Thursday, February 28, 2008

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.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is one project I am very glad to see go through. It would be a shame to see Samoa deteriorate. Just the sight of peeling paint and borded up windows is a sad sight.

Samoa was truly Mayberry at one time with the stores and post office and fire department all right there. It could have had a horrible outcome if left alone for the next twenty years.

I wish Fairhaven could fair as well.

Anonymous said...

Did you notice ALL of the people testifying urged the Supervisors to vote no.

I know a little about this one, and while I too am anxious to see Samoa preserved, the report did indeed ignore the advice of the cultural resource consultant they hired, ignore the State Office of Historic Preservation, and violate CEQA.

But then the Board of Supervisor's has a long history of ignoring public input, violating the law, and doing whatever they damn well please.

Anonymous said...

Good for you, Richard. At least SOMETHING good will come of this, (really!) . Hope the rest of the project turns out as promised.

Anonymous said...

Yes,I noticed a bunch of dope smoking commies.