7/6/16
The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors heard testimony from business owners, government officials and local residents on its proposal to open up coastal industrial areas around Humboldt Bay to new businesses. Most speakers were in favor of the change.
“It’s a clear choice between continuing stagnation and blight or moving forward with jobs and environmental cleanup around Humboldt Bay,” Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation Commissioner Mike Wilson said after the meeting.
Coastal uses
A proposal to temporarily expand business opportunities on lands surrounding Humboldt Bay currently reserved for coastal-dependent industries was mostly well-received by local businesses and members of the public on Tuesday.
The proposal would allow other businesses, such as retail outlets, to use the land for up to seven years and would apply to 1,200 acres of land near Fields Landing, King Salmon, Fairhaven, Manila and Samoa.
Coastal dependent industries would still have priority to use the land. Temporary businesses would also be required to jump through several regulatory hoops, such as obtaining a conditional use permit, creating a site restoration plan, and be able to relocate or be removed in a timely manner.
In order for the proposal to take effect, the board must modify its Local Coastal Plan for Humboldt Bay through an ordinance.
Around 100 acres of this coastal dependent land is currently being used, according to county planning staff, thus prompting the proposal to allow more businesses to utilize it.
Green Diamond Resource Company spokesman Gary Rynearson said that the company owns about 80 acres of coastal dependent industrial land that the company would like to see put to use.
“W hat we’d like to see is maximum flexibility for that,” Rynearson said, while calling for the board to reduce permitting requirements for forest manufacturing industries.
The Greater Eureka Chamber of Commerce has also filed a letter of support for the proposal.
As much as he’d like to see a booming shipping market in Humboldt Bay, Leroy Zerlang of Zerlang & Zerlang Marine Services in Fairhaven said that more shipping will likely not come and the unused infrastructure on the coast is wasting away while they wait for it to return.
“Let us go back to work. Let us do something with the land,” he said.
However, others like local attorney William Bertain said that the change would essentially advertise that the county does not want a shipping industry.
With Caltrans awarding a $276,000 grant to Trinity County last month for a feasibility study on a railroad to connect Humboldt Bay with Tehama County, local resident Monte Provolt said the board’s proposal “shows a lack of will for the study.”
With 5th District Supervisor Ryan Sundberg absent due to a planned family vacation, the board voted 4-0 to delay voting on the ordinance until its July 19 meeting.
