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Confirming rumors of his pending candidacy, California Democratic Party chair Rusty Hicks today paid his filing fee and pulled nomination paperwork to run for the state assembly District 2 seat, which will be be vacated at the end of the current term by Healdsburg resident Jim Wood.

Prior to his election as party chair in 2019 — and his re-election in 2021 — Hicks worked as a political organizer and labor union leader in Los Angeles. An attorney and Navy veteran who served in Afghanistan, Hicks moved with his wife to Arcata a couple years ago, according to Steve Barkan, a longtime friend who responded to an Outpost inquiry submitted to the California Democratic Party last week.

The campaign to fill Wood’s seat is already crowded, though Hicks might be considered the frontrunner given his position of power within the party establishment. He”ll be running against Healdsburg Mayor Ariel Kelley, Mendocino County Supervisor Ted Williams and Santa Rosa City Council Member Chris Rogers, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Meanwhile, 22-year-old Arcata resident Margarita Fedorova has pulled nomination paperwork for the position. And on the Republican side, Del Norte Unified School District Trustee Michael Greer has thrown his hat in the ring

Theorizing about a Hicks Assembly run, Politico last week noted that if he steps aside from his state party chairmanship to concentrate on his campaign — something that’s not required by the party’s bylaws — it “would create a leadership vacuum in the middle of an election cycle.”

If he does step down, Vice Chair Betty Yee would replace him, though she has announced plans to run for governor in 2026. 

At the state convention in Sacramento this past weekend, Hicks spoke out against the hundreds of protesters who showed up with Palestinian flags and chanted, “Ceasefire now!” Their demonstrations drowned out the remarks of Reps. Adam Schiff and Katie Porter, who are competing with Rep. Barbara Lee for U.S. Senate seat, and the disruptions “compelled party officials to cancel all Saturday night events and step up security for [Sunday],” CalMatters reported. 

Hicks called the protest “unacceptable” and threatened repercussions for any delegates who violated the party’s code of conduct.

“Antisemitism and Islamophobia has no place in our party or in our communities,” he said. “We condemn acts of violence that bring harm to our neighbors and divide us from one another, both here at home and abroad.”

Hicks did not immediately respond to a voicemail message from the Outpost.

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Note: This post has been updated to add information about last weekend’s Democratic Party convention in Sacramento.

California Highway Patrol release: 

On November 18, 2023, at approximately 0115 hours, a 2020 Cadillac Escalade, was traveling northbound on US-101 north of Steele Lane, in the vicinity of Laytonville, CA. For reasons still under investigation, the driver of the Cadillac veered off the west road edge of US-101 and collided with a tree. The Cadillac came to rest on its wheels, facing in an easterly direction at the base of the highway embankment and became fully engulfed in flames and the driver of the Cadillac succumbed to their injuries at the scene.

The identity of the driver is being withheld until notification of kin is made by the Mendocino County Coroner’s office. This crash remains under investigation by the California Highway Patrol, Garberville Area.

The following agencies responded to the scene and assisted with this incident: Laytonville Fire Department, CAL-FIRE, and the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office.

Donning yellow-and-green pom poms and holding matching banners, supporters of U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee let out a deafening roar as she took the stage at the California Democratic Party convention. “Barbara Lee! Speaks for me!” hundreds of delegates chanted repeatedly Saturday.

But it wasn’t enough for the Oakland Democrat to secure the official party endorsement in the U.S. Senate March 5 primary: None of the leading candidates — Reps. Lee, Katie Porter, Adam Schiff and tech executive Lexi Reese — reached the 60% threshold needed, according to results ratified today.

Still, Lee led with 41% — far more than her third-place standing among Democrats in recent polls — while Schiff had 40% of delegate votes and Porter received 16%.

“Our momentum is picking up speed, and tonight’s vote is evidence that our movement is touching people across the Golden State,” Lee said in a statement. “The people want a tried and tested progressive with the record to prove it. I’m ready to deliver.”

But her show of support was overshadowed by hundreds of demonstrators both inside and outside the convention hall, who chanted “Ceasefire Now,” waved Palestinian flags and disrupted the proceedings. They drowned out the remarks of Schiff and Porter, shut down Reese’s speech and compelled party officials to cancel all Saturday night events and step up security for today.

In his opening statement this morning, party Chairperson Rusty Hicks called the protest “unacceptable” and vowed to hold accountable any delegates who violated the code of conduct.

“Antisemitism and Islamophobia has no place in our party or in our communities,” he said. “We condemn acts of violence that bring harm to our neighbors and divide us from one another, both here at home and abroad.”

Ceasefire takes center stage

The support for Lee was partly energized by her support for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war. Among the leading Senate candidates, she is the only one to call for a ceasefire, despite activists’ efforts to get the same commitment from Schiff and Porter. When she repeated her stance at the end of her speech to delegates Saturday, she drew waves of cheers from supporters.

In an interview, Lee said a ceasefire is “the only way” to safely release hostages, provide humanitarian assistance and “save civilian Palestinian and Israel lives.”

“The United States has to be able to forge, and be part of, a path toward achieving peace and security for Israel and Palestine,” she added.

Both Schiff and Porter told CalMatters they are calling for “humanitarian pauses” in the war, echoing President Joe Biden’s policy.

“You can both support — as I do — Israel’s right to defend itself, but also grieve the loss of civilian life in Gaza,” Schiff said. “We have to make sure that a terrorist group is not running Gaza and threatening to end any ceasefire as they did Oct. 7.”

Porter said she has listened to ceasefire supporters. “I think it’s really important that we recognize that what we all should want here is a flourishing and successful life for the people of Gaza,” she said. “This is a terrible, costly and heartbreaking conflict. And I respect people’s free speech rights to make their positions heard.”

But Yousuf Bhaghani, a delegate and president of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in California, said Schiff and Porter would not answer the council’s call for a meeting or a change of stance. Bhaghani said while he already planned to vote for Lee because she is the only person of color in the race, her ceasefire stance cemented his support.

“It’s important to me because I believe that loss of life on both sides of the fence is unacceptable,” he said. “A leader should not be afraid of expressing, especially the leader who will lead in the U.S. Senate.”

Preaching to the caucuses

The lack of an endorsement was no surprise to Bob Mulholland, a longtime member of the Democratic National Convention and political strategist in California who attended the convention.

“When you have three candidates all spending money, all here, (it is) very very hard,” he said, referring to Lee, Porter and Schiff.

The split vote among delegates signals “a benefit of riches for California Democrats,” Hicks said.

“I’m not worried about division within the party,” he told reporters Friday. “When we’ve got the opportunity to send another California Democrat to represent us in the United States Senate, that’s a good day.”

To solicit delegate votes, the top Democrats bounced from caucus to caucus this weekend.

Addressing the Women’s Caucus, they touted their support for reproductive freedom and stressed the power of female voters. Standing before union members at the Labor Caucus, they emphasized their support for the right to organize and held up signs saying, “I AM A 2024 LABOR DEMOCRAT.”

At the Labor Caucus, Porter touted her record of never having accepted contributions from corporate political action committees — donations from company executives and employees. She also rejects contributions from federal lobbyists and executives of banks, pharmaceutical companies and oil businesses — something her primary opponents have not pledged.

“I am not for sale, and I never have been,” Porter said at multiple events during the convention.

Courting union support, Lee emphasized her experience on the picket lines. She advocated for the right to organize as well as a “living wage.” During a forum last month, she supported a $50 hourly federal minimum wage, drawing applause and chuckles from the crowd.

“I’m a legislator. I’m a negotiator. I’m an appropriator,” she said. “But guess what? I am a picket line walker.”

Schiff stressed his endorsement from nine statewide unions, joking that he and his wife, Eve, were the “original union.” He pledged to pass unemployment benefits for striking workers and the Protecting the Right to Organize Act — legislation that would override states’ right-to-work laws.

“When I’m in the U.S. Senate, you will have the most pro-labor senator in U.S. history,” he said.

Outside the Safe Credit Union Convention Center in downtown Sacramento, Schiff’s campaign parked a mobile billboard featuring a topless young Schiff. He held a meet-and-greet with the Nor Cal Carpenters Union on Friday night, telling jokes about his 95-year-old dad in Florida.

At Porter’s event next door that night, her staff passed out swag promoting her whiteboard fame and the campaign invited four Democrats — state Sen. Scott Wiener of San Francisco, Assemblymember Alex Lee of Milpitas, Orange County Democratic Chairperson Ada Briceño and National Union of Healthcare Workers President Sal Rosselli — to speak in support.

Lee’s campaign ended Friday night with a drag show three blocks away at The Elks Tower Ballroom.

During the Saturday session, Lee, Porter and Schiff all vowed to support immigration reform, tackle climate change and address inflation. For many delegates, however, it was just a formality.

Cathy McRoberts, a delegate supporting Schiff, said his experience in politics — such as his role on the committee that investigated the Jan. 6 insurrection — is “second to none” and “necessary” in the Senate.

And Carrie Biggs-Adams, a delegate from Calaveras County and a union official with the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians, said she supported Porter because she is a woman and is younger than Lee.

Porter “can serve there for a number of years and help change that culture and change that dynamic,” Biggs-Adams said.

Congressional endorsements

Delegates did endorse in several battleground congressional races, which could decide control of the U.S. House next year.

In the 47th District in Orange County, being vacated by Porter, the nod went to state Sen. Dave Min on the consent agenda, despite his May arrest for drunk driving that resulted in three years of probation.

“I screwed up,” Min told CalMatters. He said the case has not diminished support for him, noting that the Los Angeles Police Protective League endorsed him a week after his arrest.

In the top-two March primary, Min faces challenges from Democrat Joanna Weiss, founder of the grassroots advocacy group Women for American Values and Ethics, as well as Republican Scott Baugh, who leads in fundraising and narrowly lost to Porter last year.

In other competitive races, such as the 40th District represented by Republican Young Kim, none of the Democratic candidates reached the threshold to win the party endorsement. Only 43 delegates voted in that race, with Allyson Muñiz Damikolas, a candidate backed by the advocacy group EMILYs List, winning 58% of the votes.

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CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.

Eviction cases soared across California in the year after the last portion of a statewide moratorium lapsed, a CalMatters analysis of court data shows.

The elevated numbers — in some places beyond pre-pandemic levels — show a significant portion of renters remain at risk of losing their homes, despite the state’s rollout of a $5 billion rent relief program during the pandemic and a yearslong pause on many eviction cases that many landlords have said disrupted their businesses and income. A nationwide study published this year found increases in eviction filings are associated with slight upticks in the population of homeless people living in shelters.

The statewide moratorium was extended until June 2022 for those who had applied for rental assistance by March, barring evictions in cases where tenants had not paid rent and said they couldn’t because of financial hardship wrought by the pandemic. The law didn’t stop evictions completely — thousands were still locked out under various exceptions — but it dropped cases to record lows. After it ended, a patchwork of local protections for tenants kicked in for cities that had passed their own eviction limits, which then phased out later in 2022 or earlier this year.

Recently obtained data from when the statewide moratorium was lifted through the summer of 2023 show that in a dozen of the state’s most populous counties the average monthly eviction filings surpassed pre-pandemic averages.

Counties that extended local moratoria also are seeing waves of landlords seeking to remove tenants, albeit delayed until after their own rules end. That’s led to particularly acute spikes this year in Alameda County and Los Angeles counties.

In June, the month prior to Oakland’s local moratorium sunsetting, landlords filed nearly 800 eviction cases in Alameda County, the highest monthly total in at least a decade. During the three previous years, under local or state moratoria, they filed fewer than 100 cases a month. The average number of evictions filed in the county in 2019 was 324 a month.

The post-moratoria spikes could reverse a nearly decade-long trend of evictions falling, both in California and nationwide. While the overall number of eviction cases filed post-pandemic remains far lower than the peak years following the Great Recession, researchers and tenants’ advocates said they were dismayed that while the moratorium and rental assistance kept eviction filings relatively low for about three years, those state interventions don’t appear to have significantly blunted the number of evictions sought afterward.

“We’re facing the eviction cliff we tried to prevent during the pandemic,” said Tim Thomas, a sociologist and director of the Urban Displacement Project at UC Berkeley who analyzed the data for CalMatters. “Being back to normal this quickly is concerning.”

Thomas attributed the wave of eviction filings to a combination of state and local moratoria expiring, inflation and the recent expiration of several other pandemic aid programs that kept families afloat, such as expanded food assistance and loosened eligibility to stay on Medi-Cal.

Landlords’ groups say the yearslong moratoria gave property owners no recourse when tenants failed to pay rent even when the economy started to recover during the pandemic, and said lasting rental debt from the pandemic is leading landlords to now be more aggressive in seeking evictions.

Landlords can only file for evictions over unpaid rent from the past 12 months, but that does not forgive old debt, and tenants’ advocates say there’s little to stop landlords from applying newly paid rent to old debt. The National Equity Atlas, a research group, estimates that as of September, 605,000 California households owed a total of $1.8 billion in back rent.

A state program that was open from March 2021 through March 2022 required landlords and tenants to apply for federally-funded rental assistance to cover back rent from the pandemic before landlords could seek an eviction. But thousands who applied are still waiting for the aid to cover debts from that time period while the program appears to have run out of money. Many landlords said they had trouble handling the program’s red tape or had tenants who weren’t approved for assistance for every month that they owed rent.

“You’ve got to anticipate that there’s going to be an increase (in eviction cases), because there hadn’t been any filed in three years,” said Chris Moore, a landlord who owns about 20 units in Oakland.

Moore blamed the moratoria, which he said were overly broad, for “creating a culture” of permitting the nonpayment of rent even for tenants who were working and had income.

Tenants’ advocates, however, also blamed recent rent increases for the high number of filings. Even in counties that haven’t been governed by any eviction limits since last summer, cases filed remained above pre-pandemic averages more than a year later. Landlords who are subject to a 2019 rent cap law have been allowed to raise rent on tenants by as much as 10% this year, due to last year’s record inflation, though some cities have stricter caps.

Tenants are “unable to pay current rent,” said Gilberto Vera, senior attorney for housing at the Legal Aid Society of San Diego.

In San Diego County, eviction filings peaked at more than 1,000 in October 2022, and this year have see-sawed closer to their pre-pandemic average of 723 a month. Some smaller counties — such as Kern, Ventura, Stanislaus and Tulare — have returned to seeing cases filed at slightly lower rates than pre-pandemic, as of August.

But in some counties — including Sacramento, Los Angeles and San Mateo — the number of cases of tenants facing eviction increased this year by more than 10% compared to pre-pandemic levels, according to the CalMatters analysis. The highest leap was in Santa Clara County, where evictions filed in 2023 through August were more than 35% higher than in 2019, on average.

Eviction filings do not necessarily mean a tenant gets kicked out. But the court filing — known as an unlawful detainer — starts a legal process with strict timetables that could result in a landlord being granted legal possession of the unit, allowing them to send a sheriff’s deputy to perform a lockout.

The wave has swamped tenants’ attorneys, most of whom work for understaffed legal aid organizations that represent low-income residents. Few tenants have attorneys in eviction court, compared to landlords who are represented most of the time. Linda Yu, co-director of the housing unit at the East Bay Community Law Center, said many tenants risk being evicted unlawfully without an attorney to defend their case.

“It’s been chaotic,” Yu said, on a day Alameda County Superior Court had 100 cases scheduled to be heard. “The court system has not been prepared for this influx of evictions following the moratoriums lifting and we are now paying the price.”

Alameda County Superior Court spokesperson Paul Rosynsky told CalMatters last week that the timelines set by state law prevent the court from reducing caseloads, but court officials have alerted additional judges to make room on their calendars to hear eviction cases.

“The court system has not been prepared for this influx of evictions following the moratoriums lifting and we are now paying the price.”

Paul Rosynsky, Alameda County Superior Court spokesperson

The recent eviction case spikes put California in line with other Democratic states that extended tenant protections during the pandemic well beyond a federal moratorium, such as Oregon or Minnesota, Thomas said.

“Liberal states definitely had the most severe whiplash, going from zero to above historical averages,” he said. “It’s a complicated story because you had more tenant protections than ever before but also more gentrification, and a lot more housing instability in these states.”

Kyle Nelson, a senior policy and research analyst at Strategic Actions for a Just Economy who has studied evictions in Los Angeles County, said based on how long it took for evictions to stabilize after the Great Recession, some counties should expect cases to remain elevated for years.

CalMatters obtained more than a year of data from courts in 19 of the state’s most populous counties showing the number of eviction cases filed each month through August 2023, along with nearly a decade of corresponding historical figures compiled by the Judicial Council, the agency governing the state’s court system.

In counties that did not extend additional local eviction protections after the state law expired, eviction filings began spiking the month before the statewide moratorium ended and reached their peaks in late 2022. But they remain elevated.

The court process allows for landlords and tenants to settle a case before it goes to trial, which could include a payment plan to avoid eviction or an agreement to leave.

But tenants’ advocates point out there are numerous ways a tenant could also be “informally evicted,” by moving out due to the threat of a court case. The filings data do not include those cases, or show if a tenant moved out during a court case. Eviction cases are sealed from public view — but not if the tenant loses in court, making it more difficult for them to rent again.

Landlords’ associations said most property owners only file for an eviction as a “last resort.”

“Filing an unlawful detainer is not something that’s taken lightly,” said Lucinda Lilley, immediate past president of the Southern California Rental Housing Association in San Diego County. “To work with the renter is much more advantageous to everyone involved.”

Lilley praised San Diego County’s rollout of COVID rental assistance and said the association supports the creation of permanent programs to provide short-term help with rent — “a bridging of the gap for people who may have a tough time for a couple of months and they just need some assistance to avoid that termination of tenancy.”

“Landlords are bearing the brunt of this,” she said.

In eviction court in Sacramento one recent morning, tenants said the process felt designed to pressure them.

To avoid a trial, Keyarra Dunn made a deal with her landlord to stay in her apartment by agreeing to pay a portion of her back rent in the next four days, and the remainder — more than $7,000 — in three and a half weeks.

Dunn, 23, said she knew of nowhere else to live if she and her four young children had to move out. She acknowledged that she had fallen behind on rent for at least four months, but said she was getting divorced, had been in and out of the hospital and spends much of her income as a car rental shop manager on child care.

She said it would have helped to have had an attorney, and wasn’t sure she could come up with the money in time. Because the settlement was made instead of a judge’s ruling, it had all the force of a court order. If she can’t keep her end of the deal, the eviction process would move ahead quickly in court.

“I felt like I had to,” she said of making the agreement. “It was like, now or never, to pay a rent amount that I might not have all of.”

California Divide reporter Felicia Mello contributed to this story.

Data compiled by Ben Christopher, Jeanne Kuang, Alejandro Lazo, Felicia Mello and Alejandra Reyes-Velarde.

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CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.

Press release from the Arcata Police Department:

On 11/19/2023 at about 0115 hours, Officers with the Arcata Police Department were dispatched to the 1000 block of G Street on the report of numerous gunshots heard in the area.

Upon arrival of officers, multiple shell casings were located at the scene. Officers checked the area and did not locate anyone injured or any property damaged.

The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Department and Cal Poly Police Department assisted with the investigation and conducted extra patrol in the downtown area.

Anyone who may have witnessed, or has any information about this incident, is asked to contact the Arcata Police Department.

Ed. note: This column was guest-written by Barry’s wife, Louisa Rogers.

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Ever heard of Elijah McClain? I hadn’t, until I happened to read an article in the New York Times on November 7, “Second Officer Acquitted in Elijah McClain’s Death.” I normally wouldn’t have glanced past the title, but something spurred me to keep reading.

The fact that I hadn’t heard of McClain is not surprising, since I’m a white woman, protected by my white bubble 99% of the time, blithely going about living my life, not even aware of my insulation. This is known as privilege. And I’m not alone. The nature of privilege is that you forget you have it – except, if you’re lucky, on one of those occasions when the bubble gets punctured, as it did for me the morning I read the article.

The story felt so surreal, I reread it to be sure I had it right. One summer evening in 2019, around 10:30 pm, as a 23-year-old African American massage therapist was walking down the street in Aurora, a Denver suburb, a cop stopped him. A caller had phoned 911 saying the guy looked “sketchy” because he was wearing a ski mask and flailing his arms. The caller added that he didn’t think the man was armed or dangerous.

The cop, Nathan Woodyard, put his hands on McClain without explaining why. Then he and two other officers on the scene moved McClain by force to the grass, placing him in a carotid neck restraint. McClain can be heard pleading with officers in police body camera footage, saying he couldn’t breathe. When the two paramedics arrived, they gave him 500 milligrams of the powerful sedative ketamine — twice as much as appropriate, according to one anesthesiologist — and then sent him by ambulance to a hospital.

Three days later, he died of cardiac arrest, still in hospital.

Elijah McClain. Fair use, via Wikimedia.

During the trial a forensic psychologist said that the neck restraint, now banned in Colorado due to this incident, along with the powerful dose of ketamine, caused McClain’s death. In his testimony, Mr. Woodyard himself admitted he violated policy by failing to de-escalate, and would have done things differently based on what he learned later.

Despite the forensic psychologist’s statement and Woodyard’s admission, the mostly white, female jury found him not guilty. Earlier, a jury tried two other officers involved in the incident. One was found guilty of homicide and the other acquitted. The two paramedics will be tried later this month.

His mother later said McClain wore a ski mask because of a blood circulation disorder that caused him to chill easily. Friends said he was probably moving his arms dancing while he listened to music. They described him as a “spiritual seeker, pacifist, oddball, vegetarian, athlete, and peacemaker who was exceedingly gentle.”

While a teenager, McClain had taught himself to play violin and guitar. During lunch breaks, he went to animal shelters and played for the abandoned animals, believing that music put them at ease. Friends said that he was just as gentle with humans.

I think of all the sketchy-looking people in Old Town, where I live. As anyone in Humboldt knows, there are a lot of them.

Here’s what I know for certain: if I were walking down the street in Aurora wearing a ski mask and flailing my arms I wouldn’t be killed by a cop. What is wrong with this country that a person can call 911, describing a young African American massage therapist as “sketchy,” and three days later, he’s dead?

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Despite considerable opposition from some members of the public, the Humboldt County Planning Commission on Thursday approved plans for a new housing development near McKinelyville’s Grace Park neighborhood. The project proposal and conditional use permit were approved in a 6-1 vote, with Commissioner Peggy O’Neil dissenting. 

The 2.47-acre parcel, located on the east side of Central Avenue between Pickett and Gwin Roads, will be split into 19 individual parcels ranging from approximately 2,100 square feet to 6,300 square feet in size. The development will include 61 units – four three-bedroom single-family homes, six townhome-style fourplexes with 24 two-bedroom units and eight one-bedroom apartments, also in a fourplex configuration – and shared parking facilities. 

The parcel is currently developed with one single-family residence, which will be sited on its own parcel. An existing detached garage and two other outbuildings will be removed from the parcel.

The applicant, local developer Dane Valadao, said he purchased the property in 2019, in part because of the R-3 zoning designation, which allows for multiple-family residences. “I want to point out, [when] this property was listed on the market it was marketed for development,” he said during Thursday’s meeting. “[A]n excerpt from the public listing says this [property] … is zoned R-3, which allows for multi-family use, allowing a minimum of seven units and up to 30 units per acre, subject to design approval by the county.”

Valadao said he had received comments from housing advocacy groups, including the Coalition for Responsible Transportation Priorities, that asked for higher density development and less parking, as well as improvement for bike and pedestrian safety. Although R-3 zoning allows for higher density development, Valadao said he’d rather keep the units at two floors “to conform to the neighborhood.”

“I live in Grace Park myself … so I do understand everybody’s concern,” he said. “A recurring comment is acknowledging the need for housing. Everybody wants it, the issue is nobody wants it in their neighborhood. Humboldt County has a lot going on with the growth of Cal Poly Humboldt, the potential fish farm on the [Samoa] Peninsula and offshore wind. These projects are gonna have a huge impact on the housing stock in the coming years.”

Valadao also quashed rumors that the housing development would be earmarked as “low-income housing” but said the units would be affordable. “It’s more affordable to rent than it is to buy and we need more affordable housing than ever,” he added.

Speaking during the public comment section of the meeting, Carole Huey, a resident of the senior mobile home park down the street, asked the Planning Commission to deny the proposal, adding that the vast majority of Thunderbird Mobile Estates residents oppose the project proposal. 

“Housing should not simply be about cramming in as many people as possible to make as much money as one can,” she said. “It should also be about neighborhood aesthetics, as well as the physical and mental wellbeing of the current neighbors and the future residents of the proposed housing development.”

Similarly, Anthony Eggink, another neighborhood resident, said the proposed development was too congested. “There is a difference between what zoning is allowed and what is appropriate, and that is where you all come in,” he said to commissioners. “I’d like you to take your time and make an appropriate decision.”

Cindy Condit, a McKinleyville resident of 27 years, brought up the issue of seasonal flooding on the property and asserted that the existing plans demonstrate a “lack of consideration of the neighboring properties downhill to the east.”

“There are physical problems that have direct impacts on the properties along the west side of Stevens Way, and they can either be exacerbated or relieved with this property development,” she said. “Every rainy season our west-facing yards toward the Valadao property flood for a few weeks, and every third or fourth year the flooding extends under our houses. … In the same flooding years, a seasonal pond forms on that south half of the Valadao property and remains for two or three months, even weeks after the rain stops.”

Condit suggested that Valadao should modify the plan to continue the gutter and sidewalks further east to Stevens Way to alleviate the issue. Later in the meeting, Valadao said a drainage study will be required before the project can move forward.

Several other commenters expressed concerns about road maintenance, noting that that subdivision would only be accessible via Pickett and Gwin roads, the latter of which is technically a private road. Others were worried about an influx in crime with the new development, as well as potential privacy issues.

Tom Wheeler, a representative of the Redwood Coalition for Climate and Environmental Responsibility, was one of two members of the public who spoke in favor of the project during Thursday’s meeting. “We’re in a housing crisis that has been driven by a lack of housing supply,” he said. “New development at this level of density or greater is appropriate for a site that is so close to the proposed future McKinleyville Town Center.”

Following public comment, Valadao said he would accommodate privacy concerns with “top-down, bottom-up” blinds that can be raised from the bottom and lowered from the top to maintain privacy while also letting in natural light from the top of the window.

Regarding the issue of road maintenance, Valadao said he would “try to put together a road maintenance agreement” for the use of Gwin Road, adding: “We will also commit – if we do not get buy-in – that we will fund that per our impact on Gwin Road.”

“We’re not trying to skirt any responsibility on Gwin,” he continued. “That’s something we can work with our engineers to determine what our impact is.”

Commissioner Brian Mitchell asked whether Valadao had considered making the Gwin Road entrance to the subdivision either entrance or exit only. Valadao said he hadn’t considered it but would look into it.

Commissioner O’Neil asked what Valadao considered “affordable housing” and how much the units would go for. “I’d say anywhere from $750 to 950 [per month] for a one-bedroom and anywhere from $1,000 to 1,500 for a two-bedroom,” Valadao responded.

Speaking to a larger issue, Commissioner O’Neil criticized the county for failing to make necessary improvements to McKinleyville’s infrastructure while also expecting the non-incorporated town to shoulder the burden of development. 

“A lot of burden is put on McKinleyville for development,” she said. “Those of us that live there, the roads aren’t improving and the walkability is not improving. They’ve done a few bike lanes down Main Street, but that’s about it. … I do agree that we need more housing and I’m totally supportive of housing, but not at the expense of our community and, you know, aesthetics in our community. I sympathize with the people that are going to see the impact and even though it may be zoned for multi-family, it doesn’t have to have this type of impact … .”

After a bit of additional discussion, Commissioner Mitchell expressed his support for the proposal, noting that the applicant had agreed to the staff’s Conditions for Approval, which “more than adequately mitigate” concerns raised, he said.

Commissioner Thomas Mulder agreed and made a motion to approve staff’s recommendation along with the conditions for approval. The motion passed in a 6-1 vote with Commissioner O’Neil dissenting.

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