|
|
|
| |
|
Vol. I
No. 9 Another Track Opens Decision '06 EUREKA - A new effort is underway to make sure the public’s will is followed regarding any private development of the Balloon Tract.
“[POW] hopes that by putting this in place it will preclude much of the polarization and ill will generated by the Wal-Mart controversy,” Ferguson said. “This initiative doesn’t take any side on the current controversy. This group is affiliated with none of the existing groups. Its sole purpose is to put into the approval process another step, which is if the zoning of the Balloon Tract is to change, it must go to a vote of the people of Eureka.” Intentionally steering clear of affiliation with Citizens for Real Economic Growth, which hosted a presentation at the Wharfinger Building last month which was decidedly hostile to the prospect of the Marina Center development anchored by a Home Depot, Ferguson said he didn’t have a definite view on what should go on at the former rail yard, which is still owned by Union Pacific. “I am not arrogant enough to try to impose that opinion on the people of Eureka,” he said. “It should be their choice, we live in a democracy!” Ferguson’s Eureka Waterfront Approval Initiative would simply require voter approval for any change to the zoning for any land west of the Broadway portion of Highway 101, north of Washington Street and south or east of Waterfront Drive. With the Balloon Tract currently zoned public, any costs for the proposed election would have to be paid by the applicant developer. Security National, the Marina Center proponent owned by Rob and Cherie Arkley, were contacted regarding this story, along with various City officials, none of whom responded by deadline. Ferguson was careful to cast his initiative as an additional step on the long road for any potential developer, and not as a sign of distrust of elected officials. “I admire the work of the City Council, I respect them, however there’s occasionally an issue that comes before them that is of such importance that it almost depends a vote of the people,” he said. The initiative itself is based on a 1989 initiative from Albany, a small city near Berkeley, which forces a similar citizen vote for an area containing Golden Gate Fields, an aging horseracing track. “Many of the similarities are present in that it is a choice piece of waterfront property that the City of Albany felt the people should have a say about what went there,” Ferguson said. “If people are looking to come to a reasoned, quiet, unemotional debate about the future of the Balloon Tract, this initiative will give them that opportunity. Hysteria solves nothing.” According to Ferguson, City staff have acknowledged to him that the environmental review process underway would take at least nine months to a year before Councilmembers could take action on the zoning. Charles Douglas is the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of the Humboldt Sentinel. He can be reached at editor@humboldtsentinel.com. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Copyright © 2005-06, Humboldt Sentinel. All rights reserved. |
Longtime
local organizer Jim Ferguson, owner of Organically Delicious Café,
has formed a new group, Preserve Our Waterfront, with the intent of putting
an initiative he wrote on the November ballot.