A map of the Annie-Mary Trail.


PREVIOUSLY

Arcata’s city council voted last night to approve new inclusionary housing requirements and an agreement with the Great Redwood Trail Agency to start the groundwork on the Annie and Mary Trail.

The city council voted to place the inclusionary zoning measures on yesterday’s consent calendar at the last city council meeting after amending it to kick in when a development is 60 units or bigger, instead of the original 30. 

 Its passage motivated a little resistance. During public comment, Arcata resident Rebecca Smith said that she thought 60 units was far too high of a hurdle to clear and wouldn’t lead to many apartments for lower-income people. Both council members and other residents had the same concern at the last council meeting, but Arcata’s community development director David Loya said that there were a few constructed last year in the Valley West neighborhood. 

Everything on the consent calendar, including the inclusionary zoning measure, passed 4-0. 

The council also voted to approve a licensing agreement with the Great Redwood Trail Agency, which will allow the long-anticipated Annie and Mary Trail to begin construction this year. When finished in 2027 (or so), it’ll extend all the way from Arcata to the Water District Park on West End. 

The GRTA owns the old railways on which the trail will be built, so a licensing agreement is a necessary step for the trail to be built. Under the terms of the agreement, the city will be able to build the trail and will maintain it for 25 years. If somehow a rail company decides to start using trains in Arcata again, the trail will be removed. 

“All of us here have been on the council for a while,” councilmember Sarah Schaefer said. “We see these projects that are big projects that we’ve been talking about the whole time we’ve been on council, so it’s really nice to see these really start to move forward with a really exciting and soon timeline. I’m really excited to move forward on this.”