AMCAL Student-Only Housing Project was voted down by the Arcata City Planning Commission

The AMCAL Student-Only Housing Project was voted down by the Arcata City Planning Commission at last week's meeting.



“This project went from 800 students to 700 students and a few changed trees, but basically we have the same elephant in the room that we started with,” said Commissioner Daniel Tangey on denying the recommendation of the project.

Instead of providing housing and mixed development that would integrate well with surrounding Arcata neighborhoods, Los Angeles developer AMCAL proposed to the Arcata Planning Commission a massive student-only development separate from the community and university. AMCAL's project would create multiple logistical and traffic problems due to its location across the highway from campus and its distance from services.

“The list of project objectives...were clearly designed to accommodate pretty much this project and this project only,” noted Commissioner Judith Mayer.

The massive Southern California-style development has citizens outraged over it's rejection of Arcata's inclusive community values.

"AMCAL’s massive student-only off campus dorm sends the wrong message to students.” stated ACRH's John Bergenske, “We want the young people who move away from their families to go to school, to arrive to a welcoming community that integrates them into all aspects of our lives. Isolating them into a massive managed complex is the wrong approach."

Bergenske continued, “Arcata and Humboldt State are inextricably linked. Many longtime residents came here to go to HSU,and stayed for the diverse, inclusive environment, where students, families and seniors all live near each other, interacting and mingling. Arcata has grown from interactions with students and vice-versa. We want housing that values and builds on our inclusive and integrated college-town community, not projects that will destroy it.”


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