Humboldt Planning Commission Rejects Road Waiver for McKinleyville Senior Community

The Humboldt Commons senior community project will have to widen Hiller Road after the Humboldt County Planning Commission unanimously rejected Life Plan Humboldt's waiver request at its March 19 hearing in McKinleyville.

Emma Haskett of Life Plan Humboldt put the cost of widening and paving the Hiller Road segment at $200,000, pushing the project's total offsite improvement bill to $1.5 million. That tab also covers sidewalk construction, improvements to Nursery Way, and a bicycle trail connection from the Central Estates subdivision to Hiller Road.

The commission maintained the requirement because granting an exception would conflict with the McKinleyville Town Center Ordinance, which requires Hiller Road widening at the earliest stage of development. County staff also pointed to a straightforward safety concern: properties to the west of the project parcel have already built similar improvements along the south line of Hiller Road, and leaving a gap in the pavement alignment would create a traffic hazard. The long-term goal is a Hiller Road cross-section with two auto travel lanes, medians and landscape strips, a bicycle lane, and sidewalks, as specified in the McKinleyville Town Center plan.

The commission softened the financial blow with a pair of conditions. To improve the odds of landing outside funding, the newly widened and paved strip will be designated as a buffered interim bicycle lane, which Humboldt County will stripe. Life Plan Humboldt also received five years to complete the improvements, with flexibility to adjust elements within the roadway cross-section once the McKinleyville Municipal Advisory Committee and the Board of Supervisors finalize the approved roadway design.

The road-widening decision was part of a broader package the commission approved the same evening. Under case number PLN-2025-19246, commissioners conditionally approved a parcel map subdivision to split an approximately 14.59-acre parcel into two lots, along with a special permit for wetland consolidation and restoration needed to prepare the site for senior housing construction. The commission found that the Programmatic Environmental Impact Report prepared for the McKinleyville Town Center, which explicitly envisioned the Life Plan Humboldt project, adequately addressed potential environmental effects, clearing the way without additional environmental review.