A brief Arcata City Council meeting culminated in the councilmembers agreeing to authorize the city’s purchase of a parcel of land so the city could begin fixing up a street rendered unusable for over a year now by a landslide.

A landslide took the intersection of B and 11th streets out in late 2024, and it’s not a cheap fix; the Arcata City Council approved spending $200,000 to fix the problem back in March. City Engineer Netra Khatri told us back then that decades of water runoff from the street weakened the creek embankment the road sits on, and a “heavy rain event” caused a small landslide. It cracked the side of the road nearest the creek, and the city closed that side out of an abundance of caution, especially because a bus route runs on that road.

The council decided to purchase a 0.17-acre property, located in the wetland-filled Campbell Creek ravine directly adjacent to the street for $75,000. The city “needs” access to the property, the staff report says, and because it doesn’t have an easement allowing it to work there, purchasing it may be necessary. Much of the road’s instability is coming from that property, and they have to work on it to repair the road. They’ll also need future access, and the current owner likely won’t be able to develop the property, so buying it seems like the practical option. City Hall would like to finish the repairs before the rainy season worsens the problem.

The money will come from the city’s Stormwater Fund, though it’s being transferred to that pot of funding from the General Fund.

The council will decide on a contractor early next month. The property owner agreed that work can begin before escrow closes. City Manager Merritt Perry thanked the owner for selling them the property; they’d been considering building on the property, Perry said, which would have made it difficult to repair the road.

The council thanked the city staff for negotiating the deal and allowing work to begin; a resident in attendance thanked the city for starting the repair process.

Motions to appropriate the $75,000 and then spend it were approved unanimously.

Other Stuff

The two other items the Outpost catalogued yesterday — agreeing to spend an additional $36,000 on consulting firm Civic Possible and $100,000 to “reconfigure” some offices in City Hall — were approved without discussion.

The council will also meet next Wednesday, Oct. 28, to extend the city’s moratorium on data center construction.