By Georgina Valencia
There is no perfect project and there is no perfect time. But, there are good projects that come at the right time. Such a project is Village Farms. There are a few reasons I will vote YES for Village Farms.
First, Village Farms is contiguous with the City and I would label this site infill. It is surrounded by The Cannery, F Street, Covell Blvd and Poleline Road. While this land is farmland and has been planted under tomatoes, wheat, corn over the years. It is surrounded by our community on three sides and is ideal for development.
Second, the property that Village Farms sits on is in the sphere of influence created in 2008. What is the Sphere of Influence? “The legislature created the mechanism a “’sphere of influence’ (SOI) as a means for planning of probable physical boundaries and service areas within a local agency…SOIs are designed to both proactively guide and respond to the need for the extension of infrastructure and delivery of municipal services to areas of emerging growth and development.” Village Farms (formerly Covell Village) is largely within the City’s SOI. This means we as a community, former Councils as well as City Staff, have thought for decades about the areas of future growth and this is one of them.
Third, and the most important reason, is the incredible need for housing in this town. I have worked in the Real Estate Industry for almost 30 years honing an education as markets rose and fell. That education tells me that Davis is expensive, not because it has an incredible downtown and shopping area, not because of the schools, not because of UC Davis. Davis is expensive because there is little growth and everyone that wants to live here competes with UC students, staff and faculty for food, parking and most especially housing. All of which makes us an expensive town to live in. I might add that along with those students there are a lot of landlords. In fact there are more landlords that own homes in Davis and rent them than there are actual homeowners living in their homes. To the tune of nearly 56.5% of Davis homes are non-owner occupied (i.e. rentals).
Finally, I read the EIR and understand the many ways that the dump site and plumes of toxins will be mitigated by this project. Let me offer the thought of “What will happen to those sites if we don’t develop the property?” If the site remains just as it is the waste will continue to leach into the soil and possibly the acquifer. Developing the site assures we deal with the issue, in a constructive way and that we build needed housing at the same time.
Davis is my town just like it is your town. Village Farms is being proposed for development by a local family. I have a greater confidence in the Developer who is a neighbor, whose kids went to our schools, who supports our community in so many ways, than the developer I don’t know, who isn’t my neighbor and hasn’t supported various community efforts.
I am voting yes on Measure V and Yes for Village Farms and I hope you do too.
Georgina Valencia is the Owner and Broker of Valencia Real Estate & Consulting. She has served on the Davis Social Services Commission, the Housing Element Commission and now serves on the City of Davis Planning Commission. She is a UC Davis Alumnae and lives in Davis with her husband and her standard poodle, Red.
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