Sabriyya Ghanizada, EcoNews Intern
The City of Eureka has voted to approve the Eureka Regional Transit and Housing Center (EaRTH Center), an intermodal living space proposed on the parking lots of 3rd and H Streets in Old Town Eureka. Connie Stewart, the Executive Director of Initiatives at Cal Poly Humboldt, spoke in support of the center at a special city council meeting on Wednesday, February 9. “It’s a multi-modal transit center,” said Stewart during a Zoom interview. “Similar to what a lot of other communities have built long ago, which is creating a space for efficient transportation for folks that use alternative transportation, combining it with housing and shopping and other amenities.”
The current space is a parking lot for businesses such as Lost Coast Brewery and Redwood Retro. Rick Littlefield, a property owner across from the proposed site, was one of many Eureka business owners who attended the meeting to express their opinions about the project.
“There are so many things I like about the project, I like the sustainability of it, the infill. I like the way that transportation would be reorganized somewhat,” said Littlefield. “But I have some problems with this to be honest, to take out the primary parking lot in the heart of downtown, the old town area, is very concerning. So I do like this project, but I don’t like it here.”
Servitas, a woman-owned property management company contracted to help build the EaRTH Center, surveyed the nearby lots but excluded the proposed lot during their presentation at the council meeting. City Manager Miles Slattery addressed the parking mitigation during the special meeting. “I know there’s some concern for not showing the lots… the reason for that was to demonstrate that out of the 78 spaces that are gonna be gone, there’s more than ample room to make up for that and the mitigation for that was the shuttle.” An electronic shuttle is proposed to travel before 8:00 am and after 5:30 pm on a Monday through Friday basis.
The center will feature several modes of transportation and rideshare, including fuel cell electric buses (FCEBs) which are being built specifically for the project courtesy of New Flyer. Writing the proposal for the grant began roughly four years ago by Greg Pratt from the Humboldt Transit Authority (HTA) and Peter Lehman of Schatz Energy Reserach Center at Cal Poly Humboldt. The grant is a part of a larger project to make sure Humboldt County complies with the Innovative Clean Transit (ICT) regulation mandated by the California Air Resources Board (CARB).
Schatz has been a pioneer in alternative energy, such as hydrogen fuel, for the last thirty years. Hydrogen fuel is non-toxic, carbon free and if made with wind or solar energy, 100% renewable. The hydrogen-fueled buses by New Flyer are particularly favored over battery-operated buses which can handle shorter city routes but not the new proposed routes that will connect Humboldt County transit riders to Ukiah, the Smart Train and the Bay Area via the proposed Redwood Coast Express (RCX).
“If I could step back for a minute and say that we’re trying to save the earth here,” said Lehman when answering questions regarding the grant. “Probably the hardest part of addressing our emission of carbon dioxide is transportation and getting people out of their cars. I mean making power renewables… we’ll figure that out, but getting people to stop driving their own personal cars that’s going to be… real tough… and this project is an effort to do that, to get people out of their cars, reduce vehicle miles traveled and provide a way for people to get from Humboldt County to the Bay Area is one thing that we’re going to do and we’re doing it with zero emission fuel-powered buses.”
The EaRTH Center is proposed to have a total of 31 apartment units dedicated to students, workforce members, traveling doctors and nurses. If the grant is approved, the units may provide up to 90 Cal Poly Humboldt and College of the Redwoods students with secure housing. A slight but welcome respite as Cal Poly Humboldt’s polytechnic proposition includes doubling its size to 12,000 students by the end of the decade. Twelve of the units are proposed for workforce housing and four for doctors and nurses. In order to secure the housing, there will need to be buy-in from the University, local hospitals and businesses to make sure the space is dedicated to the proposed residents.
“There’s two ways that it helps,” said Stewart. “The Cal Poly model is learning by doing, so part of it is, as a University with expertise in alternative energy, being of service to the region by providing the region with assistance to build projects that are part of the emerging industry, technology and environmental solutions. Then there’s the piece about student housing: the opportunity to start putting housing in other places that are just dedicated for students.”
A way to get people out of their cars is to make sure that transportation options are better than their personal cars. Having the convenience of using transportation made available where they live can give students time to study or relax before their classes while not having to worry about finding parking.
Housing insecurity is an emerging issue around America and Humboldt County is no exception to the crisis. The proposed 31 units were supported by Eureka residents with some even asking for the possibility of providing more units by creating a taller building.
Currently, the City of Eureka has no central transit center despite having a Regional Transportation Plan in place for over 20 years that would require one. If the grant is approved in June, the EaRTH Center, including the 11 New Flyer FCEBs that will be stationed and fueled at the center, will be a demonstration of cutting edge technology that could set the tone for sustainable public transportation all across America.
“That’s the real goal, to reduce the vehicle miles traveled in Humboldt County and in California,” said Lehman. “It’s the right thing to do. It’s the right way to do it for the Earth.”
Sabriyya Ghanizada is an Intern with EcoNews for the spring. A Journalism News major at Cal Poly Humboldt, Sabriyya has written published pieces for each of the student-run publications: The Lumberjack, El Lenador and Osprey Magazine. Currently, she is the Editor-In-Chief of Osprey running a humble nine-person team. Sabriyya currently has her eyes set for graduation in the spring 2022.