Public pushes HCOG to keep 'climate crisis' language and 80% housing target as RTP moves toward adoption
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Summary
During a review of the draft regional transportation plan staff reported 216 survey responses and 41 emailed comments; major public themes were restoring 'climate crisis' wording, retaining an 80% target for new housing in walkable/transit-accessible locations (not delaying it to 2030), and preserving objective funding-consistency criteria.
Humboldt County Association of Governments staff told the board Jan. 15 that public engagement on the draft Regional Transportation Plan produced 216 survey responses and 41 emailed comment letters, with coordinated submissions from CRTP, EPIC and 350 Humboldt driving three central issues: climate terminology, housing target timing and funding-consistency rules.
Associate regional planner Stevie Luther said 216 people completed the public survey and summarized results showing walking and bicycling comfort and local road maintenance as top priorities; supporting the transition to electric vehicles ranked lower. Luther said 31 of the 41 emailed comments were coordinated through a call to action and that the major comment themes were: restoring the phrase 'climate crisis' in several places in the RTP text; retaining the policy that 80% of new housing be located in places accessible by walking, biking, rolling or transit (and not shifting the policy’s target year from 2022 to 2030); and keeping a funding-consistency analysis to ensure discretionary regional funds align with RTP goals.
Public commenters pushed staff to keep stronger climate wording and the original housing target. Colin Fisk of CRTP asked the board to "restore all of the uses of the phrase climate crisis" and to keep the 80% target, arguing the target concerns relative location and travel-time potential rather than infrastructure alone. Matt Simmons of EPIC emphasized transportation’s role in county emissions and urged the board not to delay the housing target, saying the county would see substantial housing built in the next four years and that planning should encourage that housing to support climate and transit goals. Nancy Ihara (350 Humboldt) urged restoring the RTP’s older funding-consistency language, saying it better aligned projects with the RTP’s stated goals.
Staff told the board that the proposed change to the housing-target year was intended to reflect available data — staff relied on an analysis showing 34% of permitted units in 2021 were walkable and 43% bikeable countywide — and that the transit-time (transit-score) component of the analysis was incomplete and would require additional work. Staff recommended that the board could direct staff either to retain the 2022 target year or move it to 2030 for the purposes of measurement, and that the underlying policy commitment to infill and walkable, mixed-use development would remain unchanged.
Board members expressed mixed views: several favor keeping the 2022 target or at least restoring strong climate language; others said staff should complete the transit-time analysis before finalizing the measurement year. Staff said it expects to return a final draft and any action items in March or April after further technical work and local agency review.
