Humboldt County General Plan Update approved after close to 20 years of review

EUREKA – Humboldt supervisors, county staff and community members have been at work to approve a General Plan Update for the county for close to 20 years, and now a plan has is approved.

The GPU outlines a growth plan and environmental protections in place for the county which will be used for the next twenty years, and could be referred to up until 2040.

It took years and tons of work, and it’s a guide that can be amended.

Land use was one of the controversial pieces of the puzzle, with population growth on the rise but uncertain for the county, whether to use open land for new homes and infrastructure or leave it untouched was highly debated.

Eventually staff came to a compromise, leaving both sides not entirely satisfied.

“We came up with the perfect mix of looking at environmental needs and the property rights needs. It’s a good cross section,” said Supervisor Rex Bohn, “If everybody’s mad, you’ve come up with a good plan and it sounds like we’ve got people upset on both sides because they didn’t get everything they want. Because at the end of the day we have to protect what’s right for the county and I think what we’ve done is given that a balance.”

The plan was finally approved Monday with a 3-1 vote from supervisors, with Estelle Fennel on leave.

The next step in the GPU is implementation, which will require be an ongoing process.

To see the newly approved plan in full, you can visit this link: https://humboldtgov.org/273/General-Plan-Update