
today
8:30 a.m. Audubon Society Field Trip See Event Description
read >8:30 a.m. Alzheimer’s Resource Center Volunteer Training See Event Description
read >9 a.m. Arcata Farmers' Market Arcata Plaza
read >9 a.m. Speakers' Symposium College of the Redwoods
read >9 a.m. Humboldt Botanical Gardens Foundation Speakers’ Symposium College of the Redwoods
read >9 a.m. Humboldt Botanical Gardens' Speakers' Symposium College of the Redwoods
read >9 a.m. Fall Rummage Sale Arcata United Methodist Church
read >9:30 a.m. AAUW Meeting See Event Description
read >9:30 a.m. Little River State Beach Restoration See Event Description
read >9:30 a.m. Sierra Club Headwaters Hike See Event Description
read >10 a.m. Lanphere Dunes Guided Walk See Event Description
read >10 a.m. 5th Annual Synergy Fair Arcata Community Center
read >10 a.m. Go Green and Boost Your Bottom Line Wharfinger Building
read >11 a.m. Sustaining Excellence and Enthusiasm in Health, Relationships and Work Carlo Theater (Dell'Arte)
read >noon KEET's Kids Club Morris Graves Museum of Art
read >1:30 p.m. Humboldt County Historical Society Humboldt County Library
read >2 p.m. Arcata Marsh Field Trip Arcata Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary Interpretive Center
read >4 p.m. Woodside Preschool’s 36th Wine and Ale Tasting Gala Adorni Recreation Center
read >4:30 p.m. Harvest Dinner and Bazaar Humboldt Grange
read >5 p.m. A Toast to Music Christ Episcopal Church
read >5:30 p.m. Elvis and the Hound Dogs + Stolen Taxi Trinidad Town Hall
read >6 p.m. The Tumbleweeds Chapala Cafe
read >6 p.m. Arts Alive! Various Locations
read >6 p.m. Day of the Dead Exhibition Ink People Center for the Arts
read >6 p.m. Bar None 10th Anniversary Eureka Labor Temple
read >6 p.m. Randy Spicer Piante Gallery
read >6 p.m. Gallery Open for Arts Alive! Four Paths Gallery and Studio
read >6:30 p.m. ShinBone (Blues R&B) Eureka Theater
read >7 p.m. Mike Craighead and Sari Baker Old Town Coffee & Chocolates
read >7 p.m. Harvest Concert Arcata Presbyterian Church
read >7 p.m. 2 Left Feet Dance Project Redwood Raks World Dance Studio
read >7:30 p.m. Joe & Me Cafe Mokka
read >7:30 p.m. Cyrano de Begerac Eureka High School Auditorium
read >7:30 p.m. Torch Song Summit Eureka Women's Club
read >7:30 p.m. Jeff DeMark and the LaPatinas Westhaven Center for the Arts
read >8 p.m. Stones in His Pockets Arcata Playhouse
read >8 p.m. Humboldt Bay Brass Band Fulkerson Recital Hall at HSU
read >9 p.m. Synergy Six Rivers Brewery
read >9 p.m. Arts Alive! with Akaboom Sound Pearl Lounge
read >9 p.m. Tempest WAVE @ blue lake casino
read >9 p.m. Back In The Daze Dance Party Central Station Cocktail Lounge
read >9 p.m. Swingin' Country Band (country) Bear River Casino
read >9 p.m. The Zygoats + Alder Camp (rock) The Lil' Red Lion
read >9 p.m. DJ Knutz (funk) Muddy's Hot Cup
read >10 p.m. Music by DJ Sidelines
read >10 p.m. DJ Icy Hot Aunty Mo's Lounge
read >10 p.m. These United States (indie folk) Humboldt Brews
read >11 p.m. Hellbound Glory The Alibi Lounge and Restaurant
read >previous columns
March 5, 2009
Airborne With the Guardies
Perilous Plunge fans lined the docks, waving as the helicopter ...
read >Feb. 26, 2009
The Music Man
Squeezed between a barred-up Two Street Music and the typically ...
read >Feb. 19, 2009
Witness Recounts Stabbing
If Barbara Groom hadn't been craving a pint of Häagen ...
read >Willow Creek's Catch-22
By Andrea Davis
To the fear of some and joy of others, Willow Creek is destined to make one of those "top 10 small towns you must move to now" lists any minute. In the last year alone, Willow Creek has seen the expansion of the swanky Coho Cottages, the grand opening of River Song Natural Foods, the construction of a shiny Ace Hardware on prime real estate along Highway 299 and the launch of a new indoor gardening and farm store. The town's farm-to-table image is bolstered by well attended events like "A Taste of Willow Creek," a weekly farmer's market and regular wine tastings hosted by local vintners.
Yet the budding community is finding itself in a pickle. Willow Creek currently does not have any centralized wastewater treatment infrastructure. Existing homes and businesses rely on septic tanks and leach lines entirely. The lack of sewage infrastructure means new business opportunities in downtown Willow Creek are restricted to those that use little water, stifling the town's economic development potential. Water-dependent businesses such as hotels and restaurants are not likely to make it through Humboldt County's permitting process. If they did, required measures for wastewater compliance would likely be cost-prohibitive. As Greg Painter, a co-owner of Humboldt Land Company, explained, many of the downtown lots are simply not big enough for the physical building and an adequate septic system. Existing downtown businesses and property owners are already challenged by the expense of frequent sewage pumping, exacerbated by a high groundwater table and the natural topography of the business district.
A centralized sewage treatment facility comes with a hefty price tag. Willow Creek Community Services District General Manager Steve Paine has spent years in the tireless pursuit of funding to design and ultimately build the needed infrastructure. The District came close in 2004, when it received funding from the North Coast Water Quality Control Board for designing and engineering the project, only to have the money yanked after it was awarded and reallocated to the community of Tulelake. At the time, Tulelake was experiencing a wastewater emergency due the failure of infrastructure in their potato plants. Paine recollects the incident as an example of how politicized funding for these projects has become.
Despite the setback, Paine continues to seek funding for the project. The district's current plan hinges on a possible public-private partnership with a proposed mixed-income housing development planned adjacent to the Trinity River near downtown Willow Creek. The property, owned by Ron Gurin, is not likely to receive a green flag for development before a centralized wastewater treatment facility is constructed. Suffering from the lack of wastewater infrastructure, Gurin is willing to locate the future sewage treatment plant near his development.
For the time being, Willow Creek's roughly 1,800 residents are unhindered by this great sewage conundrum. This might not be the case for long, warned Greg Chisholm, another co-owner of Humboldt Land Company. The State Water Quality Control Board's deadline for public comments on its scoping of new regulations to upgrade residential septic systems was February 23rd. Depending on how the board rewrites the rules, property owners -- especially those closer to the Trinity River -- may find themselves facing requirements for costly septic upgrades and becoming the next group of stakeholders to rally around a wastewater treatment plant for Willow Creek.


















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