The Arcata City Council laid waste to a smorgasbord of an agenda last night, doing everything from learning about a potential funding method for the Arcata Fire District, to considering adopting a policy regulating city employees’ use of artificial intelligence, to improving the Redwood Park basketball court, plus a few other items. (They’re also interesting.)

Potential Fees for the Fire District 

The council heard a report from Blair Aas, from consulting firm SCI, on levying new fees on developments in and around the city — not for the city’s benefit, but for the Arcata Fire District’s. AFD only has so many ways to earn revenue, Aas and fire chief Chris Emmons explained, and Arcata’s growing population necessitates an expansion of their services they don’t have the funding for. 

The scheme would work like this: the city would charge developers constructing new property a fee, a set amount of money per square foot. The exact charge would vary depending on the kind of development; ones with fewer people on-site, like warehouses and agricultural land, would be the cheapest, and multi-family housing the most expensive. Under state law, accessory dwelling units under 750 square feet would be exempt. After taking some of the revenue to compensate its staff, the city would then give the fees to AFD, because it has no power to levy fees on its own. 

It might be a necessary step to support a beleaguered, crucial service in a growing town, Emmons and Aas said. To keep their services the same across an expanding community, AFD would have to keep up with new development. “Growth should pay for growth,” as Aas put it.

The fine points haven’t been hammered out, Aas said, but it’d be ideal if the fees were automatically adjusted to keep pace with inflation. 

Aas said he’s also going to attempt to sway the county to implement the fee as well, across the unincorporated area AFD serves. He’ll present a report to the board of supervisors in September. 

The council members seemed interested in the idea, but there’s no firm plans yet to put the fee into law. 

AI Policy

PREVIOUSLY

• AI Use is A-OK (Within Reason), Arcata City Council Likely to Say at Meeting Tomorrow

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How — if at all — should city employees be allowed to take advantage of the productivity-optimizing power of artificial intelligence? The council, faced with a resolution that would answer some of that question, decided they’d wait until the next meeting to pass it.

Merritt Perry, Arcata’s city manager, said the resolution was a “baseline;” easily adjustable and widely applicable, with few specific “dos” or “don’ts.” He said he expected to update it regularly. 

Perry said the city had been behind on regulating its employees’ AI use. Some of them had purchased their own subscriptions to an AI service, and the city needed to get everyone on the same boat. They haven’t selected a specific artificial intelligence every city employee will use, but because they paid for the Microsoft suite, Copilot could end up being the one.

Council members Meredith Matthews and Sarah Schaefer both said they were wary of the harm AI can inflict on the environment and on artists, whose online work is regularly scraped and used for training the bots. They said they didn’t want any AI-generated material to be used for external, public-facing purposes. 

“It’s so fast and so convenient, and then it’s hard sometimes to remember — you could be grabbing art from somebody else who produced it,” Perry said. “Some of our staff are very cognizant and on top of that. I think there are a number of folks who are very focused on ‘Let’s try to not take advantage of others’ artwork.’”

Schaefer and Matthews asked that staff tighten the resolution up to replace the “may”s in the resolution with “shall” or “will” so there’s no wiggle room. It’ll come back for a vote in two weeks. 

Tax Incentives!

The city sent an application to the state asking that an Arcata census tract that includes some of the downtown and the Gateway Area be turned into an “Opportunity Zone,” a lower-income area where private investors and business owners are subject to lower capital-gains taxes. The program is meant to spur development in areas that need it the most. Jennifer Dart, a city planner, said they chose that census tract because it’s likely to be the most competitive out of all of the tracts in the city, with the most undeveloped land and commercial space that could entice people into building more housing or founding new businesses. 

Reconnect Arcata

The engineering department snagged itself another $75,000 to pursue the dream of one day enabling seamless car-free transport from one half of the city to the other.

The Reconnect Arcata project has been on the ropes. Because of city-wide funding issues, its budget was slashed from $300,000 down to $150,000 when the city’s budget was being drawn up, which, according to the staff report, would have prevented the engineering department and the consulting firm it hired to “deliver a meaningful final project.” 

Arcata has long been working to reconnect the eastern and the western halves long divided by Highway 299 and Highway 101, City Engineer Netra Khatri asserted. The Bay Trail down to Eureka, the Annie and Mary Trail, the pedestrian bridge on G Street, the overpass on Giuntoli — all of these were designed to allow residents to get around easier on foot. It’s time to continue the process, he said, and kick in more funding to cap off the project. 

The council agreed, voting unanimously to allocate $75,000 from the General Fund on the project. “While I’m not super thrilled that we’re changing a budget that we just so recently passed,” Councilmember Meredith Matthews said, “I really can’t think of a better thing to spend that money on.”

The engineering department will use the funds to complete detailed maps of the proposed projects and hold a community meeting to solicit the public’s wishes. 

Basketball court

The basketball court in Redwood Park is in rough shape, about 30 years after its construction. It’s being split and deformed by redwood tree roots, and a lackluster drainage system allows water to pool on the court. It is the only publicly accessible full court in Arcata. 

It’s a worthy cause, the council said, deciding to award local asphalt company Hooven and Co. $115,319 to spruce up the court and ensure its health for the next few decades. The court will be resurfaced, the hoops and nets will be replaced, and the drainage system will be juiced up.

Councilmember Alex Stillman, somewhere around 87 years old, said she’d probably sit out any 5x5 council vs. staff hooping session. She is willing to be a cheerleader.

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Press release from the RCRC:

SACRAMENTO, CA – The Rural County Representatives of California (RCRC) has taken legal action to protect reliable communications service for rural Californians by filing a motion to intervene in AT&T’s federal lawsuit against the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and the California Attorney General. RCRC conducted this filing in partnership with The Utility Reform Network (TURN), the California State Association of Counties (CSAC), and the Communications Workers of America (CWA).

AT&T’s lawsuit seeks to eliminate California’s Carrier of Last Resort (COLR) requirements, longstanding obligations that ensure residents have access to basic telephone service regardless of where they live. RCRC and its partners previously filed an amicus curiae brief supporting the CPUC and Attorney General and are now seeking formal party status in the case to ensure the interests of California residents and communities are fully represented before a final decision is reached.

“This intervention is about ensuring rural voices are heard in a case that could have far-reaching consequences for communities across California,” said Miles Menetrey, RCRC Board Chair and Mariposa County Supervisor. “Carrier of Last Resort obligations have helped guarantee access to essential communications services for decades. Any effort to eliminate those protections must be carefully scrutinized to ensure rural residents are not left with less reliable service and fewer consumer protections.”

The motion emphasizes the importance of preserving universal service and ensuring that any replacement technology provides the same or better reliability, functionality, and service quality as the existing landline network. It also raises concerns about limiting California’s authority to enforce consumer protection and public safety standards, particularly in rural and underserved areas where wireless alternatives remain unreliable or unavailable.

COLR requirements play a critical role in ensuring access to communications services during emergencies, natural disasters, and power outages. For many rural residents, landline service remains one of the most dependable forms of communication when other networks fail.

RCRC remains committed to ensuring that any transition to new communications technologies preserves the reliability, affordability, and public safety benefits that Californians, especially those in rural communities, depend on every day.

About Rural County Representatives of California (RCRC)

The Rural County Representatives of California (RCRC) is a forty member county service organization that champions policies on behalf of California’s rural counties. RCRC is dedicated to representing the collective unique interests of its membership, providing legislative and regulatory representation at the State and Federal levels, and providing responsible services for its members to enhance and protect the quality of life in rural California counties. To learn more about RCRC, visit rcrcnet.org and follow @RuralCounties on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

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PREVIOUSLY

• It Is Done: The Indianola Underpass (Now the Brad Mettam Memorial Interchange) Opened Today
• Big Safety Corridor Changes Imminent

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Facebook post from Caltrans District 1:

(EUREKA-ARCATA) EXPECT 101 CORRIDOR CHANGES SOON: Crews are almost finished constructing the Eureka-Arcata U.S. 101 Corridor Improvement Project, and we’re set to begin closing four median crossings during night work starting Sunday, July 19.

The median crossings at Bayside Cutoff, Bracut, the old mill and Mid-City Motors will be removed to help reduce collisions and improve safety. This won’t close Bayside Cutoff or the other connecting roads, but vehicles will no longer be able to cross 101 at those locations, which have long collision histories well above the state average.

These changes have been publicly planned for more than two decades. Median closures were identified in project planning documents beginning in 2001, followed by public open houses in 2001 and 2003, environmental review and public comment periods, newspaper notices, a public hearing in 2007 and another open house in 2008. Public input helped shape features, including the Indianola Undercrossing and northbound half signal at Jacobs Ave./Airport Road, and Caltrans has also coordinated with local emergency responders regarding changes to access.

As work continues, travelers should expect single-lane closures in both directions. Please watch for updated signs and consider adapting nighttime commutes.

Electrical work is also wrapping up on the new Jacobs Ave./Airport Road half signal. Once operational, the signal will stop northbound U.S. 101 traffic to facilitate several movements, including southbound left turns, southbound-to-northbound U-turns and access from Jacobs Ave./Airport Road to the southbound U.S. 101 auxiliary lane. Activation is currently expected in early August.
Signage updates are also planned in anticipation of this completed project.

Please slow down, stay alert and give crews room to work as we move closer to completing these long-planned safety improvements.

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Private detention centers, onshore facilities that support offshore drilling and deep sea mining, and data centers could soon be barred in Humboldt County. The Board of Supervisors kickstarted an effort to prohibit these controversial establishments during a meeting Tuesday.

The move follows an upswell of public concern in recent months. In separate votes, the board directed county staff to start the process of drafting policy to prohibit these uses. All are proposed for now as permanent bans, except data centers, which would be limited by a year-long moratorium as their regulation is studied by county staffers.

Humboldt County has no pending applications for any projects in these categories. But planning staff said they’d heard a lot of concern from the public.

This included a line of public commenters who largely spoke in support of the move during the meeting.

“We want to keep these things out of here. The thing is, they don’t suit us. They don’t suit our place,” said Diana Preston, a Eureka resident.

The board considered placing moratoriums on these facilities while staff worked on drafting the policy. But planning staff said it would be more efficient to get straight to prohibition.

The specific policies will come back to the board at a future meeting, with Tuesday’s motions being a first step in the process.

Detention centers

Despite all proposals moving forward yesterday, the discussion wasn’t without some tension.

After a question from First District Supervisor Rex Bohn, Planning and Building Director John Ford emphasized the impetus for the proposal had come from planning staff, and no supervisor requested these items.

Ford said the department was seeking direction from the board before researching into the legality and practicality of any or all of the prohibitions, following a wave of public comments.

The staff report pointed out that the proposed Amazon facility in McKinleyville had been met with suspicion by members of the public worried the warehouse could turn into a data center or detention center.

While the federal government has spent a combined $1.074 billion on warehouses to be used to detain immigrants nationwide, according to reporting from the Associated Press, ICE has retreated from this plan in recent months. Plus, the proposed Amazon facility in McKinleyville is planned for a zoning district that doesn’t allow detention facilities, staff noted. Supervisor Bohn added that Humboldt County doesn’t seem to be much of an priority for ICE so far.

Bushnell grilled Ford on why the department had brought forward the data/detention center ban at all. Later, she argued current county processes already provide an opportunity for input and denials, like through public meetings and appeals of projects.

She asked what the action would do to the Amazon project in process.

“Nothing,” said Ford.

“Then why would we do this?” she asked.

“The concern is that a facility like that would be turned into something else,” he said. 

“I Googled that to see if that has happened. And it hasn’t,” she said, asking if so, why would they consider this.

“I think the reason — staff’s rationale for bringing this forward — is because that’s very much in the minds of the public,” Ford said, adding it would be helpful for planning staff to avoid arguing about whether or not the facility could possibly be turned into a detention center.

Third District Supervisor Mike Wilson interjected, disagreeing that concerns were unfounded. “There is a concern that any warehouse facility, including a new warehouse facility, could be converted to either a data center or a detention facility.” He pointed to a nationwide expansion in data centers and the federal government amassing warehouses.

“Can I finish?” said Bushnell.

“I am supportive of things not being turned into detention centers, but I think through this staff report, you’ve already largely said that it’s prohibited out there already,” she said to Ford.

She asked why county staff hadn’t fully researched the legality of barring detention centers operated by the federal government, and again asked why the county would make the move.

“I’m asking you if you want to regulate them or not,” said Ford, in response.

Fifth District Supervisor Steve Madrone followed the exchange by thanking the planning department for bringing the topics up, and spoke in support of all prohibitions.

The ban on private detention facilities was otherwise fairly uncontroversial, with the Board voting unanimously in support of drafting a policy to do so. County facilities would be explicitly excluded.

Offshore oil and deep sea mining support facilities

The only split vote among the proposals was a ban on offshore oil and deep sea mining support facilities.

This comes as the Trump administration takes steps to open offshore drilling in California, possibly including the North Coast — and after the board passed a resolution opposing offshore oil and gas drilling in October 2025. 

Municipalities across California have passed similar resolutions opposing offshore drilling. State lawmakers are pursing legislation attempting to stymie federal efforts.

The county can’t do much about federal waters, but one proposed change may prevent development of onshore support facilities in Humboldt County.

During the discussion, planning staff noted that Humboldt County voters already were in majority support of something like this decades ago.

Voters passed a measure in 1988 that would require any proposed onshore support facility for offshore oil drilling to come to a vote of the people. This was never put into county code. One possible explanation was that the measure was contradictory to the Coastal Act at the time, something that’s no longer the case following a 2023 law.

“I can’t imagine that the vote that was taken in 1988 has decreased in any way shape or form, in terms of support for a prohibition on this land use,” said Wilson.

Bushnell, who later abstained from the vote, cited concern the prohibition could affect other industries that share infrastructure with offshore wind, like Humboldt Bay’s proposed heavy lift marine terminal.

“We’re going to say no blanketly, not knowing really what the consequences are for other development,” she said.

“My concern is that we are again talking ourselves out of economic viabilities within Humboldt County, because we tend to say no more than we say yes. I’m not specifically talking about these five items, but in general, and it concerns me,” she said.

Bohn cited similar concerns about limiting businesses, and said he was voting against it because he felt like more went into the effort to ban the facilities than what was brought forward publicly during the meeting.

Data centers

The supervisors also unanimously directed staff to draft a moratorium on data centers, choosing to avoid a wider ban after noting the existing data center in Arcata. Public commenters cited the environmental impact, including high volume water and power use, of data centers. The one-year moratorium would be coupled with investigation into the subject matter.

Board approves boost to housing density 

Earlier in the meeting, the board agreed in a 3-2 vote to adopt zoning changes that would allow for multi-unit housing in some areas currently planned for single-family homes.

The changes would allow small-scale multi-family housing in “Housing Opportunity Zones,” (HOZ), a designation located in parts of Redway, Garberville, Miranda, Weott, Scotia, McKinleyville and communities on the outskirts of Eureka. 

These areas can now easily host buildings with more units than a single-family home. This includes duplexes, triplexes, quadplexes and apartments with five dwelling units, interspersed within areas with single-family homes.

Planning staff pointed out this was a common development pattern before the 1950s in places like Eureka.

Planning department staff described the changes. | Screenshot

The changes would increase density to 25 dwelling units per acre in residential areas within the HOZ, which are largely considered infill areas in towns. Apartments with six or more units would need a special permit. The change would also mean an increase in ground coverage up to 45%.

The proposal was met with a split vote, with Bushnell and Bohn dissenting. This followed Bushnell probing how neighbors who moved in with an expectation of privacy could appeal the construction of larger buildings.

The ordinance has some caveats for nearby residents in mind, such as a provision to prevent a direct window view into a neighboring unit, or buildings not exceeding heights over 15 feet taller than a neighboring residence if they’re within 20 feet of a single-family home.

The change was drafted with interest and support from the California Department of Housing & Community Development (HCD), the agency responsible for taking statewide housing policy to planning rules of cities and counties.

The ordinance aims to allow for higher-density housing, to address workforce housing needs and the county’s more general shortage of housing. The Humboldt County Planning Commission previously passed these changes with a 5-0 vote.

Bohn largely spoke about parking requirements. 

“The parking issue needs to be addressed,” he said, pointing to trouble parking in downtown Eureka.

The proposed code would require one parking space per unit for buildings with four or more units. These could be reduced if it’s within a half-mile of an active bus stop. The developer may choose to build more parking than required.

Other supervisors spoke in support of the change. Wilson said revenues of municipalities tasked with maintaining public infrastructure have been capped, thanks to zoning rules that prioritized single-family homes.

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In other housing news, the supervisors agreed to move forward a zoning change on the south side of Eureka’s Ridgewood neighborhood’s Eggert Road. Green Diamond asked to rezone 100 acres, 60 of which would be switched to single-family residential for possible development. Wilson was the sole no vote, citing sprawl into forest and lack of facilities.

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About a hundred civic-minded residents spent Tuesday evening crouched over a gigantic map of Eureka spread across the floor of the Wharfinger Building’s main room, marking potential sites for the 1,740 new homes the city must plan for as part of its upcoming Housing Element update.

Every eight years, the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) calculates how many new local jurisdictions must plan for to accommodate population growth and meet housing needs across all income levels. The HCD looks at the current number of dwelling units in cities and counties and compares it to population estimates and various other factors to determine the Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) for the next eight-year period.

Humboldt County’s total RHNA is 5,962 for the upcoming cycle. Following a series of meetings to determine how many dwellings each of the county’s seven cities must plan for between 2027 and 2035, the Humboldt County Association of Governments (HCAOG) presented Eureka with the ambitious goal of 1,740 new units — almost double the target set in the current planning cycle.

It’s important to note that the RHNA doesn’t require cities and counties to build all these units; they just need to plan for them.

“The city and the county, we’re not in the business of building housing, though we do build some,” Cristin Kenyon, the city’s development services director, told the Outpost at last night’s workshop. “We’re really looking at how [the city] can accommodate new housing. You know, are we zoned for more housing? Do we have sites with realistic and demonstrated potential for redevelopment? If we don’t, what city actions can we take to make it more likely that it’s going to happen?”

Planning for 1,740 new units in a largely built-out city is no small feat. That’s why community input is critical.

“What we hear tonight will affect what city policies, programs and actions go into [the Housing Element], and then we’ll be implementing those for the next nine years,” Kenyon continued. “If you think about some of the biggest and most controversial planning efforts that have happened in recent years — building on city-owned parking lots, the Arcata Gateway Area Plan, the McKinleyville Town Center plan — all of those came out of Housing Element policies and actions from the current cycle. So now is the time … to get involved and give us input!”

Kelsey Fletterick, a senior planner for the city, underscored the importance of creativity.

“Looking at our landscape, where do we put these houses?” she asked. “Because we’re so built out, we don’t have a lot of room for the typical single-family house anymore, so we need to get creative. What about townhouses? What about multiplexes? And where can it go?”

Using small stickers (orange for renters and yellow for homeowners), workshop attendees marked dozens of potential locations for new housing units on the sprawling map, most of which were clustered in big, undeveloped or underutilized areas of the city. Several people marked the Balloon Track, the old rail yard between Broadway and Waterfront Drive, as a potential site. Others were more strategic, seeking out lesser-known parts of the city where a small apartment complex or an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) would fit.

About a dozen stickers were placed around the Bayshore Mall, which was subject to a foreclosure auction on the steps of the Humboldt County Courthouse earlier this year, but there weren’t any bidders. The debt-laden mall is still open, but that hasn’t stopped locals and Cal Poly Humboldt students from dreaming up new uses for the property.

Reached for comment this morning, Kenyon said she also noticed the number of stickers on the Bayshore Mall. “[T]hat definitely seems to be on the community’s collective vision board, although redevelopment there would ultimately depend on a willing developer acquiring that site (and being able to demonstrate safety from coastal hazards through the coastal development permit process).”

Several other people thought the vacant storefronts at the Eureka Mall, located just up the hill, would be a good spot.

There were also a few stickers placed on a mostly vacant property overlooking Highway 101, where an affordable housing project is already planned. “Sunset Heights” will host 88 affordable housing units across four buildings, along with two indoor community centers. The project is being overseen by the Rural Communities Housing Development Corporation.

Everyone I chatted with while walking around the room agreed that the city needs more housing options, ideally around high-traffic areas like Old Town and Henderson Center. 

A woman named Roxanne told me she’d like to see the city adopt a “European approach” to housing, with businesses and other commercial uses on the street level and apartments on the floors above. She said she’s seen Eureka “bloom” in recent years, and wants to see that trend continue, especially in Old Town. However, she worried that the lack of parking could present a problem for residents and tourists alike.

During the mapping exercise, Kenyon noticed how difficult it was for attendees to identify undeveloped areas in the city that aren’t already slated for development or constrained by flood hazards or other environmental factors.

“I was hoping that someone from the public knew of some great piece of flat, undeveloped property with a willing property owner that I didn’t know about, but unfortunately, it’s as tough as I thought,” she wrote via email this morning. “That naturally led many people to focus on vacant buildings, underutilized commercial properties, and large parking lots as potential opportunities for housing.”

“There are very drastically different public opinions about parking,” she added. “Some attendees saw large parking lots as obvious redevelopment opportunities, while others felt we have a serious parking problem.”

City staff set up several other stations around the room to learn more about local housing priorities. One station had big sheets of paper for attendees to list their hopes and concerns about affordable housing, ADUs, neighborhood livability, homelessness and local economic development.

There was also a little station set up for kids to draw their own neighborhood.

“Kids have the best ideas for housing,” Fletterick said. “It’s interesting when you get them out of the idea that a house is just a single-family house, they’re like, ‘I actually want to live in a live-work’ or ‘I like commercial mixed-use buildings’ and you see this shift into what creative housing development can look like.”

Last night’s workshop was the first of many community conversations about the Housing Element update. All of the input gathered during these meetings will be incorporated into the draft Housing Element that will be presented to the Eureka City Council in the coming months.

Want to share your thoughts? Fill out the city’s survey here.

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Betty Chinn, Eureka’s tireless humanitarian and homeless services provider, recently returned home from a trip to Vatican City, where she’d been personally invited to attend Mass and meet with Pope Leo XIV. 

She’s still not over it. 

“Sometimes I can’t even breathe I’m just so emotional,” she told the Outpost this morning. 

Leo, a Chicago native, is actually the third pope Chinn has met. She met Pope Benedict in Rome and Pope Francis in Washington, D.C., she said. But until this most recent visit she’d never gotten a picture — “because I felt what’s in your heart is more important to me,” she explained. 

But this time, the Pope’s people provided her with a photo, and she’s grateful for it. 

“It was an absolutely amazing moment,” she said.

When the emailed invitation arrived, Chinn suspected it was a prank. When she figured out that it was genuine, she reached out to her bishop in Santa Rosa to see if he had arranged it. He said he had nothing to do with it. Eventually, she spoke with someone from the Vatican.

“When I finally talked with this lady, she said, ‘We really feel it’s time for you to come, meet the Pope,’” Chinn said.

Coincidentally, Chinn was in Rome when the emailed invitation arrived. She was on a pilgrimage with fellow members of her church. However, Pope Leo was in Africa at the time, and the suggested date for their meeting was still a couple of weeks off.

“They asked if I could stay until the 29th and I said, ‘No, my grandnephew is getting married,’” Chinn recalled. But her son volunteered to take her back to Italy for the visit.

Once there, they attended Mass with more than 10,000 others at St. Peter’s Basilica, but they had a position of privilege in the second row.

“They read the Mass in 12 different languages,” Chinn said. “They even read it in Chinese. That got in my heart,” she added, her voice trembling. “I hadn’t heard my language in so long.”

Chinn, who was born to wealthy, Christian parents in China’s Guangdong province, wound up homeless as a child after her family was labeled as dissidents in Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution. After seeing her elder brother and sister-in-law executed by gunfire, Chinn and three siblings fled on foot to Hong Kong. At age 14, she immigrated to the United States. 

She said she thought about family members still in China during this visit with the Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church.

“When he wanted to meet and talk to me, I thanked him for [speaking] the truth,” she said. “I pray for all the people and especially the needy. I pray for my country; I pray for everybody who suffers; I pray for my community. He smiled at me after I kissed the ring.”

The smile came from his eyes more than his mouth, she said.

She’d grown emotional at the memory, but then her voice perked up.

“How come the men of Chicago have been so good to me? First Obama and then the Pope!” (The former president awarded Chinn the Presidential Citizens Medal in 2010.)

She said Pope Leo exchanged words with her and her son, and when she thinks back on how close she got to sit and the moment of grasping his hand, she feels incredulous.

“How could I get in that area? How could I get a chance to kiss him?” she wondered. “When he looked at me, his eyes smiled. I’m from Eureka, California! Small town!”

Looking back on her life and the 45 years of work she’s done to help the homeless, Chinn said she feels reaffirmed in her faith.

“I really believe God has guided me in the work I’ve done,” she said. “[I’m] a lady with no education. God is there guiding me. He [chose] me and provides what I need, and then he sends the people to surround me.”

She doesn’t even take personal credit for her own indefatigable efforts on behalf of people who find themselves unhoused, as she once was.

“I don’t get sick; I don’t sleep,” she said, perhaps exaggerating just a tiny bit. “I really feel it’s a gift. I never feel old.”

And this trip to meet Pope Leo has only reinvigorated her.

“I cannot settle down,” Chinn said, her voice starting to shake again. “I get so hyper and so emotional. Every time I look at that picture, I cry for my life. I’m so grateful to this country, so grateful for the freedom.”

PREVIOUSLY

• (PHOTOS) McKinleyville Amazon Warehouse Meeting Draws Huge, Furious Crowd
• Amazon Confirms Plans for a Distribution Warehouse in McKinleyville

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Dozens of Humboldters attended a virtual meeting held last night to share their concerns about the environmental impact of the proposed McKinleyville Amazon distribution center.

John Ford and Steve Lazar of the county’s Planning and Building Department hosted the meeting, they said, mostly for the public’s benefit, to give people a chance to bring up what they thought needed to be kept in mind while the county began the environmental review process. They emphasized that it wasn’t a hearing and that commenters needed to keep their statements focused on the project’s potential environmental impacts.

It was entirely on Zoom, and speakers were limited to three minutes apiece. It wasn’t a necessary step in the environmental review process, they said. “We felt it was right, given the level of public interest in the project, to hold this meeting,” Lazar said, to “give people an opportunity to present their comments and concerns…We’re only collecting input on the environmental impact report itself, and what it should cover. It’s not a discussion about whether this is a good or a bad project.”

Screenshot from meeting.

Lazar emphasized that although a little bit of the project site lies within the Coastal Zone, it’s far from pristine. The land has had roads constructed on it and infrastructure for utilities added, and some of it has been levelled.

The speakers, roughly one dozen out of the almost 50 people who joined the meeting, raised a wide variety of possible issues. Many, especially the ones who said they lived near the site, were focused on noise levels, which are already high because of the nearby airport.

If built, the facility would run almost 24/7, though from 9:30 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. the activity levels will be lower. Nearby resident Jeff Dunk said it could be a “major issue” for him and his neighbors and urged the county to investigate. Another nearby McKinleyville resident said she was worried about how increased noise levels would affect the wildlife population. 

Other speakers said they were concerned about air quality, which could be negatively impacted by the large number of delivery vans and trucks traveling to and fro the facility. Others wanted the county to research the facility’s potential for light pollution, or how much traffic will increase. 

Overall, the county representatives said they appreciated the thoughtful input. 

If you have worries about the project’s environmental impact, there’s still time to tell the county about them, Ford and Lazar said. The county is still accepting written comments until July 29. (Mail them to 3015 H St., Eureka, CA 95501, or email them to slazar@co.humboldt.ca.us.) After the draft environmental impact report is published near the end of September, the public will have 45 days to comment, and there will be a public hearing held after the final document is completed.