Tag Archives: crescent city

Crescent City Approves Tight Budget With Water, Sewer Rate Increases Factored In

Crescent City councilors approved a budget that will have an unallocated fund balance of about $55,000 when the 2026-27 fiscal year closes.

Their decision comes about a month after Finance Director Linda Leaver said that the estimated unallocated general fund balance at the end of 2026-27 would be โ€œbasically nothingโ€ at $62,559. 

On Monday, the budget Leaver presented to councilors reflected the changes they called for at that three-hour workshop on May 20. It also reflects water and sewer rate increases the City Council approved on June 1 following an unsuccessful Proposition 218 protest effort. Those increases are expected to stabilize both the water and sewer funds, Leaver said.

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Construction On Battery Point Apartments Set To Resume By June 29, Developer Says

Thumbnail photo: Changing state regulations and water damage from winter storms sidelined construction on the senior housing portion of Battery Point Apartments in Crescent City. | Photo by James Brooks

Construction is expected to resume at Battery Point Apartments in about two weeks, a representative of the Los Angeles-based nonprofit behind the affordable housing project said.

The projectโ€™s subcontractors are paid and a crane will be on site later this week, Synergy Community Development Corporation President Bill Rice told the Crescent City Council on Monday. The investor working with Synergy and its partner, Step Forward Communities, also brought in a construction management firm to remediate water damage to the senior housing structure.

Rice was reluctant to give an exact date of completion, but he told councilors that Synergy and Step Forward Communities are working with their insurance company to ensure the remediation is โ€œdone right.โ€

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Uncharted Shores Academy Leases City-Owned Former Preschool Building At Peterson Park

Thumbnail image courtesy of Uncharted Shores Academy

Uncharted Shores Academy has found safe harbor for its Offshore Resource Center thanks to a Crescent City Council decision Monday.

The Councilโ€™s unanimous approval to lease its property at 475 7th Street to the charter school comes roughly two weeks before Uncharted Shores was set to vacate one of its satellite locations at Washington Square, according to Executive Director Dan Cartwright. 

In addition to offering space for students in its homeschool program to meet with teachers, the Washington Square space also housed the schoolโ€™s business office, Cartwright said. But because of Sutter Coast Hospitalโ€™s plans to use the building for medical offices, its current tenants need to be out by the end of the month, he said.

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Del Norte To Cut The Ribbon On Long-Awaited Emergency Shelter, Micro Village

Thumbnail image courtesy of the Del Norte County Department of Health and Human Services

Ranell Brown says sheโ€™s expecting a large turnout to cut the ribbon at Del Norte Countyโ€™s new emergency shelter and micro village on Wednesday.

The result of a collaboration with the county, Del Norte Mission Possible and True North Organizing Network, the shelterโ€™s grand opening comes about a year after the Point in Time Count identified 482 individuals as homeless, according to a Department of Health and Human Services press release.

The campus needs a handful of finishing touches, but Brown, who directs DHHS, said the shelter will begin accepting clients within 30 days of the ribbon cutting.

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Chamber Needs Help Putting on Independence Day Celebration

Thumbnail photo courtesy of Steve Pate-Newberry via the Crescent City-Del Norte County Chamber of Commerce

With the United States celebrating 250 years of being a country, Cindy Vosburg is anticipating a large turnout for Crescent Cityโ€™s Fourth of July festivities.

Vosburg and her team at the Crescent City-Del Norte County Chamber of Commerce have been planning the Deck Party, accepting parade entries and figuring out where to set up vendors for the festival in the park. Itโ€™s a heavy lift mostly funded through sponsorships from the business community, but this year, the Chamber is asking the general public for help. 

โ€œLast year we were able to raise $63,000 in sponsorships and the event costs us about $70,000 to put on,โ€ Vosburg told Redwood Voice Community News on Monday. โ€œWe also make a little bit more money off the bar, the raffle and Cow Chip Bingo. But this year, itโ€™s a really tough year for the business community. Weโ€™re about $8,050 short of that $63,000.โ€

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Fashion Blacksmith Owner Agrees To Revision That Reduces Harbor District’s Settlement Payment This Year

Thumbnail photo by Gavin Van Alstine

Two years after the Crescent City Harbor District entered into a settlement agreement with Fashion Blacksmith, the parties negotiated a revision that reduces the districtโ€™s payment for this year and divides it into two installments.

Reporting out from a closed session meeting on Wednesday, Board President Rick Shepherd said CCHD will pay a total of $162,500 to its former tenant in two installments of $62,500 and $100,000 this year. The Harbor District was due to pay $362,500 to Fashion Blacksmith, Shepherd said.

According to the agreement, the remaining portion of the CCHDโ€™s payment this year will be amortized over the remaining terms of the settlement agreement, between 2027 and 2034 with 5% interest.

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Del Norte Marks America’s 250th Birthday By Celebrating ‘The Decades We’ve Been A Community’

Above photo: Del Norte County’s public health nurses and those who gave out COVID-19 vaccines were the grand marshals in the 2021 Independence Day parade | Photo by Jessica Cejnar Andrews. Thumbnail photo: Members of the Crescent City Emblem Club wrapped themselves up in the flag for the 1998 Independence Day parade as shown on the Triplicate’s front page. | Photo by Aisling Bludworth

Valerie Starkey still remembers the Bicentennial at Beachfront Park, and while she doesnโ€™t want to out do that celebration, she hopes the Semiquincentennial will be just as memorable.

โ€œTwo hundred and fifty years โ€” thatโ€™s a huge milestone for this country,โ€ she said. โ€œWe are really celebrating something thatโ€™s special to Del Norte County. Itโ€™s special to the nation. I think we all felt that way.โ€

The Del Norte County District 2 supervisor heads the Fourth of July committee for the Crescent City-Del Norte County Chamber of Commerce. This year instead of asking the community to select a theme for the festivities in Downtown Crescent City, Starkey and her colleagues wanted to recognize โ€œthe decades that weโ€™ve been a community together.โ€

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City Officials Pursue $50 Million Forgivable Loan For Major Sewer Plant Upgrade

Thumbnail photo by James Brooks

Following a public hearing and the adoption of increased sewer rates, Crescent City City Manager Eric Wier said staff have begun pursuing the state funding connected to the utilityโ€™s next phase.

The next phase involves installing the infrastructure the sewer plant needs to meet updated National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit regulations. 

After fining the city $228,000 for not complying with those stricter permitting regulations last year, the state has given Crescent City five, potentially 10 years, to make those upgrades, according to Wier. 

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Protest Efforts Fail To Stop City Water, Sewer Rate Increases

Thumbnail photo: Margaret Sargent on Monday speaks out in opposition of Crescent City’s plan to increase water and sewer rates. | Photo by Aisling Bludworth

A Proposition 218 protest failed to halt water and sewer rate increases in Crescent City on Monday despite an effort to collect signatures by a local group who says residents canโ€™t afford them.

Though he didnโ€™t specify if it was water or sewer, county resident David Olkowski, said at $95.38, his bill currently consumes about 16.95% of his social security income. Itโ€™s set to account for about 30% of his monthly social security at $171.92 when the rate adjustments take effect next month.

โ€œThe assistance we get from the many food banks are dwarfed by these rate increases,โ€ he said. โ€œThe savings from our gardens, growing vegetables, fruit trees and produce, berries, are dwarfed by these rate increases.โ€

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