Category Archives: Infrastructure

Articles, Community News, Infrastructure

Tsunamis, Marches, Government Shutdowns, or 2025 in Del Norte County

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Thumbnail photo: Del Norters participated in the People’s March on Jan. 18, two days before Donald Trump was inaugurated to his second term as president. | Photo by Jessica Andrews

Two weeks after the calendar ticked over to 2025, more than 100 Del Norte residents gathered at the Cultural Center in Crescent City.

Waving signs preaching “love not hate” and “united we stand,” they vowed to safeguard the rights of the vulnerable ahead of what they believed to be a dangerous presidential administration.

“Let us be on the right side of history,” Troy Lea said in a statement read aloud during the People’s March on Jan. 18, the first of several demonstrations Del Norters would take part in during 2025. “For our people, our nation and future generations whose lives will be shaped by the work we do here today.”

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Articles, CC Harbor, Infrastructure, Local Government

After County Supervisors’ Rejection, Harbor Commissioners Opt To Re-Work Facilities Plan

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Thumbnail photo: The Crescent City Harbor District is working on paying back a $5.5 million U.S. Department of Agriculture loan that rebuilt the inner boat basin following tsunamis in 2006 and 2011. | Photo by Gavin Van Alstine

A week after county supervisors rejected a Crescent City Harbor Facilities Plan, its harbormaster argued that voters didn’t want the agency to wait 40 years before it began using Measure C tax dollars to make needed repairs.

The transiency occupancy tax measure voters approved in 2018 wasn’t specific about the repairs and maintenance the generated revenue would pay for, Harbor District CEO Mike Rademaker told commissioners at a special meeting Wednesday. 

In addition to being used to pay back a $5 million U.S. Department of Agriculture loan, Measure C revenue should also fund repairs and maintenance of harbor facilities. Rademaker cited legal advice he received from CCHD attorney Ryan Plotz, who said that could mean “anything that involves repair and maintenance.”

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Articles, CC Harbor, Infrastructure, Local Government

CCHD Recap: Lighted Boat Parade Canceled; Update on RV Park Leases; Harbor Receives Grant To Clean Up Derelict Vessels

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Thumbnail photo: Bayside RV Park in June 2023. | File photo by Jessica C. Andrews

Harbor Commissioner Dan Schmidt was absent. Among the items discussed at the Crescent City Harbor District’s special meeting Wednesday:

No Lighted Boat Parade This Year: With harsh weather in the forecast and only nine vessels participating so far, CCHD Board Chairman Rick Shepherd said the lighted boat parade will be canceled.

This decision came after fiscal officer Sandy Moreno volunteered to organize the parade at the Board’s Dec. 3 meeting. Moreno had proposed holding the parade this Saturday and commissioners agreed to offer a $25 utility credit to participants.

Continue reading CCHD Recap: Lighted Boat Parade Canceled; Update on RV Park Leases; Harbor Receives Grant To Clean Up Derelict Vessels →
Articles, Crescent City, Infrastructure, Local Government

Bill Gillespie Returns to Helm Crescent City Fire & Rescue Until New Fire Chief Is Found

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Thumbnail photo: Bill Gillespie (fourth from left) will lead Crescent City Fire and Rescue as its interim fire chief until the city and the Crescent Fire Protection District can find a permanent chief. | Photo courtesy of the City of Crescent City

Bill Gillespie will return to Crescent City as its interim fire chief, leading a department that has grown into a hybrid agency relying on volunteers and career firefighters to keep the community safe.

Gillespie had led Crescent City Fire and Rescue for about four years after Steve Wakefield retired in 2018. He was chief when voters approved the Measure S tax measure and benefit assessment for the fire district that led to the hiring of three paid fire captains. Under his successor’s leadership the department achieved a Class 2 ISO rating.

“The department, it’s a combination department — volunteer and career — but above all it’s a professional department that serves this community very well,” Gillespie said Monday. “It will be neat coming back, too, with some of the things that came out of Measure S and came out of the fire district assessment to be able to step in now three-and-a-half years later and see where some of this progress has happened.”

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Articles, Environment, Infrastructure, Transportation

Del Norte County Seeks Public’s Help Mapping Out Drainage Trouble Spots

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Thumbnail photo courtesy of Del Norte County

Del Norte County is seeking the public’s help in a $3 million planning effort aimed at identifying where its drainage trouble spots are.

Thousands of assets from small culverts to large bridges are scattered throughout the county, Engineer Jon Olson told supervisors Tuesday. The Community Development Department is asking people to either fill out a survey or drop a pin on a map and describe their problems.

The engineering division can also take the survey information over the phone if people would rather call instead, he said.

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Articles, CC Harbor, Infrastructure, Local Government

Del Norte Supervisors Reject Harbor’s Facilities Plan, Are Wary Of CCHD Proposal To Negotiate Loan Payments With USDA

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Thumbnail photo by Gavin Van Alstine

County supervisors sent a facilities plan back to the Crescent City Harbor District, criticizing its vagueness and stating that the agency hadn’t yet met the plan’s first stated priority — making this year’s U.S. Department of Agriculture loan payment.

The Board was also skeptical that the USDA would agree to a Harbor District proposal to accept 10% of CCHD’s annual $260,000 payment for three years with the remainder of the funds going toward maintenance and being put into a reserve account. 

District 2 Supervisor Valerie Starkey said she and her colleagues have a legal obligation to voters to ensure that the stipulations of the transiency occupancy tax measure, Measure C, they approved in 2018 were being met. 

“My concerns are you don’t have an agreement with the USDA, you’ve had a conversation. That is all you’ve had,” Starkey told CCHD Fiscal Officer Sandy Moreno who assured supervisors that the federal agency was receptive to the Harbor District’s proposal. “I heard you say at the last (Harbor District) meeting that you need to have $262,000 in a restricted fund, you don’t have that. You don’t have your insurance and you have money this county has collected to pay a loan. I believe that that needs to be paid. That’s the guarantee that we gave this community.”

Continue reading Del Norte Supervisors Reject Harbor’s Facilities Plan, Are Wary Of CCHD Proposal To Negotiate Loan Payments With USDA →
Articles, Community News, Infrastructure, Local Government

Beachfront Park’s Wheelchair Swing May Be An ADA Violation, Disability Rights Advocate Warns

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Thumbnail photo: A local disability rights advocate Crescent City is violating the Americans With Disabilities Act by locking its wheelchair swing and requiring users to get a key. | Photo courtesy of Crescent City

Steven Jackson isn’t looking to sue Crescent City, but, he says, a lawsuit could happen if a lock and chain aren’t removed from a swing designed for wheelchairs at Beachfront Park.

Jackson, who has worked with adults with developmental disabilities in Del Norte County for about 20 years, warned the City Council on Monday that requiring people to get a key to be able to use the swing violates the Americans With Disabilities Act.

“I’m not here to propose a lawsuit on you guys,” he said. “But I’m letting you know that the city is really looking at a lawsuit for anybody who tries to go down and access that equipment when it’s not available. What’s that showing to people who come into our community that think we are an inclusive community?”

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Articles, Economy, Health, Infrastructure, Local Government, Transportation

Chris Howard Pushes For Last Chance Grade Advocacy As Del Norte Develops Legislative Platform

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Thumbnail image: District 3 Supervisor Chris Howard urged his colleagues on Tuesday to advocate for the tunnel project around Last Chance Grade in the Board’s 2026 Legislative Platform. | Image Courtesy of Caltrans District 1.

Days after he returned from a visit to Japan, District 3 Supervisor Chris Howard touted that country’s tunnel-building prowess when he urged his colleagues to step up advocacy for Last Chance Grade.

During a discussion of the county’s 2026 Legislative Platform on Tuesday, Howard said he wanted to explore how Japan’s innovative techniques could apply to the Last Chance Grade tunnel project. He also told his colleagues that Caltrans still needs a Coastal Development Permit from the California Coastal Commission for the project despite completing nearly a decade of environmental studies.

Howard asked Assistant County Administrative Officer Randy Hooper to include advocacy for an exemption from that hurdle in the platform.

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Articles, Infrastructure, Local Government

Del Norte BOS Recap: New Compensation Rate for County Supervisors; Team-Approach to Capital Improvements; New Truck

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District 1 Supervisor Darrin Short was absent. Among the items discussed at Tuesday’s Del Norte County Board of Supervisors Meeting:

County Supervisors Compensation: Supervisors approved an ordinance that set their biweekly compensation rate at $2,277.67 regardless of how many terms they serve in office. The ordinance adds language to a provision in county code that justifies an extra $100 the Board chair receives, which is also paid biweekly. 

It also offers a cost of living adjustment for county supervisors that will be between 2.5% and 4% each year based on the Western Region Consumer Price Index.  According to the county’s staff report, the Board of Supervisors will be required to review this COLA every three years starting in 2029 and can, by a four-fifths vote, waive that adjustment.

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Articles, Community News, Infrastructure, Transportation

Del Norte’s Friendship With Rikuzentakata May Influence Last Chance Grade Tunnel Project

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Thumbnail photo: Jaime Matteoli, Caltrans’ Last Chance Grade corridor manager, and Caltrans District 1 Director Matt Brady visit with Japan’s Ministry of Land Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism during a recent visit. | Photo courtesy of Chris Howard. Above: Caltrans chose a 1-mile long tunnel out of several alternatives for rerouting U.S. 101 around the slide at Last Chance Grade. | Image courtesy of Caltrans District 1

Jaime Matteoli returned from his Japan trip excited about the ongoing collaboration he hopes to have with his counterparts at that country’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.

Matteoli said he hopes to gain some wisdom from the lessons his colleagues across the Pacific have learned as Caltrans begins refining its design for the 1-mile long tunnel at the Last Chance Grade landslide south of Crescent City.

But he called the trip special for another reason: The Japanese people still remember the role a handful of Del Norte High School students played in bringing a 20-foot fishing vessel home to Rikuzentakata two years after the 2011 tsunami.

“To stand by Kamome and visit the site of Rikuzentakata — it was on our way past the tunnel project in the Sanriku expressway — I felt proud of our community, proud of the youth,” Matteoli told Redwood Voice Community News on Monday. “It all started with young people providing an act of kindness to the people of Japan. We heard from many people, including the vice minister of MLIT, who expressed gratitude for their support.”

Continue reading Del Norte’s Friendship With Rikuzentakata May Influence Last Chance Grade Tunnel Project →