Planning commission recommends changes to employee housing ordinance, raises water minimum and lowers unit-size minimum

The Humboldt County Planning Commission voted to recommend that the Board of Supervisors adopt an inland and coastal employee housing ordinance, after staff outlined definitions and development standards for agricultural and other employee housing and commissioners approved two substantive changes requested during the hearing.

Planning staffer Augustus Groschaw, Department of Planning and Building, told the commission the draft divides employee housing into linked and unlinked types and further into small-scale and large-scale categories, and described proposed objective development standards for ministerial review. "Employee housing is any portion of any housing accommodation or property upon which a housing accommodation is located," Groschaw said, and he described requirements for potable water, plumbing, wastewater and electricity.

The commission’s recommended changes came after questions about minimum potable water and unit sizes. Commissioner Lorna McFarland moved — and Commissioner Sarah West…