By Greg Rowe
My involvement in evaluating and commenting on the merits of proposed development projects began in the mid-1980s when I joined the environmental commission of a rapidly expanding city in San Diego County. I later worked for a Bay Area business association, where I identified the pros and cons of development proposals, and then helped launch housing and commercial projects for the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency.
My career culminated as Senior Environmental Analyst for the Sacramento County Department of Airports for 13 years, where I studied the potential aviation impacts of housing proposals near airports. During the past nine years I have spent countless hours evaluating and suggesting improvements to proposed developments in my role as Davis planning commissioner.
This background means it takes an extraordinary proposal to garner my unqualified support. For the reasons summarized below, that project is Willowgrove, Measure W on the November 3 ballot. If approved by Davis voters, Willowgrove will transform 232 acres in northeast Davis into 1,250 homes of various types: single-family dwellings, townhomes, condominiums, and deed-restricted affordable apartment units for lower income households.
Willowgrove will also include a public park available to everyone, neighborhood retail, greenbelts, and off-site road and transportation improvements. The northern and eastern boundaries will include a 44-acre Urban Agricultural Transition Area (UATA) to separate the development from adjacent agriculture, while providing open space access, accommodating new habitat and stormwater infrastructure, and preserving habitat in flood control Channel A. The Development Agreement with the City provides that all of these improvements will be 100% developer-funded, bringing new community amenities without a cost to taxpayers.
Two important Measure W, Willowgrove attributes distinguish it from past Measure J/R/D projects, clearly demonstrating the developer’s dedication to the Davis community. First, the development’s displacement of farmland will be offset by the purchase of a permanent conservation easement on 374 acres of prime farmland near Davis. The easement will be owned and managed by the Yolo Land Trust, as recently approved by City Council. Such agricultural mitigation typically occurs only after passage of a ballot annexation vote.
Second, the Willowgrove developer has spent millions of dollars obtaining the City’s approval of a Vesting Tentative Subdivision Map, which involves detailed technical engineering work identifying the site’s grading, drainage, and infrastructure improvements. This step has never before been done for a Measure J/R/D vote, demonstrating both the developer’s commitment and allowing construction to commence within the next few months if Measure W is passed.
Willowgrove also far exceeds the City’s minimum affordable housing requirements, which for this project would be 141 affordable units, but will instead consist of 250 affordable units (20 percent of total project units), with all 250 units built in a single phase without City funding. The affordable site is prioritized and the plans already underway.
The Measure W, Willowgrove project will also provide over $6.8 million in additional affordable housing funding, including $1.8 for the City’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund to facilitate affordable housing opportunities, over $4 million in City development impact fees for the 250 affordable units, and $1 million for the project’s highly experienced affordable housing developer, The Pacific Companies. The developer has also partnered with Alta Regional to provide services to the occupants of at least 20 units that will be set aside for individuals with intellectual or development disabilities.
Since submitting its project proposal to the City five years ago, the Willowgrove developer has embraced an extensive and genuine public outreach effort, which resulted in many adjustments to accommodate community suggestions. This included a Memorandum of Understanding with the Wildhorse community, by which the project’s west boundary was adjusted to better protect the existing Wildhorse Agricultural Buffer, and 23 home sites on the west boundary will be limited to a single story.
As a planning commissioner, I have read and vetted hundreds of pages of environmental analysis, Development Agreement commitments, and conditions of approval for Measure W, Willowgrove. The analysis is thorough and the commitments are clear. Based on the many hours I devoted as a planning commissioner to studying Willowgrove and suggesting improvements that became a part of the final project, I urge Davis voters to join me in approving Measure W on the November ballot.
Greg Rowe is a 27-year Davis resident and has been a Davis planning commissioner since 2018.
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