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State to review plan

4/20/16

The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday moved forward with a draft plan to manage private septic systems, which includes a provision to test streams and rivers for possible contamination of fecal bacteria.

County Environmental Health Division supervising environmental health specialist Carolyn Hawkins said the water testing will allow the county to determine whether human waste is responsible for contaminating four local beaches and surrounding waterways. Hawkins said the alternative is retaining the current program, which requires landowners living near these bacteria-impaired waters to follow stringent and expensive building rules if building a new septic system or repairing an existing one. “You can differentiate the source of the bacteria,” Hawkins said. “We want to use that to help focus our efforts so we’re not spinning our wheels and going off in the wrong direction. If we see a human source, then we know more about where to focus our efforts.”

About 1,000 trees to be planted along Jolly Giant Creek in 2017

4/10/16

The city of Arcata announced Friday that it will be using $245,000 to purchase a 20-acre forested parcel along Jolly Giant Creek to connect the Arcata Community Forest to Humboldt State University.

According to the release, $90,000 of the funds came from the Environmental Enhancement and Mitigation Grant, awarded by the state Natural Resources Agency last month. An additional $150,000 comes from Cal Fire Forest Legacy Program Greenhouse Gas Funds and $5,000 comes from the city.

“We are thankful to John and Claudia Lima and the Natural Resources Agency for working with us on this important conservation and working forest project,” Arcata Mayor Paul Pitino said in the release. “And I want to send out a special thank you to our Environmental Services Department staff for all the work they did on this connecting piece of forest land and to Cal Fire for their assistance.”

People regularly use a trail on this property to travel between the university and the forest, the release states. The purchase would make the trail a bona fide public trail and assure that this forested parcel remains as open space in perpetuity.

According to the release, the land purchase not only expands forest recreational and educational opportunities for university students, residents and visitors, it permanently preserves a working redwood forest, enhances Humboldt Bay water quality by maintaining forested uplands in the upper reaches of the Jolly Giant Creek watershed, and provides habitat protection for coastal cutthroat trout, northern spotted owl and a host of other wildlife species.

The release states that the forest expansion project was one of 21 projects statewide funded by the Natural Resources Agency.

The Environmental Enhancement and Mitigation Program encourages projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and risks associated with climate change, while protecting and conserving natural resources, according to the release. Money for the grant comes from fuel taxes distributed to the Agency by Caltrans.

The release states that the city plans to manage this forest addition as part of the Arcata Community Forest and incorporate it into the city’s Community Forest Management Plan. About 1,000 conifer and hardwood trees will be planted along Jolly Giant Creek in 2017.

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3/27/16

Owners of older properties in Arcata will need to have private sewer lines inspected for leaks before they can sell under rules taking effect Friday, city officials said in a release.

The ordinance, passed by the city council last year, includes provisions to protect creek, watershed and bay water quality by putting a routine inspection and repair system in place.

The inspection of sewer laterals, pipes that connect indoor plumbing to the main sewer lines, will be required for buildings and homes that are more than 25 years old when the property is being sold or a major remodel is planned. Water enters the city sewer system during wet weather from leaky private sewer laterals and from roof downspouts and sump pumps that drain directly into sanitary sewer laterals, city officials said in the release.

The laterals corrode over time, allowing roots and rainwater to infiltrate the pipes. Most laterals are not replaced until after the property owner experiences a sewer backup.

By that time, the damage is done. Raw sewage can overflow not just into people’s homes, but into the street and waterways leading to the bay.

“When the City’s sewer main network of bigger pipes can’t handle the volume of wastewater, the system can overflow or upset,” city Environmental Services Director Mark André said in the release. “That can be a public health threat because raw sewage flows to the streets and gutters, people can walk or drive through it, and it can flow into storm drain inlets that lead to creeks and ultimately to Humboldt Bay. Pumping and treating excess water that enters the sewer system via failed sewer laterals also requires energy and creates unnecessary costs to the wastewater utility.”

Sewer lateral inspections and necessary repairs need to be completed prior to close of escrow. A sewer cleanout must be installed if one is not already in place. A Private Sewer Lateral Certificate will be provided by the City Building and Engineering Department after repair or replacement of the lateral.

Property owners can post a bond or deposit to allow escrow to close and get a time extension of up to one year to complete necessary repairs.

Some property sales are exempt from the ordinance, including when property is transferred between family members and there is no reassessment of property value and when the sewer laterals have already been repaired or replaced within 25 years.

For more information about the ordinance, call the city Environmental Services Department at 822-8184, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. More information also is available from the Building and Engineering Department at 825-2128, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Property owners can read the entire ordinance on the city website at www.CityofArcata.org by searching for ordinance 1461. Plumbing companies also are familiar with the new requirements.

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3/26/16

Humboldt County should not consider the sale of public parks to offset the $250,000 budget gap it’s facing over the next five years. Other options must be found.

As we reported earlier this week, the county is staring down a parks crisis that can be traced back to a deadly accident on U.S. Highway 101 near Trinidad in 2013. After a county parks employee driving a county parks vehicle struck and killed a bicyclist, the insurance costs of the Parks Division of the Public Works Department have increased 15-fold: Between 2013 and 2015, they’ve skyrocketed from about $6,000 to about $91,800.

Insurance now consumes 42 percent of the Parks Division’s services and supplies budget; elevated rates will last five years, adding up to about $500,000.

Half of this has been accounted for through an insurance adjustment. Meanwhile, the Parks Division has coped with its ravaged budget by turning to volunteer and jail work crews to cover needed maintenance, delaying upgrades to vehicles and equipment upgrades, and halting maintenance of the Luffenholtz Beach access property.

But short-term deferrals aren’t going to dig the county of a $250,000 budget hole. Options now under discussion include:

• Discontinuing the temporary dam for summer swimming at Freshwater Park

• Charging day-use fees at Clam Beach and Mad River beaches

• Cutting bathroom maintenance services at Moonstone Beach

• Selling or relinquishing county parks such as A.W. Way County Park, Crab Park, Centerville Beach, Table Bluff County Park and others.

A quarter-million gap may be a quarter-million gap, but if those parks are sold to plug a shortterm problem, that’s just more money the county won’t have to get them back in the long term.

Selling off our county’s parks would be akin to pawning the crown jewels: Parks can boost local property values and grow local revenue. They can act as a draw for tourists, who bring in more revenue. They can serve as a staging grounds for recreational activities aplenty, which can help attract new businesses (revenue) and help with employee recruitment efforts (more revenue, still). The more healthy parks this county has, the more healthy its citizens will be — lest anyone forget, it’s harder for the unhealthy to contribute revenue.

Beyond revenue, this is a quality of life issue.

Parks are not only tourist attractions but play a vital role in community life, serving as accessible centers of recreation to a broad swath of Humboldt County residents.

We stand with Supervisors Estelle Fennell (“We have to figure out a better approach,”) and Mark Lovelace (“To permanently let go of a park to address a temporary issue is not something I am interested in at this point,”), who voiced their objection earlier this week to the notion of putting Humboldt County’s parks up for sale. As the Board of Supervisors drafts the county’s budget for the next fiscal year, your elected representatives should most definitely, as Lovelace put it, “look at more creative solutions.”

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