Humboldt Residents File Ballot Initiative to Ban Large Warehouses from the Coastal Zone

Press release from Indivisible Trinidad:

Humboldt County residents have filed a ballot initiative to permanently ban large-scale warehouse and distribution facilities from the county’s Coastal Zone — protecting the local businesses and coastal ecosystems that make this one of California’s most extraordinary places. 

The measure, submitted by Indivisible Trinidad, would prohibit new warehouse or distribution facilities exceeding 20,000 square feet within the Coastal Zone. Marine-dependent uses are fully exempt. The prohibition applies to all pending applications for which a Coastal Development Permit has not yet been issued. 

“We have something special here worth preserving,” said Dr. Tina Freeland, Indivisible Trinidad organizer. “Old-growth redwoods. A spectacular coastline. Working harbors and fishing families who’ve been here for generations. Small seaside communities with local shops. People come to Humboldt because it means something different. Industrial warehousing dismantles that.” 

Businesses that thrive in Humboldt reflect the place itself — independent bookstores, galleries, art studios, nature outfitters, handcraft shops, farm stands and small inns tucked into the trees. Their customers are visitors who drive hours to be somewhere that doesn’t look like everywhere else. That environment and the economy are fragile and irreplaceable, not compatible with industrial truck traffic, security lighting and concrete warehouse pads on the coastal bluffs. 

Large warehousing can be located anywhere. There is no reason to put it here. “Communities up and down this coast have watched industrial development hollow out the very thing that made them special,” said Dr. Freeland. “Humboldt still has what those places lost. This is how we keep it.” 

As soon as their petition is approved, Trinidad Indivisible and other community organizers will be collecting 4,874 valid signatures from registered Humboldt County voters to place the measure on the November ballot. 

To get involved, contact [email protected].