Please Do Not Certify the Village Farms Application nor the Project Individualized Plan (PIP)

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December 16, 2025

TO Mayor and City Council and Planning Commission

FR David J Thompson

RE Please Do Not Certify the Village Farms Application nor the Project Individualized Plan (PIP)

With so many unanswered questions still on the table and even newer projections which are still not sufficiently clarified I do not feel that the Village Farms proposal and its PIP are factual enough to deserve certification or approval at this time.

My points are;

• A PIP is supposed to be better than if the normal standards were applied. I do not believe that the VF PIP described in pp 42-45 is
• For example, within that PIP there seems to be no moderate income ownership units which is an essential product in a large Davis SF centric development
• 4 parcels at a minimum of 2.5 means 4 different projects which means 4 different applications and four different funding streams to fulfill. Not easily done!
• Better to do two parcels for two projects accommodating 131 units each. Larger number of units per project score better and reduce the per unit costs than four smaller 66 units which score much lower
• Smaller 2.5+ acre sites are more difficult to build upwards because of lack of room on site. Are we still looking for 30 units per acre?
• By not defining where these four parcels will go it remains unclear as to if their location is adjacent to public transportation, shopping centers, etc., to gain additional needed points in the funding competitions.18 acres rather than 16 will provide the ability for the affordable units to have additional space to reduce the massing of the MF projects
• $6 million downstream ten years later will not have the same value to make up the larger subsidies needed today rather than ten years ago. The $6 million should be increased. For reference how many dollars per unit more does Mercy Housing need for their Bretton Woods project? City staff should have this number.
• The MF rental housing should be required to be mostly 2 and 3 bedroom units with some 4 bedroom units and very few or no one bedroom units. With that suggested mix there will be more families attracted to live there who will bring more children for the DJUSD. One bedroom units such as Creekside and Cesar Chavez Plaza bring too few children.
• Although not included in this PIP, the $70,000 assisted buying program should not be included at all as there is no definition of what income group it will serve and I very much doubt it will serve families between 80—120% of median income which would be the only way to meet City’s affordable housing requirements
• Too much still unclear about the VF project and PIP to be found to be better Please do not certify or approve at this time