Category Archives: Infrastructure

Articles, CC Harbor, Community News, Infrastructure

Harbor District Scores $8 Million Federal Grant For Citizens Dock Rebuild

November 20, 2024 Jessica Cejnar Andrews Leave a comment

_{Photo and image courtesy of the Crescent City Harbor District}

An $8 million Port Infrastructure Development Program grant will allow the Crescent City Harbor District to begin constructing a new Citizens Dock.

But, according to interim harbormaster Mike Rademaker, representatives with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD), which is offering the grant, questioned whether or not the harbor could manage it.

This uncertainty was due to the recent resignation of previous harbormaster Tim Petrick amid concerns that he had misused a Harbor District credit card, Rademaker told harbor commissioners on Tuesday. There was also some concern when the Harbor District’s contract with its grant consultants, Community System Solutions, ran out on Oct. 1, Rademaker said.

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Alerts, Articles, Infrastructure, Weather

Winds Topple Trees and Light Fixtures, Blow Out Windows in Del Norte County; Storm System Expected To Bring 4-5 Inches of Rain, NWS Says

November 20, 2024 Jessica Cejnar Andrews Leave a comment

_{Thumbnail photo by Paul Critz}

Del Norte County Sheriff Garrett Scott saw the tree limb coming before it shattered his windshield.

Scott was on the 5700 block of Kings Valley Road at about 10 p.m. Tuesday guiding vehicles away from another large tree that had fallen across power lines.

After seeing those motorists safely up Wonder Stump Road to U.S. 101 he returned to Kings Valley where he almost became a casualty of the atmospheric river blowing through Del Norte County. The passenger side took most of the impact from that tree limb, the sheriff told Redwood Voice Community News on Wednesday.

“Glass blew all over the inside. It was a brand new truck too,” he said. “It’s dangerous out there. I feel for those road crews and the people out there with those limbs coming down on them, and the firefighters, I hope everybody stays safe.”

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Articles, Community News, Crescent City, Infrastructure, Local Government

Crescent City Council Roundup for Nov. 4, 2024

November 11, 2024 Jessica Cejnar Andrews Leave a comment

Among the items discussed at last week’s Crescent City Council meeting:

Landscape standards: Three councilors approved new parameters dictating the amount of open space housing developers need to provide their residents.

Councilors Jason Greenough and Kelly Schellong Feola dissented, saying the requirement for developers to set aside 20 percent of their property for usable open space if their project has six or more housing units was too burdensome.

Under the new standards, multi-family developments with six or more units must include one amenity such as a community garden, a picnic or barbecue area or an exercise area, City Attorney Martha Rice said. A portion of it must also be landscaped. For developments with 10 or more units, the usable open space must have one of the amenities listed above plus a play area with a picnic table, Rice said.

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Articles, Community News, Crescent City, Infrastructure, Local Government

City Council Tweaks Measure S-Funded Projects, Uses SB-1 Dollars For Asphalt Repairs

November 11, 2024 Jessica Cejnar Andrews Leave a comment

_{Photo courtesy of Andrew Goff, of the Lost Coast Outpost}

After their fire chief credited Measure S for his department’s recent Class 2 ISO rating, Crescent City councilors on Monday authorized changes to more projects paid for with revenue from the voter-approved sales tax.

Those changes include using $90,000 in Measure S dollars to start expanding the Crescent City Police Department while waiting on a USDA Community Facilities loan to come through.

Councilors allocated an extra $120,000 as contingency for an HVAC and flooring project at the Fred Endert Municipal Swimming Pool plus an additional $106,000 for other projects that need to be completed during the facility’s three-month closure.

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Articles, Community News, Crescent City, Curry, Infrastructure, Local Government, Youth

Crescent City Eyes Partnership With Brookings Nonprofit To Offer Alternative Venue For Pool Patrons

October 29, 2024 Jessica Cejnar Andrews Leave a comment

Crescent City councilors last week supported a proposed partnership with South Coast Community Aquatics in Brookings to give Del Norte County pool patrons a place to swim when the Fred Endert Municipal Pool closes for construction in December.

But on Monday, SCCA President Val Early told the Brookings City Council that discussions about how the arrangement would work are still preliminary. She floated the idea of instituting a community pass for patrons on both sides of the state line since Crescent City and SCCA would be funding the program. The details still needed to be ironed out before the agreement goes before the Brookings City Council for approval, she said.

“If we’re able to put that together and [if] you feel like that’s a worthwhile project, that would be a pilot program for us to be able to gauge what our winter activity would be,” Early said. “If we’re able to put together, this collaborative effort would start to happen in December and would go through February because those are the months the Crescent City pool is going to be closed.”

The Fred Endert Municipal Pool is expected to undergo upgrades to its HVAC system as well as its pool deck and locker room floors. As a result, the pool will be closed from December through February, City Manager Eric Wier said.

Under the proposed agreement with SCCA, the nonprofit organization that took over management of the Brookings pool in 2023 would be responsible for facility-related costs. This includes heating the outdoor pool to between 83 and 84 degrees Fahrenheit, Wier told the City Council at its Oct. 21 meeting. Crescent City would provide the lifeguards and supervisory staff needed to operate the pool, he said.

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Articles, Community News, Crescent City, Infrastructure, Local Government

Crescent City Council Mulls Gateway Design, Say They Want Public Input On Nov. 4

October 26, 2024 Jessica Cejnar Andrews Leave a comment

Crescent City councilors hope the community, especially local businesses, come to their next meeting ready to chime in on four designs they’re considering for an entryway into Beachfront Park and the downtown area.

Their goal is to select a design and decide if Front Street should be renamed to something that’s more reflective of Crescent City. Some options kicked around Monday include Ocean Drive, Oceanfront Drive and Beachfront Drive.

But, according to City Manager Eric Wier, the City Council doesn’t have much time to make a decision. The city needs to spend the $3 million in Clean California Grant dollars it received for the project by June 30, 2026. This means it needs to hire a contractor by early spring 2025 and have the project under construction between May and October, according to Wier’s staff report.

The City Council hopes to decide on a project design by Nov. 4, according to Mayor Blake Inscore.

On Monday, though he noted that his days on the City Council are coming to a close soon, Inscore said if Front Street was renamed, he preferred Beachfront Drive over Oceanfront Drive.

“From a Google analytics [standpoint], if you put in Beachfront Park, you’re going to get Beachfront Drive and you’re going to get businesses associated with that,” he said. “I would use one term from a marketing standpoint. We have two hotels called Oceanfront. Again, from Google analytics, we don’t want to be confused with a hotel.”

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Community News, Crescent City, Infrastructure, Just For Fun, Local Government, Youth

‘Something This Amazing’; Crescent City Cuts The Ribbon On New Pump Track

October 15, 2024 Jessica Cejnar Andrews Leave a comment

Crescent City cut the ribbon Saturday on the first amenity at Beachfront Park built using Prop 68 grant money. | Jessica C. Andrews

Wesley Phillips’ experience with pump tracks is limited — the new course at Crescent City’s Beachfront Park was his first taste.

Though the official grand opening wasn’t until last Saturday, Wesley’s dad, Tom Phillips, said his son had already been practicing. Wesley and his friends Aidan Evans and Landon and Chase Feight were demo riders — zipping over the jumps and scaling the wall ride, the wooden structure towering above the rest of the track — while Tom looked on.

“He’s blown away by it,” Tom said, watching Wesley and his buddies. “He had always ridden bikes and asked [me], ‘Can you build me a jump?’”

As the bike pump track took shape over the last two months, Wesley’s thoughts have been “nothing else but BMX,” his dad says.

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Articles, Community News, Education, Elections, Infrastructure, Local Government

Measure H Will Allow DNUSD To Chip Away At Facilities Master Plan, Advocates Say

October 11, 2024 Jessica Cejnar Andrews Leave a comment

To make her case for why voters should favor Measure H, Coleen Parker drew the Crescent City Council’s attention to another proposed bond — this one aimed at improving school facilities statewide.

If Del Norters approve the $59 million general obligation bond Del Norte Unified School District placed on the ballot this presidential election, DNUSD stands a better chance at receiving state facilities money should California’s Proposition 2 succeed, Parker told councilors on Monday.

“The way the Office of Public School Construction works is … if you are in a community that has passed a bond, now your community says, ‘Yes, schools are important to us.’ They help with matching dollars in a variety of things,” said Parker, who retired from DNUSD about two years ago and is part of the Support Our Kids — Yes On Measure H Committee. “If our [Measure] H doesn’t pass and the state bond does, the chances of Del Norte seeing any of that money is very slim.”

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Articles, Community News, Crescent City, Infrastructure, Local Government

Muni Code Cleanup Uncovers Landscaping Standards Crescent City Councilors Didn’t Realize Existed

October 9, 2024 Jessica Cejnar Andrews Leave a comment

An effort to set parameters for the amount of open space housing developers need to provide their residents made Crescent City councilors realize that the municipal code contains landscaping standards that likely aren’t applied consistently.

Some don’t make sense, Councilor Kelly Schellong Feola said Monday. One example she gave is a requirement that at least one tree from an approved list be planted in a residential front or side yard every 30 feet. The other is limiting the use of non-vegetative material in residential landscaping to 25 percent, Feola said.

“I know a lot of older people that can’t get out and mow their lawns,” she said. “They like to decorate their yards with river rock and such, and this is saying you can’t do that for more than 25 percent of your property.”

It’s these inconsistencies the Community Development Department and the Planning Commission have been working through, according to Ethan Lawton, a planner with SHN, a Eureka-based engineering and planning firm that is contracted with the city. When it comes to landscaping standards in residential zones, developments that are less than four units aren’t required to submit site plans to the city that verifies their landscaping plans, he said.

But, while there’s no special permit required for a single-family home, for example, under the municipal code, city staff should still review those landscaping standards, City Attorney Martha Rice said.

“No building permit should be issued unless [the development] meets these landscaping requirements,” she said.

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Articles, Community News, Infrastructure, Transportation

Caltrans Unveils Fancy New Welcome Signs; More From Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors Meeting

October 8, 2024 Jessica Cejnar Andrews Leave a comment

Caltrans representative Julia Peterson unveiled new welcome signs that will be built on U.S. 101 and 199. | Screenshot

Using an oft-quoted phrase involving beer, District 2 Supervisor Valerie Starkey warned that California’s new monument signs on U.S. 101 and 199 may prompt Oregon to step up its game.

Clean California Coordinator Julia Peterson unveiled the sign that will be constructed and installed on U.S. 199 later this year. Though Caltrans is still figuring out the color scheme, the new sign will feature the Golden State’s iconic shape and state flower. A momma bear and her cub will flank the sign welcoming motorists through Del Norte County’s northeastern gate.

The sign’s back side will encourage motorists to “drive safely,” Peterson said.

“Bears was a theme everyone wanted,” she told supervisors Tuesday, adding that Caltrans had deployed a survey via the Wild Rivers Outpost.

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