Planning Commission forwards McKinleyville Town Center ordinance and EIR to supervisors amid debate over Central Avenue 'road diet' and wetlands protections

The Humboldt County Planning Commission voted Tuesday to recommend that the Board of Supervisors certify the Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR) for the McKinleyville Town Center and adopt a zoning ordinance rezoning the town‑center area to mixed use with a Q (overlay) zone. The decision — the culmination of multi‑year public outreach, a community plan and a long Planning Department review — drew extended public comment and commissioner discussion focused on a proposed reduction of lanes on Central Avenue known as a ‘‘road diet,’’ protection and relocation of wetlands, and the scale of potential residential development.

The ordinance would rezone approximately the town‑center study area to a mixed‑use base zone with an overlay that establishes form‑based standards (street types, building height and frontage rules), public‑space and connectivity requirements, and procedures for wetland protection and mitigation. Staff and the McKinleyville Municipal Advisory Committee (MiCMA) explained the code would allow up to four stories on some primary streets and three stories elsewhere, create requirements for pedestrian and bicycle connections, and require an enhanced transit facility to be constructed before 50% of the buildable town center is developed.

Environmental review and wetlands: Planning staff said the FEIR found most environmental topics less‑than‑significant or less‑than‑significant after mitigation; the lone unavoidable impact identified was…