Frequently Asked Questions

Measure F puts housing and the economic vitality of Eureka first.

Measure F does two important things for Eureka:

• One, Measure F will open the vacant former Jacobs Middle School site to hundreds of units of housing for working- and middle-income families.

• • • This is in addition to the affordable housing the city plans to build.

• Two, Measure F saves our Downtown small businesses by ensuring they have the accessible parking they need to survive.

Measure F provides a better plan to address Eureka’s housing crisis by opening the former Jacobs Middle School site to develop badly needed, family-friendly homes. 

Measure F is simple.  It makes two zoning adjustments to the city’s General Plan to allow for needed housing both Downtown and at the Jacobs site.

Finally, Measure F preserves Eureka’s small businesses and the arts and cultural activities that draw the community downtown by saving parking for Downtown shops and small businesses. 

The former Jacobs Middle School site has been sitting vacant and unused for years but has the potential to serve as the location for hundreds of desperately needed homes. Rezoning the property for homes will create a new, safe, environmentally friendly, family neighborhood. The site is within walking distance of public transportation, schools, grocery stores, medical services, and shopping malls. It offers the opportunity to develop community housing with open spaces for children to play safely, and new homes built here would not be heavily reliant on cars. The development of much-needed housing at the Jacobs site will increase property values and safer neighborhoods by providing stable housing for working- and middle-income families – a much better alternative to the current, high-risk downtown plan the city is pursuing.  Now, voters get to decide if the Jacobs site can be rezoned so family homes can be built.

To see the growing list of supporters, please click here.  This broad and diverse coalition of supporters for Measure F includes local small businesses, local leaders—including two former mayors, and thousands of residents focused on the future of Eureka.

Measure F provides a better plan to address Eureka’s housing crisis that considers all people. 

Eureka voters should make the important decisions about how to meet the city's housing needs, and Yes on Measure F is a better plan that does not jeopardize the accessibility and economic vitality of our city.

Measure F does not stop the construction of housing in Downtown Eureka. It is about ensuring that any new housing Downtown maintains existing parking, and it also rezones the Jacobs site for even more needed housing. We must all work together to help alleviate the current housing and homeless crisis while protecting our economic health.

A common way many cities address the parking issue is to build new housing developments with street-level parking and housing units above, which is what Measure F proposes. Here are just a few examples of affordable housing developments with parking:

Downey View in Downey, CA
Fourth Street Apartments in San Jose, CA
Centertown in San Rafael, CA
Farley Place in Belvedere, CA
Dewey Apartments in Stockton, CA

Yes on Measure F will give local voters a voice in the important decisions about how to meet Eureka’s housing needs.

Measure F requires new developments on certain Downtown public parking lots to maintain at least the same number of parking spaces currently available on the lot. It does not stop housing development on those lots or require additional parking for new residents. It simply maintains the current parking that is already there and that our Downtown community relies on.

No. Measure F does not affect the city’s funding for affordable housing or any other purpose. In fact, the city does not seek grant funding from the state for affordable housing construction—it is up to housing developers to seek grant funds.

Yes. Measure F helps the city meet its requirements by making additional property available for housing.

While Measure F does protect the parking that our small businesses rely on and need to keep their doors open, there is so much more. A Yes on F Vote will help address our city’s desperate need for more housing—both Downtown and at the former Jacobs site—and protect the accessibility and economic vitality of our historic Downtown by requiring the city to simply maintain current parking levels at specified lots.  

Measure F is needed to preserve Eureka’s small businesses and the arts and cultural activities that draw the community Downtown.

No. By opening up more land for development, Measure F will enable Eureka to provide even more housing than what is currently being planned.  

Measure F preserves the ability to build high-density affordable housing on downtown public parking lots but would require the city to maintain existing off-street parking spaces when constructing affordable housing on those lots. This is essential not only to the residents but also to our restaurants and businesses.

Since the measure does not prevent construction of any housing units, planned or future, it does not invalidate Eureka’s General Plan.

There is no “automatic” legal mechanism resulting in the city’s Housing Element being “decertified” the moment Measure F passes. If the State took the position that Measure F somehow caused the Housing Element to be out of “substantial compliance,” state law prescribes a process by which the city can correct that issue. The Builder’s Remedy would only come into play if the State determined that the measure caused the Housing Element to be out of substantial compliance AND the City refused to make corrective changes.