_{The Tolowa Interpretive Walk at Beachfront Park will feature a redwood tree, a burden basket and a canoe with kiosks focusing on their origin story, culture and the atrocities they lived through at the hands of white settlers. | Image courtesy of Crescent City}

Among the items discussed at Monday’s Crescent City Council meeting

New Council, New Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem:

A new Crescent City Council appointed Ray Altman as the new mayor with Isaiah Wright taking on the job of mayor pro tem.

Altman had been mayor pro tem under Blake Inscore, who finished out his final two years on the City Council on Monday. Wright had been mayor in 2023.

RV Park grant: Crescent City will receive $835,000 in California Coastal Conservancy grant dollars that will go toward upgrades at its Shoreline RV Park.

The city will use its Explore the Coast Overnight Program grant to install two ADA-accessible cabins that can sleep up to six people, renovate an apartment to provide additional accommodations and improve the park’s restrooms.

According to Crescent City Manager Eric Wier, the cabins will have ramps built into them.

“It increases accessibility for all to this property,” he said. “Currently you really need to have an RV. You can do tent camping, but tent camping isn’t for everyone. And so, if you don’t have that RV, it’s a barrier to your access.”

According to Wier, once the cabins are constructed, the units will be cleaned by a third-party property management company.

Crescent City has roughly $13.3 million in grant-funded projects underway. Since most of those grants are paid out to the city through reimbursements, Wier said officials are working with a financial advisor to determine whether they need to borrow money to meet their cash flow needs. If they do need to borrow money, repayment will come out of Crescent City’s RV park fund, Wier said.

Tolowa Interpretive Walk: City councilors unanimously approved a professional services agreement with SeaReach Ltd. to design and fabricate the different features in the Tolowa Interpretive Walk at Beachfront Park.

This feature is possible through a $200,000 California Coastal Conservancy Coastal Stories grant, a $65,000 California Endowment grant and a $300,000 Art in California Parks grant, according to Wier. It’s also part of the expansion of Beachfront Park, which is made possible due to $8.2 million in Proposition 68 dollars.

The Tolowa Interpretive Walk will start with an entry plaza near the Cultural Center. The first node will feature a redwood tree.

“You can walk inside,” Wier said, comparing it to the Church Tree on Church Tree Road. “This is going to be 20 feet tall and it has planks so you can see through it at all times. But you still feel like you’re in a space where you can experience this.”

Other nodes featured on the Tolowa Interpretive Walk will include a burden basket and a canoe. There will be kiosks and QR codes that tell visitors of the Tolowa people’s genesis, the different plants they used in their day-to-day lives as well as the atrocities white settlers visited upon them.

In addition to the Tolowa Interpretive Walk three other kiosks will continue the story. These will be at Howe Drive, Battery Point and at Brother Jonathan Lookout.

The project cost for the Tolowa Interpretive Walk is $411,000. According to Wier, the Arts in the Park grant must be spent by September 2025.

Wier said that SeaReach is familiar with building in corrosive environments. There will be a standard one-year construction warranty tied to the project along with a 10-year extended warranty for the structures themselves.