Live fairgrounds events? Board of Supervisors to decide
Residents voice concerns about noise
The Humboldt County fairgrounds are one step closer to putting on live concerts and motorsport events after winning unanimous approval from the county’s planning commission Thursday, despite concerns from numerous Ferndale residents.
The permit will allow the Humboldt County Fair Association to hold a limited number of live events each year. In a year that saw the county fair canceled due to COVID-19 concerns, the association looks to benefit economically from the added events.
Many residents who called in during the commission’s Thursday meeting said live events would disrupt the quiet of the surrounding neighborhood, but commissioners emphasized the positives of creating a consistent live venue in Humboldt County.
“There’s a lot of people that would love to have a venue come here in the summertime when they’re living in the valley and it’s 110 (degrees),” said commission chair Alan Bongio.
Bongio advised against “getting too caught up in the technicalities” of the project in light of the “big picture” of “bringing an incredible amount of money into the county.”
Commissioner Melanie Mccavour said she doesn’t love the sound emitted by live events at the Redwood Acres Fairgrounds nearby where she lives in Eureka, but stressed that “we can’t be 100% comfortable all the time with everything that everyone else is doing.”
The permit will now go to the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors for final approval.
While an engineering firm had concluded in the report that noise from live events would reach the threshold of breaking local standards, it would not do so for a sustained period of time — meaning a “conditional use” permit is sufficient for approval.
The commission’s staff report contained 110 pages of public comments, the majority raising concerns about noise.
Many of those Ferndale residents vocalized their opposition at public comment Thursday, though there was also significant support for the idea of live events, as well as more varied insight on the project’s potential impacts.
Janet Carney, a Ferndale resident, said she has been a longtime supporter of the fairgrounds but couldn’t hear herself speak over the “unbearable” noise of one motorcycle event in recent years.
“The noise was not just motorcycles but constant chatter by announcers over the PA system, et cetera,” Carney said. “My home has been insulated, including the walls, which really helps… but not with this motorcycle racing. I could not escape the noise anywhere on the property.”
On the other hand, another member of the public who said he lives in Ferndale supported the permit, arguing that noise from past events — including a Willie Nelson concert years ago — did not produce any noise worth mentioning.
“We have people here who want to complain about everything, and they want to make a mess,” the man said. “And I’m just here to say that it’s really not affecting anything and I’m right across the street.”
Thomas Mulder, a Southern Humboldt cannabis farmer, said live events at the fairgrounds would mean a great deal more entertainment for his son, who has fewer activities at hand during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Still another member of the public pushed planning officials to draft an environmental impact report, and not just an initial study, for the project, to “provide additional mitigation measures to reduce the level of noise below a level of significance.”
Arne Peterson, another Ferndale resident, chastised the fair board for its recent financial issues, calling the directors “incompetent” and saying, “They are absolutely irresponsible and it’s time that we recognize that.”
Commissioner Noah Levy acknowledged the larger criticisms but noted they had no bearing on the commission’s deliberation over a permit for live events.