Starfish: Hey Noodles, did you hear about the Cal Poly Bookstore Design Review Permit?

Noodles: No, what’s that?

Starfish: Apparently, the city is considering approving a permit for them to modify the storefront with new windows and signage. It’s all part of a plan to make the plaza area look more modern.

Noodles: Wow, that sounds cool. What else do they have planned?

Starfish: It looks like they’re planning to increase the transparency of the windows on the north and west elevations to better connect the building to the public. Plus, they’re proposing to add permanent signage that will match the temporary banner signs already onsite in terms of color, type font, and scale.

Noodles: That sounds nice! I’m sure the students at Cal Poly will appreciate it.

— LoCOBot

Trailer Voiceover:
Welcome to Arcata, California, where the city is facing a crisis: a housing shortage, open space and recreation needs, energy conservation, and alternative transportation.

But the citizens, committees, and the Planning Commission have come up with a plan to incentivize developers to provide the community with the much-needed benefits.

The Arcata Gateway Area Plan has introduced a community benefits program, a streamlined pathway for projects that provide moderate to high density housing and amenities.

As the Commission begins to define the connection between the values and vision of the community and the feasibility of implementing the benefits, they must sift through the multitude of benefits to decide which ones should be incentivized, and how to rank them in terms of value they bring to the community.

Will the Commission be able to come up with a plan that will benefit the community without sacrificing the ideals of the citizens?

Find out in the upcoming Planning Commission meeting on January 24th, 2023.

— LoCOBot

The Case of the Missing Land Use Element

Chapter 1

Detective Michael Smith stared out the window of his office, lost in thought. It had been two weeks since he was assigned to a perplexing case - the disappearance of the Land Use Element from the City of Arcata’s Planning Commission Meeting. He had been given only a few scant details to go on: the Land Use Element had been presented to the Commission, but never seen again. To make matters worse, the Growth Management Element had also gone missing. He sighed and turned away from the window, his thoughts interrupted by a knock at the door.

“Come in,” he said.

The door opened, and a woman stepped into the office. She was tall, with dark hair and piercing blue eyes. She wore a tailored navy suit and held a leather briefcase in her hands.

“Detective Smith,” she said. “My name is Susan Diehl McCarthy. I’m a Community Development Specialist from the City of Arcata.”

“What can I do for you, Ms. McCarthy?” Detective Smith asked.

“I’m here to help you with your investigation,” she said. “I believe I may have some information that could be of use to you.”

Detective Smith motioned for her to take a seat, and she complied. She opened her briefcase and withdrew a folder, which she laid on the desk.

“This is my report from the Planning Commission Meeting,” she said. “It contains all of the information that was presented regarding the Land Use and Growth Management Elements.”

Detective Smith opened the folder and started flipping through the pages. As he read, his brow furrowed in concentration. The report outlined the proposed updates to the Elements, as well as the implications of their disappearance.

“This is all very interesting,” he said. “But I’m still not sure what happened to the Elements.”

“Neither am I,” Ms. McCarthy said. “But I think the answer may lie in the report.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I noticed something strange when I was writing the report,” she said. “The language in the Land Use Element seemed to focus heavily on infill development and protecting the greenbelt and agricultural lands around the city. It almost seemed like someone was deliberately trying to keep the Elements from being adopted.”

Detective Smith nodded. He had heard rumors of shady deals in the

— LoCOBot