City Council covers climate, business and waste
On Monday, the Fortuna City Council heard a presentation on Humboldt County’s climate action plan, discussed a waste disposal ordinance and covered the state of the Fortuna Business Improvement District.
The council heard a presentation on the plan, which is still in the very early phases, from Michael Richardson, a planner at the county’s Planning and Building Department.
“One of the benefits here that we’re shooting for is if we have a climate action plan that’s adopted by all the jurisdictions and we can make a good case that it meets the state’s targets, then the project review for new development becomes a lot easier,” Richardson said.
The state target is to reduce emission rates to 40% below 1990 levels by 2030.
Richardson noted that the project is now able to move into the environmental impact report creation phase, though every public commenter and several members of the council expressed concern with aspects of the climate action plan.
“These regulations and this climate action plan has the potential to hit contractors, farmers, ranchers, and middle class Americans, the working poor because all those people are going to be told that your vehicle is no longer good,” said Councilmember Mike Johnson. “It doesn’t meet the test. And that’s what gets me more than anything is the effect that it’s going to have on the public. I agree with the goals, I agree that there are things that we need to do, but we need to think through them.”
Several public commenters were also concerned with the data used in the plan, which did not include 2020 emission data, and called for the most up-to-date emission information to be used in the plan.
The full presentation of the plan the council received can be found on the council’s agenda at bit.ly/3LrJQKr.
Fortuna Business Improvement District
The council also discussed ongoing issues regarding the Fortuna Business Improvement District, noting that in a recent special meeting, which was requested by the district but not attended by any members, the council went over several potential outcomes regard
ing the district. The discussions revolved around the results of disbanding the board, reverting it into an advisory body and not a nonprofit, or to continue as it currently exists.
City Manager Merritt Perry said that no action was taken, and that he expects this item to come up during the next city council meeting. He also noted that the council has received little public comment on this matter, and would like to hear from business owners regarding how they feel about the Fortuna Business Improvement District.
Waste disposal
The Fortuna City Council accepted the first reading of an ordinance mandating organic waste disposal reduction regulations to implement and enforce Senate Bill 1383, the state law which requires local municipalities to start organic waste collection.
The ordinance would delay implementation until at least Jan. 1, 2023, but by 2025 aims to see a 75% reduction in landfill organic waste and a 20% increase in recovery of edible food.
“That’ll happen through modification of our franchise agreement, establishing food waste, edible food recovery programs, conducting education and outreach into the community and how they best can recover or recycle these organic wastes,” Perry said.
Fortuna, along with every other Humboldt County municipality in coordination with the county government, is attempting to abide by Senate Bill 1383 through a variety of measures.