The Humboldt Bay Harbor District’s Board of Commissioners last night decided that they need more information before green-lighting the repair/rebuilding of a billboard that’s been lying face-down in Humboldt Bay since winter.In a 3-0 vote, with Commissioners Craig Benson and Patrick Higgins absent, the board opted to require an initial study under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) before ruling on a permit application from OutFront Media, the advertising company that owns the billboard.Harbor District staff had characterized the project as a “repair” of an existing billboard, though plans to re-erect the thing involved removing the existing uprights and using an excavator to pile-drive a dozen new posts 10 feet into the ground. Staff’s assessment found that the project was exempt from CEQA review because the new structure would be located on the same site and have the same purpose and capacity as the one being replaced.Keep Reading
