During a fairly short meeting this evening, the Arcata City Council decided to approve spending about $120,000 to fix two sinkholes on city property. 

The city owns a 3-acre parcel at 4700 West End Road, which it uses as its corporation yard. Two culverts that direct some of Janes Creek that run through the property have failed, which resulted in two sinkholes 30 and 18 inches wide opening up. The city engineer, Netra Khatri, told the council that his team knew about the issue soon after the holes formed and assessed it as “emergency” work, because the broken culverts could easily cause more sinkholes, potentially under the road. Repair work will start next week.

Funding for the project will come out of the city’s reserves. The lowest bid the city got for the project was $121,000; Khatri said the most he expected the project to cost is $200,000 total. The sinkholes are on the site of an old mill, which may have introduced contamination into the creek. Arcata will work with a contractor specializing in “hazardous work” to ensure their safety.

The portion of the creek that once flowed through the culverts will be rerouted through the city’s property, and daylighted for a short section before it rejoins the rest of Janes Creek. Khatri said he wasn’t worried about flooding.

The council voted unanimously to approve the project.

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They also adopted Humboldt County’s Regional Climate Action Plan (RCAP), which was developed in collaboration with local cities and other government agencies. It includes an array of strategies and measures that, together, are designed to meet certain state and local goals. They’re aimed at reducing the county’s greenhouse gas emissions to 40% below 1990 levels by 2030, and 85% below that mark by 2045, while also achieving carbon neutrality.

CONTEXT: Humboldt County Supervisors Adopt Long-Awaited Climate Action Plan, Set Greenhouse Gas Emissions Threshold

The council members lauded the community development department, which had been assisting the RCAP’s development since 2019, and the city as a whole, which had already implemented many of the recommended strategies to combat climate change. 

However, city staff noted that total adherence may be hindered by a lack of funding and staffing. 

“I really can’t stress enough how resource-limited we are,” said Emily Benvie, the city’s deputy community development director. “We do a lot with a little already as it is.”

The RCAP’s success will lay with the community at large, Benvie said. It may be difficult to make many of them change their behavior or consuming habits; for instance, she said, a homeowner who wants to electrify all of their appliances may simply not have the money to do so. 

“Not all of these measures are really within the city’s control,” she said. “…But we can certainly do the best we can to create an environment that supports these changes.”