Ongoing Community Outreach

how do I get involved

Upcoming Engagement Highlights

  • An in-person Open House is planned for January 21 and 22, 2022.  Open House hours will be 11:30 am-7 pm on Friday January 21st and 9:30 am to 3 pm on Saturday January 22nd, at the Arcata Community Center. Masking and distancing will be enforced.
  • Have you taken our City visioning survey yet? You can provide feedback on it here. 
  • Want to talk to us directly? We'll be at the Arcata Farmer's Market the 2nd and 4th Saturdays of the month in January. Or, email us at comdev@cityofarcata.org or give us a call at 707-822-5955.

Upcoming Presentations to City Committees

The Community Development Department has scheduled more public engagement opportunities this month which include: 

  • Tuesday, January 11 -  The Gateway Area Plan draft will be discussed at the Planning Commission’s regularly scheduled meeting at 6 PM. The meeting agenda and Zoom link will be available here on Friday, January 7. 
  • Tuesday, January 18 - The draft plan will be discussed at the Transportation Safety Committee’s meeting at 4:30 PM. The meeting agenda and Zoom link will be available here on Friday, January 14.
  • Thursday, January 20 - The draft plan will be discussed at the Historic Landmarks Committee meeting at 4 PM. The meeting agenda and Zoom link will be available here on Friday, January 14.

More opportunities for public engagement regarding the Gateway Area plan draft in February will be announced as dates are finalized. Community members are encouraged to sign up for the Community Development Department’s Long Range Planning & Community Visioning email notification list to stay updated on public comment and engagement opportunities. Sign up by clicking here.


Public Engagement

In order to undertake necessary updates to the City’s General Plan, there are some big questions that we need the community to help answer: 

  • What are your big ideas for the future of Arcata’s built, natural, and economic environment?
  •  What are the characteristics of Arcata that make it a great place to live, work, and play? 
  • What actions can we take to combat as well as adapt to climate change? 
  • What are the things in your community that could change that will strengthen your community to be a better place to live, work or play in the next 20 years?

We plan to ask these questions through a variety of methods, in order to ensure engagement that is both robust and COVID-safe.

Questions? Get in Touch with us.

  • Click here to sign up for our Long-Range Planning & Community Visioning eNotification email list to receive updates on upcoming meetings, draft documents and more. 
  • Email us at comdev@cityofarcata.org or give us a call at 707-822-5955.
  • Follow us on Facebook and Instagram and subscribe to our YouTube Channel.
city vision
  1. Online Surveys
  2. “Meeting-in-a-Box” Sessions
  3. “Town Hall” Zoom Meetings and In-person Open Houses
  4. Tabling
  5. Walking Meetings
  6. Highlights from Past Engagement Sessions

Online Surveys

The City will also release surveys on the City website that align with the questions asked at the Town Hall sessions, in an effort to bring along members of the community who cannot attend our meetings, but still want to engage in our processes. These surveys will be released concurrently with the public meeting where similar topics are discussed, and the surveys will remain open for the duration of the drafting of the relevant General Plan Elements. Once draft updates to the General Plan Elements are released, follow-up surveys requesting feedback on the proposed updates will be released to the public as well. 

Community Vision Survey

The Community Vision Statement identifies key community values and priorities on a 20-year horizon, and serves to guide the City's budget and project priorities. 

We are working to update this vision statement and you can provide feedback on it by taking our visioning survey below. 

The City’s Community Visioning survey above was made available on the City’s Strategic Infill page the week of the community visioning session, and will remain open until April 1st, 2022, in order to allow community members as much time as possible to engage with the materials.