Trinity County reviews Douglas City and Hayfork community plans; staff recommends targeted edits, more outreach

Planners and consultants presented updated community-plan chapters for Douglas City and Hayfork as part of the Trinity 2050 general-plan review on Wednesday, recommending a set of modest text edits, a handful of new, high-level policies, and further targeted outreach to local residents.

The revisions condense earlier long community-plan documents and remove items now covered at the countywide level. For Douglas City staff proposed:

- Encouraging alternatives where full septic systems are infeasible, while noting state on-site wastewater (OWTS) rules and local health requirements limit long-term reliance on temporary measures.

- Keeping housing policy work in the countywide, HCD-approved housing element rather than adding new, site-specific housing mandates in the community plan; staff emphasized infrastructure shortfalls in Douglas City that constrain near-term housing growth.

- Considering new or clarified language about community services (for example, preferring mobile senior services or improved transit to a full local senior center) so policy reflects regional reality and costs.

- Adding language to support economic opportunities aligned with the town—s riverfront location, but directing technical rules (road access, sewer/wastewater controls) into the zoning and permitting process rather than the general-plan chapter.

For Hayfork, staff summarized the draft updates and public input and recommended:

- Encouraging improvements to sidewalk and multimodal access along Highway 3 and linking any sidewalk/pedestrian initiative to the county—s active-transportation planning and grant strategies rather than committing county construction funds in the plan text.

- Recognizing agritourism and hospitality opportunities as part of a diversified Hayfork economy, while developing the specific parcel-size requirements and performance standards in the upcoming zoning-code rewrite.

- Tightening economy-focused policy language (for example, expanded wording to invite tourism and agriculture stakeholders), and clarifying the town—s desire to sustain and expand locally owned businesses.

Community input and staff advice

- Several public commenters urged the county to be realistic about infrastructure limits (water, wastewater and access) before adding policy expectations for growth. Trinity County Environmental Health advised that alternative wastewater systems require careful review and that porta-potties or composting toilets are not simple substitutes for permanent sewage treatment.

- Residents and operators in Hayfork and Douglas City urged policies that preserve local economic opportunity, noting cannabis, eco- or agri-tourism and the Watershed Research & Training Center are all contributors to local employment. Planners recommended capturing the desire for local economic diversification in policy language, then crafting technical standards in zoning.

- On historical content the county found that much material is publicly available, but that adding more local history in plan chapters would require community members to provide documented material; staff said they would accept submission of historically grounded text but would not budget a separate research effort.

What staff will do next

- Planners will fold the recommended wording changes and minor new policies into a revised public-review draft and will bring those edits back as part of the two-day public study-session record and the next revised draft.

- Technical, enforceable measures (wastewater standards, parking, event capacity, noise and lighting performance standards) will be developed as part of the zoning-code update and through the EIR process. The county will not rely on the community-plan text to carry technical permitting requirements.

- The board asked staff to return with precise scoping and cost estimates for the targeted round of follow-up community engagement; the CAO—s office estimated about $50,000 as a ballpark figure for a limited outreach program.

Speakers cited in this report appear in the attached roster.