_{Thumbnail: Del Norte County supervisors Valerie Starkey and Dean Wilson join the former Crescent City Council at a groundbreaking ceremony of the new Battery Point Apartments in September 2024. | Photo by Jessica Cejnar Andrews}

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

Opposition to Housing Bill: Though nearly 300 new housing units are being constructed in Crescent City, the City Council opposed a bill the League of California Cities says streamlines development at the expense of local environmental and public review.

Assembly Bill 647 would allow for up to eight housing units — only one of which would be set aside for affordable housing — on lots housing single-family homes, City Manager Eric Wier said, citing the nonprofit organization that advocates for local municipalities.

Introduced by Los Angeles-area assemblyman Mark Gonzalez in February, the legislation would supersede “a lot of our planning ordinances,” Wier said, and would allow those housing units to be developed without review by the Planning Commission or the City Council.

Crescent City will add a new component to its water system that will regulate water pressure more efficiently and, eventually, lead to the dismantling of the 67-year-old elevated tank near Wonder Stump and U.S. 101.

The City Council approved a $694,000 contract with Humboldt County-based Wahlund Construction to build a 6,000 gallon pressurized tank. The new tank will be across the street from the Ranney collector, which takes in water from the nearby Smith River, Public Works Director David Yeager said Monday.

The new tank, which will include a bladder that runs on an air compressor, will be able to absorb additional pressure in the event of a surge in the system, Yeager said. It’s also closer to the Ranney collector instead of a mile and a half away — the distance from the Ranney collector to the elevated water tank, he said.