housing Element, a part of the city’s General Plan. 

The “Citizens for a Better Eureka” lawsuits argue that the city hasn’t adequately studied the environmental impacts of converting these parking lots into housing projects, an argument that the California Attorney General’s Office has expressly rejected.

Last week in court, attorney Siena Kalina urged Judge Feeney to dismiss the lawsuit regarding the parcel at Fifth and D. Kalina, who was representing the Wiyot Tribe, serves as Indian Law Fellow with the Davis firm of Berkey Williams, LLC. She argued that the Tribe is “an indispensable party” in the outcome of the case, noting that the lawsuit would prevent Dishgamu Humboldt from accessing financing, having site control and beginning construction. 

Kalina further argued that, as a federally recognized Indian Tribe, the Wiyot Tribe has sovereign immunity and thus cannot be “joined” or included in the suit. Therefore, she said, the suit should be dismissed.

Feeney’s single-page Order of Dismissal does not offer any judicial reasoning for his decision, and it’s not clear whether he intends to do so. Reached by the Outpost this afternoon, neither Wiyot Tribal Administrator Michelle Vassel nor Eureka City Attorney Autumn Luna had seen a copy of the order. In fact, Vassel wasn’t even aware it had been issued.

After we confirmed that the case has indeed been dismissed, Vassel told the Outpost, “I can say that the Wiyot Tribe is pleased, but we’re not surprised by the court ruling. The Wiyot Tribe is working with the city to meet the needs of affordable housing at a time when we desperately need it. This project is in full compliance with applicable law, and we look forward to continuing these efforts.”

We also reached out to “Citizens for a Better Eureka” for a response to the ruling but spokesperson Gail Rymer was not immediately available for comment.

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DOCUMENT: Order of Dismissal