ARC Lacks Parks

This letter was sent to the City of Davis Recreation and Park Commission meeting for consideration for their meeting about ARC tonight. The meeting is being held through zoom at 6:30PM and you can join the meeting and offer comment either by clicking this link:

 

 

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Dear Recreation and Park Commissioners,

I am writing to express my serious concerns on a lack of park space in the ARC proposal. 

 

The document from the developer included at the end of the tonights staff report  starting at page 34 has the following details (link):

• The current ARC proposal only has 12.7 Acres of Parks.
• The developer is required to provide 11.14 acres of parks for the 850 housing units under city code.
• There is no mention of park requirements for the  
• 1,610,000 sf of Office/R&D/Laboratory 
• 884,000 sf  of  Advanced Manufacturing
• 100,000 sf  of Retail

While it is true the developer is meeting the requirement for parks for the residential housing, there is little park land beyond that for the massive commercial properties. Apparently there is no specific requirement for parks for commercial use in City code, but the Rec and Parks Commission, Planning Commission and City Council can and should require sufficient park space to meet the needs of  the proposal. A major new development like this should certainly be asked to include enough park space so other parks in Davis are not negatively impacted. Considering there will be 5,800 employees on site here every day using the parks, it is just going to need more park space. 

 

The developer has specifically stated the ARC parks will be used by business park employees. Page 34 of the staff report also says the main 7.5 acre park "area is envisioned to serve the needs of ARC sports leagues (i.e., corporate softball) and other community leagues. The remaining three parks range from 1-acre to 2.5-acres and will primarily serve the needs of the residents and employees alike, though all ARC parks will be open to the public."

 

Clearly if 5,800 employees are going to be using the parks for "corporate softball" or other activities that will be a lot of park use. The configuration of the parks encourages this use by locating mixed use stores and restaurants around the main park and locating the transit terminal in the main park. (A small additional point, the transit terminal is located in the main park and appears to be counted as park land. It is .6 acres.)

 

By comparison, the previous MRIC business park proposal from the same developer that had no housing in it included 18.7 acres of parks. This can be seen in table 3-3 on page 3-31 of the MRIC EIR.  (link)
 it makes no sense that the developer would include more parks in a buisness only proposal, and then drastically reduce parks in the ARC proposal that has every bit as much space for commercial and adds 850 residences. Notably MRIC project description even had slightly less commercial space.

 

 

 

In conclusion, It makes no sense to increase the intensity of use on the development site, add 850 residences and reduce the park space. The developer invisions parks being used by the 5,800 employees of the commercial tenants, but is only meeting the minimal  requirement for parks based on the 850 residences. As a result the proposal has a significant lack of parks to serve the needs of both the residents and the business of ARC.

 

I recommend requiring the developer to provide significantly more park space as a baseline feature. 

Finally, I want to draw your attention to a recreation use of the current property that will be lost once this project is built. "The Davis Ditch" is a drainage area popular with the regional skateboard scene and is located in the south east corner of the property. You can read more about it here.  https://newdavisite.wordpress.com/2020/03/30/skating-the-davis-ditch/  

I hope this is helpful.

Colin Walsh