Lost Coast Outpost

McKAY RANCH SUBDIVISION: County Recirculating Environmental Document for 320-Unit Development Planned in Cutten

LoCO Staff / Monday, Oct. 18, 2021 @ 9:41 a.m. / Local Government

North McKay Ranch, an 81-acre, 320-unit residential development in Cutten, is planned to be built in phases. | Image via the County of Humboldt.

Humboldt County is recirculating portions of the North McKay Ranch Subdivision Project Draft EIR (Partial Recirculated Draft EIR) in response to a shift in state law regarding the determination of significance of transportation impacts. The North McKay Ranch Subdivision Project is a proposed mixed-use development with 320 residential units and approximately 22,000 square feet of commercial development that would be located in the Cutten area.
On May 15, 2020, the county released the Draft Environmental Impact Report (Draft EIR) for the proposal. On July 1, 2020, the CEQA Guidelines were changed to require an analysis of Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) instead of Level of Service (LOS). The county has decided to recirculate two environmental impact analysis sections that have been impacted by this change: the Land Use and Planning section and the Transportation section, as well as provide an update to the project description.
A copy of the Draft EIR will be available for public review at the Humboldt County Planning & Building Department public counter and is also available on the county’s website.

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PREVIOUSLY

California Is Increasing Enforcement of Its Housing Goals: Will It Work?

Manuela Tobias / Monday, Oct. 18, 2021 @ 7:51 a.m. / Sacramento

Photo by Paul Hanaoka on Unsplash.

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Following years of stymied attempts, pro-housing forces won a years-long fight in the California Legislature to allow more density on single-family lots.

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law more than 30 bills attempting to quell the state’s affordable housing crisis, including Senate Bill 9, which allows duplexes and as many as four units on most parcels that previously allowed a single home.

So now what?

One key player is the Housing Accountability Unit, a new team at the state Housing and Community Development Agency created in this year’s budget to enforce the housing laws already on the books.

The 25-person team with a budget of more than $4 million is expected to help cities meet their housing goals — and crack down on those who fail to do so. They will also be enforcing a slew of other California housing laws, including the Housing Accountability Act, Surplus Lands Act and Density Bonus Law.

“Gimme Shelter Podcast,” Oct. 18, 2021.

Please subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud and Stitcher.

The Los Angeles Times’ Liam Dillon and CalMatters’ Manuela Tobias break down the unit’s main enforcement priority — the Regional Housing Needs Assessment. Through it, cities are required to plan and zone for their residents’ housing needs over the next eight years. But as Liam explains, the lengthy bureaucratic process is riddled with problems, with cities frequently ignoring the rules with little or no penalty.

A recent report from UCLA’s Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies, for example, found nearly 70% of the new housing production in the Bay Area over the last eight-year cycle didn’t occur on property designated in cities’ housing plans.

A series of recent laws have given more teeth to the process, which say that targeted areas need to feasibly allow housing, and that housing needs to be built in all neighborhoods, including wealthier ones.

To discuss these recent changes is guest Victoria Fierce, an Oakland-based activist and early organizer of the Yes In My Backyard (or YIMBY) movement who has recently secured a couple of pro-housing wins in the courts.

Most recently, California Renters Legal Advocacy won a lawsuit against the city of San Mateo, which had rejected a permit for a building that was compliant with its own existing rules and general plan.

“Judges are used to giving cities deference on (housing), and we’re flipping that on its head, because the reality is, we’re no longer 500 some isolated little villages around the state of California, where one thing happens in one city and it doesn’t affect the other,” Fierce said.Fierce and other YIMBYs have faced some withering criticism, as supporting gentrification of minority communities. But Fierce said they aren’t all rich and aren’t targeting struggling communities such as West Oakland, but rather wealthier cities that want to block housing “at all costs” — Huntington Beach, Sausalito, Sonoma and others. “Those are the real enemies.”

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CALmatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.

OBITUARY: Mary Brady (Peggy) Kirkpatrick, 1936-2021

LoCO Staff / Monday, Oct. 18, 2021 @ 7:30 a.m. / Obits

Mary Brady (Peggy) Kirkpatrick passed away peacefully on the morning of October 2 in Eureka at age 85.

She was an amazing friend, teacher, mentor, spouse, mother, and grandmother. She led a fulfilling life and will be missed. The family would like to thank her many friends who supported her throughout her life.

She was the daughter of Martin Brady (1883-1967) and Belmeta Filippe (1903-1981). Her parents lived above the Brady Café that they owned in Fort Jones, and after her mother went into labor, her Aunt Agnes drove Belmeta to the Yreka Hospital in a rainstorm to give birth to Peggy on January 17, 1936. Her father Martin was a cook and a restaurateur, and he moved the family many times during Peggy’s childhood in a fruitless search for prosperity, taking them from Fort Jones to Norden, Truckee, Wolf Creek, Oregon, Montague, Bogus, back to Montague, Happy Camp, Eureka, Blue Lake, Hoopa, and finally Eureka. In the spring of 1943, while living in Montague, her dress accidentally caught fire while she was playing with matches in the backyard, and she spent three months in a hospital recovering. The experience gave her a resilience that remained with her throughout life.

She later attended Eureka High School and was inspired by both her mother Belmeta and Sarah Carter, her English teacher, to pursue a career in teaching. Sarah became a lifelong friend, and Peggy later attended Sarah’s 100th birthday party in 2004. She married Robert Kirkpatrick on September 4th, 1955 at St. Joseph’s Church to begin their 66 years of marriage together. Peggy received her Teaching credential from Humboldt State University in 1957 and began her teaching career at Grant Elementary School.

She took a leave from teaching in 1960 to become a mother, raising her three sons Kevin, Craig, and Ken. Summers were spent at the family cabin in Willow Creek, an idyllic setting for three feral boys near the Trinity River and the Dawson family cabin. She returned to teaching in 1972 at Franklin Elementary School as a Special Education Teacher, and later moved to Lafayette Elementary School after the closure of Franklin. Unlike her own childhood, the family only moved once, going all the way across town from Edgewood Road to H Street.

Peggy loved teaching, and in 1988 she was honored as the California Resource Teacher of the Year. Lafayette Elementary also honored her with Peggy Kirkpatrick Day on January 29, 1990 to celebrate her 30 years of teaching, her commitment, and her love for her students and profession. After retirement from Lafayette, she began a new career in the Humboldt State University Education Department, helping to train and launch hundreds of reading specialists. With her husband Bob, she established the “Peggy and Bob Kirkpatrick Special Education Credential Scholarship” fund through the Humboldt Area Foundation to help aspiring teachers at HSU, and she continued to teach there until she fully retired in 2017.

In later years she looked forward to annual family reunions with her children and grandchildren in Willow Creek and socializing with her many friends, including her Birthday Group and her Rosary Group.

Peggy was an icon in the community. She was gentle and kind, helpful to many people, and she made a real and lasting positive mark in the world. She was an active member of Sacred Heart Parish since its founding in 1964, and she loved her family, her friends, her colleagues, her students, and reading the last page of the book first. She did not like eggs, milk, or bats.

She is preceded in death by her parents Martin and Belmeta, and by her brother-in-law Don Vanni. She is survived by her husband, Robert, sons Kevin (Lisa) from San Carlos, Craig (Amy) from Moraga, and Kenneth from Key West, brother James (Mary) Brady from Auburn, sister Barbara Brady (Don) Vanni from Arcata, grandchildren Lauren Kirkpatrick, Julianna Kirkpatrick, Evan Kirkpatrick, and Colette Kirkpatrick, nephews Mark Vanni, Michael Vanni, Mathew Brady, and niece Barbara Brady Brooks.

A Requiem Mass will be held at Sacred Heart Church on Saturday, November 6th at 2 p.m., with a reception to follow on the church grounds. The family requests that all attendees be fully vaccinated. Her final resting place will be in the Kirkpatrick family plot at Ocean View Cemetery in Eureka. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to St. Vincent de Paul, P.O. Box 1386, Eureka CA 95502-1386, or the Betty Kwan Chinn Homeless Foundation at https://www.bettychinn.org/donations.html.

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The obituary above was submitted on behalf of Mary Kirkpatrick’s loved ones. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here.

OBITUARY: Oma Vincent, 1932-2021

LoCO Staff / Monday, Oct. 18, 2021 @ 7:22 a.m. / Obits

Oma Vincent was born Oma Lee Momsen on August 2, 1932, in Healdsburg, and passed away on October 6, 2021, in Eureka. Her parents were Julius Arthur Momsen and Etta Mae Fraser. At a very young age her parents divorced and both remarried. With these marriages, Oma was blessed with four half-siblings. Oma grew up with her mother and her husband Wayne Carey, Sr., a man who loved and treated Oma as his own.

Oma was a proud Arcata High School graduate, class of 1950. Go Tigers!! In August of that same year, she married Robert James Fulton in Reno, Nevada. Bob and Oma moved into their new home in 1952, a home she remained in the rest of her life. Oma and Bob had three children: Robert Lee, Ronald Alan, and Gwen Ann.

When motherhood allowed or finances required, Oma began her career at Bank of America. She worked her entire career of more than 30 years at the Arcata branch and retired in 1987 as an operations officer.

During her career and after retirement, Oma was dedicated to community service. Some of the groups she volunteered with were: BSA as a Cub Scout Den Mother, school PTA, Sequoia Lifeline, the local chapter of Business and Professional Women, Arcata Chamber of Commerce, Redwoods United and an organization that was especially dear to her, the March of Dimes. The March of Dimes provided medical assistance to her young family, and she never forgot their generosity.

After the death of her first husband Bob in 1976, Oma was fortunate to meet and then marry Norman Vincent in 1980. Their 37-year marriage was filled with family, friends, and fun. They enjoyed traveling (by car since Norm hated to fly). They often took trips to Reno. They enjoyed attending Humboldt State University football games, many years as season ticket holders, and might occasionally be found at Everett’s Club on the Plaza enjoying good cocktails and great friends.

In addition to Norm and her kids, Oma loved gambling, jigsaw and word search puzzles, and needlepoint. Oma created pieces of art with needle and thread. And her greatest love of all…Frank Sinatra! After retirement Oma traveled with friends to China and Mexico. She also made a pilgrimage with her sister Pat to her mother’s home state of Missouri. She and Norm also took numerous road trips around the western states.

Pre-COVID and as long as her health would allow, Oma enjoyed her monthly luncheons with her high school classmates. She had many friends in the group and when she no longer drove, someone was always there to give her a ride. Thank you to her classmates for making that effort to always include her.

Oma was predeceased by husbands Robert J. Fulton and Norman Vincent and stepson Scott Vincent. She is survived by her children: Robert, Ronald (Lorrie), Gwen Dotson, her stepchildren Vicki Shanafelt, Mike Vincent and Shelly Jansen, her siblings Wayne Carey, Jr. (Barbara), John Carey, Patricia Petrusha, and Joan Momsen, her grandchildren Mary Price (Stuart), William Fulton, and two great-grandsons, Garrett and Parker Price.

A private family burial was held October 12, 2021, in Arcata. When COVID allows (PLEASE get your vaccinations!), we will hold a Celebration of Life. For those wishing to make donations in Oma’s memory, please consider the March of Dimes (MarchofDimes.org) of any charity of your choice.

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The obituary above was submitted on behalf of Oma Vincent’s loved ones. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here.

MONDAYS WITH MICHAELE: Gone to Market

LoCO Staff / Monday, Oct. 18, 2021 @ 7 a.m. / Mondays With Michaele

This might be hard to comprehend at first, but your President of Positivity was out doing something on day other than Monday. We hope you don’t mind! But know there are two more Henderson Center Farmers’ Markets left this season — which happen on Thursdays, believe it or not — and Michaele just had to get down to sample the goodness. Specifically, she was after some goat cheese from Spring Hill Farmstead, as you’ll see in this week’s video. But you do you!

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Perhaps You’d Like to Explore Previous Mondays With Michaele For Some Reason!

(AUDIO) HUMBOLDT HOLDING UP: Duane Flatmo Says Goodbye to ‘El Pulpo Mecanico’ and Looks Back on His Life as a Muralist, Kinetic Sculpture Racer and Celebrity Elbow Rubber

LoCO Staff / Sunday, Oct. 17, 2021 @ 8 a.m. / Humboldt Holding Up

Above: Duane Flatmo says goodbye to El Pulpo Mecanico

(AUDIO) Duane Flatmo is Holding Up

Sending your child off into the scary world when they reach the age of maturity brings with it mixed emotions. Oh, they grow up so fast, don’t they? Sure, you’re excited for them to go out and test their independent selves but it’s natural to worry, even when your offspring is a giant, flaming metal octopus. Did I raise them well enough to burn the world down out there without me?

“El Pulpo” at Burning Man

Such were the feelings experienced recently by Humboldt’s most famous artist Duane Flatmo. After a decade blazing his way into the hearts of fans of his El Pulpo Mecanico art car — a period that included many trips to Burning Man and various festivals — Duane inked a lucrative deal that a few weeks back sent his most-celebrated creation from its birthplace in Eureka to its new permanent home in Austin, Texas where it will flame on under new management.

“It’s very bittersweet watching this go because it’s pretty much the pinnacle of what I’ve ever built in my life as an artist,” Flatmo told the Outpost as he loaded the machine on a pair of flatbed trucks for the last time. “I got paid well which for it which allows me now to carry on and make something else.”

On this week’s edition of Humboldt Holding Up — LoCO’s Zoom-aided, lo-fi pandemic-era podcast attempt — Flatmo opens up about saying adios to his fiery eight-armed baby and discusses how its success changed his life. Topics on this week’s podcast include:

The life and times of El Pulpo Mecanico
Duane’s beginnings as a Humboldt County sign painter
Finding success as a muralist and kinetic sculpture racer
Celebrities Duane has managed to brush up against
How his guitar “style” has landed him on national television on multiple occasions
More!

Click the audio player above (or subscribe on Apple Podcasts here) to listen to Flatmo’s chat with the Outpost‘s Andrew Goff and Stephanie McGeary and/or scroll through past Humboldt Holding Up guests farther down on this page.

But first! A quick photo gallery of Duane with some of the rightful owners of the famous names dropped in this week’s podcast.

Duane and Micki Flatmo with Jay Leno

Duane, Micki, Adam Sandler and Allen Covert

With Carlos Santana

With Regis Philbin

With David Hasselhoff

With Susan Sarandon and their respective entourages at Burning Man

That time his Tin Pan Dragon Sculpture was displayed in the Smithsonian

The “Maleguana” Bit: Appearances with David Letterman, Jay Leno and Tom Green, on America’s Got Talent, and with Infected Mushroom

El Pulpo Mecanico in action at Burning Man

PREVIOUS HUMBOLDT HOLDING UP GUESTS:

GROWING OLD UNGRACEFULLY: The Curse Stone

Barry Evans / Sunday, Oct. 17, 2021 @ 7 a.m. / Growing Old Ungracefully

“The stone is a lethal weapon. Its spiritual violence will act like a cancer.”

— Kevin Davies, Vicar of Scotby, near Carlisle, England

Border Reivers doing what they did best: steal cattle. Original drawing by G. Cattermole, via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

The stone in question is a five-foot diameter, ten-ton, polished granite boulder sitting in a gloomy underpass in Carlisle, northern England. On it is carved 383 words, a fraction of the original 1,069-word curse put on the Reiver people in 1525. The Reivers — raiders, thieves and cattle rustlers — terrorized the border country between England and Scotland (then an entirely separate nation) some 500 years ago, and the solution, apparently, was to (a) excommunicate them from the Church and (b) curse them. Which Gavin Dunbar, Archbishop of Glasgow, did in no-nonsense, lyrical terms:

I curse their head and all the hairs of their head; I curse their face, their brain, their mouth, their nose, their tongue, their teeth, their forehead, their shoulders, their breast, their heart, their stomach, their back, their womb, their arms, their leggs, their hands, their feet, and every part of their body, from the top of their head to the soles of their feet, before and behind, within and without. I curse them going and I curse them riding; I curse them standing and I curse them sitting; I curse them eating and I curse them drinking; I curse them rising, and I curse them lying; I curse them at home, I curse them away from home; I curse them within the house, I curse them outside of the house; I curse their wives, their children, and their servants who participate in their deeds. I curse their crops, their cattle, their wool, their sheep, their horses, their swine, their geese, their hens, and all their livestock. I curse their halls, their chambers, their kitchens, their stanchions, their barns, their cowsheds, their barnyards, their cabbage patches, their plows, their harrows, and the goods and houses that are necessary for their sustenance…

And on and on. It was read at the time, in full, from every church pulpit in the diocese. It’s a fine curse, making contemporary “screw you” type expletives seem trite, unimaginative and half-hearted. It’s a curse for the ages — so much so that, when the city was visited by a series of misfortunes in the years following the stone’s installation in 2001 (part of the city’s millennium celebrations), many locals called for it to be removed. Or exorcised. Or smashed to pieces. Or all three.

The curse stone in a Carlisle underpass. Photo: Barry Evans.

The misfortunes included: A fire at a local bakery; job losses at the coleslaw factory; an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease; floods; and — saving the worst for last — the relegation (demotion) of Carlisle United, the local soccer team. (The stone’s designer, Gordon Young, is on record as saying that he would have smashed it himself years ago if he thought it had affected the fortunes of Carlisle United.)

Hence the calls for something to be done, including a plea by the local bishop to his boss, the Archbishop of Glasgow, to lift the curse. The Archbishop’s spokesman told the Guardian, “The Archbishop may send a letter offering his good wishes but he won’t be getting his Latin prayer book and his holy water and heading down the M74.” (The M74 being the local equivalent of 101.)

To date, calls for the stone’s removal have gone unheeded, and it just sits there, perhaps emanating bad vibes over the city. Or not. We just admired it and felt quite blessed to be in its presence. Such is the power of a good curse.

McKAY RANCH SUBDIVISION: County Recirculating Environmental Document for 320-Unit Development Planned in Cutten

BOOKED

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CHP REPORTS

ELSEWHERE