The board voted four to one – with 5th District Supervisor Steve Madrone dissenting – to lift the hiring freeze for 25 positions, mostly consisting of correctional deputy positions, but including a lateral deputy sheriff hire and a dispatcher.
After private deliberations between the applicant, appellants – a neighborhood group called the Coalition for Responsible Housing – the board approved a version of the development on a 2.47 acre parcel with 17 lots and 56 units, down from the initial proposal of 19 lots and 62 units. Additionally, developer Dane Valadao agreed to reduce the four two-story residences to just two single-family, single-story homes and commit funds to road maintenance.
The $4,703,840 in estimated damages were largely concentric to county roads and bridges and could qualify for reimbursement under the California Disaster Assistance Act. Humboldt County Public Works Director Tom Mattson said that, relative to the amount of rain dumped over several days, the county “dodged a bullet.”
On Tuesday, 2nd District Supervisor Rex Bohn – the longtime president of the park’s board – pitched the Humboldt Community Services District on possibly taking over management of the park.
The resolution – supported unanimously by the present supervisors, though 5th District Supervisor Steve Madrone and 4th District Supervisor Natalie Arroyo were absent – allows a government agency, nonprofit or religious organization to set up a site where homeless residents can park and stay safely while receiving connection to services. While the resolution was initially passed in June, 2022, not a single agency or nonprofit took advantage of it.