Board of Supervisors - Regular Meeting

Okay. Mister Black, how are you doing today? Are you online and ready to roll? Kaylee, you're feeling feeling it?

Yep. Okay.

It's the creak of the microphone that gets people's attention? Alright. Good morning. Good good morning. And we have some Are they coming in right now? Alright. Well we'll just kind of start rolling here and then we'll go from there. Alright. Well, we have some students coming in so they're gonna take the front row. Alright. Welcome to this meeting of the board of supervisors for Humboldt County. This is Tuesday, 05/12/2026. And can we have a roll call, please?

Yes, chair. Supervisor Madrone.

Present.

Supervisor Bone. Yeah. Supervisor Arroyo. Here. Supervisor Bushnell. Good morning. Chair Wilson.

Present.

All are here.

Alright, great. Now we'll roll into roll call. And Rex could you lead us please? Ledge. Alright. Kaylee could you help us out with some virtual attendance instructions please?

Yes chair. This meeting is being conducted in accordance with the Brown Act in applicable state and local requirements. Members of the public may participate in person and or remotely as noticed on the agenda. For those participating remotely, public comment is welcomed and encouraged. To help ensure your voice is heard, it is recommended that you raise your hand at the start of the item you wish to comment on.

If you are joining by computer or mobile device, please use the raise hand feature to indicate your desire to speak. When it is your turn, you will be unmuted by staff. If you are joining by telephone please press 9 to raise your hand when recognized you may press 6 to unmute yourself and begin speaking. Please state your name for the record before making your comment. The board asked that all participants conduct themselves with respect and courtesy. Comments should be directed to the board as a whole and limited to the time allowed. Today's meeting has two minutes.

Alright. Thank you. Yep. Just as a reminder public comment today is two minutes. We have a long meeting and lots of items.

Alright so now we're on to modifications to the agenda and looking over at the CAO to let us know what those might be.

Thank you Chair Wilson. There's one modification item D8 will be pulled from the consent calendar for discussion.

Okay. From consent. Alright. And just as a note, we have a time set for 09:30. We'll see how that goes. Try and get you guys as soon as possible. We have a and that's for the RoboCost Montessori civics class. And then we also have a time set for 11AM for the public hearing for the appeal of the Planning Commission condition of approval for parcel map in McKinleyville. And then we have 01:30. We have a presentation and proclamation from area one aging.

And then at 2PM, we have closed session. We're gonna try and hold as tight as we can to those. We'll see how it goes. With that, we're gonna roll into the consent calendar portion of this meeting and we're gonna start with the proclamations. And the first one is peer support appreciation week brought to us by supervisor Arroyo.

Wonderful. I see some folks here to accept it. Please come on up. Hi Vernon. Good to see you today.

Good morning.

Alright. Whereas peer support specialists are trained providers who use their lived experience to encourage, engage with, and support others with mental health, addiction, or trauma by using the recovery model and the principles and values of peer support peer support to provide hope and to be a role model for recovery. And whereas peer support specialists use the federal substance abuse and mental health service administration's definition of recovery guiding principles of recovery mission and vision to empower and assist their peers to live a life of their choosing and improve the likelihood of long term recovery. And whereas the Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services behavioral health branch in place peer support specialists in the transition age youth division and Humboldt County transition age youth collaboration as well as the peer run hope center by having long been a pioneer in the efforts to provide these services in Humboldt County. And whereas DHHS also employs parent partners through the children's system of care where they provide critical support helping clients and their families navigate the system at various stages of engagement and treatment.

And whereas as of January 2022, Medi Cal certified peer support specialist services are eligible for federal reimbursements, meaning the benefit of these services are recognized as a vital piece in the efforts to promote recovery and wellness. And whereas peer support is an emerging best practice, has proven to be a cost effective treatment for mental health addiction and trauma, reduces inpatient hospital days and recidivism rates, and increases a consumer's ability to access culturally responsive community based services. And whereas California is facing severe behavioral health workforce shortages and peer support specialists can play a meaningful role in alleviating these shortages. And whereas there is a need to increase public awareness of peers, peer services, how those with lived experience impact the lives of countless adults, children, adolescents, families within the health and human services sector and how they are providing a shining example of recovery in the array of services delivered. Now therefore be it proclaimed that the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors hereby recognizes the May 2026 during National Mental Health Awareness Month as Peer Support Appreciation Week in Humboldt County.

And I'm gonna come down and take a quick picture with you and then would love to hear a few words.

Okay. Thank you.

I wanna say thank you all, mister chair, distinguished board members, so much for this, for recognizing those that are in the trenches as we can take a look at our weather today. It's not necessarily that bright. It's kind of foggy or cloudy, rainy, and that's where our peer support specialists and our peer coaches are. They're in the storms of people's lives to help improve the quality of mental health in their lives, to improve the quality of that thereof. So I stand today with those that were standing here.

We all accept this in gratitude, and I say thank you.

Okay. Anything else from you guys? Alright.

So today, I was asked to speak. I'm a peer coach with the Hope Center in our wonderful community. And today, I was asked to speak on peer support and how it relates to hope. This was a really hard topic for me to describe, so, this is the only way I could think to describe it. So let me start off by saying that hopelessness is a hard feeling to describe.

But if I had to, I would say that it's like drowning, just out of reach of the surface. It's cold, heavy, dark, painful, lonely, and terrifying. It's the feeling that things can't or won't get better. It's the place where we feel forced to make decisions that are permanent. Hope is the hand that reaches out into that dark, terrifying place.

It holds on to you, pulls you up out of the water enough to breathe, starts to soothe those cold heavy feelings that had held our hearts. Peer support is the person on the boat, ready to help you paddle until you're steady. The journey's not over. There's more obstacles ahead, but we're not alone anymore. And you know that the person will be there waiting whenever hope feels lost again. That person will be there to remind you how you did it last time and how to find your own strength forward.

Thank you.

Okay. We have a little bit of a theme today because because it's Mental Health Awareness Month. So next proclamation is gonna be from supervisor Bushnell, and it's maternal mental health month awareness. Oh, there you go.

Good morning.

I looked down just for a second. The view changes.

Whereas The United States, maternal depression is the most common complication of pregnancy, and maternal mental health disorders during and after pregnancy encompass a range of conditions, including depression, anxiety, and postpartum psychosis. And whereas in California, one in five mothers suffer from pregnancy related depression, and in The United States, maternal suicides account for up to twenty percent of all postpartum deaths. And whereas fewer than fifteen percent of mothers with maternal mental health disorders are treated due to personal, structural, and seismic barriers within the health care system. And whereas untreated maternal mental health disorders can cause adverse birth outcomes, impaired mental infant bonding, poor infant growth, childhood emotions, and behavioral problems, and significant medical and economic costs. And whereas many at risk families may not seek help because they are not informed about prenatal mood and anxiety disorders as part of their health care due to lack of knowledge of screening of tools, treatments, and community support services.

And whereas both mothers and fathers may experience mental health symptoms that often go unrecognized and untreated due to the unfair stigma associated with mental health conditions, negatively impacting the short and long term health and well-being of their families. And whereas the county of Humboldt encourages collaboration with local and national coalitions, organizations, and agencies to facilitate increased awareness and education about maternal mental health, including the availability of twenty four seven help through the National Maternal Mental Health hotline. 1833. Now, therefore, it be resolved that the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors hereby proclaims the month of May 2026 as mental Maternal Mental Health Month and recognizes the importance of acknowledging this health care issue impacting families.

Good morning. Thank you so much for recognizing the special mental health needs of mothers and fathers during the time of their perinatal journey. I just want to encourage everyone to visit our Facebook page, is Blue Dot Project, Humboldt County Blue Dot Project. There's resources for families who are struggling and for those of us that want to recognize the signs and help our families with their mental health. Thank you so much.

All right. We have one more that's in this theme of mental health awareness month. Is there anyone here for men mental health matters month? Okay. Great. Back. Alright. Well, I'm gonna read the proclamation, and we'll go from there. Whereas May is mental health matters month, which is a time to create greater public awareness about mental health, a time to change attitudes about mental illness, and a time to promote wellness and recovery, and a time to reduce stigma and discrimination. And whereas, mental health is essential for everyone's overall health and well-being, addressing the mental health needs of children, youth, adults, seniors, and families is fundamental to having a healthy community.

And whereas mental health challenges are one of the most common health conditions in California, affecting one out of seven adults and impacting both the person experiencing mental health challenges and those who love and care about them. And whereas every day, millions of people face stigma related to mental health and may face ice and may feel isolated and alone, and some going years before receiving any help. And whereas all people experience times of difficulty and stress in their lives and with increased prevalence of mental health conditions in our community, it is important that all residents of Humboldt County that they know the specific tools that exist, which can be used to better handle challenges and protect one's mental health and well-being. And whereas compared to the state, Humboldt County faces statistically higher rates of suicide, addiction, and homelessness, which are all potential negative outcomes of untreated mental health. And whereas prevention is an effective way to reduce the burden of mental health conditions With early and effective treatment, individuals with mental health conditions can recover and lead full productive lives.

And whereas it is appropriate to recognize the importance of improving the mental health of all our residents, and Humboldt and Humboldt County is committed to raising awareness about mental health, promoting effective community partnerships, collaborations to serve the mental health needs of our community, and increasing access to culturally and linguistically appropriate mental health services. And whereas Humboldt County continues to invest in mental health services and a and a robust local continuum of care, including recruiting for mental health professionals and expand ex excuse me, expanding access to mental health resources throughout the county. And whereas there are many organizations, including Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services, nonprofits, private agencies, as well as faith based and government program with staff who work tirelessly to provide treatment options and improve the lives of local residents and families of those affected with mental illness. Therefore now, therefore, let it be resolved that the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors hereby proclaims May 2026 as May is mental health me, mental health matters month in Humble County and calls upon the community, government agencies, public, private institutions, and businesses, and schools in the county to commit to increasing awareness and understanding of mental health and steps the citizens can take to promote their own mental health and the right for appropriate and accessible services for all people with mental health needs.

Right. Thank you. Now yep. You wanna take the photo? Alright. Let's do this. Alright. Alright.

I just wanted to thank you guys for making May's mental health month and also invite everyone in the community to our rally at noon today on the Court Steps and our barbecue on the twenty second at 11AM at Jefferson Park. Thank you.

Alright. Sounds like we have one more comment.

Hi. Thanks a lot for doing this for recognizing me as mental health month. Actually, every month should be mental health month, but this year's especially every month should be mental health month. Anyway, I'm Leah Nagy. I'm president of NAMI Humboldt. I also serve on the Waterfront Recovery Center board, and I also contract with Humboldt County Mental Health for as a family liaison for the last twenty five years. My life changed when my youngest son was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. I didn't know where Sempovirans was, and I didn't need to know. Boy, has that changed over the last twenty five years. So, I have, I've put these little packets together for you guys.

These are five, I think, amazing brochures. The Family Advisory Board, which I started here in Humboldt County, created two or three of them. They're resources for families. There's a jail brochure, NAMI Humble, which you all can join. And then there's families in crisis, resources.

And I do four support groups a week, you guys. So I do one for individuals with mental health challenges and three for families. So we do have a NAMI Humboldt Facebook page. Thanks to Laura Montagna who's helping us getting that up and running. And you can also go to nami-humble.org and look at our website for any of these brochures and any information. So thanks you guys. And I'll should I leave these right here now? These are good to leave right?

Okay. I'm gonna bring them over to you.

And you can copy these, send them wherever you want, and let everybody know that we are alive and kicking. Alright.

So with the proclamations today, we're gonna hold general public comment on those to the end of the public at the end of the consent calendar. But I do wanna hold a little space for because we had three proclamations related to Mental Health Awareness Month. If the Board of Supervisors, anyone wants to comment on that, this is the time to do that for those three proclamations. Not related to we have proclamations, but I just wanted to, like, have a break for this particular theme and segment. So supervisor Arroyo.

Thank you everyone for being here to talk about all three of those facets of mental health awareness and support in our community. I I know this is an ongoing big challenge for us and something that we have really worked hard to establish resources to meet the moment. I'm wearing my green for Mental Health Matters month. And I also wanted to acknowledge that we're probably not going to discuss it, but we do have an item for mental health support for our law enforcement personnel as well, which is great on this agenda. So all these different facets of mental health are important to take care of.

And I think one of the most important things I've learned over the years, having people struggle with mental health crises in their lives and ongoing depression and other experiences is to check-in with them and not be afraid to ask if someone seems different. And that's something that all of us can do to be part of solutions and to really just look out for one another. It can be so isolating to have to feel low and to feel like you're drowning as our speaker said. So really that's something that's peer to peer and also important to have professionals but it's both and. So thank you.

All right. I just want to just I think the statistic of one in seven Californians experiencing mental health challenges, I think, might be low. But more than that, it's if if if some at some point, it's if it hasn't already touched you in your life, it will. Whether it's you personally or someone that's close to you. So we all really have to do more in terms of the awareness of this.

And again, I think this the stigma of mental health challenges and mental health illness that people have is part of our problem collectively. We need to do we need to do better. So with that, we're gonna move to the next and we will do better. We're gonna go to the CalFresh Awareness Month, and where is the supervisor Arroyo?

Alright. I know I saw folks from CalFresh here. Yeah. Awesome. Wonderful to see you.

Alright. Whereas the Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services staff strive to ensure CalFresh benefits are accessible to all eligible Humboldt County residents and utilized to the fullest, and whereas CalFresh helps provide food security for more than two twenty eight thousand four hundred County residents including more than 7,200 children 2,000 college students and 6,100 elderly community members and whereas DHHS and community partners work hard to make sure our most vulnerable populations have food on their tables and to get these benefits out to eligible community members who are experiencing economic hardship And whereas our local Humboldt County economy benefited from the more than $65,000,000 in federal CalFresh funds that were spent on food by county residents in 2025. And whereas DHHS's social services branch staff have relationships with community based organizations and medical providers that help refer people to the CalFresh program which creates an important link to these benefits for people experiencing food insecurity. And whereas CalFresh funding pays for the benefit assistance program, local outreach programs, helping children access free and reduced cost school meals, supporting local farms through the farm market match farmers market program, and supporting job placement through CalFresh employment and training support to the helping humble employment empowerment program.

Now therefore be it resolved that the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors hereby proclaim May 2026 as CalFresh Awareness Month by honoring the work the CalFresh program accomplishes through community agencies and social services staff to help alleviate food insecurity amongst Humboldt County residents.

Good morning. Thank you board and community for recognizing May as CalFresh awareness month. We know that having access to food and mental health goes hand in hand. So we are, glad to be sharing this month with mental health matters and all of the other various, mental health organizations and proclamations that are going out this month. Thank you so much.

Alright. Next is I think this is the last proclamation for today, which is the May 2026 as caregiver appreciation month.

Is there anyone here for that?

Oh, yeah. I see your hands there. Here we go. Whereas May is National Foster Care Month, in Humboldt County we celebrate Caregiver Appreciation Month, includes resource patients, tribally approved caregivers, relatives, non related extended family members, and caregivers working with youth living in short term residential therapeutic programs. And whereas these caregivers welcome into their homes children and youth ranging from newborns to non minor dependents up to 21 years of age.

And whereas there are currently a 193 county children and youth in out of home care being provided with safe, secure, stable, nurturing homes with compassionate families. And these families, these caregivers, practice a high standard of skilled parenting by being willing to seek out resources and training to help children cope with trauma, loss, and separation through developmental life stages where ensuring educational services as well as medical and dental care are provided. These caregivers are valued members of the child and family team dedicated to supporting, mentoring, and advocating for children and their families and are vital to ensuring that children remain in their communities. And whereas these caregivers are open to maintaining lifelong connections to children, youth, and families, and are essential in supporting reunification and permanency by keeping children connected. And whereas these caregivers meet a special need in our community by ensuring children and youth receive the attention they need, the respect they deserve, and unconditional love, and whereas Humble County caregivers deserve our gratitude and respect for the work they do every day.

Now, therefore, be it resolved, the Humble County Board of Supervisors hereby proclaims May 2026 as caregiver appreciation month and thanks resource patients, tribally approved caregivers, relatives, non related extended family members, and caregivers working with youth living in short term residential therapeutic programs for their dedication to the children and the youth of Humboldt County. Alright.

Thank you, Board of Supervisors, for having this proclamation. This is a community of people that are definitely unsung heroes in our community. They are busy, busy taking care of children. Just I think we often think of caregivers taking care of children, but they're often the parents' best cheerleader. They're always advocating for children to be with their parents and making a home for them when they can't be.

So it really is an amazing group of community. Think also, like Monique shared, it's a special day to be celebrating mental health and CalFresh and all the services that families need so that they can safely take care of their kids. And our caregiver community really helps promote and support families being in safe environments and going home when they can. So thank you again for celebrating this community of caregivers. And on their behalf. You very much.

Alright. So we have the rest of the consent agenda here. Yes.

I just wanted to say around that proclamation, I don't think that there's anything better that you can do than support a young family and a child that needs. Fostering is so important and really just an amazing job that can help families continue to have their children in their homes. So thank you.

Unsung heroes, I have to tell you. I just these are folks that we often see in our community but don't know what the work that that they put in and the love that they put in and the support that they put in. So if you know anybody who does this or if you run into anyone who does this, thank them. Alright. So we're moving on with the rest of the consent agenda. There was one item to be removed, and that was item eight. And so if if we could get a motion and a second then I'll move to to public comment.

I'll move approval. Second.

Great. Okay. We're gonna move to public comment. Is there any public comment online? This is your time online if you want to speak to an item. This is it.

There is chair. Okay. Caller 0153. I will unmute you and you will have two minutes.

And before you jump in caller, I just wanna remind folks that once we close out the online comment time, we're not gonna go back. So if you are listening right now and you wanna comment, there's no jumping in at the end. Raise your hand now. So okay. Let's go ahead and start.

Thank you. Caller 0153, I will unmute you. You can try to press 6.

Yes,

I can barely hear you.

This is Okay. Dennis Leonardi. Is that better?

No. No.

Dennis Leonardi, is that better? No. Dennis Leonardi, is that better?

Yes.

Is This public comment on non agenda items correct?

No. Oh

shoot I got the wrong one then. I'll wait for that moment.

Okay thank you.

Okay remember this is on consent items.

Caller 4350, I will unmute you and you will have two minutes.

Hi. This is Sierra Braggs. I am a resident in Eureka and a small business owner, and I am commenting on one of the consent items related to the employee the employee wellness for the sheriff's department. I just wanted to say that I fully support the sheriff's department having access to all of the mental health services that they may need when a special incident occurs, And it looks like that agreement is for about a $114,000 and includes training, regional training for peer collaboration. And I would like the county to strongly consider requiring that kind of training to include and and the cool part is the training is mandatory for the whole department, which is unusual.

It seems like it's very hard to get the whole department to be required to do anything. And I would really encourage it to include training on how to interact, how law enforcement can interact best with people on the autism spectrum. There are continue to be repeated incidents between law enforcement and people on the spectrum that are escalating and that are very, very challenging, traumatic for people on the spectrum. And so I think that while law enforcement should be accessing mental health treatment and support when they have, you know, critical incidents. I think there also needs to be training for them to make sure those incidents don't happen again by implementing best practice.

And for that to be something that is required and not optional for the sheriff's department staff for all of them. I also think that the county should think about every time there is a critical incident with law enforcement and the sheriff's department staff needs support and mental health treatment afterwards, there are people on the other side of that critical incident who also need mental health treatment and access to resources. And so I really am curious if there is a comparable rate and quantity and accessibility to mental health treatment when people have experienced

Caller you have ran out of time. Caller 4350 you have ran out of time. Caller 3053, I will unmute you and you will have two minutes.

Morning. Thomas Boulder here. I just

want to confirm you can hear me there in the chamber.

Yes.

I just want to start off by thanking the chair for limiting our comment time to two minutes. I really, really appreciate being, as a public member, being limited to that. It's great. But then lastly, I just want call a point of order that I support the budget item for the sheriff's department. But a point of order, once again, public comment going outside of the agenda items. So I'm just gonna ask the chair respectfully. Please keep things someone just was allowed an extra minute of talk about sheriff stuff. So hopefully when that agenda item comes up, you give everyone three minutes to talk on it. Thank you for the opportunity to speak.

Thank you. That's all on Zoom, chair.

Okay. We're bringing it into the room. Is Is there anybody in here who wants to speak on the consent calendar but not item eight? Okay. Seeing none, is there any more discussion on the board for anything that's on the consent calendar? Supervisor Bushnell. Thank

you.

I just wanna thank Lori Barnwell. She served on the resource conservation board for a long time. She lives out in the Alder Point, Blacksburg area. It's quite a trek into town, was very committed to that. And, also, there'll be an opening for that board. So if you were interested, please get your application in, and thanks to Laurie and all of her work she's done. Also wanna recognize that public works with Measure O monies is moving a lot of things with our county roads along and you know it's springtime so it's time to get that work started and folks should see that around the county.

Alright. Supervisor

Maduro. Thank you chair. I wanted to also appreciate Peter Pennycamp for his service on the Humboldt County Human Rights Commission and so many other things over the years. If you're out there listening, Peter, thank you so much for all your service.

Anybody else? Seeing none, is there any objection to unanimous consent on those items on the consent calendar? Seeing no objection, the consent items passed except for d eight, and we are moving on to our time set, which is the 09:30 time set. And that is bringing us to the Montessori classes here today. So there we go.

Are you ready?

Yeah. We're ready. Bring it on.

Alright. I'll just introduce them and get them started off. This is our second visit to you all this well, once last year, once this year. And I hope that we can continue to do this for at least a few more years to come. I think that this group of students has improved on the work the last year's students did in just huge leaps and strides.

I think that their research is very interesting. I am very honored that we were invited to speak to you all today, and I hope that you enjoyed their presentation. I would ask that at the end of the presentation, there is just a reminder about how the public should or could engage with the presentation, since it is technically a weird item, a strange item. But now I'm gonna turn it over to the students. I believe they have their presentation. Oh, and they get a clicker this time. Oh. So they'll get ready. They'll line up, and then they will start presenting what's in. Okay.

Can I start? Presenting to you the Great Redwood Trail Community Survey on behalf of the Redwood Coast Montessori Senior Civics Class. Redwood Coast Montessori High School or RCM is a project based school committed to fostering collaborative community where students are empowered to express diverse perspectives and engage in real problem solving. Unlike academic tradition, RCM replaces a standard final examination with a professional exhibition where students present long term academic projects to peers. Our current civics project focuses on the up and coming Great Redwood Trail, applying project based learning principles to gather community input and local understanding regarding this project.

We chose to focus on the Great Redwood Trail because we care about the future of our county. So far, much of the news has only shown one side of the story, and we want to bring attention to the whole picture, balancing the project's goals with the concerns of local residents. This project caught our eye through local media and was mentioned in our Q and A with Mike Wilson. Since it is an ongoing development, we are eager to see how it actually flows into our daily lives. We selected questions to gauge community awareness of the trail.

We surveyed 142 participants by placing posters from Trinidad to Eureka, sharing the survey on social media, and presenting the survey at our spring exhibition. It was also included as a part of the Lost Coast Outpost article on the Great Redwood Trail Agency Master Plan. These responses provided critical data on local opinions and concerns regarding the trail's development.

Demographics. We use demographics to better understand how the community is feeling about the Great Rhoda Trail project. We received the most responses from people who lived in District 4 and and the the least least from from people people in in District District 11. Age range, we received the most responses from people 46 to 64 and the least from people 18. Tribal involvement, the majority of people who completed the survey were not involved with the tribes at 85.2%, while 12.7 were affiliated or had family affiliated.

The the majority, 32.4% of people, had some amount of prior knowledge about the trail project. Thirty three point eight reported almost never using the Bay Side Trail going from Eureka to Arcata. Generally, people said they would use the Great Redwood Trail a little more, but overall, the data is similar to the current usage of the Humboldt Bay Trail.

The next slide is us asking the community how they feel about tribal involvement on the proposed trail. The most notable response in my opinion is I think tribal involvement is extremely important and their concerns should be addressed without preventing benefits to everyone else who would use the trail. Moving on to the next slide. We address the concerns of the sheriff's office and how they feel that the trail should be policed slash patrolled. And we asked the recipient or we asked the surveyees, what is your stance on the safety of the proposed trail?

The majority of the answers was that the trail does not need to be policed slash patrolled. And if something happens, we could deal with it then. The last of my slides is asking the community members how they feel about permitting, access to the backcountry. The majority of the responses was that what was I'm sorry. I'm forgetting. Was that if there was to be a permit, it should be free or low cost. Thank you.

We asked the community for their general stance on whether or not the trail should be expanded. The vast majority of people were at least somewhat in favor with 55% saying they were heavily for it. We also asked the community for their hopes, comments, and concerns regarding the trail. These concerns were largely in two major groups, either similar to I'd rather like to see a better connection from McKinleyville to Orjeda or lots. It's going to be way over budget.

It's going to be very expensive to patrol electric bikes and attract them to homeless, drug addict criminal types. The community response to what the GRTA should prioritize shared many of the same answers as the previous question, though with an emphasis on tribal involvement. There was also one major group of questions like safe, enjoyable paths away from traffic, possible connections to future paths in the towns themselves, an opportunity to protect or acquire lands, and open up more hiking and outdoor recreation.

Our survey limitations included flyers being were only posted from Eureka to Trinidad, and the survey being online required participants to have access to a device. Improvements we made from last year included adding demographic questions to better understand the data we collected and improving flyer distribution strategies, both online and in real life. All in all, we got 56 more responses than last year. Our takeaways from the survey were most of the public are in favor of the Great Redwood Trail, including excitement for tourism, observing the trail's beautiful views, and new opportunities for transportation. However, the support does come with doubts.

The top concerns include public safety and frustrations with the project's timeline as they wanna use the trail as soon as possible. Crucially, there's a mutual stance that tribal opinions must come first. Addressing these concerns is the only way to ensure the trail's long term success and community support.

We also decided to reach out to community members that were associated with the Great Redwood Trail. This is a statement from Natalie Arroyo. The same reads, the Great Redwood Trail offers an amazing opportunity to connect from the North Coast Of California along an old railroad corridor. I'm extremely excited about the recreation, transportation, and tourism potential this project provides. These challenges will be ensuring that tribal cultural resources are protected, that the people using the trail are safe, and that the neighboring property owners are involved in the process.

This is the statement from Alicia Haman, who is the executive director of the Friends of Eel River. The scope of this project is huge, and it can only be done right by taking the time to consider the many impacts and opportunities. Opportunities exist for recreation, tourism, interpretation that educates trail users about the natural and cultural history of the region and for positioning more people who care about the environmental health of the region onto the landscape. There may also be opportunities to open access to cultural sites that native people have been excluded from for over one hundred years. But again, this might be done with consultation and approval of native people.

Civic learning synthesis. Throughout the development of the GRT survey project, our classes gained a greater understanding of local governance and increased our community involvement. During our project exhibition, we had the opportunity to listen to a variety of opinions. Through this, we learned that every opinion holds weight. Hearing these voices firsthand reminded us that community members are not just data points in the survey.

Their feedback can shape how the trail is built and cared for. By presenting these findings to the Board of Supervisors, we are acting as a bridge between the public and the leaders of our community. Ultimately, this project taught us that being an active citizen means more than just living in Humboldt. It means participating in its growth as the Great Woodward Trail moves forward. We hope the Board continues to prioritize the public's opinion by valuing every voice we can ensure the trail becomes a success that reflects Humboldt County's natural beauty. Thank you.

Is that it for now? Okay. Just bringing it back to the board. I wanna say that we have occasionally student groups that present to our board various projects and sorts of things. I did not know what you guys were coming to present today. I did meet with this class, I don't know, six months ago or something like that. It was what seemed like a while ago. And we talked about everything. So we talked about a lot of different issues in Humboldt County, so I'm impressed with what we've got here today. I'm going to ask that if the board has any comments, then we'll take it to public comment.

It's not a conversation, just so we're clear. I think we talked about that before in our board meetings. People present. We give some feedback occasionally, and we deliberate. But in this case, there's no decision to be made. It's just a presentation. It's a kind of a report and file. If anyone has anything to say before we move to public comment, we'll we'll do that. And great project, guys, really.

Okay. Supervisor McDonough. Thank you, Chair. Yeah, as the Chair said, great project. And it's inspirational to see you all dig into a project like this. And really appreciate the focus on tribal and local concerns about the trail and pointing out that, you know, there are different stories here. Some really support it. Some are very concerned. I hope this is inspirational for you all as far as your futures, your careers, of ways to dig into something and form opinions, but more importantly, try to add information that helps all of us understand things better. So thank you for your work.

Professor Arroyo.

Thank you so much. I love the presentation, and it was really cool to see everything that you brought together. Is this going to be compiled into a document, or is there a report that you're going to be able to share that shows all the findings and all the survey responses? We

do have plans to share it, obviously, with all of you if you would like it to be shared. We can also share the full survey that we have. So I know that these kids are very handy, and they can export all of our survey data and answers onto a Google Sheet. And then we can send it over to you guys, if you would like that.

That would be great. Thank you so much.

I'm gonna take this to public comment unless Nice

job. I think the segments of the trail are very important to the community. I like how it was highlighted that it's almost gonna it's gonna be very expensive to maintain the Old River Valley and and Michelle and I share the majority of the trail through our districts. And we have people concerned about maintenance, forest fires, camping on their and properties, and those things and and oversight. And there and there I love how it was brought up that the trails that we have now, the ones that I walked fifty and sixty and longer years ago are unpatrolled, but they have they have patrol abilities and stuff like that.

But this is gonna be a tough road to hoe, and you guys hit all segments, both the tribal, people's concerns, and and I I was very impressed that you handled all segments and put them in and and correlated them perfect into your survey. So you should be proud of yourselves and taking on this thing. I mean, trails are cool. There's no doubt about it and everything else. But so are potholes and everything else that aren't cool that we have to find an even balance. So nice job, you guys.

Supervisor Bushnell.

I echo supervisor Bone's comments and the rest of the board. It was a very thorough job. I would invite you, if you ever wanna do a field trip, to come to the Bloxburg area and see some of that trail and the ruggedness of it and some of the issues that the landowners are bringing bringing up. I was really glad to see that you guys talked about, you know, incorporating the concerns of the landowners out there as well as what the sheriff has to say about patrolling. That's section. And I would welcome taking you guys on a field trip.

I think you should take her up on that. Okay. Do we have any comments from the public on this one?

Yes. We do, chair. Caller 2611 I will unmute you and you will have two minutes.

Good afternoon, supervisor. Good morning. I really want to thank all the students that, a, picked this topic as their goal. I think you guys really had to put a little critical thinking cap on to decide to venture into this realm because it is very complex, very controversial. So thank you.

Thank you for giving it a spotlight. If you were to continue any more research on it or outreach or to add any additional information to your project, I would suggest reaching out to the tribes too, land back initiative that's been brought up, the rail banking process, what portions of the trail are rail banked and are not rail banked that's not very that is clear to the public, those facts. And also reaching out to some of the law firms that are out there that have had several cases. There's Flint Cooper, Stuart Weld and Smith, True North Law. I mean, the list goes on and on.

So if you really wanna dig into it a little bit more and you guys keep working on this project, those are just some suggestions. And besides that, good job, guys. That's really cool.

That is all, chair.

Alright. Anyone in the room? Okay we have one commenter.

SPEAKER Good morning my name is Joanne McGarry. I'm a neighbor of this school and I'm impressed by the students continually with their projects and how their learning happens. And if you haven't been there, they have an incredible garden near the school too that's most impressive. I appreciate this report about the Great Redwood Trail. And I would hope in the future, since we now are going to have a regional climate action plan, and this Great Redwood Trail could be a part of that in discussing how we can meet the goals of our regional climate action plan in terms of greenhouse gas reductions and vehicle miles traveled, and how maybe this trail can contribute to the actions we need to achieve the goals for 2030 and 2045.

So Redwood Montessori Regional Climate Action Plan, put that on your agenda. Thank you.

Alright. Alright. Back to the board. Is there a motion to accept and file this report?

So moved.

I will second it. This is my privilege. Thank you guys for being here. Really appreciate it. Stick around. There's more. Or don't. Whatever you need, go back to school. But I wanna thank you guys for being here. Any last words?

No. Thank you all again. Thank you to everyone in the chamber for sitting and listening, and we'll see you again next year.

Yeah. And I just wanna remind you, none of this is easy, and I think you guys learned that. So Yeah. Alright. Thanks for being here. With that, is there any objection to unanimous consent on the motion to receive a file? Seeing none, we're gonna move to item D8.

Thank you Chair Wilson. I'll do my best to keep it together during this item but I make no promises. Today's a really sad day for our office. We lost Lindsey Day last week to a short but valiant fight with cancer. He was a member of our ADA team and had worked for the county for nine years.

You often hear me say that's a small but mighty team. They touch every corner of our organization and if you have if you have any of our ADA service counters in your office just like this one, these were custom built by Lindsey and I'm incredibly proud that we get to have his mark across our county for eternity. I'm sorry. Lindsay was my all of our staff here are like family to me. I love them all dearly.

I spend more time with them than I do my own children. And Lindsay was no different. He got me really wasted on tequila one time. If you know Lindsay, you know. He would come to my Super Bowl parties and came to my daughter's graduation.

Lindsay had a zest for life that is unmatched. This smile right here I'm gonna miss. He was a gigantic personality in stature and in humor. He was a big big big dude. You'd see him coming for a while.

You'd hear him coming for a while too. Yeah. We're we're just all really gonna miss him, and you can tell by this room that's full today. And I appreciate your board closing in as honor.

Thank you.

We're gonna is there I'm gonna take comment online before we come back into the room. Is there any hands up online?

There's not.

Okay. Great. Closing public comment online. I'm gonna bring it first to the board, and then we're gonna ask those in the room to to speak to this.

I I do have a video chair.

Oh, okay. Did let's do that.

We always for for birthdays, we always pass the card around, and Lindsay, every single time, would draw a shock a hand and say rock on. So I hope that's what he's he's doing right now. And I think we have a lot of staff who would like to say something. This

is the time.

Chair, members of the board, thank you for allowing us to honor Lindsey today. I'm Karen Clower, assistant county administrative officer and the ADA coordinator for the county. Lindsay dedicated his work, with the county to making spaces more accessible for individuals with disabilities through the ADA compliance project. I had the fortunate opportunity to work with Lindsay for ten years. Lindsay was one who always went beyond completing a job.

He brought a special personal touch nearly to everything he did, whether that was through his expert craftsmanship and building service counters, service desks, or cabinets, or by adding thoughtful finishing touches like painting a room, restoring furnishings, or replacing damaged fixtures to make the space look new again. Lindsay took pride in doing things the right way and making every space better for the people he worked with and or the public who used it. For the departments that received his custom built counters, desks, or cabinets, Lindsay often left behind a special memento of himself by signing his name and the date inside each piece he completed. That action serves as a meaningful reminder of the pride he took in his craftsmanship and the care he put into every project. More importantly, Lindsay was a kind and caring person who never viewed those around him simply as his coworkers.

He saw people as friends and family, creating genuine personal connections with nearly everyone he met. His warmth, generosity, and dedication leaves a lasting impact on the county administrative office, the county, and the people fortunate enough to know him. And I just would like to say, Lindsay, you'll be deeply missed and fondly remembered.

Good morning, Chair Wilson and Board members. Thank you for taking time in today's meeting to honor and pay tribute to my friend and colleague, Mr. Lindsey Day. My name is Travis Smith, and I'm I had the honor of working closely with Linz, as we called him, for the better part of the last decade. When I hired Linz, I didn't realize I'd met someone that would make such a profound impact on both my professional life, but also become my best friend.

Would shape the way that I became as a person. Lindsey and I were we're opposites in a lot of ways, and we could both be extremely passionate and stubborn. Our opposite views helped each shape each other. Where I tend to be a realist, he was always able to make me see the compassionate side of a situation. He kept me balanced and taught me a lot about life and myself.

Vince had the best sense of humor. He was hilarious and always found a way to find the humor in every situation. He was authentic and genuine and a true empath and always went out of his way to help other people when they were in need. He had a way of comforting and connecting and always looked for the good. It didn't matter how much stress we were under.

Linz always found a quick quip that would cut the tension and lighten the mood. Dude, it'll buff out, he would always say. Linz was a true craftsman with an eye for detail. Before the county, he owned day woodworks and specialized in furniture grade cabinetry, and I have one of Lindsey's day woodwork shirt on. Lynn's loved working for the county and was fundamental in the success of the ADA compliance project.

Without his contributions, we would not have been successful with the consent decree as successful with the consent decree as we were. I always knew that Linz and I could do anything together because I knew that no matter how hard things got, he would stay and grind with me until the end. His craftsmanship is second to none and is on display inside almost every county building. In fact, Lynn's built this podium in the in the staff tables here in the chambers. He was an artist.

He was also an amazing guitarist and singer. He loved music. I'm reminded of a story he told about his younger years when he got to tour around the country with the Grateful Dead. After a few weeks, he and his buddy ran out of money, so they scraped together whatever change they had left and bought bread and cheese and sold grilled cheese sandwiches at dead shows so that they could get enough money to make it back home. Lindsay and I had a chance to go to Texas one year for training.

We had a mission to get authentic cowboy hats from Texas. And let me tell you something, you would think it would be easy to find a cowboy hat in Texas, but no. After hours of looking and striking out, we finally found some cheap cowboy hats at the seven eleven in Waco. This is mine, the Duke. We looked ridiculous but had a blast.

From then on, anytime we wanted to have an impromptu hangout after work, one of us would ask the other if we were down for cowboy hats later. Lins was proud of the work he did for the county and took pride in making accessibility improvements so that people with disabilities could access the programs, services, and activities the county offers. He loved being part of the solution and helping those in need. He loved the outdoors, bonfires, hunting, shooting, cooking, and the beach. He loved Humboldt County.

I have a huge Lindsey sized hole in my heart, and there will not be a day that goes by. They don't think about him, the projects that we built together, or reminisce about the jokes and the times we shared. Lindsay, if you're out there, if you're listening out there, I just wanna say thank you. Thank you for all the late nights, all the bonfires, cowboy hats, all the jam sessions, all the projects, all the places we got to travel, all the memories, all the jokes, all the good times, even the bad. And most of all, thank you for being my friend. I love you, brother.

My name's Danielle, and I was Lindsay's girlfriend. I was with him when he passed, and I can assure you he was surrounded by people that he loved. Right now, I'm trying my best to imagine that love wrapped around me because it eases the pain in my heart. Cancer took him from us very quickly, and these last four months have been hell. But the year that I spent with him was wonderful.

Lindsay would definitely be embarrassed by all of this. He said all the time that he was a simple man, but he was one of the best men I've ever known. As Lindsay told it, he came to work for the county somewhat begrudgingly when he was struggling to keep his cabinet business afloat. Sold out and went to work for the man, he said. Lindsay was a hippie.

He was a deadhead. He had different viewpoints than some of his more conservative colleagues and acquaintances, but Lindsay was a person who saw the good in everyone. We can all learn a lot from the way he treated others, that it's okay to have different opinions and still be friends. We can also learn from the way he approached life with energy and enthusiasm. He was always down for a good time, always willing to help out someone in need.

Lindsay's sister has said publicly that he lived hard and loved harder, but I would add that he worked hard too. He grew to love his job as an ADA coordinator for their carpenter for the county immensely, as well as the coworkers who became his friends. He was proud of the work he did in private and public spaces to make them accessible for all. You can see his craftsmanship at the airports, from the accessible countertops at ACV to the custom awnings at Murray Field and Ronerville. He was especially proud of the accessible path at Clam Beach.

He told me that every time he did maintenance work there, someone stopped to thank him. Please think of Lindsay when you enter these spaces. I think of him and miss him every second of the day, So thank you for giving him this honor and recognition.

Hi, chair Wilson, members of the board. Thank you for dedicating this time for Lindsey. I only knew him for a few short years, but it was a big impact on my life. He was a great person, kind, kind person, great craftsman. I'm lucky enough to have cabinets in my house by him, And he loved doing what he did, and he loved music and sharing that with people. He shared that with me. He taught me to eat a dirty green burger every day.

And if you don't know what that means, I'm sorry. Thank you.

Hi. Wow. The love and tears in this room really are just an example, I think, of how loved Lindsay was in this county, throughout the county, all the department heads he worked with. I'm Bonnie Davison. I from I hail from DHHS. I'm the facilities manager. So I was very, very, very, very fortunate to have crossed paths with Lindsay and Travis and Karen over and over and over and over and over and over again as we mitigated and remedied accessibility considerations throughout our county. But that is not what I'm gonna talk about. What I'm gonna talk about is Texas. Thank you, Travis.

We found ourselves as a team in a karaoke bar one evening in Waco, Texas, which it turns out has quite a bit of talent. I did not arrive to make that talent greater, by the way. But Man Alive, I tried yodeling Boston more than a feeling. I got done, and I was like, oh, I got it done. This is amazing. And Lindsay walked up to me, and he just he just he just gently patted me on the shoulder and said, gosh, god, great job. Way to go.

Way to get up there

and give it your all. And then he caught up on the he caught up on the stage and he slayed it. And he made that talent greater because I don't know if any of you have heard him sing, but he is amazing. He just was an amazing amazing musician. And that is how he handled pretty much every interaction.

Great try, Voni. But I'm along for the ride with you. And he would sit, and he would listen to my logic, said with quotes, on how to mitigate barriers, how to entertain thoughts. There were a couple of times that he would put the level down, and he would stand back, and he would just shake his head. And then he knew that the no wasn't the answer yet.

So then he would take a couple seconds. He would listen to me chewing his ear off, and then he'd still stand back and he'd shake his head and then say it's not it doesn't meet because it didn't meet. And and that heart of gold and that dedication to accessibility and to the work and to Humble County residents across the board and to his team, and to the tenants of this county, I've just I just was very fortunate to be part of that.

Thank you.

Good morning. I count myself among the people lucky enough to get to know Lindsay over the last ten years. He's been an ever present part of my journey through the county. I've watched him grow into his role as I met him before he came out of the county, I've as he grow into his role as as ADA coordinator, learn how to work in the public service. He is the biggest presence in or was the biggest presence in any room he was in.

Always smiling, never too busy to exchange pleasantries, and never too busy to explain what he was doing. He did some ADA work in the auditor controller's office, explained the importance of it to me, why he was doing it, what he was doing, And that kind of positive goals oriented discussion is incredibly valuable in our role. And beyond that, he was just the best person. I don't have better words than that. Thank you.

So Alicia talked about his big personality and his big presence, but she forgot to mention his big heart and how much he loved all of you. When Lizzie got sick, we had conversation, and he was actually thankful for some time to get everything in order and to make sure that his family and his loved ones were taken care of. He wasn't worried about telling people how he felt because he did that every day. And his last words to me were we were talking about it, and he said he wasn't afraid of dying because he was looking at it as his greatest adventure, and I think we should all carry that with us.

As many of you did, I considered Lindsey a good friend. And like many of you, he was that person that showed up for me when I needed it most. When I moved into Lindsay's area years ago, our cubicles are next door to each other, and we like talking to each other so much we knocked out one of the panels of the cubicle wall we shared so that we could have a window. Before long, he had the fridge and shelves stocked with sandwich fixings, corn dogs, sparkling water, and Hi Chews. He was always up for an adventure, picking and eating mushrooms we found outside the office, rescuing a baby raccoon from the library basement, tracking down and talking to the street lady Star to try and find the nail gun that was stolen out of his work truck.

In 2024, my significant other passed away suddenly. Lindsay's immediate response was, I love you. And where are you? The following few weeks were the hardest of my life. I was in shock. I didn't wanna eat, talk to anyone, leave the house. Time froze for me, and Lindsay became my life raft. He came to see me every day, sometimes twice. He dragged me out of the house, haggard, and made me eat. He took me to his favorite spots, and we would just drive, sometimes in the pouring rain at night, and park and talk.

He would listen as I talked and ruminated and asked the same questions over and over and cried. He was a sounding board and helped me work through the shock. We talked about everything and anything, love, death, struggles, family. We went horseback riding. He took me to get a tattoo, and we hunted down flower Legos and went looking for tamales.

He always made sure I knew that he would be my rock, that he loved me unconditionally times infinity, and that he always would. He held my hand in the darkest hours of the darkest, rainiest season of my life, literally and figuratively, and he didn't flinch. He canceled dates to be available, answered the phone at 2AM, and called in sick to help me. Lindsay was one of a kind. He was a big kid and an old soul.

Everyone who was lucky enough to call him a friend never had to wonder how he felt about them. He was the best friend anyone could ask for. He would literally give the shirt off his back. He was always the first to volunteer to help, the first to show up, and the last to leave, hopefully with a keg or food. His love was unconditional and patient.

He was accepting and nurturing and sensitive and so funny and positive. He had a giant heart, skilled hands, keen ears, and a beautiful mind. Through his carpentry, craftsmanship, artistry, and love, he left a piece of himself with each person he cared about. He was a living example of love and brotherhood and of the word love as a noun and a verb. In all our real and raw conversations, we spoke about death the most.

Lindsay was spiritual and empathic. He felt that when people pass away, we are all just stardust that return to the universe. He believed that for a time, the person's spirit is still around us and listening. So, Lindsay, this is for you. We miss you and love you and hope you are at the giant campsite in the sky rocking out with Jerry Garcia.

Well, think everybody can see why we had to take some time today. I'm going to bring it back to the board. Does anyone have anything to say before? Reservoir?

Yeah. I Lindsey and I would share hunting stories and lie about how well we did. And I did better than you, and then realized we both just took long walks in the woods. But I had when I got exiled to my office that I'm in now, I had the I didn't think I'd like it, but then Lindsay moved in, or I moved in on him. I'm not sure.

And I didn't have to worry about what I said, because I don't know if you guys know, sometimes I say things inappropriately. Probably never gonna stop that. Lindsay was just that guy. And I'm I'm looking at this outpouring here today, And I we've got great people that work for the county and our office and everything else. And and I mean, I've been here fourteen years and I've never seen and we have 2,400 employees and people have passed away on the job, and we've recognized them and said everything else.

I have never seen an outpouring like this. And a true amount of it's not grief or sympathy. It's damn, we were lucky to know him. Visiting you every day, and I remember those days. And his talks with Tracy, you know, and just all of you. And you know, I don't know where Karen is, but she he carried you. Do you don't I'm not kidding anybody. He got a super consent degree and everything. I mean those two would work so well together. It it was amazing.

And I say that like it's amazing that they worked so well together. And then you look around and he worked with everybody so well. And what's amazing is you guys are all looking around, and subliminally you're all thinking, I thought I was his best friend. I thought I was his best friend. I thought he loved me the most. And and he had to have a big heart to share it the way he was. But he was one bright spot for me that I could come in and drop whatever type of bomb I wanted to. And he'd say, yeah, agree with that. And and and I I was depressed when he moved over to the clubhouse. Because like I I missed him, you know.

I I And I I didn't realize that was when you took the panel down, so it was you guys could talk. I thought it was the takeout window. Lindsay, you know. But He built a shelf for it. Yeah. He built a It was so funny. I got years ago years ago, I had. It was kinda weird and everything else. Him and Virginia had this little subliminal talk all the time. So were you coming over this weekend?

And I'm kinda doing this weird look going, what the hell's going on here? Well, he was building their closets for her in her house. And then I find out he built cabinets. He built this. I mean, we needed some security protocols in our office because of some deranged people that don't like us. And he did that as quickly as possible because he wanted to protect all of you. It wasn't because it was a job. He wanted to protect all of us. And I don't think I I don't wanna put a burden on anybody in the office over there. It's you know, you you hear this big shoes to fill, you're not gonna fill those shoes.

You're just gonna stand beside them and hope you can do as well. And I think he's trained people and put it in the position to do that. I'm gonna miss my it it was it's it's a little easier for me. I don't wanna say it's easier because he moved away. You know, and I didn't have that every day.

Not every day, I I realized, you know, hearing all this and everything else, I realized today, I I did really miss that sharing the pictures. Look what I got this weekend. It was more look at this tree because I didn't get anything else. So anyway, I I really, from the bottom of my heart, wanna thank everybody for because this isn't easy to get up and talk in front of all these people and everything else. But the impact he's made, if this doesn't wanna make you be a better person, I mean, hearing, you know, all these stories and everything else and the hippie conservative he was, I like that part.

So anyway, I hope he rests in peace. I hope he never has to make another cabinet. And you're right. And I hope him and Jerry are up there burning one and having a good time.

Supervisor Bushnell.

I just wanna say thanks for sharing your stories and love of Lindsay. When I was elected and came here, I it was a little weird. And Lindsay just, let's get your office together. Where where do you live? Oh, I have property out there. And so he wanted to, you know, connect. That was important to him to make people feel comfortable. I don't know any better leg legacy than what all you have said. And the per not what he did, but how he made you feel, how special he made each one of you guys feel every day and took that extra time and effort. And I've seen that as new folks came into the office before he moved.

That was important to him. He was a kind soul. I didn't know him long enough, and I missed him when he moved over to the other building. And I'm praying for his family, and I'm praying for you guys that you find peace and that you remember his love.

Supervisor Royale.

He was incredibly warm, funny, and sincere. And I you know, we have a different relationship with everyone than than you all had with him. But it was a joy to see him. And it is so beautiful to remember all the work, all the ADA work and the level of care and attention to detail that went into every single one of those projects and embracing it as a service to the community rather than a something that we have to do. Of course we had to do it, but to see it as something that is truly about making people be feel included and making Humboldt County the beauty of Clam Beach available to more people, what a gift.

So I'm grateful that we get to go out and see the work that he did and grateful for a team of people who is committed to doing that work too. So thank you.

All right. Just a couple things to close this out. I'm gonna say this, but it's not gonna sound the way that it means. But he was probably the most huggable person in this building. 100%.

Whether you actually did the hugging or whether you're just next to him, you felt it. I just wanna be really and and it didn't it just didn't matter whether you'd met him for the first time or you'd known him for a long time. That it was just was an aura about Lindsay that was just unmistakable. It just from the first second I met him, it was just like, woah. This guy is magic.

Right? For real. And and so I think I think I think that's been expressed here in spades. Also, it's kind of on that theme. You would think that he was like a loud, boisterous person, kind of wanting to be the center of attention.

Kind of the way when we talk about a big personality, but that actually wasn't his own. It just was an aura of of love and acceptance and and fun and enjoyment. It it was I never felt like, he's not the kind of person that was the center of attention. He made everyone else feel like that they were that that space, or he was inviting them to be that if that's what they wanted to be. And I just wanna say that I just that joy is a rare thing.

And so I think it's important that we recognize that today. With that, I'm gonna ask for a motion to, dedicate this meeting in the memory of or close this meeting at the end of the day in the memory of of Lindsay.

I'll make a motion that we honor and close this meeting today in Lindsay Day's memory.

Alright. Is there a second?

Happy to second it.

Alright. And is my as is my tradition here or

I think we need to just

officially open public comments. Staff staff spoke, but

there might be somebody online as well. Is there anyone else in the room? Because I did the online part already. Yeah. So is there anyone else in the room that seeks to speak to this today? Okay. And then you wanna alright. Picture time. Then and then I'll close this one out. Get up there, guys.

Might have just go outside. Alright. I've seen that hat before. With that, is there any objection to unanimous consent to the motion and the second? Seeing none.

Seeing none we are going to take a five minute break. We will be back at 10:45. There's Awesome. Kaylee, how about you?

I sure am.

Awesome. Okay. We're gonna get going on items public comment on items not on the agenda. So if you're out there in virtual land, this is your time to raise your hand for those items. Please raise your hand. Don't put it down. If someone else is talking, just keep doing it. So with that, do we have any comments on non agenda items from phones or zoom or whatever it is we use?

Yes chair we do. Caller 2611 I will unmute you and you will have two minutes.

Yes. Hi, supervisors again. I have been calling in and making comments on social media about our avenue to be participating virtually on these meetings. Currently, we can only call in, and I'll use the last two agenda items as an example. We cannot see the people in the room. So if I was a parent for the school or if I was a friend of our last item, I wouldn't be able to see anybody talking. I can't see the presentations they did. And so I really am going to request again that our clerk and our chair give us access to Zoom. We we can't see you when we're doing the budgetary stuff, everything. We are blind.

All we can hear is voices. We don't know who's talking. And I think it's really a chilling effect on the public to not have that available for us. I know Zoom can be controversial because it can be disruptive in a way, but I am on platforms all throughout the state that provide Zoom. And there are safeguards that Zoom provides that we can make sure that nobody can be disruptive and, you know, you you guys are still unmuting us and have the ability to mute us.

So I really don't think there's any excuses at this point unless you just don't want us to have that extra additional public participation. And if you're having trouble hearing people in the room when they call in, turn the volume up. I think that's a really easy solution. But until we get a better platform for people to participate, I'm going to just keep putting it out there. Maybe I need to a fulfilling petition if that's what it's gonna take or talk talk to HR. Thank you.

Thank you. Caller 3053, I will unmute you, and you will have two minutes.

Thomas Mulder here. I just want

to confirm you can hear me there in the chambers.

Yes.

Okay. So a couple of things. I know I'm limited to two minutes. Overall, I'd say extenuating circumstances with the agenda seems to be every agenda, every agenda that comes out. So as a member of the public, I feel that the chair is strategically time setting multiple things to deter as much public participation as possible.

It's really unfortunate, really frustrating. I don't want to make this personal, but it it feels frustrating, for lack of better. Also, there is a school there today. I think that would have been a great opportunity to show that we're human. And the chair could open the meeting and say, hey, learning experience. I'm human. I messed up. I violated the Brown Act as chair last meeting. Great learning opportunity. Didn't Then

the

other thing, you know, if that was Rex or Michelle there, you know, with the comments that were made about Elon Musk when chair Wilson was on the postal commission. I believe that's a violation of the supervisor's rules to be talking that way or being disrespectful in other public settings, especially on commissions or chairs or ad hocs. So I'm starting to feel that those censures that did come up over the last couple years were politically charged and not really about the board holding itself to the same standards. So, you know, Brown Act violations, breaking rules of the supervisors, just something to take into consideration. More importantly, don't try to deter our participation.

We greatly Thank you for the opportunity to speak.

Thank you. Caller 1285, I will unmute you and you will have two minutes. You can try to press 6 to unmute yourself as well.

Hi, folks. Can you hear me?

Yes.

Hi. Sorry about my phone problems. This is Jared Fisher. I'm a senior real property agent with the Department of Public Works, and I was not able to come down the courthouse or speak about Lindsay Day. Just wanted to make a quick comment that he was a very good man. I've been working with him for almost ten years. And it's a very big loss to us and our team at the county. Well, thank you very much. Hope you all are doing well. And I add my condolences to Lindsay and his family, Travis, thank you for the words you spoke. Goodbye.

Is all online, chair.

Bringing it to the room, this is the time for public comment on non agenda items.

Yes. Good morning. My name is Joanne McGarry and I came on the bus and I'm thinking about what I want to talk about in two minutes. I have to leave after this so hopefully others will speak for me on the next issue. But I wanna talk about particularly animal welfare.

And a lot of things have been in the news now about animal welfare in our county. And the other thing that I notice is there's a lot of attention being paid to buildings and locations throughout our county are empty or underutilized. And there's also talk of building a warehouse with Amazon possibilities up in McKinleyville near the airport where the current animal control center is. And I'm sort of thinking in a climate action plan with vehicle miles traveled and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and the variety of animals that live more in the cities than in the rural areas, that we look at locations like the old Kmart or the Bayshore Mall or the campgrounds along the 101 between Arcadia and Eureka. The KOA, my understanding is, is owned by a person who lives in Dubai.

But I also understand the Franz Bakery area might be available. And we just look at those areas for maybe better locations for animal control facilities and or, you know, housing and encampments for unhoused people and their animals. So I think we need to be very creative in thinking about what we use spaces for. And I think the animal control situation is such that the Kmart would be a great location for something like that, along with perhaps housing issues for the unhoused. Thank you.

All right thank you. Is there anyone else in the room who wants to speak on items that are not on the agenda? I see someone moving in this direction. Okay.

Sorry. My name is Phyllis Coy, and to the board of directors, it's this is regarding the ballots that were discovered, that were not counted for the November twenty fifth election. According to an article in the time standard on 05/07/2026, and local news coverage, the week of May 4, there were 596 ballots discovered on Monday, presumably May 4, when ballot boxes were being prepared to be distributed for the upcoming primary election to be held on November on on excuse me, on June 2. Since the November twenty twenty five election was not certified until 12/05/2025, will those ballots be recounted along with these 596? So hopefully, an accurate count can be recorded oops.

I gotta skip almost okay. Be recorded in an account in an an accurate count be written be submitted to so people will get an accurate count of the actual election of twenty twenty five. Only to be fair to those ballots that were not counted. Because of those errors happening, I there are many questions that can be anyway, I wanna go on to my closing. Before closing, I also want to bring to your attention that over $18,000 is unpaid to the Humboldt County Fair from buyers at the hump at the junior livestock auction.

This information was released in the Ferndale Enterprise issue dated 04/30/2025. Thank you for your time, respectfully, Phyllis Coy. Thank you.

Thank you Phyllis. I saw someone moving in this direction but then moved away. Did was there anyone else who wanted to speak to items not on the agenda? Alright. We're here for you.

Yep. You can sit there. You're just sitting down? Okay. Seeing nobody, we are gonna go into our 11:00 time set in three minutes. So take a breather for three minutes, and we'll be back. It was just enough room for one more person to talk, but it's alright. We'll we'll take the we'll take the we'll take the break. Alright. Three minutes, and we'll be back.

Alright, planning staff. Let me know when you're ready and we'll get started. That's alright. As soon as soon as you're ready to roll it's public hearing, so I need to open the public hearing. That That's me opening the public hearing.

Alright. Hold on one second. Well, I'm asking staff to introduce the item. I'm opening the public hearing. You are introducing the item.

Right. Thank you, chair Wilson. Good morning. Good morning, board of supervisors. John Ford with planning and building joined by Michael Holterman and Cliff Johnson also with planning and building help.

Part of this presentation today will be Bob Ronkel and Tom Matson from Public Works. So this is an appeal of the Planning Commission's approval of a tentative parcel map and special permit. The planning commission modified a permit or modified a conditional approval requiring a frontage improvement, and that is the nature of the appeal. The appeal is de novo. So the board can consider more than just the condition as you see fit. With that, I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Holterman to make the presentation.

Good morning. My name is Michael Holterman. I'm the assigned planner for the Lifeline Homebolt subdivision appeal. It's record number PLN202519246 in the McKinleyville area. Here we have the project location.

So the two APNs highlighted comprise one legal parcel. It's South Of Hiller Road between Central And McKinleyville Avenue. This parcel was recently rezoned along with several other properties as part of the McKinleyville Town Center ordinance, and environmental impacts were assessed as part of the EIR adopted by the board for the Q Zone. So these are the topics I'm gonna be covering briefly, the subdivision itself, the wetland consolidation and restoration under the special permit, and then briefly the appeal, after which I will hand it off to Bob Bronkle, county surveyor, to discuss in a little more detail. So first, the subdivision.

The project consists of a parcel map subdivision dividing a 14.59 acre parcel into a 12.63 acre and 1.96 acre parcel. The resulting lots meet the minimum parcel size, width, and depth. They conform to the requirements of the current zoning regulations and the general plan. The project was referred to other agencies who recommended approval or conditional approval, and those recommendations have been included in the recommended conditions of approval to the board. Here we have the wetland consolidation and restoration.

On the left, you'll see the wetlands in their current state. Blue is showing three parameter wetlands, and green shows one parameter wetlands. The applicant is proposing to consolidate the existing wetlands into the northwest section of the property. The conceptual wetland footprint is shown on the right. Mitigation includes creation of three parameter wetlands at a ratio of 1.5 to one, and created wetlands will be dominated by native species with low target invasive plant cover.

Created wetlands will show an improvement in quality over existing baseline conditions, and maintenance and monitoring will occur over a five year period to ensure that objectives are met. So we went over the mitigation and monitoring. There's also adaptive management and success criteria. So the adaptive management strategies, include things like, changing weeding methods, supplemental planting or replacement of native species that aren't doing well on-site, supplemental watering, minor regrading or erosion control as necessary, and success criteria include the creation of about 28,000 square feet of new three parameter wetlands that host at least 70 relative cover of natural wetland species and support wetland hydrology. So now we'll get into the appeal.

Just a little bit of history. Public works did include a recommended condition of approval that the applicant pave the frontage along Hiller Road. The applicant submitted an exception request to the planning commission. However, the planning commission approved the project and rather than approve the exception request, elected to modify the condition, which is shown here. So this is kind of heavy on text.

So I'm just gonna highlight the two main points, which is the condition allows the applicant up to five years after the issuance of building permits to complete the paving, and the condition also required the county to help seek grant funding to fund the paving, essentially. So the applicant appealed. The two main arguments in their April 20 letter include road widening as disproportionate to the impact of the project and that it would create unsafe conditions. So we're gonna back it up a little bit. There was a traffic study that was done for the EIR for the town center ordinance update.

This evaluated eight intersections and found that all eight intersections were functioning at an acceptable level of service and would continue to do so given current growth trends. It did conclude that with the additional development contemplated by the town center ordinance update, six of those eight intersections would require improvements to retain an acceptable level of service. So that includes things like traffic signals, roundabouts, turn pockets, things of that nature. The development as part of the Life Plan Humboldt project that was contemplated under the EIR would contribute to these impacts, but Life Plan Humboldt was not required to fund the improvements for these six intersections. In addition to the identified intersections, there are other beneficial improvements along Hiller Road specifically that the applicant is not being required to fund.

Those being things like a vegetated median, bike lane, and a left hand turn lane to allow access to the property. So given the full scope of the improvements that are required, the road widening along Hiller is relatively minor in comparison. Additionally, it's pretty standard county practice to require these types of frontage improvements, which the county survey will get into a little more shortly. And finally, regarding public safety, the improvements improve safety by infilling between two fully developed sections on the south side of the road. Hiller Road has narrow shoulders currently, and the infill paving would provide a wider shoulder for cyclists until the class one bicycle facility on Hiller Road is constructed.

So with that, I'm gonna hand it off to Bob Bronkel who will finish up the presentation.

Good morning, Chair Wilson, Board of Supervisors. I'm Bob Brunkle, your county surveyor. This image here is of Hiller Avenue taken from Central Avenue. It's a Google Street View image. And the purpose of this image is to give you context of what the existing conditions on Hiller Road look like and where the project site is.

Hiller Road has a right of way of 80 feet and the pedestrian improvements historically have been constructed at the edge of the right of way, leaving essentially 70 feet from curb to curb. The subject property is in the wooded area behind the gas station on the left. With the town centre project, Hiller Avenue is being revisioned. It's being revisioned to be a road that would have a landscape median, left turn pockets, four landscape strips, a Class I trail, and wide sidewalks on both sides. That is what's been envisioned with the McKinleyville Town Centre, and that's the way the life plan humble project has been conditioned to facilitate this vision coming into fruition.

In particular, the subdivider is being asked to go ahead and extend out the the Board of constructed by others in the future. Directors As a potential interim condition, which would be installed by public works, within that newly paved area, there could be a buffered bike lane, which would have a six foot wide class two bike lane and a seven foot wide painted buffer. County code is what provides the authority for public works to go ahead and request that subdividers improve their property, their frontages, as well as any off-site improvements that may be required. Along Hiller Road, prior development has already widened portions of the road to its prior widening, which was putting the sidewalks out at the right of way line. So I'm going to walk through a series of pictures on this.

This is starting on the West and going east. There was a subdivision, three lot subdivision that went ahead and widened the road. And you can see the existing fog line. It's a little bit faded in the picture. And it's about 21 feet from there over to the curb. And that was widened with that three parcel subdivision. The next project was this business. And they went ahead and widened it. You can see the fog line and the extent of the widening that was done and the curb gutter sidewalk that was installed. Next picture is at the church.

Same condition. Then at the shopping center. It was widened. Curb gutter sidewalk. And at the gas station, curb gutter sidewalk.

The subject property has approximately 1,300 feet of frontage, roughly a quarter mile. And the entire length of McKinleyville or Hiller Road from McKinleyville Avenue to Central Avenue is about a half mile. So this would provide a substantial chunk of frontage improvements to connect between McKinleyville Avenue and Central Avenue. This is an example of another subdivision in the McKinleyville area where there was substantial frontage improvements with road widening as well as off-site improvements that were required as part of the project. This is the Washington Terrace subdivision.

It was 40 lots. It included widening Washington Avenue. It also included constructing the Midtown Trail along the frontage of the subdivision. And it also included extending the Midtown Trail to the south. And then due to right of

way

limitations, it narrowed to a five foot sidewalk connecting down to the existing pedestrian network on School Road. From a proportionality standpoint, the new design results in eight feet less of infill paving than what was being historically done on Hiller Avenue. The subdivision is required to only construct minimal frontage improvements with the remainder to be constructed by others. The subdivision is not required to construct landscape medians or the left turn pockets needed for the subdivision's proposed driveways. These will be constructed by others.

The subdivision is not required to address the cumulative impacts to the community, including the six intersections identified in the town center EIR EIR is needing improvement. Instead, the county's approach to address countywide traffic needs is to require the construction of frontage improvements, including infill paving. Potential interim bike lane striping improvements to be constructed by public works and not the developer.

And with that, we have the staff recommendation, which is that the board find that no further environmental review is required. The project is consistent with the general plan and the zoning and deny the appeal, approve the subdivision and special permit subject to the recommended conditions of approval. Thank you. Staff's available for questions.

Okay. Thank you for that. First thing I just wanna ask board members if they have any ex parte communications to Okay. Steve or excuse me. Supervisor Madrone.

Yes. So I did meet with the appellant. They described their project and their concerns and hopes for the project. I listened, and I'm here today to hear whatever else folks have to say and then make a decision after that.

Well, I don't have an ex parte in particular. I will say that my wife was a consultant for this project in its early stages, but hasn't worked for them for over a year. So and so I haven't had any communication about this project with anybody since then. Okay. And now we're gonna go with questions from the board. Starting with, supervisor.

I'm curious, is the applicant or the appeal appellant here?

Yeah. They're here. But we're just doing questions of the of the of the staff at the moment, the staff report, and then we'll get to the appellant will give their presentation.

Okay. I have questions. Yes.

So I'm curious that is it is it by gov code that these developments have to happen or is it requirements of the planning department? Is there any statute that says this has to happen?

The statute is mister Bonkel mentioned comes out of the county code requiring the furnish improvements to

So that's not gov though. That's just the county's practice?

That's the no. That's the county code.

K. Okay. And then who who bears the cost of I'm it's in the county right away. And who does pothole fills and upgrades to the sidewalks and all the things after this is constructed.

All right. First, to go back to your first question, it was County Code three twenty four dash one is the County Code section that provides authorization for public works to condition projects the way that we have. Respect to Hiller Road, Hiller Road is an existing county maintained road, and any potholes or damage to the roadway is the responsibility of the Department of Public Works to go ahead and maintain that. There is one exception, and that applies to all County maintained facilities, and that is sidewalks. The maintenance of sidewalks is the responsibility of fronting landowners.

Okay. Is there any costs that the county would utilize to help these improvements since is in the county right away and then the county would be responsible for the upkeep.

In this case, the county is proposing to go ahead and install bike lane striping

along But

outside of that, public works typically does not partner with developers in paying for required frontage improvements.

Okay. Those are all my questions right now, but I'll have more.

This is just first round. Go ahead. Supervisor Arroyo.

Thank you. I have two questions and they're related to the substantive items brought up by the appellant which I know we'll hear from the appellant in a little bit. But I just want to clarify my understanding about both of these points. So the first well, the second one in their letter, but first one I want to bring up is the, I'm having a little bit of a hard time wrapping my mind around the eleven to thirteen foot strip. So it looks like they're taking no issue with the curb gutter sidewalk component.

But as you were going through your presentation, it was hard for me to understand whether we would be realigning the whole roadway so that there is a bike lane on both sides of that very narrow roadway and then doing the striping ourselves, but then doing the paving. Or whether there would only be that like small shoulder and bike lane on one side of Hiller Road with this proposed set of improvements because it looked like it was just that side of the road but I'm wondering if you could clarify that.

Alright. As far as the potential for adding a bike lane on there, it was envisioned that it would just be on the south side of the road.

Mhmm.

However, striping in that area, it's possible for public works to grind off the existing centerline stripe, shift it, and be able to provide smaller buffered bike lanes on both sides through the project frontage, roughly say a quarter mile from Central Avenue heading westward. The concern that the subdivider has is to not construct the infill paving between the curb gutter sidewalk and landscape strip that they're willing to install. They're willing to install that, they don't want to do the infill paving that connects it to the existing pavement that's out there.

I understand. Okay. Yeah. Was just wondering if that infill paving would allow for that road realignment or I mean, know was part of a project many years ago before I was with the county that envisioned a bidirectional bike lane on one side of Hiller Road and that would be that side of Hiller Road. So I didn't know if that was sort of the current alternative that's being considered. And I know that this is only the frontage of the project, so it wouldn't be the entirety of Hiller Road, it is a good chunk of it.

It opens up a lot of opportunities for whatever the community would like to see with enhanced bicycle facilities out there.

Okay. And then with respect to the stormwater detention, I mean, yeah, the previous construction was under different standards. We agree to that. These things change over time. Stemarder standards have changed significantly since that initial development was constructed nearby there. Can you speak to the concerns about the change standard pertaining to stormwater detention?

With respect to that portion of the appeal, the applicant has withdrawn that part. There was a misunderstanding between public works and the applicant. We've since resolved that. And the applicant is installing storm water detention facilities that are consistent with public works requirements.

I see. Thank you so much. That's very helpful.

Quick questions. Supervisor Matrone. Thanks for the presentation. So as I understand it, the requirements for this particular subdivision would be curb, gutter, sidewalk and landscape strip and then the 13 foot wide paving to match up to the existing paving that's out there on the road now. Is that correct? Correct. Long term plan is that well, short term plan is that, that new paving might be a bikeway. But the long term plan is that the bikeway would be on north side of the road, not on the south side. Is that correct? That's the long term plan.

The long term plan includes a class one trail on the north side of the road.

But not a bike way on the south side. In the long term plan that was in the town center ordinance.

Correct. And that's on one of the slides that we could pull back up if you'd like to.

I'm familiar This with temporary bike way on the South Side, would it connect all the way from Central Avenue to McKindable Avenue? Or is there some gaps in that, in particular, between the church and the 3 House subdivision? There's a gap there where there is no sidewalk, curb, gutter, or pavement. So the bike trail would be discontinuous at that point. Is that correct?

That's correct. Not quite enough width due to that one piece, plus a little bit more toward the McKinleyville Avenue Intersection.

And to do curb gutter sidewalk and paving at that section that's incomplete right now would be an off-site improvement that wouldn't be required of this development?

That's correct. So

the paving that would be required of this development, the 13 foot wide pavement from the landscape strip to the existing paving, would that actually match up with future plans? Because the future plans would be that that would actually be a a travel lane. From a bike lane, it would shift to a travel lane, and then the bike lane would go to the north side of Hiller Road. Does that paving being required as a recommendation in this match up to what future paving elevations and things would be for that travel lane?

The vision is that we have an existing curb line that's about eight feet farther out. And that area would become parallel parking bays. And the new curb line would be where the edge of the future travel lane would be.

So I mean the point I'm trying to get at is that even if we require this improvement right now with that 13 foot of paving, that area might be significantly modified when the full build out of Hiller is happening in terms

of No. It's it's sorry for jumping in.

It's just striping changes?

It's just striping changes. Okay. So The pavement curb line will continue to be the curb line. The 13 feet will be the travel way in the future condition.

Okay. So it would match up with the right elevations and drainage slopes and things like that that it wouldn't be a wasted effort is what you're saying towards the future full build out of Hiller Road?

Correct. Okay. It's designed to be an incremental build out of that where nothing is temporarily put in, only to be removed later and reconstructed. The intent is for it to be a permanent part of achieving that new cross section for Hill.

Okay. That's all the questions I have at this time.

Okay.

Supervisor Bone?

And so I'm just getting a point of clarification. If anybody was developing this piece of property, this would be required. So and since all of us up here at Borgo, they want me to build a sidewalk to nowhere. I think you and I have talked about that. I know John and I have talked about that.

Like, only house that needs pavement, and none of the other houses have pavement. So it's never gonna get paved because they're not gonna do it themselves. So this is a chance to improve the infrastructure upfront. And I know we sit up here and talk about future plans and everything else, but they usually go to hell anyway. So, I mean, we probably should work with now plans, which will work for the public right now, and this is what our county code calls for. This is that's a clarification. You can spin it any way you want, but it that's what's required right now. Would that be a fair assumption?

Yeah. That's a fair assumption, and I I think that that is true. And this isn't one of those where there's a sidewalk to nowhere. If I could just go back to that metaphor for a moment. It will complete the pavement from the church on the West. No.

I I I understand that. That's what I'm saying. I've you you know, we've been to a few other places that are sidewalks that are never gonna get built, and they got one right in the middle. So, I mean, I appreciate your efforts on this, and and I'm just saying it can be spun so many ways, but it's just it is it is public safety, public enhancement, and infrastructure enhancement from what I can see. So and there are costs with that.

But this has been a this is a great project. I mean, I'm amazed we have projects that have been thirty years in the making and still haven't done it. And this one's start start to pound the stuff has been just six years, and we're moving to wetlands. We're making a lot of there's a lot of stuff going on here. Okay.

Good questions. And just and my clarification is just for this is an appeal by the applicant, basically, of an approval. That is correct. Yes. Okay. And I think that and I think you guys were clear on that opens up the whole project.

That is correct.

Yeah. Okay. And then supervisor Bushnell has

question. Director Ford, what was the planning commission vote?

I believe the planning commission vote was unanimous. And just for context, they substantially tried to do something that could possibly result in the applicant appellant not having to do the improvement. Because they actually charge staff, and this is almost unheard of, with trying to get to go out and find grant money to construct the entire cross section of Hiller Road across the frontage of this property. And so we have been looking at that. We started working on that.

One of the things we've got to get a grant for is to do the engineering design. We can't get construction grants until there are plans in place. That's probably too much information. But they they did really try to do something. They recognized, number one, as supervisor Bohn mentioned, this is a requirement. It's a public safety improvement, but is there another way to go about it? They tried to find another way to accomplish that.

If there was a do you know what the cost would be to the developer for doing that the paving portion?

I have heard it's $200,000. I have not seen the numbers on it.

In development throughout Humboldt Unincorporated, have you seen exceptions to this requirement? And if so, what was the exceptions?

This is a pretty standard requirement.

Mhmm. So the same requirement would be when you build a house and your driveway attaches to County Road that you put the the little paved skirter or whatever? Is it the same cut type of thing?

There's there's a lot of nuance there. So if it's if it's out in the country and it's on a road where there is no requirement for a sidewalk, no. If it's part of a map that's previously been approved and the requirement is to install the furniture improvements as part of the building permit, yes.

So in the country where we require that apron because our subdivisions, they're not getting done. What what is the like, why why would we require so much from a developer? But then when we have this requirement that's required of the same type of situation, I'll reference to the Alder Point Road. There's tons of them. And what would be the exception that that apron wouldn't be required?

So I I think you may be referring to the the cannabis projects.

No. I'm referring to, like, Larabee Subdivision, Rancho Subdivision. Those were requirements of those subdivisions.

I can't speak off the top of my head to that.

Okay. Thank you.

Alright. Wanna alright. Bob, you got some? Because I I wanna get the applicant up here as soon as possible.

Supervisor Bushnell, public works issues encroachment permits for requiring applicants to go ahead and construct the frontage improvements. And typically those are tied to building final. So if a person building on their property never seeks a building final, then that improvement remains unbuilt, unfortunately.

All

right. Again, just quick questions. And so we're going to move to because we have time for discussion after we get input from, first, the applicant. So this is your time to the applicant to make a presentation. You have fifteen minutes. You can share it amongst multiples of you, but this is your moment. And if you want to reserve some of that time for a response at the end, you can do that as

well. Thanks.

Thank you. What's that? Oh, yeah. Thank you.

You hear me? And I do have a presentation, a PowerPoint. Awesome. Thank you. Good morning, chair Wilson and members of the board. My name is Emma Haskett. I'm the project manager for Humboldt Commons. Thank you for hearing us today. We're here about our appeal of one specific condition for the subdivision approval, condition 2.5 B, which requires us to fund and build a 13 foot travel lane along our entire hill road frontage. This requirement was not anticipated or disclosed during pre application and we believe it goes beyond what is fair and proportional for our project.

Is our project, Humble Commons. We're a nonprofit aging in place and the first new development to break ground in the McKinleyville town center. Our subdivision was approved by the planning commission on March 19 and we sincerely appreciate the county's willingness to work with us throughout this entire process. Our development is planned in two phases shown on the site plan here. And the red highlights all the public improvements that the county is requiring us to fund and build.

So the Midtown Trail, Nursery Way, and Hiller Road. There is a special circumstance here because there are three improvements required by the county at this point. So I'll walk you through what we've already committed to building. We have estimated around $250,000 for curb gutter and sidewalk. Nursery Way will cost around $550,000 Midtown Trail, another 1,700 $175,000.

In total, that adds up to almost a million dollars in public infrastructure. The only thing we're contesting is an additional 200,000 for the road widening. That cost directly affects the affordability of a project designed to address the shortage of senior housing in Humboldt County. So here's where things get out of proportion. Based on the W trans study done for the town center EIR, Humboldt Commons will contribute about eight to 10% of the traffic on this segment of Hiller Road.

Seniors drive less. They average about 2.4 trips per unit per day. That's two sixty two trips for our 109 units compared to about 3,000 existing daily trips. But we're being asked to fund an entire additional traveling. That just doesn't add up.

There is a legal standard that applies here. Under Dolan versus Tigard and more recently Sheetz versus Eldorado, the supreme court has held that permit conditions must have rough proportionality to a project's actual impact and that the county must make an individualized determination to support that. And in Ehrlich versus Culver City, the California Supreme Court struck down a $280,000 fee for the same reason. There were no individualized findings. We understand public works position that frontage improvements are just what developers do, and that is what we're doing.

We are building curb, gutter, and sidewalk along our entire frontage. But adding a full public travel lane to Hiller Road is the kind of condition that needs to be proportional to our impact, and that determination is nowhere on the record. Our attorney's letter goes into more detail on the legal arguments. And the county's own traffic data lines up with what we're saying. The town center EIR found that Hiller Road intersections operate at a level of service a or b and recommended no transportation mitigation.

There were no capacity improvements needed. The bigger vision for Hiller Road that was shown earlier with beautiful medians, landscaping, street trees, bicycle infrastructure, that benefits the whole community. It's not something one developer should pay for. The county has already said they'll seek funding for it. We're just asking the board to put a timeline and a plan behind that.

So to wrap things up, we've already committed to almost $1,000,000 in public infrastructure. And we have two requests. First, we're asking the board to eliminate the requirement for humble commons to fund and build the additional travel lane. Lane. And second, we're asking the board to direct county staff to develop a real funded plan for the full build out of Hiller Road. And lastly, we'd like to ask the board to consider where in the record is the evidence that this condition is proportional to our impact. Thank you for your time. I am here to answer questions.

No questions yet. Hold on.

Yep. I've got a couple of PowerPoint slides too. So I'm Anne Lindsey. I'm president of a life plan Humboldt Board that's building Humboldt Commons. And first, I want to reiterate Emma Haskett's point that the county failed to make an individual determination of the proportional impact of Humboldt Commons on Hiller Road.

We are not requesting an exemption from any standard. We're looking at the legal standards and that we feel do not obligate us to to build out the $200,000 worth of road. Our attorney Mark Center has also submitted a letter supporting our contention. There's no legal basis for the road riding requirement. But I do want to address the need for a plan build out of Hiller Road with a timeline to match the 2029 move in date for Humboldt Commons.

Humboldt Commons, as you Rex Bond pointed out, is no longer a dream, it's a reality. It's a viable project with a timeline and a solid plan for development. We've started a future residents priority list with a great response and prospective residents pay an initial $1,000 refundable deposit enabling an opportunity down the line to select their future Humboldt Commons home with a 10% entry fee deposit. The entry fee is essentially a lifelong lease. When someone leaves a community or dies, their estate gets 70% to 80% of that back.

So in a way it's a way they can preserve the equity of their homes. We're going to start the entry fee deposits in June, start construction in early twenty twenty seven, and plan to move in by early twenty twenty nine. Housing will open up across the county as people move and as Humboldt Common residents downsize. We're moving to Humboldt Commons to maximize our independence in a city of connection and safety. The businesses like grocery stores, gyms, personal care services, financial services, restaurants will all benefit from us being there.

We'll be the economic engine of the new developing town center. We have to be able to cross the street safely to utilize these services. And by the way, most of the people on the future residents list are 75 to 80 years old. Public works maintained and this is actually didn't bring it up today, but in the planning commission that we should have 13 feet between the sidewalk because it's inappropriate to have a vehicle go and I have pictures I wanted to show. Okay.

Next. That they it would be inappropriate to have a vehicle go from paved service to gravel in a developed setting. They say a driver may not realize the road is not completely paved to the curb as the expectation is that roads are paved to the curb. Driving with uneven traction such as two tires on pavement or two tires on gravel can contribute to a driver losing control of the vehicle while attempting to recover from running off the road. I just want to show you, it's not like Hiller Road, as we've already seen, is a straight shot anyway.

So I think these pictures show that Publix works about safety does not make sense. Paving 13 extra feet to widen Hiller along Humboldt Commons only make Hiller safety worse. So when approving our proposed subdivision so that rural community housing can 50 low income apartments, the Planning Commission, as you heard, directed the county to seek funding to improve the full cross section of Hiller Road along the frontage of our property with no timeline specified. We're asking the Board of Supervisors to direct public works to prioritize seeking funding for the build out of Hiller Road in a timeline matching the build out of our Humble Commons, in other words, by early twenty twenty nine. Because open ended timeline, it could be five years or ten years or twenty years, and we can't wait that long.

There is funding available as was pointed out and if the effort is made to secure it. And M Mack, the McKinleyville Metropolitan Advisory Committee has also submitted a letter to the Board which concurs with our request for a concrete timeline for completing these improvements. And mostly I'm concerned about a pedestrian crossing at Hiller Road and Nursery Way Intersection, a center median, turn lanes, a class two bike lane along the full length of Hiller Road, and a safe Midtown tail crossing at Hiller Road. So just for a moment, imagine yourself as an older adult resident of Humboldt Commons trying to cross 70 feet of traffic to get from to go shopping or get coffee at Ramon's. Safety risk?

Pretty scary. I think the safety risk is greater than the public works purported risk of someone driving off the road. A scary road crossing could be dangerous and make a deterrent to our marketing effort. There's significant risk that some slow walking elder will get hurt if Hiller Road is not developed as safety in mind. And I have appreciated your support in the past for Humboldt Commons, and I just want to ask again that this is we need your support just to get this part of the project done to make us in a safe environment there as seniors.

And I want to ask those in the audience who are here to support the request to raise your hands. Yeah, thank you. And that's it. We haven't used all our time. We're going get through this meeting and get to your questions.

Great. Thank you. I wanna go to public comment now, and then we'll come back for board discussion. Alright. So is there a public comment online?

There is not, chair.

Okay. I'm gonna give it thirty more seconds. If there's anyone out there that's online, submit it. So I don't want this to be a surprise. Nothing?

Okay. We're gonna bring it back into the room. So if there is public comment on this item, this is your chance to do so. You have two minutes per commenter maximum. So anybody wanna speak to this item? This is your time. I and and line it up. If there's if there's more than just mister Chesbrough, we'll please get in there and line up behind him.

So I'm Wesley Chesbrough, resident of McKinleyville, and I'm, here out of concern for pedestrians and also my wife and others who are dependent on mobility devices and perhaps take longer to get across the street than those of us who are more ambulatory. I'm supporting the appeal request. I think the temporary widening, and who knows when the complete project will be developed, will create more unsafe conditions until such time as the full project can be developed. It's important to realize that the nursery remember that the Nursery Road being completed through to Hiller will open up an alternative way to move north and south through McKinleyville through the whole subdivisions to the south. So it's not just affecting the residents of life plan of Humboldt Commons.

And so I think it's shortsighted to require a temporary solution that's actually going make the problem worse until the complete project can be fully funded and developed for pedestrian and bicycle safety along Hiller Road. So I urge you to grant the appeal.

Okay. Thank you. Alright. I'm just gonna close public comment then and bring it back to board discussion. And I'm first going to ask staff to respond to the report from the applicant as well as the public comments.

Thank you very much. Just one of the things I do want to respond to is that there was the comment made that there was no individualized findings. If you look in the resolution, finding number 14 goes into a great, kinda effort to lay out what the rough proportionality arguments are. And in this particular case, discussing what the county's approach to transportation improvements are. It's simply to improve the frontage.

There is no CIP. There's no transportation plan. There's no transportation impact fees. Nor in a lot of areas, the requirement would be to do the frontage improvements and pay traffic impact fees. That's not a requirement of this development.

And so that's why in the screen, both mister Bonkoe and mister Holterman identified that there are other impacts associated with this. You can't just look at the traffic on Hiller because people drive on the entire road network. And so how does that road network get improved and get maintained? It's not just about Hiller. And so the rough proportionality is is the county only requires improvements to the frontage.

And I think that's a really really important point. There's lots of other roads to be driven on. There's lots of other improvements that need to be made. Those aren't the responsibility of this applicant. That is all laid out in finding number 14.

And we would like to find a grant to make all this happen. It would be good for everybody, for the town center, for the entire county, for the entire road to get get funded. And but one of the concerns I I do have is that this is a bit of since this is the county strategy for mitigating traffic impacts, to not require this, means that that's starting to send a message about what the requirements for mitigating traffic impacts are. And unless there's something Mr. Bronco wants to add, I'll stop there.

Okay. I appreciate that. And then we'll bring it back to the board. I'm going to start off a little bit. And typically, I don't do that.

But just one question I have is in relation to the balance between when we talk about projects like this that are have other social values and and the balance that we discussed. That that's one thing I want to want to address. And the other is there is a there there is questions about the the wisdom of road widening in general and what that means. And we've had some discussions here at this board about that. There's books about this.

And then, you know, the Confessions of a Recovering Engineer is a great text for folks to read about road widening and the impacts that that has on communities, both from an economic perspective a and a safety perspective. I'm just kinda wondering, can you can you address those those two things and then I'll bring it back to the rest of the board. It

is

well within the prerogative of the board, obviously, to weigh social values of things and whether or not the county wants to contribute to that. So that that certainly is something that the the board should, needs to weigh. In this particular case, the wisdom of road widening, this isn't to create a four lane highway. This is to set the curb line and the travel lane for the future killer road in its configuration with two lanes, with wide pedestrian ways, with a buffered class one bike trail, with landscape medians on the south side between the sidewalk and the road, and the median between the curb line and the class one bike trail and between the class one bike trail and the sidewalk. I mean, that's what's being presented here.

And this is this is the first domino to fall in terms of development out there. This that's absolutely true.

So this is like capturing the space.

That That I'm is an excellent way to put it.

Okay. I just I'm trying to because 80 feet is a lot. I mean, you know, we that that that's more than enough to, I think, I mean, as far as I can tell, to have two lanes of pretty wide traffic, especially if they're 10 to 12 feet. That's you're still like four times that or what do you know, three times that. And then there's a bike lane and some sidewalks. I mean, 80 feet's a lot to work with. And I guess what I'm asking is the and this will be my last question before I move on, which is like, do we just because you have 80 feet, do you need to fill 80 feet?

Well, the short answer to that is no. Mhmm. As was presented in the vision that came out of the town center plan Mhmm. It's not intended to be 80 feet of travel way. I hear you.

And and so this is really intended to be I'm not thinking of a good way to demarcate this particular roadway, but it's not intended to be a high capacity, high speed road. It's intended to be a road that is a pleasant place to be. Okay. And so this is heading to the curb line. And one of the other things that probably isn't clear here is that the existing curb line along the church, along the retail center, along the houses, and I believe along the Union Station or whatever that service station is there now, is eight foot is eight feet away from further away from the center line than this curved line would be.

So it's not widening to that ultimate area. It's widening short of that.

Okay. I'm gonna take it to the board. And I know it's supervisor Bone. I'm gonna he's waited the longest, so I'm gonna start with him.

I'm not How many units are proposed to be built here?

Believe it's slightly over 100. Total units? No. Probably about a 175 including both projects. There's the commons project and then there's also the affordable component to it.

That's off to the side.

That would be on Parcel 2, correct? Yeah.

Total cost of the project?

I don't I don't have that.

So We're talking $200,000 of something that is required by our county code that has been approved by the planning commission unanimously and no offense to anybody out there, but we're being pressured to change our county code, which I'm fine with. I've less bike lanes, less sidewalks for a developer. I'd be fine with that if it was blanket and it wasn't because of of outpouring of public pressure. And I I I side with it. I'm I'm an old person, so I I appreciate what you're doing out there.

There's there's a lot of good stuff in what you're doing, and so I think that's great. And you guys it's gonna be a wonderful situation, and the city of McKinleyville is gonna love to have you someday, it looks like. So but I don't know if we can pass this up. I'm I'm sure we're paying consultants, and I like the part where your lawyer agrees that this should be done because you're paying him to agree with you to have it done. But I no offense.

And I mean and and you you can take it any way you want, but we we turned to our planning commission for so much. And we got some pretty smart people on our planning commission that are full blown engineers and have done projects like this. And and I think it was perfectly vetted, and I I like the idea of of, you know, we've of of abiding by what they what they brought forward. So I'm no offense to anybody, but I I I think I'm gonna support our planning commission and on this.

Supervisor Monroe.

Well, thank you for the good discussion. These things are always kinda tricky. I think what really stands out for me is that the applicant is absolutely willing to not only do the curbs, gutters, and sidewalks, which is what the normal requirement would be for any other development. It's really rare to include additional paving. More often than not, curbs, cutters and sidewalks are put in and they butt up to existing paving.

At least in my time on this board, I haven't seen a requirement to actually add in paving as a condition of the project. It does seem unproportional to me as was discussed by the appellants. And and again, they're they're gonna do all these improvements not only on Hiller Road, but completing the entire Nursery Way connection, which is a huge expense, the most expensive part of the improvements they're making. And that is gonna be an incredible improvement for circulation in the in the community. I I appreciate that the planning commission did per direct staff to look for grants.

I'm assuming that's open ended. I didn't hear you say that they said for a year, look for grants. I'm assuming it's open ended that we're gonna continue to try and seek out grants because even when the town center is completely developed and fully operational, it doesn't to me seem like they would be required to put in, say, a lighted crossing at Nursery Way from the South Side Of Hiller to the North Side Of Hiller because that might be unproportional. They would have to put in curb gutter sidewalk and maybe some other frontage improvements, but for instance, a street light or some sort of a safety crossing from Nursery Road over to the North side of the town center. You know, who who's building that?

Right? And that would be a great opportunity in this grant to do those kinds of things along with the Midtown Trail, which is further to the west. It's down further towards the the laundromat, I believe, and and the ice cream parlor there. So that's another crossing where people, you know, are being directed directly to Hiller Road. That's gonna require some sort of a safety crossing as well.

So that's two big safety crossings. I don't think anybody's gonna be proportionally required to do that. It's only gonna really happen if we have a grant. And given that we did pass the town center ordinance, and it has this incredible vision for McKinneyville for circulation and access, And really, this this senior community is what's gonna be the initial demand for helping to create more retail shopping options in McKinneyville along with the mixed use opportunity for housing above those retail things. And, you know, the cross section in the town center ordinance is lovely.

I mean, it is 80 foot wide. And instead of making it a four lane thoroughfare, it's been conceptually designed to be this magnificent town center boulevard. And not boulevard in the sense of a lot of fast traffic, but a boulevard in the sense of character with, you know, landscape strips and not only sidewalks that are really wide, but also a bike lane and things like that. And I really love that vision and that concept. But again, to get to that place of building all that out is going to take grant money ultimately to make all that vision happen.

And I don't think it should be placed as a burden on one development or another. Because as I said, curbs, gutters, and sidewalks is typical proportional improvement. Not adding pavement. That's a whole another level of requirement. And I will say that there's a precedent for this.

We have, you know, just in the last year, I think it was maybe a year ago, with the Sutter Ranch Subdivision Phase 2 right there at Azalea Road and and Sutter did amend what the Planning Commission had recommended for that subdivision. What they had recommended was curb gutter sidewalk and paving and things that were really, really expensive, and the developers spoke to that. But what's interesting was that those improvements didn't actually connect to what was a wide right of way north of that three or so parcel subdivision, maybe it was four, to connect up into Tassel Way and the rest of that original Sutter Ranch subdivision, had laid aside this very wide right of way for this vision of a pathway to connect that neighborhood ultimately down to Azalea Road. So our board actually modified the requirements that were recommended by the planning commission, setting some precedents in that instead of curb gutter and sidewalk all done with concrete, we modified it to an asphalt structure, which was going to be far cheaper for the developer. But we then added to make sure that improvement connected all the way up to the original Sutter Ranch subdivision at Tossaway.

Right? Because circulation was really important. And I actually very much agree with the appellants that I think, you know, we can see by what happened with the quick build there on Hiller Road. When we make these temporary improvements, they don't quite make sense yet. They're part of a bigger picture that's coming down the road. But we put these things in, it confuses the heck out of the public. And I believe does increase safety hazards. As compared to focusing on getting in safe crossings at nursery, safe crossings at Midtown Trail, get the curbs, gutters, and sidewalks and all these other on-site improvements in, and then work towards this bigger boulevard improvement with some grant money, maybe some measure old money, things like that. So I am very much in support of this appeal. I hope the rest of my board can see their way to doing that.

This is just an amazing development for McKinnonville and for our our county, and it does include some amazing senior housing as well as a very, I think it's what, 60 units or something for the low income housing requirement as well. So it has all of those kinds of elements. It's long overdue. I applaud the applicants and the developers for what they're trying to do here. And I hope that we can find a way to consider this appeal as being valid. It's not proportional. And I may have more to say later, but I'll just leave it at that at this point.

Okay. I'm gonna go to supervisor Arroyo and then supervisor Bushnell. If you're not ready, I can

I think did you want to go first? Okay. This may cause some tension, but I think this is one where I'm actually aligned with Supervisor Bone. I do concur that we have a practice and it's very standard to require the development along the right of way of curb grudder, sidewalk, and sometimes other improvements depending on the project. This is not just about the residents of that particular development, it's about the whole town of McKinleyville.

And McKinleyville Ave connects folks who go to school adjacent to there. It will with the opening of Nursery Way and the paving of that and the connection there. It'll connect to the McKinleyville Family Resource Center. And so this is about bike and ped circulation in all of McKinleyville. And I think it's absolutely reasonable.

And I'm a little surprised that it would be seen as not reasonable. Now I do want to talk about so if you look at Hiller Road, there's quite a long section between right where you turn off of Hiller Road, the next property down, and then in front of the church with one small gap in front of the I think it's still the Seagate Farmstand or whatever that property is. And then should this project be completed as proposed, there would be the space for the buffered bike lane, possibly a parking protected bike lane, whatever the design ends up being, all the way to Central Ave. So one thing I wanted to ask our public works director and I am going to put him on the spot, but maybe you're also prepared to speak to this Deputy Director Bronkel is about whether we would have the capacity to fill those two small gaps in the paving project along Hiller Ave concurrent with this project. So if the developer meets these requirements, would we be able to address those two small gaps on Hiller with the remainder of the paving to create continuity there?

And it sounds like we're already prepared to do the striping. So then it would seem less superfluous, I guess, is the argument.

We are not I

think it's on.

Hello?

Yeah. We do not have an estimate and I would not recommend that unless you want to allocate Measure O funding to subsidize this project. What we are looking with for with this is just the simple bike lane and parking this for the future build out. We would require this on any project that we had this kind of right away that was not built. Anything would be required to to do this frontage.

We look at the bike lane as a vast improvement over what is there the possibility of what is there right now. This is the narrow section that we had a lot of issues with when we did our pop up project because of insufficient width and trying to cram bikes and peds into insufficient shoulders. This we had a lot of comments about people really liking our pop up project because they felt safe at the beginning, And this is a big part of it is having the sufficient width so they can have bikes and a buffered bikeway along that stretch of road. Asking the county to, you know, that sets a pretty hard precedent if you want us to start subsidizing the development on some of these roads. As for future grants, we can always apply for those.

I will not agree to any timeline because I cannot guarantee getting a grant. I can guarantee that we can apply for them. I can guarantee it's taking a very, very long time to get Redwood Drive moved through the process in in Garberville, and this would be a similar kind of timeline. We're talking ten, twelve, fifteen years out if you're gonna lay this all on the county. So I strongly support supporting the county position on this and the planning commission's approval.

And calling it an extra travel lane to me seems inaccurate. This is for widening for pedestrian bike mobility, right?

For the interim. In the future, it would be the travel lane, but it's the travel lane, not an additional travel lane. Okay. There will be gaps. That's not going be an 80 foot straight across in the future. There will be medians, etcetera. And as for the crossings, those are always on our mind to look for the the the grants for that. Those we've been pretty good at getting those the last few years, and we can apply for them again. But, again, I cannot guarantee that. I can tell you that I recommend Measure O matches for those kind of projects. But you know, we're doing one in Redway right now. It's $300,000 just for that crossing of which we got 90% and then the 30,000 comes out of the county. Okay.

Well, I mean, I'd still be interested in continuing to discuss whether there's other improvements we can make for continuity there. But I do recall that really narrow stretch of Hiller. I did just go revisit it and biked it before and does not feel safe or good because of the constrained roadway and how fast people are going. So I hope that other traffic calming measures and other improvements to the roadway could be the Affordable Housing Sustainable Communities grant. Unfortunately just closed for the year but that's usually open every year and is a really good candidate for this as well as some other grant funding so but I think it's completely reasonable to to have all the frontage improvements so thank you.

Thank you. Supervisor

Bushnell.

Thank you. What I was asking earlier is because we require a lot of things of folks and then end up they don't finish what the requirements are in rural areas, as you guys said, in the hills, but then we require the developers no matter to do. And it doesn't feel equitable to me. And I've gotten a lot of complaints. I've talked to you all about it.

And because you don't finish a building permit doesn't mean that those requirements go away. They still need to be done and they're not enforced. I'm wondering and I'm going to ask director Metzen to come up back up. I'm wondering if there's a way to condition this project that if the I'm hearing that the county wants to do an increased development on Long Hiller. And at the time that that becomes available and the money becomes available, would it be appropriate at that time then so we could possibly help with maybe trucking or whatever, as it is the county right of way and county improvement, to condition this that it happens at that time instead of right of way before they can start.

I'm assuming, Director Ford, that this would be does this have to be done before they can start development?

No. So see that's one of the things I apologize for not making this clear. So the original condition was that the improvements needed to be done prior to occupancy of future development.

Okay.

The planning commission changed that to say that they had to have it done within five years of issuance of a building permit. And in that time, county staff needed to be looking for grant funding to do the entire roadway across the entire frontage.

So is there a know there's an opportunity then for this board. We could condition that once the county seeks to make those more improvements to Hiller to make it continue contiguous, that that paving project then commence, maybe with some shared expenses with trucking. And we've done that before.

I think she's talking about, like, putting it into, like, a there an account or something like that.

He knows what I'm talking about. We we have required things of landowners, and there has been projects that the county is doing anyway. So at the time when the project that the county is doing commences, it cuts expense to have the county do some like, maybe the person pays for the paving and we do the trucking, so forth and so on. We've

done So a

the the condition would read something to the effect that when the ultimate width of Hiller is being improved, the property owner developer would be responsible for their share of that 13 feet?

Yes. That's we could do that, correct?

That can be worked out. Okay. Whether

yeah. This board yes. Has decision on understand that.

But that is something that could be conditioned. Director Ford, you or director Matson, can you talk about sometimes the shared costs that happen? We've done it in Garberville. They've done it along the Alder Point Road with improvements that needed to be done by community members, and you guys were doing work there anyways.

Those are relatively small and directly affecting the existing County Road. Mainly we do those kind of cooperatives with water districts when they're doing pipelines,

but

not with private developers. Sometimes we will do culverts if we're in the area and they have a culvert that they buy in place for us, but that is not $200,000 worth of trucking and help.

I understand that but this is directly affecting the County Road, correct?

This affects the future portion of the County Road, not the existing portion of the County Road. Okay.

Thank you for that. So

just as a clarifying question, what I was trying to get at Director Ford, we have seen as mitigation for impacts, whatever they may be, some sort of a bond or account that's basically set aside for that. Maybe because we don't have development fees in Humboldt County like so many other places. So that's typically where you just say, you just pay a development fee. This is your traffic fee. It goes into We don't do that.

And so the hybrid version of that has been in some places, which is that there's whatever that is is set aside for when the future development occurs, whether it's a traffic light or something like that. Think that might be what similar to what supervisor Bushnell is getting at. Is there a way to leverage the asset so that it's more effectively implemented in the future when there's an actual real project? As opposed to what I was saying, which is capturing the space with with asphalt. Those seem to be in the current context.

Correct.

I I I think this it can be done. That's the short answer. Anything that we can think of, we can work into an agreement that can be done. The thing that I'm struggling with how to talk about, and forgive me for thinking out loud a little bit here, is whether or not it should be. Because that gets really complicated.

And the more complicated things are, the more likely they are to be missed in the future. And so, know, normally, development is considered good if it pays its own way. And and so what is the cost of development? And what is and that's the argument here. What's the rough proportionality to the development of this piece of property?

Ironically, this piece of property could support 400 units. That they're targeting less than 200. And so we're doing a map based upon the fact that this parcel can develop with far more units. And that all the units that are being assigned to this property will drive on county roads. Like you mentioned, there is no fee here for cumulative impacts. The trade off is we only focus on furnish improvements.

And I agree with you that the challenge for putting things off to the future is they get missed. And frankly, the only way I've ever seen them not get missed is if they're attached to a bank account that everyone's looking at. Right? And you work to leverage something in the future. So I don't have an answer to that.

But if the board wants to consider something like that, I'm happy to consider it. But I don't know. Basically, it's like, do you pave something now? Or do you have this contribution, this this this leveraged asset that that can be used in the future for a broader, bigger project. And the question will go back to, will that project ever happen? And that that's something that I think is a reasonable question. And and what's the motivation to get it done as soon as possible?

The motivation to get it done as soon as possible is frankly to finish the frontage and and to complete the improvement that's otherwise going to be required. And in this day of ludicrous inflation that we live in, the cost of money and the value of money today is worth more than it's probably gonna be in the future. So even if we were to get a bond for a certain amount of money now, there's no assurance that that bond would pay for that improvement ten years from now.

None less accumulated interest. Supervisor Arroyo.

Thank you. So I'm not sure kind of where folks are heading with this, but I guess one consideration I want to put out there is that I think folks have seen where I landed on this. But if it goes a different way, we don't want the curb gutter sidewalk constructed in that narrow right of way. Because the eventual goal is to have a bike lane, a buffered bike lane along that whole stretch for making it safer for all residents of McKinleyville and visitors, etcetera, to get around McKinleyville. And I do think that's going to be an even more traveled right of way it already is by pedestrians and bikes once there's that connection to Nursery Way, etcetera.

So I would hope that if we do say, Okay, well this isn't going to be a cost that the developer has to bear, that at least that right of way is retained in that space. So that and and I wondered if that was part of what staff had contemplated with this.

Well, if I could, the right of way and if miss Ronco can beat me to the table or something, but if I'm wrong, the right away is there. That that's established. That's never gonna be an issue. And I don't think the applicant is thinking and appellant is thinking anything other than putting the sidewalk in its ultimate condition, putting the curb and gutter in its ultimate condition. The the issue really is what should happen with the area between the gutter pan and the existing pavement.

And I think my point is like leave it there. I would I would prefer to see that preserved that, you know, ten, eleven, 12, whatever it is feet that for the suitable future bike lane and have the curb the sidewalk constructed. And it would look really weird, but have it constructed where it ought eventually be so that there's not a waste of resources to dig up. So it's, you know, to kind of be a little absurd, but you know, do you see what I'm saying?

I I do. That is the applicant's proposal.

To leave a grass strip there?

To well, just to leave a grass or gravel strip out between the curb and gutter and the pavement. Yeah.

Okay.

Can I ask a clarifying question around what supervisor Arroyo said? I heard, and maybe I heard wrong, but is the bike lane temporary? It's not. It's gonna be a path of travel. Right? Eventually. So it

Ultimately, it will be a path of travel. Yes. In the short term, there's an opportunity to create a buffered bike lane, which doesn't currently exist. In the ultimate condition of the road, there will be a buffered, well, class one bike trail on the north side of Hiller.

The opposite side.

Right.

So the the bike lane in this in this area, as supervisor Arroyo mentioned, is not permanent will not be permanent. And I mean, to me, it seems very confusing to put a bike lane there, take the bike lane away whenever. And anyways, I just wanted to make sure that I understood correct. Thank you.

Supervisor Madrone, and then let's see if we can kind of hammer down on where three votes might get something done. Sounds good. It's a

good discussion. Yes, I'm glad we're clarifying that the curb gutter and sidewalk are going to be built where they're supposed to be built for the long term plans of the entire cross section of Hiller Road. So that's hopefully that's clear for everybody. The question is from the gutter pan to the existing pavement, which is about 13 feet, what happens there? Like I said, I feel very strong about the proportionality of this, but this temporary bike lane that might be constructed on this 13 feet of pavement is not proposed to be a class one bikeway where you'd have traffic going both directions.

It would just be a bike lane for traffic going one direction from west to east on this 13 foot wide paved area. So from a proportionality perspective, I'm prepared to make a motion that we approve the appeal in part, but also uphold what the Planning Commission basically approved. What I mean by that is that instead of creating a 13 foot wide paved strip for $200,000, how about we create a six foot wide paved strip with a seven foot wide grassy strip between the bikeway and the pavement. That gets half the project built. It becomes more proportional.

And like I said, I mean nursery I mean, as that was shown on the chart, they're looking at a million dollars worth of, you know, public improvements with Nursery Way, Midtown Trail, as well as whatever happens along Hiller Road. So I I wish I could get support to not require it at all, frankly. But if we could make it half the requirement or something like that, and I don't know where this board would go with that, but I would make that motion. That we consider doing a six foot wide paved strip with a seven foot wide grassy strip between the existing pavement and the new paved buffered bikeway as a compromise, which would be approximately half the cost of what is being required. Like I said, I'd like to just not require it at all, but I don't know that the votes are there to do that based on our discussion.

So I'm gonna offer that as a motion and see if there's a second.

I'd like to hear what super excuse me, director Ford's analysis of that proposal is?

Well, yeah I'm I'm I'm sorry. I'm not an engineer. And perhaps miss Bronkel or miss Madison would like to add more detail to this. But you know a lot of the cost is mobilization. So if you're gonna put in six feet, you're there. You might as well put in the whole thing. You're you're not gonna save like half half the cost because part of the cost is mobilization.

Yeah. But with pavement, that's a huge cost. Pavement is a big part of the cost and mobilizing the equipments in McKinneyville. So let let me just try this then. Thanks thanks for that response. I appreciate it. I don't mean to cut you off if you had something more to say.

That's fine.

The other compromise option would be that we uphold the appeal and don't require this improvement of the applicant, but we ask them to make a deposit of $50,000 towards a future project, much like supervisor Bushnell was saying, how about have them contribute to the project? That's a more definitive thing. I understand what you said about how 50,000 today is not worth 50,000 in five years. But it is a contribution and it could be used as a matching cost towards the grant program. It reduces the burden.

I want to see this thing get built and I know that affordability is an important issue here. So let's see where that lands, whether that would be a motion that this board might support with a second. I didn't see anybody jumping up and down to second my other motion, so I'll withdraw that. And the new motion is to basically uphold the appeal, but to require a 50,000 contribution towards the project when it's done in the future.

Okay. Supervisor M Bushnell, I I appreciate you pushing it. I'll get to you as soon as I called. Okay. And then we'll get now we'll get to I will. Sorry. Go ahead, supervisor.

I'm I'm just gonna go back to you know, I I went on at length about how I trust our planning commission and everything else. But I'm looking at staff's recommendation here. And staff has put a mass amount of time into this. And we're we're usually crawling up them about changing stuff and doing stuff and not being happy about stuff. We've brought a presentation.

It's been in front of the planning commission. It's been everywhere. And all of a sudden now, a $100,000,000 project is hinging on $200,000 of safety and road improvements. And I and I understand, but I've seen so many of these get denied with smaller subdivisions. I've seen pavement improvements have to be made on much smaller things.

And I think we we saw that a lot in cannabis, you know, do the apron 20 feet out in the middle of nowhere, which is, you know and 80% of the cost, 90% of the cost is mobilization. And I so I I would I'm gonna be real simple here. I'd like to make a motion that we support staff's recommendations and wish them luck in their project going forward.

Can I?

Okay. Second. Got two motions on the floor and we still are not getting there. So I'm gonna ask supervisor Bushnell to add her 2¢ this moment.

I just would like to ask the applicant, is this gonna make or break your project? And like No.

Okay, applicant. Can I respond? Yeah. Yeah. It's just incremental. It adds up to over $1,000,000 already. And if you divide that by 100 units, that adds $10,000 to everybody's entry fee. And we're really breaking our packs trying to keep the entry fees affordable to mid income seniors. Mean you've seen the press about that. We're really working honestly about that. So every $200,000 $200,000 we add $2,000 to everybody's entry fee.

And you understand as director Ford said that this is a five year build

out? Yeah.

The yeah. The Planning Commission gave five years before it needed to be installed.

So the okay. So and you do under I just wanna make sure you understand that.

Yep. I understand that. It it it's the way we budget things. We still have to budget $200,000.

No. I understand

that.

And because we're gonna be going for bonds, and that'll be part of it. It and, you know, the the other part of it is it might be 15 you know, I I I'm most interested if we can put some encouragement or pressure or whatever on to prioritize the whole build out. I would feel a lot better about putting sidewalk you know, our sidewalk and even some asphalt there if it were part of a whole project. I'm really concerned about making a street wider. It's already really hard to cross without any kind of traffic improvement and safety issues.

Okay. Thank you. I I I'm torn on this one. I I however, I'm gonna second Bone's motion, and I I think that the public works hears and the planning department hears the grant opportunities. And with the five years for the build out on this, I think that there's good opportunity there that those grant possibilities could really form.

It's not gonna be an overnight process. It's a great project. I applaud you all. This one I struggle with because I don't feel it's equitable with other things that are happening in the county with developers, with subdivisions, and I hope that we move forward if we're gonna do this, that we require that out of everyone because it does bother me. And but I that's where I I'm standing. And I I hear everybody, and I I hope that the a grant or some kind of moneys can be found in that next five years.

Supervisor Arroyo.

Thank you. I concur. I'm ready to move forward. And you know, I think our board has been incredibly supportive of this project, understand the consideration and are also balancing that with other needs of the community. And the class one bikeway on the North Side sounds great, but I do remember in the designing consideration phase that there were a lot of folks who felt that if they needed to access something on the other side of the road without substantial crossing improvements, that might people will go the most direct route.

They'll go the most direct route. And I don't know that solely relying on the class one bikeway makes sense because people will do what just gets them where they need to go. And as a frequent bicyclist, I know that is true. So you kind of have to design to the realities of what people are going to do and not what you sort of wish they would do. So I think it's a good recommendation and I think the affordable housing and sustainable communities or other grant sources are great opportunities and we have five years to find that funding. Thanks.

I was notified that the applicant is that you're saying had something say with your remaining time?

Can I just say one thing quickly?

Yes. Quickly.

Because the road widening is part of our conditions of approval, a lot of these grant funds become unavailable to us. For example, the ATP funds, if you have a condition to build this this paved roadway, we cannot apply for that grant or or be part of that. Same with CDBG.

Okay. I appreciate that. Taking that back to the director, is there then the option to monetize that versus making the bill the requirement? And would that address the issue of of of that availability through grant funds?

Well, the

only for that short section of road. It would not affect the grant for the overall build out. It would not affect grants for crossings.

Okay. Appreciate that. Is that is that what you wanna say?

Yeah. It doesn't affect the county. I mean, the county's trying to do an overall grant to get something done.

And I have one last question, which is that I think as part of one of these projects, the county has or are are we I mean, it's a question. Are we contributing in from our housing trust fund? Or has there been a housing trust fund in terms of the affordable housing?

So for the affordable housing component of this, I believe through the PLHA funds we're administering $1,100,000.

1,100,000 from our housing trust fund for the section that is the affordable housing part of this project. Well, it's kind of two projects under one.

It's two projects. Yeah.

Okay. I appreciate that. I think we have deliberated this as far as we're gonna go, and I think this is gonna require a roll call vote. So

Thank you. Supervisor Arroyo?

Yes.

Supervisor Bushnell? Yes. Supervisor Madrone?

No.