Ask someone who lives on or near Old Arcata Road and they will likely tell you that much of it is in dire need of an upgrade — that it’s cracked, bumpy and dangerous, lacking adequate bike lanes or walkways. The City of Arcata is well aware of this, which is why staff has been working for years to design a plan to improve Old Arcata Road. The latest version of the Old Arcata Road Improvement Project will come before the Arcata City Council for approval during tonight’s meeting.
If approved, the project would make changes to approximately one mile of Old Arcata Road — starting at Samoa Boulevard and extending just past Jacoby Creek Road — including repaving the roadway, adding bike lanes and improving and extending the existing sidewalk. The project would also include construction of a new roundabout at the intersection of Old Arcata Road and Jacoby Creek Road and the addition of crosswalks, lighting, signage and paved walkways as part of the roundabout installation.
Rendering of the roundabout planned for Old Arcata Road and Jacoby Creek Road
Some folks who live near the project area are not too happy about the design — particularly the installation of the roundabout — and a group of about a dozen citizens, called “Bayside Cares,” has lodged complaints with the City over the design.
“We’re primarily concerned about [losing] the rural residential feel,” Kathleen Stanton, a member of Bayside Cares and a longtime resident of the area, told the Outpost in a phone interview last month. “Bayside Corners is kind of the historic, cultural and civic nucleus of Bayside. It’s been the hub since 1970. And we just feel that a roundabout is a really urban design and intrusive. We don’t feel it fits.”
Stanton, who has worked as a historic resources consultant for 40 years, has concerns about the project’s impact on some historically significant structures in Bayside — including Jacoby Creek School, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and the Bayside Temperance Hall, which has been determined to be eligible for the register, Stanton said. Although the project wouldn’t make any changes to these buildings, Stanton worries because the surroundings of a building also impact its eligibility to be registered as a historic place.
“It’s not just the physical building,” Stanton said. “It’s the setting. It’s the atmosphere. When things are put up around it, it loses its sense of an agricultural past.”
Stanton has submitted many public comments to the City about her concerns, which actually prompted the City to conduct a full EIR, when it had initially submitted a Mitigated Negative Declaration — a declaration filed when planners determine that a project will have no significant environmental impacts.
The potential threat to Bayside’s rural character is not Bayside Cares’s only concern, Stanton said. The group also is worried about the impact the roundabout may have on the nearby school, the Mistwood Center for Education. Stanton said that construction of the roundabout would require a slight rerouting of Old Arcata Road, bringing it within 35 feet of the school’s front door. This could not only present a safety issue, Stanton said, but could also cause noise and vibrations from large trucks that might disturb the students. “Those little kids really don’t need the potential noise or the hazard of large trucks speeding by,” Stanton said.
Bayside residents gather for a meeting near the Mistwood school, with a truck and spray-painted line show in the planned road alignment | Photo submitted by Kathleen Stanton
Despite concerns over the roundabout’s potential historic and safety impacts, the City holds that installing a roundabout would be the safest option (there are two alternative plans outlined in the report, but the roundabout is the recommended plan) and that the City and developers have made extensive efforts to include community feedback in the design. The Arcata Historic Landmarks Committee considered and rejected the argument that the project would significantly impact historic resources and is recommending the project with the roundabout. During its Oct. 26 meeting, the Arcata Planning Commission also recommended approval of the project.
To be clear, the Old Arcata Road project is only 30 percent designed currently, so if the council approves the project, construction won’t be happening right away — City staff hopes it can begin sometime in 2022. After taking public comment tonight, the council will vote on whether to approve the project design so far, certify the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) and approve the Coastal Development Permit for the project.
The Arcata City Council meets tonight (Wednesday, Dec. 1) over Zoom at 6 p.m. You can view the full agenda and directions on how to participate here.
It’s the moment we’ve all known was coming but weren’t quite sure how we’d feel about when it finally arrived. Well,how does it feel now, Humboldt?
Sugar Bear, for decades a silent and proud white fir standing majestically in Six Rivers National Forest, is moments away from fulfilling its destiny acting as a holiday lawn ornament for the honorable lawmakers in our nation’s capital. For one month. Merry Christmas.
Watch the livestream of Sugar Bear’s first lighting above. And don’t forget to feel.
California will increase COVID-19 testing of some airport travelers after a passenger flying to San Francisco International Airport from South Africa was identified as the first known case of the omicron variant in the United States.
The California Department of Public Health announced today that travelers arriving from countries identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as areas of concern will be subjected to increased testing. So far that includes Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
The announcement of the first known US infection comes less than a week after the variant was identified in South Africa and just days after the World Health Organization deemed it a “variant of concern.”
According to the California and San Francisco departments of public health, the patient, who is a resident of San Francisco, returned from South Africa on Nov. 22 and began showing mild symptoms three days later.
The unidentified person, who was fully vaccinated but had not been boosted within a six-month window, was tested on Nov. 28 and the results came back positive the next day. The test was then sequenced within 24 hours at UC San Francisco and confirmed to be the omicron variant by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“This was predicted. This was predictable,” said Gov. Gavin Newsom, speaking from a school in Winton, Calif. to promote vaccines for children and booster shots for adults. “We all need to be humble in the face of these mutations and variants and this disease.”
All close contacts of the patient have tested negative. The individual, who did not need hospitalization, is between the ages of 18 and 49.
Health experts do not yet know whether the new variant is more potent or infectious.
“We must remain vigilant against this variant, but it is not a cause for panic,” the state health department said in a statement. “We recognize that everyone is exhausted, and the news of a new variant can be overwhelming. It is important that we collectively focus on the things we know prevent the spread of COVID-19, and its variants. Individuals should (1) get vaccinated and boosted; (2) wear your mask in indoor settings; (3) get tested if you have symptoms; and (4) stay home if you are sick.”
More than 92% of all adults in California have received at least one COVID-19 shot, but uptake among children has been much lower, with only 16.4% of 5-11 year olds and 69.9% of 12-18 year olds receiving at least one shot. Nearly 6 million eligible Californians have gotten a booster shot, Newsom said.
“This was in a traveler, this was in somebody who was in South Africa. Everything aligns, it is not unexpected that we have a case here in California. We do expect that over time we will have additional cases. That is why it is important to keep our guard up,” said Dr. Mark Ghaly, secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency.
While discovery of the new variant brings uncertainty, Newsom said there will not be any shutdowns as a result of the discovery of the first omicron infection in California as long as case rates and hospitalizations stay low.
“There’s more panic than information around this new variant…Doubling down on what we’re doing is the most important thing we can communicate so we can avoid any shut downs. …. I see no indication at this moment whatsoever that that is in our immediate future,” he said.
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CALmatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.
HSU’s Gist Hall will be the site of simulated mass murder this Monday. Photo: Google Street View.
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Press release from Humboldt State:
Humboldt State University Police and other local first responder agencies will conduct an active shooter tactical drill in HSU’s Gist Hall on Monday, Dec. 6 from 3:30 p.m. until 6:30 p.m.
This is an annual training that will include actors and first responders. Anyone in the vicinity of Gist Hall may hear screams and loud noises. Members of the public may see officers in tactical gear, ambulances, fire engines, and police vehicles. This will all be part of the drill and there is no need for alarm.
We understand that this drill could cause distress for some members of the campus community. HSU employees can access the Employee Assistance Program at no expense for up to eight counseling sessions. As always, HSU students can access CAPS for assistance at hsucaps@humboldt.edu or (707) 826-3236.
Please note: This drill is closed to the general public, including media.
If you weren’t lucky enough to embark on one of Nordic Aquafarm’s guided tours of the corroding remains of the Evergreen Pulp Mill on the Samoa Peninsula — property that’s slated to become a land-based recirculating aquaculture facility — good news! Now you can enjoy a virtual tour, which has added benefits such as historical imagery, computer-created architectural renderings and the aerial dexterity of drone footage!
Lynette Mullen, an independent project manager working as Nordic’s community liaison, sent the above video along with news that the company anticipates that the project’s Draft Environmental Impact Report will be released later this month.
[Ed. note: The following editorial was submitted to the Outpost by Connie Beck, Director of Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services.]
Connie Beck, seen here in the virtual world we all now exist inside
There’s been a lot of discussion lately in board chambers and beyond of something called a “Single Audit,” which is past due from the county and will likely not be completed any time soon.
What is a Single Audit and why is it so important?
A Single Audit is a financial report required by non-federal entities such as state and local governments, nonprofit organizations, tribes and higher education institutions that spend more than $750,000 of federal funds in a fiscal year.
It’s intended to provide assurance to the federal government that the entity—in this case the county—has necessary internal controls in place and is generally complying with program requirements. Failure to complete the Single Audit on time can result in the loss of federal funds.
A lot of federal funds. For fiscal year 2019/20, that dollar figure was over $61 million for the Department of Health & Human Services (DHHS) alone.
Historically, the audit is due to the state in March, but this year the deadline was extended to Sept. 30, 2021, due to COVID-19.
I’d like to first acknowledge that creating a Single Audit is not an easy thing to do. In an article on the topic, CPA Ciara Leahy stated, “If you feel an audit is like going to the dentist, a Single Audit is like getting a root canal.” And yet in all my years working for DHHS, never before has the county submitted a Single Audit late.
Never.
But as of today, the county’s Single Audit is three months late already, because the county’s outside auditor is still waiting for necessary information from the Humboldt County Auditor-Controller’s Office. Once that information is received, the outside auditors tell us it will be at least another three months after that before they can start work on the report.
This is why it matters: Should the federal government decide to pull funding due to the county’s failure to submit the Single Audit, there would be sharp and immediate impacts to nearly 50 grants and funds that support dozens of health and human services programs.
These include eight federal funds totaling more than $16 million that support DHHS’s adoption and foster care programs that provide safe housing for kids experiencing abuse, trauma and neglect.
Six federal grants help pay for housing and housing support for people experiencing homelessness. These people range from children and families to adults with severe mental illness to people living with HIV and AIDS.
Grants like the CARES Act Provider Relief Fund pay for Behavioral Health outpatient programs and Sempervirens and the Crisis Stabilization Unit.
Other federal funds support Adult Protective Services, Nutrition Education and Obesity Prevention programming, California Children’s Services which assists families who have children with specific health conditions get to their appointments and receive the treatments they need, as well as funds that make sure people who qualify for CalFresh can get signed up and have food on their tables.
The acclaimed Nurse-Family Partnership program comes from the federally funded California Home Visiting Program and serves 115 young families each year. This program pairs nurses with income-qualifying first-time mothers who receive home and field visits from their nurse early in their pregnancy through their child’s second birthday. Proven outcomes include increased pregnancy health, prevention of childhood abuse and improved bonding and school readiness.
We also use federal grants to test water at local beaches, make sure hospitals are prepared for emergencies (such as the COVID pandemic) and provide an Immunization Coordinator to make sure local providers have necessary childhood vaccines on hand and available countywide.
In addition to the federal dollars that help fund our direct programs, DHHS contracts with and provides funds to nonprofit partners throughout the county including Food for People, First 5 Humboldt, the Boys & Girls Club of the Redwoods, Humboldt Domestic Violence Services, the Senior Resource Center, the county Office of Education, Southern Humboldt Community Park and many more.
But when we talk about impacts on programs and funds, what we’re really talking about are people. People in our community experiencing homelessness, hunger, abuse. People who care about clean water. Children, families and older adults.
Everyone.
This is why the Single Audit matters. It directly impacts all of us.
Please join me in urging the Auditor-Controller to provide the information needed to perform this critically important audit. We will continue to support these efforts any way we can.
Georgina Archambault- Bowie and David “Frankie” Hostler | HCDTF
Humboldt County Drug Task Force press release:
On Tuesday November 30th, 2021, the Humboldt County Drug Task Force (HCDTF), with the assistance of
the Hoopa Valley Tribal Police Department (HVTPD), and Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO),
served a search warrant in the 600 block of Mill Creek Rd. in Hoopa. The warrant was for suspected
fentanyl sales by the two residents David “Frankie” Hostler (60 years old) and Georgina Archambault-
Bowie (39 years old). Agents detained Hostler, Archambault-Bowie, and two guests without incident.
Agents conducted a search of the residence, and they located the following evidence:
Approx. 1 ounce of fentanyl (green, white, and purple)
Approx. 10 grams of methamphetamine
.22 caliber and .223 caliber ammunition
2 digital scales
Packaging
Pay/Owe Sheets
Hostler had two active felony warrants in Humboldt County for possession of heroin for sale and felon in
possession of ammunition. Archambault-Bowie had an active misdemeanor warrant in Humboldt County
for driving under the influence (DUI).
Hostler and Archambault-Bowie were booked at the Humboldt County Jail for their warrants as well as
the following charges:
H&S 11351 Possession of controlled substances for sale
H&S 11366 Operating or maintaining a drug house
PC 30305(a) Felon in possession of ammunition
Anyone with information related to this investigation or other narcotics related crimes are encouraged to
call the Humboldt County Drug Task Force at 707-267-9976.
