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Attention, residents of Eureka’s Highland Park and West Side neighborhoods! Would you enjoy improved access to nearby shopping centers and surrounding neighborhoods? How about upgrades to sidewalks and street lighting? Or safer crosswalks and bike lanes? 

If you answered “yes” to any of those questions, you’ll want to attend a little neighborhood walkabout with Eureka’s planning staff next week to learn more about the city’s strategy to improve safety and accessibility in your neighborhoods. Your feedback will help staff prioritize infrastructure improvements as the city moves forward with the second phase of its “Sunset Heights” development near the Eureka Mall.

Need a little refresher? In 2022, the city swapped three publicly owned downtown parking lots for a mostly vacant 4.18-acre site overlooking Highway 101, between Harris and Henderson streets. The affordable housing development will include 88 units (86 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments and two manager’s units) in four buildings, as well as two indoor community centers and two outdoor plazas.

At the end of last year, the city was awarded a $21.7 million grant from the California Strategic Growth Council to help finance the first phase of development, which includes roughly half of the total number of units, along with infrastructure improvements in the surrounding area identified through a community outreach process. (A full list of those infrastructure improvements can be found here.)

The City of Eureka, Humboldt Transit Authority and Ukiah-based project manager Rural Communities Housing Development Corporation are applying for another round of grant funding to cover the second half of the project. But before the city submits its grant application, staff want to hear from the folks living within two miles of Sunset Heights, including much of west, south and central Eureka.

You can share your two cents by participating in an online survey — linked here — or by attending a community walkabout.

“The community walk is a more hands-on opportunity,” city planner Alexandra Gonzalez told the Outpost. “It allows the community to walk the neighborhood together, look at specific locations in real time, and talk through potential improvements, whether that’s crossings, accessibility, lighting, or connectivity to nearby transit stops. Together, these efforts help ensure that any improvements reflect how people actually move through the area day to day, and that the final plans are grounded in community experience.”

“Since Sunset Heights is already well located near transit and everyday destinations, the future improvements, if awarded, will make it even easier and more convenient for residents to walk, bike, or take the bus,” she continued. “These could include filling in key sidewalk gaps, improving bike connections, enhancing crossings on major streets, and adding wayfinding signage.”

If you’d like to join the community walk, meet at Alice Birney Elementary School (South Avenue and Utah Street) at 12 p.m. on Thursday, April 23. The group will make a big loop through the Highland Park neighborhood and discuss different ways to improve connectivity to the Eureka Mall area and Sunset Heights project. (We have it on good authority that snacks will be provided after the walk.)

Asked when the city plans to break ground on the first phase of the project, Gonzalez said a construction date has not been set. “Rural Communities Housing Development Corporation is the developer for this project, and from my understanding the project is almost completely funded but is still in the process of gathering the last bit of funding,” she said.

More information on the city’s website at this link. You can also contact the city’s planning department via email at planning@eurekaca.gov.

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