FAQs

The site is zoned Public Facilities (PF). The PF zoning district provides locations for schools, governmental offices and facilities, community assembly uses, courthouses, social services, cemeteries, fairgrounds, airports, marinas and wharves, utility facilities, and other similar public and civic uses.

The following tables lists the types of uses that are allowed in the PF zoning district and some key development standards for the district.

At their meeting on December 14, 2023, the Eureka City Schools Board of Education voted unanimously to authorize the district to enter into escrow with AMG Communities Jacobs, LLC, a recently registered LLC, for purchase of 8.3 acres of the property. Neither AMG Communities Jacobs, LLC nor the School District has reached out to the City of Eureka regarding the sale as of the date of publishing this page (1/3/23).

An initiative ballot measure qualified for the City’s next general election which is referred to by proponents as the “Housing for All and Downtown Vitality Initiative”. If passed by the voters, this initiative would significantly increase the types of uses allowed on 60% of the Jacobs Site to allow for a broad array of residential and commercial uses in addition to the uses allowed by the site’s current Public Facilities zoning, while dedicating 40% of the site to high-density residential uses.

Specifically, the Initiative would add a policy to the Housing Element of the City’s General Plan that would create a “Housing for All (HFA) Overlay Designation” and apply that designation to the Jacobs Site. The HFA Overlay would allow the following uses “by right” at the Jacobs Site:

1. High density residential (R3); 
2. Medium density residential (R2); 
3. Low density residential (R1); 
4. Public and quasi-public uses compatible with a residential setting; 
5. All principally permitted neighborhood-serving commercial uses allowed under the Neighborhood Commercial (NC) zone and Neighborhood Market (NMO) overlay zone; 
6. All principally permitted uses allowed under the Downtown (DT) zone; and
7. All principally permitted uses allowed under the Public Facilities (PF) zone. 

The policy would also require at least 40% of the total ground area of the Jacobs Site (~5.6 acres) to be dedicated to high density residential uses, exclusive of any areas dedicated to public facility uses. Under the City’s current zoning code, over 22 dwelling units per acre is considered high-density residential development.

The initiative requires the City to amend its General Plan Land Use Map and zoning regulations and maps applicable to the Jacobs Site to be consistent with this new policy within 90 days of its effective date. The initiative specifies that it will take a vote of the people to amend or remove these provisions in the future.

None of the existing zoning districts in the City’s Zoning Code allow exactly the mix of uses dictated by the initiative. Potentially an existing mixed-use land use designation and zoning district that allows for a diversity of uses could be applied, and then a Special Considerations Overlay Zone could be added to allow for deviations from the base zone that are consistent with the General Plan land use designation. Or the City may need to adopt a new land use designation and zoning district to match the language of the initiative.

Here is a full list of the use types that would required to be authorized by right at the Jacobs Site if the initiative passes: 

The Eureka City Schools Board of Education voted to sell the property in May 2019, and acquisition discussions with the City picked up in 2021, which resulted in the City getting an appraisal of the property based on the site’s current Public Facilities zoning. The offer price based on the appraisal was not acceptable to the Eureka School District, so the City got a second appraisal for the lower 8.3 acres based on rezoning to Residential Medium (R2), while retaining the remainder of the site as ball fields. The City then made a third offer to purchase the entire 14.1-acre site using the price per acre for the R2 zoning across the entire site, while still committing to retain almost six acres of the site as ball fields in perpetuity, resulting in a $2.8 million offer. Eureka City Schools was not willing to sell for less than $4 million, so the negotiations ended in October 2022.

If the City’s Housing Element is out of compliance with State Housing Element law, the City cannot deny a qualifying housing project (e.g., projects with at least 2/3^rds of the square footage designated for residential use and 20% of dwelling units designated for low income households) even if the project is inconsistent with the City’s General Plan and Zoning Code. This is known as “the builder’s remedy” and would allow housing development projects to ignore City code standards (e.g., the developer wouldn’t have to abide by the City’s maximum building height limit or parking requirements). 

The ballot initiative can be found on this website under the "Informative Documents" section.

Information on the ballot initiative is also located at the City of Eureka's Planning Department webpage under the "Planning Library" section. Here is a link to the webpage: https://www.eurekaca.gov/681/Planning-Library