District 1 Supervisor Darrin Short was absent. Among the items discussed at Tuesday’s Del Norte County Board of Supervisors meeting.
Tolowa Dunes SP Closure: Three county supervisors said they fielded calls and complaints regarding the temporary closure of parts of Tolowa Dunes State Park over the weekend.
The California State Parks North Coast Redwoods District authorized the closure of several access points and trails to allow the Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation to observe the Lhuk Rite Ceremony. The annual ceremony celebrates the importance of salmon and its annual return to its river habitat.
Before county supervisors approved a lease agreement concerning modular trailers at Williams Drive, Lonnie Reyman asked that they not forget about probation.
The Del Norte County Probation Department had leveraged its good relationship with the buildings’ owners, the Del Norte County Office of Education, and used the space for training and to hold programs for its adult offenders, the probation chief said Tuesday. According to him, there is no other space available for adult programming.
“Over the last five or six years we’ve worked to try and increase that availability we provide to our adult offenders and to be able to provide those programs directly. That is one of the key places we do that,” Reyman said of the trailers at 250 and 254 Williams Drive in Crescent City. “As the county goes through this transition to use that property in a different manner, that will be something I’ll be watching closely. …”
Congressional candidates Tim Geist and Paul Saulsbury and Assembly candidate Michael Greer fielded questions from Redwood Voice producers Monique Camarena and Aisling Bludworth on April 23. | Photos by Jessica Cejnar Andrews
Michael Greer’s confident that Del Norte will vote for him — they have in the past and things haven’t changed, he says.
The Republican candidate for California’s Assembly District 2 is not only the current Trustee Area 5 representative on the Del Norte Unified School District Board of Trustees, he ran against incumbent Chris Rogers two years ago. Though he lost the district in November 2024, Greer received more votes in Del Norte County than his opponent. Greer said that Del Norte County voters know when he says he’ll do something, he’ll deliver.
“I’m a doer,” he said. “If I have something going through legislation, I’m going to push it and I’m going to do it until I get it done. It’s that simple.”
Del Norte County District 3 Supervisor candidates Chris Howard and Lupe Gutierrez sat down with Redwood Voice youth producers Monique Camarena and Aisling Bludworth for an evening conversation last week. | Photos by Jessica Cejnar Andrews
Lupe Gutierrez said she was surprised when people urged her to run for the District 3 supervisor seat.
They were adamant that it shouldn’t go unopposed, she said, which is why she’s challenging incumbent Chris Howard. She says she’s got the character to take on the job and one of her goals is to urge more youth to participate in the government process.
“I’m so disappointed when I look at the demographics and I see that they, the ages of 18 to 45, just don’t participate as much as the older people do,” Gutierrez said. “And sometimes I wonder about that and I know they’re disenchanted. I would really love to bring them back into the government so they can be effective in their own decisions because right now other people are making their decisions for them.”
Thumbnail photo: Bayside RV Park is one of two RV parks at the Crescent City Harbor that developer Daniel Dahan and his company BSD Property Management will revitalize and manage. | Photo by Jessica Cejnar Andrews
Daniel Dahan’s relationship with local engineer Lee Tromble and his company’s management of White Rock Resort in Smith River stood him in good stead with the Crescent City Harbor District Board.
Despite skepticism from the public, who urged them to go slow, warning that the Long Beach-based developer has a history of judgments against him, commissioners unanimously selected his firm, BSD Property Management, to revitalize and operate Bayside RV Park and Redwood Harbor Village RV Park.
The Board submitted their votes on paper to their clerk Kristina Hanks on Tuesday. Hanks then read their decision into the record.
Commissioners are expected to reach a decision, finally, on who should develop the Crescent City Harbor District’s two RV parks.
A special meeting will be held from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. today at the Harbor District Office.. The open session will follow a closed session meeting scheduled for 11:30 a.m.
“Tuesday’s the drop-down deadline,” Board President Rick Shepherd said at CCHD’s April 22 meeting. “We’re going to make a vote and the winner will be the lessee of the RV parks.”
Thumbnail photo: The Redwood Downtown is a 36-unit residential and retail development that’s slated to go in space that’s currently occupied by the vacant Daly’s department store building in Downtown Crescent City. | Image courtesy of Crescent City.
At least one city councilor said he would support a bill that would allow local governments to “claw back” authority from the state.
But, while representatives of State Sen. Christopher Cabaldon, author of State Senate Bill 1216, say Crescent City would be eligible for the greater discretion his proposed legislation offers, councilors were reluctant to offer their support just yet.
Though he liked the idea of regaining some of the authority he feels is lost to state government, Councilor Jason Greenough on Monday recommended that he and his colleagues table the proposed letter of support. Mayor Isaiah Wright seconded this recommendation, saying he didn’t have a full grasp of what SB 1216 would do.
Two weeks after Crescent City councilors took the first step toward increasing water and sewer rates, City Manager Eric Wier attempted to quell concerns about the Proposition 218 protest process.
Wier also addressed the idea of moving the wastewater treatment plant from its current location at B and Battery streets to the area behind Safeway, which was once the McNamara & Peepe lumber mill site. The city manager said that was before he began working with the city, however a cost analysis determined that it would not be feasible.
“When you talk about relocating the treatment plant, it’s not just about picking up the treatment plant and moving it,” he said. “It’s all of the infrastructure that goes into the treatment plant that still goes into the location it’s at now.”
Mayor Pro Tem Candace Tinkler and Councilor Ray Altman were absent. Among the items discussed at Monday’s Crescent City Council meeting:
Citizens Dock Pier 2 Project: Crescent City councilors agreed to send a letter to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration, supporting the second phase of the Citizens Dock rebuild.
The Crescent City Harbor District was encouraged to apply for $11 million in 2026 Port Infrastructure Development Program dollars from MARAD. If awarded, those funds will be an addition to the roughly $15 million in 2022 and 2024 PIDP grant moneys CCHD received to reconstruct Citizen’s Dock Pier 1 and an adjacent seawall, according to Mike Bahr, CEO of Community System Solutions, the consultant managing the Harbor District’s grant-funded projects.
Del Norte is joining a statewide effort that seeks to shield counties from the “health and human services tsunami” that’s coming with the implementation of H.R. 1, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.”
In an April 14 letter conveying a “multi-year countywide H.R. budget request” to state lawmakers, county supervisors stated that California counties may see an impact of between $6 billion and $9.5 billion due to the federal legislation.
The demand for indigent care is expected to increase, which will force counties to expand their workforce, according to the letter. H.R. 1 will also strain other safety net programs due to people losing access to MediCal as a result.
But there are so many parts, it’s unclear how much of an impact Del Norte County itself will feel.
