There’s a lot on the agenda for Tuesday night’s Eureka City Council meeting — read it here — and we’ll have more about all that later. 

This post is just to quickly flag up item G.2 on the evening’s consent calendar, which otherwise might escape your attention. Titled “Withdrawal of Measure N Local Coastal Program Amendment,” the item at first glance looks like any number of boring, procedural matters that come before the council.

And perhaps it is that, in this case as well. But it is also the official end, once and for all, of the controversial “Marina Center” project — a mixed-use development proposed by Rob and Cherie Arkley, to be located on Eureka’s Balloon Track and anchored by a Home Depot — that gripped Eureka politics between about 2005 and 2010.

The question of how to redevelop the old railyard, which lies, roughly, between Broadway and Waterfront Drive to the west of Old Town, goes back even earlier, to just before the turn of the century, when Eureka citizens rallied to block Walmart from buying the site and plopping one of its superstores atop it.

A few years later, the Arkleys — through their company, Security National — purchased the land instead and scuttled a public planning process that city government was trying to put together in the Walmart’s wake. A few years after that, in 2010, Security National took a proposal to rezone the property for a big-box anchored development directly to voters, which overwhelmingly approved it, despite strong opposition from environmentalists and small-is-beautiful types.

But then, for 15 years: Nothing much! For one: A couple of years after Security National purchased the property, the economy collapsed. For another: The company was required to do lots of environmental remediation on the site.

The other thing, though, was the California Coastal Commission. Since the property lies in California’s Coastal Zone, the change in zoning approved by Eureka’s voters required a sign-off from the highest authority over land use on the coast. The city of Eureka dutifully submitted a request to the commission. The commission’s staff deemed the request “incomplete,” saying that the proposed zoning changes were likely incompatible with the Coastal Act. And there it languished for more than a decade.

Nowadays, it seems, both Security National and the city are ready to throw in the towel. In the staff report on next week’s agenda item, Cristin Kenyon, the city’s development services director, tells the city council that Security National has asked the city to scrap its long-dormant application with the Coastal Commission, so that together the city and the company might move forward with something different. (Read Security National’s letter here.)

Kenyon writes:

Formal withdrawal will close out the outdated application and allow the City to focus on future planning for the site consistent with the 2040 General Plan, which envisions the Balloon Track as a high-quality, mixed-use commercial district, emphasizing retail and service commercial uses supplemented by upper-floor office and residential space.

The Balloon Track remains one of Eureka’s largest and most strategically located infill opportunity sites. Its redevelopment represents an important opportunity to advance the Coastal Act’s emphasis on concentrating development in urbanized areas while addressing historic contamination, enhancing physical and visual access to the waterfront, improving resilience to flooding, and incorporating wetland restoration and enhancement.

What might that look like, in detail? Does Security National have something new up its sleeve? Gail Rymer, the company’s spokesperson, told the Outpost this morning that it doesn’t yet have any solid plans, but it’s eager to work with the community to develop a new vision for the site, one that’s compatible with the city’s goals.

“We’re looking at this as a fresh start,” Rymer said. “What was good back in the early 2000s isn’t where we need to be today. It’s best just to make it easy for all of us, to get those measures that prevent us from doing what we need to do down there, that’s best for Eureka, out of the way.”