City Council hears from R.I.V.E.R group, discusses traffic control devices

By KYLIE PORTZ
The Humboldt City Council held their regular meeting on Monday, Oct. 7.

At the meeting, City Administrator Cole Bockelmann gave updates on FEMA, new streetlights and the removal of trees by Arbor Pro.

Bockelmann reported that site visits from FEMA have been scheduled for Oct. 23 to access damage from the floods as well as the city’s mitigation efforts.

He said, “I’m cautiously optimistic that will go well, and we can get something done there.”

Bockelmann then gave an update on the new streetlights installed along Sumner Avenue.

He said, “K&W did finish the streetlights. The timer is out, so they’re on permanently until tomorrow.

According to Bockelmann, Humboldt County Housing closed on the 906 2nd Avenue N property.

He said, “That was a nuisance property for a while. We initiated the 657A process to acquire it, but Humboldt County hasn’t bought it, which worked out well. And they’re going to go ahead and get bids to demolish that.”
He also informed the council that the Eagle Ridge Nature Trail Project began today, Oct. 7.

R.I.V.E.R
On the heels of the Humboldt County Conservation Board’s decision to move forward with Alternative 2, or removal of both the Reasoner and Rutland Dams, members of the R.I.V.E.R development group were present at the meeting.

R.I.V.E.R development group spokesperson Bret Harklau was present during the meeting, along with supporters, to ask the city to sell the group a piece of land next to the dam so that the group can obtain insurance for the dam required for its purchase. B. Harklau said, “I talked to Cole (Bockelmann) about the west side of the river, there’s plenty of land out there and there’s three owners. If we could be the fourth owner in that, we’d all share it. That would be simple.”

B. Harklau expressed care for how the R.I.V.E.R project may affect the city’s bridge project.
He said, “But now with your bridge project, that would screw all that up, and it’s not worth messing that up. So, in part our goal was to fix the gates in the mill race anyway, and it’s been in our budgets and in our estimates to do that.”

“So, if there’s any way the city would consider letting us have a piece of ground there, you know where the bridge is at, and the gates there are from the mill race. They said, if we put a couple benches there, then we can call it a park, and then we could possibly get insured.”

He continued, “It is in our estimate to put the gates on that when we talked about through FEMA and Homeland Security getting some grants for that, but we’re not asking for a dime from anybody. Our group’s going to do it, take it over.”

B. Harklau said, “This is what it’s come down to. And we’ve tried to get management through the supervisors. I don’t know why they won’t let us manage it, because then we would qualify for insurance through the county’s insurance.”

He explained that if the Conservation Board moves forward with Alternative 2, then Humboldt will lose fishponds unless someone buys a pump to fill the ponds.

He said, “If the County and Conservation Board decides to cut the dam down, then if guys want to keep your fishponds, somebody’s got to buy a pump to pump water to fill those fishponds. And that’s not going to be a cheap item or a cheap deal to maintain and take care of. Once the water is low in the summertime, I don’t know where you’re going to find a deep enough hold to suck water.”

He mentioned that the R.I.V.E.R group would like to involve the community in keeping the fishponds by building a shed in the area and involving local high school students to raise the fish.

B. Harklau expressed why the R.I.V.E.R development group doesn’t approve of Alternative 2.

“We’re adamantly against option 2, because it’s silted in so bad. If they cut seven feet off, like the sand bar is full of trees now, at some point in the river, that slope is going to gradually get there. That’s all going be volunteer trees, and then there’ll be logs caught in it. And then when we get a flood, get high water again, some day it’s going to flood upstream where it's never flooded before. The other thing is, our group cleaned the dam off.”

Traffic Control

Following the discussion with the R.I.V.E.R development group, the council moved on to discuss and approve the application traffic control devices.

Bockelmann said, “this is part of a program they (the department of transportation) do for any towns with highways going through them. They pay and install digital speed feedback signs, so that’s not a speed camera. Just a sign that says, ‘okay you’re going 35, you’re going to fast or whatever.”

“The signs are a couple grand a piece depending on how big they are. Once they’re installed, we would own and maintain them. But I think the maintenance is minimal.”

The proposed location for these devices would be at the entrances to town from both Highway 169 and Highway 3.

According to a memo by Bockelmann, “the cost for the signs depends on the size but ranges from $2,000 to $4,000 for each sign.

The council agreed that the implementation of these signs with be beneficial to the community. Councilperson Joel Goodell made a motion to approve the application of traffic control devices for Highway 3 and Highway 169. The motion was seconded by councilperson Kirk Whittlesey.

Read the full story in this week's issue of the Humboldt Independent.