Category Archives: Crescent City

Del Norte Library Writes New Chapter, Preps For Move To Former Ben Franklin Building

September 1, 2026 Jessica Cejnar Andrews Leave a comment

_{Thumbnail photo: The Del Norte County Library has purchased the former Ben Franklin building and plans to turn it into the new library. Library Board President Andrew Napier said the library has about two years to renovate it. | Photos courtesy of Andrew Napier}

Three years after its board decided that staying in Downtown Crescent City outweighed the tsunami risk, the Del Norte County Library will eventually move into the old Ben Franklin building.

At just under 15,000 square feet, Library Board Chair Andrew Napier says he envisions a maker space with access to 3D printers, laser engravers and button makers. There’s office space for Del Norte Reads, room for community meetings and, potentially, a Friends of the Del Norte County Library cafe.

But right now, the building at 1072 3rd Street is an empty shell, Napier told Redwood Voice Community News on Thursday. The library has about two years to renovate it and move its 50,000-plus books, periodicals, movies and other materials in, he said.

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Articles, Business, Crescent City, Infrastructure

Residents, Planning Commissioners Say They’re Wary Of Sartori’s Plan To Bring More Delivery Trucks To Rumiano Cheese Plant

August 27, 2026 Jessica Cejnar Andrews Leave a comment

_{Thumbnail photo by Heather Polen}

_{Crescent City Planning Commission’s Aug. 20 meeting}

Matt Dochterman urged Crescent City Planning Commissioners to think big picture about a proposal to bring more trucks to the Rumiano Cheese factory.

In addition to recruiting for up to 25 new jobs, said Dochterman, vice president of operations for Sartori Cheese, more trucks means the plant at 511 9th Street will get more milk with which to make more cheese.

“We actually have an opportunity — a great thing for the community — that says we can expand production, make more product, expand the Rumiano brand into larger areas of the country and actually create more exposure for Crescent City,” he told commissioners at a special meeting Aug. 20. “We bring more milk in, it runs more hours per day, produces more cheese and (we don’t) have to expand the infrastructure of the site or anything else to do that.”

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Articles, Crescent City, Housing, Local Government

Crescent City Joins SoCal Cities In Effort To Combat ‘State Overreach’ In Housing, Land-Use Matters

August 22, 2026 Jessica Cejnar Andrews Leave a comment

_{Thumbnail photo: Battery Point Apartments near Joe Hamilton Elementary School is one of a handful of housing projects in Crescent City that is being developed as part of California’s statewide housing goals. | Photo by James Brooks}

A statewide proposal that has its origins in a Riverside County community and aims to enforce local authority over California’s housing and land-use initiatives put Crescent City’s mayor pro tem at odds with her colleagues on Monday.

Citing the University of California and Harvard University’s Joint Center of Housing Studies, Candace Tinkler noted that the Golden State is home to six of the top metropolitan areas with the highest share of cost-burdened households.

About one in three renters in the Los Angeles metropolitan area spends more than 50% of their post-tax household income on rent, she said, and as of last year there were 1,000 more homeless people in San Francisco than in all of Missouri.

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Articles, Crescent City, Infrastructure, Local Government

Crescent City Council Recap For Aug. 17, 2026

August 22, 2026 Jessica Cejnar Andrews Leave a comment

_{Thumbnail image: Conceptual art shows the fish and canoe node that will be part of the Tolowa Cultural Trail at Beachfront Park. | Image courtesy of Crescent City}

_{Video by Monique Camarena}

Among the items discussed at Monday’s Crescent City Council meeting:

Tolowa Cultural Trail Milestone: Councilors recognized the completion of the first initial contract associated with the Tolowa Cultural Trail in Beachfront Park.

City Manager Eric Wier pointed out that despite unanimously approving a notice of completion associated with the project, it’s work that Tidewater Contractors did to lay the foundation for the trail that councilors are recognizing.

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Articles, Community News, Crescent City, Infrastructure, Local Government, Parks

Crescent City’s Front Street Gateway Project Proceeds Though El Niño May Cause Issues For Storm Drain Component

August 21, 2026 Jessica Cejnar Andrews Leave a comment

_{Thumbnail image: Crescent City Manager Eric Wier outlined what a change order to the Front Street Gateway Project would entail at Monday’s meeting. | Image courtesy of Crescent City}

The Crescent City Council on Monday took a crucial step in the Front Street Gateway Project.

Councilors unanimously approved a change order that includes erecting nine banner poles, installing the gateway’s electrical system, widening the California Coastal Trail near the Cultural Center as well as ensuring the Point of Honor flags stay illuminated at night. But Tidewater Contractors’ primary focus this summer will be on the storm drain system underneath Front Street, City Manager Eric Wier said.

Still, acknowledging that the North Coast is facing an El Niño year, Wier said if the rains do hit before the street is repaved, hopefully the storm drain will do its job.

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Articles, Crescent City, Infrastructure, Local Government

Crescent City Council Recap, Aug. 3, 2026

August 5, 2026 Jessica Cejnar Andrews Leave a comment

_{Thumbnail photo: Del Norte High School’s digital sign. On Monday, the Crescent City Council allowed Crescent Elk Middle School to display an electronic sign of its own. | Photo by Monique Camarena}

Councilman Steve Shamblin was absent. Among the items discussed at Monday’s Crescent City Council meeting:

Digital Signs, School Edition: Councilman Jason Greenough voted with the rest of his colleagues to allow Crescent Elk Middle School to display a digital sign, but not before he noted how ridiculous he thought the topic was.

Coming after the City Council in February approved an ordinance governing the size and location they would allow such electronic displays, Greenough said the regulations were unnecessary. Allowing Crescent Elk to have a digital sign is an exception for another governing body, he said.

“We don’t have a huge problem with signs, but we passed an ordinance to regulate them for our businesses and so, well, our businesses and everyone else,” Greenough said. “The schools are an unintended victim of our regulation of everybody’s ability to have just a sign in front of their property.”

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Articles, Crescent City, Infrastructure, Transportation

Front Street’s Completion Is Ahead, Though Motorists Will Have To Contend With A Couple Detours

July 24, 2026 Jessica Cejnar Andrews Leave a comment

_{Thumbnail image courtesy of Crescent City}

Motorists will soon encounter a detour on Front Street near the Cultural Center and on K Street near the Redwood National and State Parks visitors center.

“This coming Monday, a week from today, we’re going to be looking at the closure of Front Street,” City Manager Eric Wier told the City Council on Monday, stating that the storm drain reconstruction project is moving ahead of schedule. “It’s good in the fact that our project is progressing and we’ll be able to get it done this year, but it is going to be an inconvenience. For that, we apologize to the community.”

Front Street will be closed from U.S. 101 to Play Street starting Wednesday, Wier told Redwood Voice Community News. K Street will also be closed between 2nd Street and Front Street. Motorists should expect the closure to last through November.

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Articles, Crescent City, Infrastructure, Local Government, Tribal Affairs

Crescent City Commissions Water Capacity Study As Elk Valley Rancheria Looks To Start Hotel Construction

July 22, 2026 Jessica Cejnar Andrews Leave a comment

_{Thumbnail photo: Elk Valley Rancheria tribal building. | Photo courtesy of Andrew Goff}

Crescent City councilors took a first step Monday toward helping Elk Valley Rancheria build its new four-story 93-room hotel.

It’s a project the tribal nation has been working on since the early 2000s when it took the Martin Ranch through the fee-to-trust process, Elk Valley Rancheria CEO Crista Stewart told Redwood Voice Community News on Wednesday. Ground breaking is expected to take place in about a month, she said.

“It’s going to be really rustic,” Stewart said. “We’ll have a beautiful one-story lobby with open ceilings that’ll open up into a beautiful backyard patio with a fire pit overlooking the ocean. We’re also going to have two areas for meetings. (There) will be a smaller board-room style room for smaller meetings and we’ll also have a larger meeting event room for guests up to 100 for weddings and trainings and conferences.”

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Articles, Crescent City, Infrastructure

State Dollars City’s Sewer Plant Upgrade May Be Less Than Initially Expected, City Manager Says

July 22, 2026 Jessica Cejnar Andrews Leave a comment

_{Thumbnail photo by James Brooks}

Crescent City met the deadline to apply for a $50 million forgivable loan to bring its sewer plant into compliance with updated National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System requirements.

But the likelihood the city will receive $50 million from the State Water Resources Control Board is questionable, City Manager Eric Wier told councilors on Monday.

“The total amount of funding that is available in this round has been reduced significantly,” he said. “The $50 million will represent a significant portion of the total funding that they have overall. Hopefully we’ll know in the next six months.”

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Alerts, Crescent City, Emergencies, Infrastructure

With Pac Power Unable To Support A Microgrid, SitelogIQ Proposes Solar Panels For The Jail, Flynn Center

July 20, 2026 Jessica Cejnar Andrews Leave a comment

_{Thumbnail image: SitelogIQ had proposed using photovoltaic solar panels and battery backup to create a microgrid in the northern area of Crescent City that would power the school district, Sutter Coast Hospital, the airport and the Crescent Fire and Rescue fire hall. | Image courtesy of SitelogIQ}

Two years after outlining microgrid projects that would keep Del Norte County’s critical infrastructure functioning during a power outage, SitelogIQ representatives told supervisors that a facilities-based approach would be more feasible.

Despite spearheading successful projects in Pacific, Gas & Electric territory, including four in Humboldt County, SitelogIQ’s governor affairs and community development representative Kristy Coughlin said Del Norte County’s utility, Pacific Power, would be unable to manage a microgrid.

“Pacific Power determined they did not have the capacity, resources, personnel or infrastructure to support a community microgrid,” Coughlin told supervisors on Tuesday, adding that the company had met with Pacific Power in March.

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