The Arcata City Council went over a few things worth covering last night: an update on the large parking lot in the Bottoms Cal Poly Humboldt is planning on constructing, and the results of research done on the future Valley West Community Center. 

Foster Campus Connectivity Project

Cal Poly Humboldt’s Michael Fisher, their Interim Vice President for Administration and Finance, presented an update on the Foster Campus Connectivity Project. When construction is finished around Sep. 2026, the land will have space for 212 cars and will also eventually (we’re talking long-term — like, 10-20 years long-term) include an athletics complex, housing, a softball and soccer field, an NCAA-compliant track, and space for an additional 800 cars. 

The highlight of the presentation was the reveal of a plan to turn an old railroad track into a trail from the lot to the intersection of Foster Avenue and Heather Lane. From there, it’d be about a mile to campus. The idea is that commuting students — or ones that live in the Hinarr Hu Moulik dorms, which have a parking lot with far fewer spaces than there are people living there — could drive to the lot and then walk or cycle to campus proper. 

There isn’t currently any electricity or running water on the land. Fisher said the university was working on ways to run basic infrastructure to the property. When that’s done, he said they’d be able to install lighting along the road and on the property. 

CPH is working through the CEQA process during this initial phase, which will include wetland mitigation for a wetland on the property.

The other option is that they take a shuttle to campus, one that swings by every 15 minutes. That idea has some Bottoms residents chafed, one of whom took the opportunity to comment on the plan. Brittney Villigran claimed to have talked to 50 of their neighbors and didn’t hear a single positive remark about the scheme, mostly because of the increased traffic from the shuttles and the cars. Foster Avenue’s numerous 90-degree blind turns also raised some concerns about pedestrian safety. 

“It’s not as rosy as Mike is saying,” Villigran said. “Would you want shuttles going down your street every 15 minutes?”

Valley West Community Center

The other main item on the agenda was a presentation from representatives from the Environmental Services and the Community Development departments, and from private contracting groups Housing Tools and Salazar Architect. They went over results from a study done on a future community center in Valley West, identifying a few potential sites and what community members want from it. 

They conducted two in-person and five online “visioning” sessions, asking Valley West residents what they wanted from the center. The results from that, plus a survey sent out to residents, show that many of them want a place to socialize and exercise, a food pantry, youth-focused programming, a library branch, public WiFi and computers, and healthcare, and a huge variety of other things. 

The researchers shared a few locations in Valley West that might be worth considering. After tallying up the most mentioned amenities and estimating how much space they’d take up, they claim 18,000 square feet would be about the target. 

Site one is a vacant lot south of the Valley West Shopping Center at 4800 Valley West Boulevard. Site two is the former Laurel Tree School at 4555 Valley West; site three is the Woodsman Hall, 4700 Valley West. (For a comprehensive breakdown on their respective pros and cons, click this link.)

None of them are already owned by the city, something that drives the cost of the project up dramatically. The researchers included a few other recently-built California community centers in their study for comparison, which cost between $12 million and $77 million. The process is only in its infancy (the study was funded by a $250,000 federal grant), but councilmembers were wary of encroaching costs and directed staff to find plenty of grants to fund it. 

Councilmember Meredith Matthews said she felt the report was “duplicative,” a viewpoint shared by a couple other councilmembers. Many of the programs the center could offer are already done by Community United of North Arcata. 

“Just to remind folks — we look at this and it’s amazing, all the things we could do — but just to remind the city, we don’t own any of those properties,” councilmember Stacy Atkins-Salazar said. “…Not to be the downer, but just to be the realistic person so we’re not all wondering when construction begins — we don’t have funding for it.”

Other Stuff

Councilmembers voted to make Eye Street a permit-required parking zone; students living in the new Hinarr Hu Moulik dorms had made parking difficult for residents on the street. There’s a 30-day grace period for those without a permit.