Tag Archives: del norte county

Articles, Emergencies

Earthquake/Tsunami Drill Set For Tomorrow

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Thumbnail map courtesy of the Redwood Coast Tsunami Working Group. To find maps for Fort Dick, Smith River and Klamath, click here.

Del Norters who have opted into the county’s emergency alert system will get a notification between 11 a.m. and noon Wednesday.

Coinciding with Tsunami Preparedness Week, the earthquake and tsunami drill will only involve the county’s Everbridge system, Emergency Services Manager Deborah Otenburg told county supervisors on Tuesday.

“Oftentimes we have community members say we didn’t receive the alert, you do have to be registered to receive that alert,” Otenburg said. “And there will not be sirens. This is not a live-code activation. This is not a National Weather Service putting this out. It’s just us.”

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

Crescent City Council Recap, March 16, 2026

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Thumbnail photo: Crescent City Council | Photo by James Brooks

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

Digital sign ordinance: Before he ducked out of the meeting early to go to his job, Councilor Jason Greenough cast the sole dissenting vote on new digital sign regulations. They’re unnecessary, counterproductive and “not business friendly,” he said.

Introduced on Feb. 17, the ordinance restricts a digital sign’s size to 32 square feet and states that they are only allowed in the commercial zone along the city’s highway corridor. This includes L and M streets, U.S. 101 from 9th Street north to the city limits and Northcrest Drive and Washington Boulevard. Digital signs must also be 1,750 linear feet apart, according to the new ordinance.

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Articles, Crescent City, Economy, Local Government

New Housing Developments Spark Controversy; For Some Residents, It’s Too Many Too Fast

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Crescent City and Del Norte County residents on Monday spoke both for and against the various housing developments underway within the city limits. | Video and photo by James Brooks

Megan Miller sought to counter what she said was misinformation concerning the housing developments underway in Crescent City. But few stuck around past the public comment period at Monday’s City Council meeting to hear it.

Miller, Crescent City Housing Authority executive director, specifically spoke to Battery Point Apartments — a 162-unit complex that will house seniors and families — and the narrative that its tenants won’t be from Del Norte County.

“The waiting list for Battery Point Apartments, the senior units… there are 78 applicants on that list (and) there are 40 units,” she said. “Out of those 78, 72 of them are local residents. All 72 applicants are automatically ahead of those six who are from out of the area because anybody with a Del Norte County address steps ahead of somebody without one regardless of the application date.”

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Articles, Economy

Bang for more buck: July 4th fireworks price is up due to tariffs, Chamber director says

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Thumbnail photo courtesy of the Crescent City-Del Norte County Chamber of Commerce

To some Del Norters, President Trump’s tariffs may be a political talking point, but a representative of the local visitors bureau says they’ve made this year’s July 4th fireworks more expensive.

The price tag for the community’s fireworks increased to $39,800 from last year’s costs of $36,000, according to Crescent City-Del Norte County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Cindy Vosburg. She declined to mention the president’s name, but said after he began implementing tariffs last spring, she contacted Pyro Spectaculars, the family-owned San Francisco-based company that’s created the local professional display for the past 25 years.

“For many years it was $30,000 and then three years ago they had to increase their prices,” Vosburg told Redwood Voice Community News, adding that the cost rose to about $36,000. “But then this year, it was a 10% increase because of the tariffs.”

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Articles, Elections, Local Government

Del Norte Election Lineup Set For June Primary

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Thumbnail image by Dwight Burdette via Wikimedia Commons. Creative Commons license.

Del Norte County voters will cast a ballot for two contested local races on June 2.

Incumbents Chris Howard and Joey Borges will each face challenges to their District 3 and District 4 seats on the Board of Supervisors, County Clerk-Recorder Alissia Northrup told Redwood Voice Community News.

The deadline to submit election paperwork was 5 p.m. Friday.

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Articles, Community News

Crescent City, Del Norte Preparing For ‘Pause’ In CDBG Program; Funding Supports CASA, Senior Nutrition, Pacific Pantry

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Thumbnail image: Marina MacNeil and Dominique Richcreek, staff members at Pacific Pantry, visited Smith River in this photo from September 2024 with the pantry’s mobile market. Pacific Pantry is supported through CDBG funding from the city. | Photo by Jessica Cejnar Andrews

Though her organization’s main funding source, the Community Development Block Grant, is set to pause for two years, Christine Slette said she’s not totally freaking out.

With a year and a half left of its 2024 allotment, Court Appointed Special Advocates of Del Norte may be OK, its executive director told Redwood Voice Community News on Thursday. But if CASA is unable to renew its application in 2026, the number of foster youth its volunteers work with will decrease, Slette said.

“It feels like we have to spend more time fundraising and doing grant management than we do serving the children,” she said. “It’s frustrating. But we have such an amazing community (that) always steps up and helps us through tough times. But it’s a strain and it’s so unfortunate.”

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Articles, Crescent City, Infrastructure, Local Government

(UPDATED) Crescent City’s Sewer Plant Needs $50 Million Upgrade, City Manager Says

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Thumbnail: Crescent City has five, up to 10, years to bring its wastewater treatment plant up to date, City Manager Eric Wier said. | Photo by James Brooks

Updated at 10 a.m. Thursday to make some corrections. Crescent City hasn’t been under a cease and desist order since 2011 and it didn’t receive a cease and desist order in August, though it was fined. City Manager Eric Wier also said that the rotating biological contactors aren’t able to meet the stricter NPDES standards on total Coliform.

Crescent City Manager Eric Wier blamed aging infrastructure and stricter pollutant discharge limits for the $228,000 fine the cease and desist order the sewer plant received last August.

But he differed from a member of the public who argued that the city’s 76 National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit violations were due to new connections.

The sewer plant can meet new NPDES permit requirements governing total Coliform bacteria limits during dry weather, the city manager told Councilors on Monday. When it storms, however, the plant’s rotating biological contactors — equipment installed in the 1970s — are overwhelmed can’t produce effluent that complies with those stricter standards, he said.

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Articles, Education, Infrastructure, Local Government

DNUSD Board Wary Of $5 million SitelogIQ Solar Array Proposal, Urge Superintendent To Pursue Financing Options For Discussion

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Thumbnail photo: SitelogIQ says a solar array near Bess Maxwell Elementary School could offset energy costs for six Del Norte Unified School District facilities. | Image courtesy of SitelogIQ

Local education officials expressed misgivings about a SitelogIQ proposal to install a solar array near Bess Maxwell Elementary School.

They didn’t shoot the proposal down. But they raised concerns about the $5 million price tag, especially after Del Norte County Unified School District Superintendent Jeff Harris said without a $1 million federal rebate, “it makes zero sense to move forward.”

After SitelogIQ representatives outlined their proposal at a Jan. 22 study session, the Board of Trustees had asked Harris to return with potential financing options. On Thursday, the superintendent said the firm had options for the school district that they wanted to discuss, but he wasn’t sure what they were yet. 

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Articles, Community News, Education, Local Government

DNUSD Trustees Raise Concerns About Interference, Division During Point of Contact Discussion

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DNUSD’s trustee area boundaries coincide with Del Norte County’s supervisorial boundaries

Thumbnail photo by Monique Camarena

The longest-serving member on the Del Norte Unified School District Board of Trustees on Thursday dissuaded his colleagues from designating primary points of contact for each campus

But, though Don McArthur, who represents Trustee Area 1, raised concerns about interfering with school management, Trustee Area 5 representative Mike Greer had a different take.

Greer, whose trustee area encompasses only one school, ‘O Me-nok Learning Center in Klamath, said he visits school sites regularly and has established a relationship with teachers and administrators, but he’s clear that he has no authority as an individual.

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Articles, CC Harbor, Infrastructure, Transportation

Could Trump’s Maritime Initiative Make the Crescent City Harbor Great Again? Commissioners, Harbormaster Hope So

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Thumbnail photo: Former Fashion Blacksmith boatyard facility at the Crescent City Harbor. | Photo by Paul Critz

The local harbormaster on Wednesday unveiled a desire to open a satellite campus of the Cal Poly Maritime Academy at the Crescent City Harbor District.

Mike Rademaker included that hope in a letter to Congressional representatives supporting the Trump administration’s America’s Maritime Action Plan, which seeks to revitalize the nation’s domestic shipbuilding capacity. But he acknowledged that the idea is just a concept at this point.

“It’s kind of my pet project,” the harbormaster told Redwood Voice Community News. “We’re just trying to be very creative and identify new revenue sources. The average age of fishermen, it’s getting up there, and we want to provide a pathway for the younger generation to get into the fishing industry. A huge part of that is workforce training and having something local that’s affordable so they can get hands-on experience.”

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