Samoa project gets BOS ok.

Samoa Master Plan gets nod from supervisors and so moves the wheels on this project. The first draft of the master plan was made public in 2001 and it looks like it will be another 7 years before this project gets anywhere in any form. There will be other issues to traverse, such as a proposed/threatened lawsuit on CEQA: The California Environmental Quality Act guidelines not being followed properly, Historical building code violations and Traffic issues that need to be mitigated.

I was excited to hear the original plans and Robin and I have homesteaded our house to have the opportunity to purchase this property. (Dan Johnson publicly promised renters who were in each house would get the first chance to purchase if they stayed in their homes.) We live in a 4 bedroom two bath house that was probably worth $50,000 in 2001. I would guess it is worth 4 times that now, and there has been little upgrade and much deterioration. Fortunately, we bought a house in Henderson Center as an investment at a good time.

As far as the traffic issue, Manila has pretty much been ignored about their complaints of increased traffic due to the "safety" corridor on 101 between Arcata and Eureka. People are blatantly bypassing 101 and the 50 mile an hour limit with lights on, and taking 255 as an alternate route at 55 MPH plus and no safety lights. It has become a speedway through residential Manila. (Yes, real people live out there.) The increased traffic from the Samoa project will be mitigated in the tune of $180,000 for infrastructure purposes.

Just an added comment: In the early 80's there were over 1,000 more jobs and people on the Peninsula south of the bridge. The closed Coast Guard housing, two plywood plants, sawmill and pulp mill had many people driving back and forth off the dunes each day.