Tag Archives: del norte county

Articles, Infrastructure, Local Government, Transportation

Crescent City Seeks Caltrans Grant To Tame U.S. 101 ‘Concrete Jungle’

November 21, 2025 Jessica Cejnar Andrews Leave a comment

_{Thumbnail: Crescent City is pursuing a Caltrans grant that would make its highway corridor safer for all modes of transportation and tie its downtown area to the Crescent City Harbor. | Screenshot}

As Crescent City focuses on revitalizing its downtown, City Manager Eric Wier asked councilors to give a thought to the highway corridor.

Describing M and L streets as a hardscape dominated by pavement, sidewalks and buildings, Wier urged councilors to pursue a Caltrans grant aimed at addressing all modes of transportation. He envisioned more greenery, possibly reducing the number of lanes on the northbound side and building wider sidewalks in order to reduce the amount of highway someone has to cross to get to Safeway.

“A big part of the experience when you come into Crescent City is that highway corridor,” Wier said. “It is the downtown, but it’s not really part of the downtown. You have Caltrans and highway facilities coming through there so it really does need its own plan.”

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Articles, Local Government

Here’s Your Sign? Crescent City Council Mulls Changes To Regulations

November 20, 2025 Jessica Cejnar Andrews Leave a comment

_{Thumbnail photo: The Tsunami Lane Bowling Alley received a permit for its digital sign about a year ago, however the sign has characteristics that aren’t allowed in the Crescent City Municipal Code, City Attorney Martha Rice said. | Photo by Heather Polen}

Candace Tinkler was at odds with her colleagues as well as the Planning Commission over a proposal regarding signs on Crescent City’s main drag

A Planning Commission proposal to allow digital signs that are up to 100-square-feet within city limits would lead to distracted motorists, light pollution and visual blight, the mayor pro tem said Monday. Furthermore, she warned, the City Council would be torpedoing its vision for Downtown Crescent City.

“We’re trying hard to move forward, to modernize and improve, not only the safety, but the looks of our community,” Tinkler said, listing the community’s expansion of Beachfront Park, its Front Street improvements and the downtown visioning plan Crescent City staff sought community input on last week. “One of the things that concerns me is that as a town whose economy depends a lot on tourism, these kinds of signs, when they accumulate, it’s a lot of commercialism and it detracts from the idea that we are a distinct community.”

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Articles, CC Harbor, Local Government

Harbor Adopts Facilities Plan, USDA Negotiations Expected To Resume ‘Very Soon’

November 17, 2025 Jessica Cejnar Andrews 1 Comment

_{Thumbnail photo by Amanda Dockter}

(Updated at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday to clarify a statement from Harbormaster Mike Rademaker. The discussion over Measure C’s language and “priority order” occurred in 2019 between the harbor’s legal counsel at the time, Bob Black, and Del Norte County counsel Elizabeth Cable, Rademaker told Redwood Voice.)

Though their colleague Annie Nehmer said it read more like a wishlist, Crescent City Harbor commissioners approved a facilities plan they’ll take to the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors.

The Harbor Facilities Plan is a requirement of Measure C, the transiency occupancy tax measure voters approved in 2018 to allow the Crescent City Harbor District to pay its loan with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and make much-needed capital improvements.

On Wednesday, Harbormaster Mike Rademaker said if the USDA is agreeable to reducing the district’s annual loan payment, it could tap into its Measure C revenue to do those capital improvements.

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Articles, CC Harbor, Environment, Infrastructure

State Water Board Sends Notice to Harbor District Over Hazardous Waste At Former Fashion Blacksmith Site

November 17, 2025 Jessica Cejnar Andrews Leave a comment

_{Thumbnail photo by Paul Critz}

State water quality officials are seeking answers from the Crescent City Harbor District about a hazardous waste issue concerning the former Fashion Blacksmith site.

Harbor commissioners on Wednesday approved a proposal to increase the scope of work that Eureka-based consultant SHN performed to include taking additional samples from a pile of sediment that’s in the water.

The North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board is seeking two additional samples from the bottom of the pile that’s in the water, Community System Solutions CEO Mike Bahr told commissioners. It’s seeking more information about the levels of aluminum, barium, cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, titanium and zinc.

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Articles, Crime, Local Government

Del Norte Judge Rejects Recommendation To Let Hooper’s Felony DUI Causing Injury Charge Stand; Victim Says She Felt ‘Pushed Aside’ During Legal Process

November 14, 2025 Jessica Cejnar Andrews Leave a comment

_{Thumbnail photo: Assistant County Administrative Officer Randy Hooper struck Grants Pass resident Megan Postma at Sand Mine Road and U.S. 101 near Crescent City on April 19 and continued driving. | Photo by Heather Polen}

A Del Norte County judge on Thursday rejected a probation officer’s recommendation to let Randy Hooper’s felony DUI causing injury charge stand, deciding to follow a plea agreement offered to the defendant by the state Attorney General’s Office.

If Hooper lives up to the terms of the plea deal, his charge will be reduced to a misdemeanor, said attorney Keith Morris, who was designated as deputy attorney general for the case. But the judge told Hooper to expect to do some jail time — up to 90 days — when his sentence is reviewed in March, Morris told Redwood Voice Community News on Friday.

“He will serve some time in jail,” Morris said. “The judge followed the plea bargain we extended.”

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Articles, Environment, Infrastructure, Transportation

Dean Wilson Proposes Mitigation Exemptions For Counties With Vast Swaths of Public Lands

November 13, 2025 Jessica Cejnar Andrews 1 Comment

_{Thumbnail image: Dean Wilson mentioned a tunnel project around Last Chance Grade south of Crescent City as a potential project that would require Caltrans with mitigation requirements. | Image courtesy of Caltrans District 1}

Five months after his colleague suggested banking county properties for mitigation purposes, District 5 Supervisor Dean Wilson said he’s searching for someone who can propose legislation that would exempt counties like Del Norte from that requirement.

Wilson said Wednesday that his proposed legislation would apply to Del Norte County and others that house vast swaths of public and tribal lands. To illustrate why a mitigation exemption is critical to Del Norte, he pointed to two impending projects on U.S. 101 — the tunnel bypass around Last Chance Grade and efforts to protect the highway from sea level rise near South Beach.

Wilson also mentioned a runway safety project the Border Coast Regional Airport Authority completed about 12 years ago. In that situation, the requirement came from the California Coastal Commission. And while the BCRAA spearheaded the project, it fell to the county to find the land to meet those mitigation requirements.

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Articles, Health, Local Government

Del Norte Supervisors Support City Grants, Discuss DHHS Contracts, Retirement Benefit Policy

November 13, 2025 Jessica Cejnar Andrews Leave a comment

_{Thumbnail photo by Paul Critz}

District 1 Supervisor Darrin Short and his District 3 colleague Chris Howard were absent. Among the items discussed at Wednesday’s Del Norte County Board of Supervisors meeting:

Grant confusion: Three supervisors endorsed two Crescent City grant proposals, though it took a last-minute visit from City Manager Eric Wier for them to arrive at that conclusion.

Supervisors agreed to sign a letter of support for Crescent City’s efforts to obtain a Sustainable Planning Grant through Caltrans for its Redwood Highway Multi-Modal Transportation & Land Use Plan. They also approved a support letter for the city’s pursuit of California Ocean Protection Council grant dollars for its Coastal Resiliency Plan.

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Articles, Gasquet, Infrastructure, Smith River, Transportation

Caltrans May Use Bollards As Visual Incentive To Reduce Speeding on 199; Pedestrian Killed After Being Struck By Car On Oct. 26, CHP Reports

November 6, 2025 Jessica Cejnar Andrews Leave a comment

_{Thumbnail Photo by Akampfer via Wikimedia Commons. Creative Commons License.}

A month after California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 1014 into law, the Del Norte Local Transportation Commission’s Tamera Leighton said Caltrans is working on a more visible incentive to get people to slow down on U.S. 199.

During a U.S. 199/197 safety update at Tuesday’s DNLTC meeting, Leighton, the agency’s executive director, said that Caltrans is eager to move forward on the use of traffic bollards to discourage unsafe passing in Gasquet. The regional transportation planning agency will also be conducting outreach in Hiouchi to gauge community opinion on a similar project, she said.

During her update, however, Leighton told commissioners that she and District 3 Supervisor Chris Howard, who represents Gasquet and Hiouchi, are running into roadblocks when it comes to receiving information about collisions in the area from the California Highway Patrol. She characterized it as a misunderstanding and pointed to a recent fatality that occurred on U.S. 199 as an example.

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Articles, Environment, Local Government, Science

Restoring Elk Creek Would Enhance Crescent City’s Ability to Withstand Flood, Tsunami, Smith River Alliance’s Grant Werschkull Says

November 5, 2025 Jessica Cejnar Andrews Leave a comment

_{Thumbnail: Aerial shot of the Elk Creek watershed looking west toward the Pacific Ocean. | Photo courtesy of Smith River Alliance and Stillwater Sciences}

Smith River Alliance Co-Director Grant Werschkull acknowledged that breathing new life into Elk Creek’s wetlands could be an economic boon for Crescent City.

But to illustrate his point that restoring the tidal channels and swales would make a difference during a tsunami or a flood, he pointed councilors to a 2015 New Yorker article about the Cascadia Subduction Zone, the massive earthquakes it is capable of generating and its threat to coastal communities like Crescent City.

“The title is the ‘Really Big One’,” Werschkull said, referring to the article. “Seismologists, the experts that we have, participated in that (article) and it talks about how we are right now at a date when it is timely that it could happen.”

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Articles, Local Government

Recap: Crescent City Council Has A Vacancy to Fill, Discusses Accessory Dwelling Units, Appoints New Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem

November 5, 2025 Jessica Cejnar Andrews Leave a comment

Thumbnail: Councilor Daran J. Dooley, middle, resigned last month, meaning that his former colleagues are now tasked with appointing his successor. | File photo by Aisling Bludworth

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

Vacancy: Though one member of the public argued for leaving the seat vacant until next year, city councilors directed staff to begin advertising for a replacement for Daran Dooley, who resigned on Oct. 21.

According to City Attorney Martha Rice, the new appointed city councilor would serve until the November 2026 election. At that point, the seat would be up for a vote and whoever won the election would serve until the term ends in November 2028, the city attorney said.

The alternative was a special election that could be done in the spring through mail-in ballots or in conjunction with the November 2026 midterm election, Rice said. The current City Council could also choose to leave the position vacant until November 2026, the city attorney said.

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