It’s been more than six months since the Humboldt County Planning Commission voted unanimously to approve the permits and permit modifications necessary for local developer Travis Schneider to tear down his partially constructed family mansion overlooking the Fay Slough Wildlife Area. The deal ratified by the commission in July would have seen Schneider avoid up […]
Planning Commission
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NCJ Preview: Fungi, Schneider Home Coming Down, Blue Lake on Parade
We’re talking about Humboldt County’s bounty of fungi and what to do with it, developer Travis Schneider’s home coming down, Annie and Mary Days in Blue Lake and more. Hit subscribe for weekly updates on Humboldt stories.
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PlanCo Approves Permits for Tear Down of Schneider Home
After an emotional apology from the developer, the Humboldt County Planning Commission voted unanimously Thursday to approve the permits and permit modifications necessary for Travis Schneider to tear down his partially constructed family home overlooking the Fay Slough Wildlife Area. After amassing a host of permit violations during construction of the more than 20,000-square-foot home […]
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Developer Agrees to Tear Down Controversial Home, Faces Daily $40K Fines
Local developer Travis Schneider has agreed to remove his partially constructed 20,000-square-foot home on Walker Point Road in an effort to resolve a litany of permit violations that resulted in a county-issued stop-work order on the project in December of 2021. In an April 5 letter to Humboldt County Planning Director John Ford, an attorney […]
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Embattled Planning Commissioner Bongio Steps Down
Embattled longtime Humboldt County Planning Commissioner Alan Bongio, who was censured by the Board of Supervisors in September for comments widely construed as racist and biased while chairing a meeting in August, has stepped down. First District Supervisor Rex Bohn, who appointed Bongio to the commission and said in September he would not remove him […]
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Local Developer Started Controversial Home Construction Without Permit
When then Humboldt County Planning Commission Chair Alan Bongio did some undisclosed concrete work at local developer Travis Schneider’s home, it may have been during a more than eight-month period in which Schneider was building without a permit, the Journal has learned. According to Schneider, Bongio did the concrete work on the project one day […]
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NCJ Preview: Burgers, Bareilles, Building Barriers and Bongio
NCJ Burger Week is upon us and we’re scanning the menu to see what’s flipping around the county. We’ll get into the free concert Humboldt native Sara Bareilles is playing in Eureka and how her roots have influenced her life and career. Down in Fortuna and Rio Dell, plans for new housing and other construction […]
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Planning Director: Developer’s Home is More than Double Permitted Size
It appears Travis Schneider’s problems may have just doubled in size. The local developer’s efforts to get a permit and permit amendments necessary to lift a county stop work order and resume construction of his family home on Walker Point Road south of the Indianola Cutoff have already been complicated by concerns over the permitted […]
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Supes to Consider Censure of Bongio
The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors is slated to consider censuring Planning Commission Chair Alan Bongio tomorrow, a month after he made incendiary and offensive comments about local Native tribes, referring to them as “Indians” while intoning they had lied and negotiated in bad faith with a local developer. The agenda item will also see […]
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Humboldt CSD Board to Consider Stripping Bongio of Presidency
The Humboldt Community Services Board of Directors will consider at its next meeting whether to remove Director Alan Bongio from his role as president amid an ongoing backlash over recent comments made in his role as chair of the Humboldt County Planning Commissioner that left local tribal officials deeply offended and shook their confidence in […]
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NCJ Preview: Ukraine to Eureka, Watson’s Support and Market Eats
The war in Ukraine is close to home this week as we look at how one Eureka family has taken a high schooler from the region and how folks in Humboldt can help sponsor refugees. As an update to Brett Watson’s re-election bid after a third-party investigation found he sexually harassed a city employee, the […]
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The Coastal Commission is Not the Enemy, Developers Flouting the Rules Are the Real Problem
Sure, an 8,000-square-foot house sounds crazy to those of us who somehow managed to raise three children in humbler accommodations, but saying you wouldn’t do something is always easier when that something isn’t an option. If I had the money to build a mansion, maybe I would! But what I wouldn’t do is choose to […]