Ryan Burns / Friday, March 10, 2023 @ 1 p.m. / Agendizer

Will Eureka Finally See Development on the Big Gravel Lots by the Boardwalk? City Looks to Declare the Parcels Surplus and Seek Proposals for Mixed-Use Project.

# # #

Three decades after the City of Eureka adopted a waterfront revitalization plan, the long stretch of bay-facing parcels between C and F looks more or less the same as it did 1993 — a flat, gravel-covered expanse that’s frequented primarily by parked cars, mud puddles and seagulls. 

Progress has been made around the perimeter. The quarter-mile-long boardwalk, with cobblestone plazas at either end, was completed in 2002. Three years later, at the foot of F Street, the Bayfront One building, featuring a restaurant downstairs and luxury condos above, was unveiled, only to be burned down almost immediately by a transient’s bonfire. It was rebuilt by 2006.

On the other end, at the foot of C Street, the $3.2 million Fisherman’s Terminal building was completed in 2011. And this past December, Dick Taylor Craft Chocolates opened its new chocolate factory on First Street in a rehabilitated 19th century building that once housed the Eureka Co-op. 

And yet the gravel expanse in the middle of all this development remains vacant, though there have been several attempts over the years to develop projects for the site.

Eureka architect John Ash and his wife Delores Vellutini, for example, spent years trying to develop a mixed-use project with retail, office and residential space. After a series of setbacks, including a lawsuit and an appeal to the California Coastal Commission, they switched gears to pursue a waterfront hotel project, an idea that had been suggested before and has been since. That, too, failed to come to fruition. 

Eight years ago, hoping to kickstart some new momentum for the site, the City of Eureka facilitated a series of events and workshops, including a design charrette that yielded six different architectural designs featuring retail, apartments, open space and, alternately, a Wiyot museum, hotels, restaurants, a farmers’ market, water features and more.

On Monday, the Eureka Planning Commission will consider adopting a resolution to declare these city-owned parcels “surplus,” which is required, pursuant to the California Surplus Land Act, before the city can lease or sell the properties. 

Eureka City Manager Miles Slattery said the goal is to spur development of housing onsite, likely as one component of a project that would include ground-floor retail, parking and other amenities.

“We’d like to see a mixed-use development there,” Slattery told the Outpost in a phone interview. “There would need to be a certain number of affordable units, per our housing element, and the zoning would require some sort of visitor-service aspect on the bottom floor.”

That could include anything from stores to art galleries, restaurants, antique shops or taverns.

The land is zoned waterfront commercial, which also allows hotels and motels as principally permitted uses. With a conditional use permit, the properties could also include professional offices, warehouses, multi-family units and upper-floor residences.

Slattery said developers could employ some of the architectural designs that emerged from the city’s 2015 design charrette process, though he said some elements of those designs, such as a canal running along the southern edge of the boardwalk, simply aren’t feasible.

With sea level rising around Humboldt Bay faster than anywhere else on the West Coast, parts of these properties could be underwater by 2060, when the ocean is projected to be 3.1 feet higher than its current level, according to the California Ocean Protection Council. The Coastal Commission requires landowners to assume the risks of developing along shorelines, so any new development will require a deed restriction prohibiting any future construction of shoreline protection, such as a seawall.

Also at Monday’s meeting, the planning commission will consider surplussing a parcel on Third Street in Old Town that includes a brick building known as Nealis Hall (pictured above).

Formerly home to the Liberty movie theater, the 3,145-square-foot building now houses an annex to the Clark Historical Museum next door. If declared surplus by the city, the building could be acquired by Clarke Historical Museum for continued use as an annex, or the parcel could be remodeled into something else entirely, including a mixed-use development with commercial and housing uses, though that would require a conditional use permit.

You can explore the agenda, including all staff reports. supplemental documents and some creative writing by Gennie the LoCOBot, below.

---

Eureka Planning Commission

March 13, 2023, 5:30 p.m.

A. ROLL CALL

B. SALUTE TO THE FLAG

C. OATH OF OFFICE

D. APPROVAL OF MINUTES

1. Planning Commission Meeting Minutes

E. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS

F. PUBLIC HEARINGS - CONTINUED

G. PUBLIC HEARINGS - NEW

H. OLD BUSINESS

I. NEW BUSINESS

1. C to F Parcels Surplus Location: North of Waterfront Drive between C and F Streets; APNs: 001-054-013, -045, -047 Project: Surplus Property SP-23-0001

2. Clarke Annex Location: E Street between 3rd Street and Opera Aley; APN: 001-093-013 Project: Surplus Property SP-23-0002

J. DIRECTORS REPORTS AND COMMUNICATIONS

K. OTHER REPORTS AND COMMUNICATIONS

L. ADJOURNMENT

M. NOTICES

---