Seemingly the entire community of Bayside came out to the Arcata city council meeting last night to protest against the proposed Roger’s Garage low-income housing project.

Located across the street from Jacoby Creek Elementary School on Old Arcata Road, the Roger’s Garage project would build 53 new units for people making between 30-60% of Humboldt County’s median income. The property has been zoned for the proposed use since 2008. 

The topic came up at last night’s meeting because the council was considering committing $1.3 million Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program Income funds to help purchase the property from Danco. The city has to use the Program Income funds soon, before the end of the fiscal year; if they don’t, they may lose access to the CDBG funds, and could be ineligible for this year’s round of grant funding. 

The council didn’t end up voting on the resolution. It’ll be back on the agenda on June 4. 

Because it was once an automobile wrecking yard, the soil is contaminated with heavy metals like copper, lead, zinc, and cadmium, according to a 2005 metals excavation plan about the property. The city plans on working with the Northcoast Regional Water Quality Control Board to clean the property up, but its questionable environmental state brought dozens of people from Bayside out to the meeting last night to convince the city council not to build the units.

“I’m in support of extended housing and expanding our community,” said one commenter that lives on Hyland Street in Bayside. “But to do so while disturbing the deeply toxic construction site and spreading that toxicity around the neighborhood seems like a grave mistake.”

Many parents of children that attend Jacoby Creek Elementary School, worried about their children’s safety, slammed the idea of building on the tainted soil and potentially harming the students. 

“Members of the Arcata city council, I stand before you today with a simple question,” said Michelle Warner, a parent of three Jacoby Creek School students and an employee there. “Are you willing to poison our children for the sake of grant funding?…If you approve this project, you’re telling us that meeting these housing quotas matters more than our children’s health…If this project moves forward, my family’s health is at risk.”

Arcata Director of Community Development David Loya said in an interview with the Outpost today that the comments about toxic dust were “a reasonable concern,” but he also said that the pre-development cleanup of the site included methods designed to contain contamination and remove it safely, as well as ways to prevent “fugitive dust” from leaving the property. The top 12-18 inches would be removed before any construction started.

Many commenters also criticised the project because of its potential negative effects on traffic congestion and parking.

“I have to thank the town for finally repaving Old Arcata Road,” said Bayside resident Miriam Amber. “It’s great. But it’s still pretty crowded…even with the turning lane that goes into Jacoby Creek School, it’s still crowded…It’s going to get a lot worse very soon if a project like this goes through.”

Only two speakers, a representative from Danco and an anonymous Zoom attendee willing to play “Devil’s Advocate,” spoke in favor of the project, citing the need for more affordable housing and the jobs building it would provide.

“Definitely the proper steps need to be taken to protect people’s health and the environment,” the anonymous commenter said. “But we need jobs, we need housing…these are also things that are important.”