11/15/2024
Let's round out our history. As with all grand ideas, projects such as this take a great deal of time, sometimes years to become a reality. And such was the case with this project.
One day while driving along Highway 1, it occurred to one of the project's team members that the perfect location could be the historic Point Arena Lighthouse Keepers, Inc. grounds. He felt that the site, surrounded by ocean, open space and magnificent sounds, would coincide perfectly with the veteran's early vision of the monument. For many years, the light station was managed by one of the branches of the military, the U.S. Coast Guard , which could make it the perfect site for such a grand concept.
After the idea was presented to the monument team, it was enthusiastically embraced, and a plan was put in motion to make a presentation to the Point Arena Light House Keepers Board to gauge their interest and hopefully secure their agreement.
Early on the morning of December 16th, 2019, in a utility building that doubled on this morning as a conference room, NCCVM board members Kenny Jowers, Tim Balambao, Mary May, and Hal Ferguson pitched the idea of locating the Northern California Coastal Veterans Monument on the lighthouse grounds. The lighthouse board's reaction was mixed, but they were willing to further explore the idea with the team.
Much back-and-forth conversation ensued, and then the global pandemic hit, but the board remained interested. Agreements such as this can be complicated, but finally in November 2020, the Lighthouse Board agreed that that the monument would augment their own mission while providing an ideal setting for the Northern California Coastal Veterans Monument!
The monument team and the board agreed that, in addition to the historic Point Arena Lighthouse and the Point Arena/Stornetta Public Lands California Coastal National Monument, the Northern California Coastal Veterans Monument would be a welcome and beneficiary addition.
In February 2021, with the help of local architect Matthias Oppliger, the NCCVM application, along with architectural drawings and renderings, was submitted to Mendocino County Planning and Building for approval. That approval is still pending.
Once the dream of our monument finally becomes a reality, it will offer lasting proof that our veterans will never be forgotten.
Since that 2021 application was submitted, the county has had many requirements for us to continue to move forward. Our archaeological survey has been completed by Sonoma State University, which found no historical archaeological issues with the site. We have presented that report to the Mendocino County Archaeological Commission hearing for the project.
We have also completed our botanical survey which was performed by Sol Ecology of Petaluma. The CEO, founder and principle biologist of that company, Dana Riggs, is a woman veteran herself and has graciously donated all of her time and much of the expense of this project which has been extensive. We are very grateful for Dana's participation and pushing this process through the county planning department. In early January 2023, a third completed proposal to the Mendocino County Planning Department has been submitted for approval. We remain optimistic that they will allow our project to move forward this year!
