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The City of Eureka’s plans to expand the city’s affordable housing supply are moving right along. 

At last night’s meeting, the Eureka City Council unanimously approved development agreements with Dishgamu Humboldt, a community land trust operated by the Wiyot Tribe, and the Rural Communities Housing Development Corporation (RCHDC) for up-and-coming affordable housing projects. Three city-owned sites are slated for development, including a parking lot at the corner of 5th and D streets, another at 6th and L streets and the “Sunset Heights” property, a mostly vacant 3.5-acre site overlooking Highway 101 between Henderson and Harris streets. 

Speaking at last night’s meeting, Eureka City Manager Miles Slattery noted that the city established a memorandum of understanding with each entity last year. Approving a disposition and development agreement (DDA) is the next step in the process, he said.

“These disposition and development agreements are helpful for developers because it helps with being more competitive with funding,” Slattery explained. “For the Wiyot project, they’re looking at some tax credits that are mainly set aside for tribal organizations. They’re looking at applying for those [credits] in July 2025. … They’re in the process of going through the design elements for both 5th and [D] as well as 6th and L and will be going to design review prior to that date in July 2025.”

RCHDC is a little further along in the process, Slattery added. The Sunset Heights project will be presented to the Eureka Planning Commission at its regular meeting on Dec. 11.

The city’s plans to convert parking lots into housing have drawn criticism from some business owners in downtown and Old Town, as well as Citizens for a Better Eureka, a special interest group funded by Rob Arkley’s financing firm Security National. As many of our readers will recall, Arkley recently spent more than $1.6 million on Measure F, a failed ballot measure that sought to protect downtown parking lots by halting the city’s housing development plans. Eureka voters rejected the measure by a margin of more than two-to-one.

However, the city is still tied up in litigation with Citizens for a Better Eureka over claims that the city failed to comply with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) when it designated several city-owned parking lots as surplus to make way for affordable housing developments. The ongoing lawsuit was not discussed at last night’s meeting.

Councilmember Kati Moulton made a motion to approve the disposition and development agreements. The motion was approved 4-0, with Councilmember G. Mario Fernandez absent.

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Harris Medical Center

Earlier in the meeting, the city council unanimously approved a general plan amendment and zoning reclassification for the Harris Medical Center project, a multi-use housing development and medical facility slated for the former Apostolic Faith Church on Harris Street, near Henderson Center. 

The project plans, submitted by Dr. Deepak Stokes, an OB-GYN currently working with Providence Medical Group, include an urgent care clinic, medical spa, office space, a commercial café and up to 12 dwelling units – two units in the existing building and 8-10 units in two new two-story residential units – along with associated site improvements. 

Julian Berg, an architect with NorthPoint Consulting Group, said the project will include a mix of multi-family housing, including apartments and townhomes. 

“Having been born and raised here, it’s really exciting to be doing a mixed-use project like this,” Berg told the council. “I really believe in this kind of development because it creates a more dynamic and safe neighborhood. When you have housing, office, commercial space and, of course, health care all in the same vicinity, it creates a much better community space. … We desperately need more medical facilities, so it’s really great that Dr. Stokes is here to help us with that.”

Councilmember Renee Contreras-DeLoach agreed, adding that the project will address “numerous needs” for folks living near Henderson Center.

“This is what we hope for as a city, right? Getting to see something be redeveloped into something that’s going to be far more useful and contribute in so many positive ways to the community,” she said. “I think that this development is that.”

After some additional discussion, Contreras-DeLoach made a motion to approve the general plan amendment and zoning reclassification. The item passed 4-0.

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A recording of last night’s meeting can be found at this link.