The blighted and vacant Jacobs campus. | File photo.

###

This morning, in light of last night’s implosion of the long-planned land exchange agreement between Eureka City Schools and the anonymous AMG Communities - Jacobs, LLC, the Outpost reached out to the backers of Measure F, the so-called “Eureka Housing for All and Downtown Vitality Initiative.”

We wanted to ask how the collapse of the deal will impact the measure given the fact that its Security National-funded backers, the Citizens for a Better Eureka, have consistently held up the now-vacant 8.3-acre Jacobs Middle School parcel as an ideal site for affordable housing development — far superior, they say, to the City of Eureka’s plans to convert a subset of downtown parking lots into apartment buildings.

Development of the Jacobs site has been a key plank of their pitch to voters. “Just imagine what is possible for Eureka,” the Citizens for a Better Eureka website says. “Envision a future where the economic vitality of Downtown is preserved, the availability of affordable homes in [sic] tripled, and the vacant Jacobs site is revitalized for family-friendly homes.”

Glossy, full-color mailers sent to Eureka residents have even included conceptual drawings of a suburban-style neighborhood development on the Jacobs site. This despite the fact that, according to both the Citizens for a Better Eureka and their deep-pocketed financier, Security National, they have absolutely no connection with AMG Communities.

Now that the AMG Communities deal has fallen through, Eureka City Schools officials say they will go back to the drawing board and bring other options for the Jacobs parcel to the district’s Board of Trustees. The last, best offer the district had received, prior to AMG’s $6 million bid, was a $4 million offer from the California Highway Patrol. The state agency hopes to build its new regional headquarters there.

So we emailed both Gail Rymer, a hired spokesperson for Security National, and Mike Munson, co-sponsor of the “Yes on Measure F” campaign to ask: Isn’t the premise of Measure F contingent the development of affordable housing on the Jacobs site?

Here are their emailed replies.

Rymer:

The Housing for All measure is not “contingent” on a private developer acquiring the Jacobs property. The Initiative would allow housing development on that property regardless of its ownership. The measure would create optionality for the property even if another public entity ultimately purchases it.

As the Initiative campaign has made clear, the City of Eureka’s plan for downtown development is flawed—the ballot measure enhances the City’s plan by providing a better alternative for affordable and market-rate housing. 

Munson:

The Housing for All Initiative rezones the Jacobs site for hundreds of badly needed housing units. Nearly 3,000 Eureka voters signed petitions to put Housing for All on the ballot because of the acute housing shortage in Eureka.

Once the initiative passes, the Jacobs site will be available to become a planned, family-friendly community. Eurekas voters want this change instead of the School District’s plan to give the site to the state. 

It’s unfortunate that AMG was forced to abandon its purchase.  We understand this was due to the uncertainty generated by the unfounded opposition of certain City officials to our Initiative.  Once the voters approve Housing for All, we expect AMG and other developers to eagerly line up to build the housing Eureka’s voters so badly want.

Best regards,
Mike Munson
Yes on Measure F, co-sponsor

###

PREVIOUSLY: