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Planning Commission declines to even discuss Village Farms evaluation process

By Roberta Millstein

At last night’s Planning Commission meeting, I was the only (!) oral commenter, via the call-in option. I raised a series of concerns about the process and timeline for evaluating the Village Farms proposal, which I will paste in below. Yet neither staff nor any member of the Planning Commission chose to acknowledge the existence of my concerns, much less respond to them. I will let the reader decide whether I am making a mountain out of a molehill (possibly) or whether the Planning Commission shirked its duty by not even discussing the concerns.

As background, the sole point of the meeting was to decide whether to “continue” the Dec 2 meeting until Dec 17, to “to allow for the final negotiations of the project’s draft development agreement to be completed such that the Planning Commission can take action before the draft is forwarded to the City Council for consideration.”

Here is the slightly longer version of my comments that I emailed to members of the Planning Commission prior to the meeting, differing primarily in the second paragraph which I had to cut for time in my oral comments.

I am extremely concerned about the process that has been laid out for the Planning Commission to analyze the Village Farms project.  I don’t think it makes sense to “continue” tonight’s meeting on December 17.  Rather, I think the Planning Commission should not take action on the Village Farms project until the completed Final Environmental Impact Report — the completed FEIR — is available.

In the City’s November 17 update, it was stated that “Preliminary results from an ongoing study – which is still underway – revealed that the wastewater treatment system is approaching capacity sooner than anticipated.”  The update indicated that the City is required to recirculate the portions of the Village Farms Draft EIR that require revisions to reflect this new information about the wastewater treatment plant.  It further stated that until January 2, 2026, the public may submit comments on the recirculated portions.  The City will then prepare responses, with the goal of having the completed FEIR available at least 10 days before the City Council’s planned meeting on January 20. 

All of that means that the completed FEIR will not be available until approximately January 10.  If the Planning Commission acts on the Village Farms proposal on December 17, it will be acting on incomplete information.  We cannot know what sorts of comments the City will receive on the Village Farms DEIR, but there is a reason for public comments and City responses — sometimes serious concerns are revealed that were not in the DEIR and which only appear in the FEIR.  Treatment of wastewater is expensive, technically complex, and environmentally important. The possibility of serious concerns about the capacity of our wastewater treatment plant means that it would be premature for the Planning Commission to weigh in on the Village Farms proposal on December 17.

Indeed, I am not aware of Davis’s Planning Commission ever having acted on a project proposal before the FEIR was available.  This is highly irregular and would call the recommendation by the Planning Commission into question.  What is the reason for this premature meeting?  What is the rush?  It appears that developer and the City are doing whatever they can to keep to the timeline of putting this on the June 2026 ballot, but their preferences are not a reason to shortchange the analysis.

Perhaps most concerning of all: California Government Code 65106 states, “Upon request all public officials shall furnish to the planning agency within a reasonable time any available information as may be required for the work of the planning agency.”  If the Planning Commission acts on Village Farms on December 17 without information required for its work — without the completed Final EIR that has up-to-date information on the impact to the wastewater treatment plant — will the City be in violation of this government code?  I don’t know who makes such a request, but if citizens can make it, I hereby make it. I would like the City to furnish the Planning Commission with a completed FEIR before the Planning Commission makes a recommendation concerning Village Farms.

This is not proper process.  The Planning Commission can meet on December 17, but it should not be to formally weigh in on the Village Farms project on that date.

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Comments

10 responses to “Planning Commission declines to even discuss Village Farms evaluation process”

  1. Rick Hoffmann

    As a former member of the Davis Planning Commission for 12 years, without me judging the project it seems unusual to not wait for the FEIR.

    Reply
    1. Roberta Millstein

      Thanks for this perspective. I certainly hope this doesn’t become the new normal.

      Reply
  2. Agnes Perroud

    Thank you Roberta. Your concerns are not only reasonable but of high value.

    Reply
    1. Roberta Millstein

      Thank you. ☺️

      Reply
  3. Greg Rowe

    Hi Roberta,
    Your frustration is understandable. However, the manner in which the agenda was structured would not have accommodated discussion of the concerns you raised. The project itself was not on the agenda. The only agenda item was to continue the meeting to a date and time certain, that being Wednesday Dec 17 at 6:00 PM (note starting time one hour earlier than normal). The agenda was also specific that public comment would only be allowed on the subject of the continuance, which is why the chair did not permit the only “in person” public commenter to make their comments (her intended commentary was unrelated to the agenda).

    It is anticipated there will be many in-person and recorded comments at the Dec 17 meeting. Those who intend to submit written comments are encouraged to do so well before the meeting date, so that planning commissioners will have sufficient time to read them. It is difficult to thoroughly study written comments that are submitted on the day of the meeting. (This is just my personal opinion.)

    Reply
    1. Roberta Millstein

      Greg, I would understand where you are coming from, except for the fact I did NOT discuss the project itself as you suggest. I only spoke about the continuance and crafted my comments with precisely that in mind. So, for example, one of you could have asked, “Is it normal, or appropriate, that we will be discussing an incomplete FEIR at the continued meeting?” Or one of you could have asked, “Is there a concern about being in violation of the ordinance that the commenter mentioned if we continue this meeting?” Now, of course, you might all still have decided to continue a meeting where you will discuss and approve an unfinished FEIR — a notfinal-final-EIR. But you would have done your due diligence by responding to at least some of the concerns that I raised.

      Let me put it this way, Greg — do you think in general it’s OK for the Planning Commission to weigh in on a project with an incomplete FEIR? And if the answer to that is “no” (as I hope it is), then what is it about this specific situation that makes it OK? That is something you could have discussed during the meeting and chose not to.

      Reply
  4. Eileen Samitz

    I agree with Rick. As a former planning commissioner myself, expecting the Planning Commission to make recommendations without having a completed Final EIR is not only unusual, but it is unprecedented. Davis have NEVER done this before and it should not be doing this for Village Farms.

    Reply
  5. Eileen Samitz

    Roberta,
    Thank you for this update and for pointing out this aberrant “process” that Village Farms is trying to get away with. On top of no completed Final EIR, there is NO development agreement, there are NO baseline project features of commitments defined for the Measure J/R/D ballot, as well as a plethora of unanswered questions, unresolved issues and a laundry list of “to be determined” and “if feasible” language in what documents have been released. Everything is “still undergoing negotiations” apparently even though the Village Farm developer wants to race his terribly flawed project to a premature June 2026 ballot and to try to postpone as many commitments and decisions until AFTER the Measure J/R/D vote.

    The Village Farms project is not ready for Planning Commission review and the Planning Commission should not be asked to give any recommendations until all the questions are answered, issues are resolved, commitments made and are in writing, the development agreement is and baseline project features are finalized and documented, and a completed Final EIR is released with ample time for the Planning Commission to review it. Since one of the many flawed portions of the Village Farms Draft EIR is being re-circulated for comment, that process must be completed FIRST for the Final EIR to be available and reviewed by the Planning Commission and the public.

    Reply
  6. Tuvia ben Olam

    Process, schmoses… yes, talkin’ ’bout guidance…

    Reply
    1. Roberta Millstein

      Yep, good guidance requires good process, at least in my book.

      Reply

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