Zoning change adds requirements for building in city’s wetlands and gulchesOn Tuesday, the Eureka City Council adopted an ordinance aimed at protecting greenways and gulches in city limits and approved amendments to the municipal code related to the greenways. The ordinance, long in the works, establishes a zone with extra permits and standards for projects on slopes near Eureka’s wetlands and waterways.The ordinance adds a newly formed gulch greenway zone, which stretches across much of southeast Eureka. The amendments adopted Tuesday tweak the code to add standards in relation to the greenways.City goals of the ordinance are to protect water quality for streams that flow to Humboldt Bay, and keep the gulches intact for wildlife corridors and habitat.The ordinance means Eureka’s greenways would have protections in city development rules for the first time — previously during a hearing on the ordinance, Eureka’s Development Services Director Cristin Kenyon said the existing inland zoning code didn’t have any special protections for these areas that host wetland streams and riparian habitat, allowing some development without triggering city approval.“Eureka gulches and greenways already support essential ecosystem services, which will become increasingly important with climate change, especially as they are the few remaining remnants of a vast network of wetlands, streams and sloughs that used to make up this area before it was urbanized,” said Sylvia van Royen during public comment, an analyst for Humboldt Waterkeeper who spoke in support of the ordinance.Read More
