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Good news for those who see parking as the lifeblood of a thriving downtown: The City of Eureka will soon have a brand new parking lot with 42 spaces conveniently located along the boardwalk in Old Town. 

The asphalt-and-concrete lot is being built on a vacant 20,000-square-foot parcel north of First Street, just east of Bayfront Restaurant and vacation rentals. Maine-based property development firm Bay Front Company was granted a Coastal Development Permit way back in 2000 to build a three-story, 34-room lodging facility next to the Bayfront building, but it has yet to be constructed.

According to the latest plans on file with the city, Bay Front Company (a subsidiary of Atlantic National Trust) plans to further develop this property somewhere down the line. The paid parking lot will provide some economic return to the owners while preserving the parcel for future development.

“Various types and configurations of mixed-use projects that would benefit the Eureka waterfront have been considered,” says a 2022 report from SHN Consulting Engineers. “Unfortunately, construction costs and economic conditions have been such that none of those projects have been found to be economically viable … .”

The temporary parking lot will include two ADA-accessible spaces, six bicycle spaces and one motorcycle space. The site, which looks across the bay to Woodley Island Marina, was historically home to a lumber mill (in the late 1800s) and a ferry boat business (from 1945-1972), and for many years it was neighbored by a soil-polluting scrap metal operation.

In addition to offering paid parking for tourists and locals, the new lot will function as an impermeable “cap” encasing the toxic soils left behind by the scrap metal facility. Operations at G&R Metals Eureka, Inc., which remained in business until 1989, included disassembly, incineration and crushing of automobiles as well as storage of metals, batteries, radiators and miscellaneous refuse — right there along the Humboldt Bay.

G&R Metals performed remediation by removing contaminated soils in 1996 and 2017, but some contaminants in the ground (including lead, petroleum hydrocarbons and zinc) still exceed acceptable levels per the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board. The asphalt-concrete “cap” will block exposure pathways, according to a report prepared by local engineering firm GHD.

“It will also provide a public benefit by providing convenient access to the eastern end of the Eureka Boardwalk and additional parking for nearby commercial uses and events,” the SHN report says. “The intent is to sell parking passes to local businesses for use during the day and for guests and visitors after business hours. The public will also have access to the lot for hourly fee parking.”

This parking lot development arrives in the midst of a heated local political season in Eureka as the controversial Measure F pits the preservation of downtown parking spaces against the city’s plans for affordable housing developments. (Read more about Measure F via these links.)