_{Thumbnail: Consultants Don Arambula and Gill Williams convinced the new Crescent City Council last month that the gateway should incorporate redwoods into the design. | Screenshot}

Crescent City leaders have scrapped the nautical theme they chose late last year for a gateway, listening to a new consultant who urged them to incorporate redwoods into the design.

Don Arambula, co-founder of the Portland-based architect and urban design firm Crandall Arambula, pointed out that 2.5 million tourists don’t necessarily visit the North Coast for the beach, though it’s important to the local community.

“There’s an expectation for those visitors who are coming from across America and sometimes internationally to see things that they associate with the redwood parks,” he told Councilor Jason Greenough who had misgivings about the new gateway proposal being constructed largely of wood. “If you’re building things in metal and it’s colored and doesn’t reflect that, you’re losing a big opportunity to reinforce this idea that your downtown is the gateway, or the starting point, for any journey that goes into Redwood National Park that is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.”