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  • Davis Planning Commissioner Explains His “No” Votes on Village Farms

    [Note: a shorter version of this article appeared in today’s Davis Enterprise. This longer version gives additional details and background for Commissioner Rowe’s votes.]

    By Greg Rowe

    Introduction

    The planning commission’s marathon December 17 meeting concluded with two recommendations to city council for the proposed Village Farms development: certify the project’s Environmental Impact Report (EIR); and approve the project for a Measure D election.  It is expected that by January 20, Council will consider those recommendations and decide whether to place the project on the June ballot.  (January 20 is the last meeting date when Council can meet the County’s deadline for June ballot measures.) Voter approval would be followed by a general plan amendment, pre-zoning, and annexation of the site from Yolo County.   

    I voted against certifying the EIR because of what I am convinced are serious procedural irregularities, based on working with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) since 1984. I likewise declined to support the project because I am convinced its location within a flood hazard zone would compromise the safety of Davis residents within Village Farms.   

    What is Village Farms?

    The developer proposes to build 1800 market rate and affordable homes of various types, ranging from apartments to single-family detached homes. There would also be parks, open space, a protected 47-acre wetland habitat, a site for pre-K daycare, and a small land dedication to the City of Davis for public facilities. The property comprises 497 acres situated at the intersection of Pole Line Road and Covell Blvd, extending westward along Covell and north along Pole Line to the Blue Max Kart Club and Davis Paintball.  

    The proposed project would border The Cannery neighborhood, wrapping around that community on its north side and extending northward along the east side of F Street.  A major City of Davis drainage course (“Channel A”) flows west to east through a portion of the Village Farms site. The developer has stated that grading and infrastructure installation would take about two years, and buildout would occur in four phases lasting an additional 15 years. Pursuant to the draft Development Agreement (DA) between the developer and the City, the developer would install grade-separated bicycle and pedestrian crossings of Pole Line Road and F Street.     

    Climate Change and Floods

    The Central Valley has long experienced devastating floods, as described in historian Robert Kelley’s seminal 1998 book, Battling the Inland Sea.  The risk of flooding is now much greater because of a warming climate and a higher population that would be exposed to flooding caused by large and intense storms.

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  • Comments needed requesting the “Reduced Footprint” alternative be included in the Village Farms DEIR by this Friday Jan. 2 at 5pm

    By Eileen M. Samitz

    The Partially Recirculated Village Draft EIR has included the five alternatives in Chapter 7,  “Alternatives Analysis” from the original DEIR. This opens that door to comment on adding the “reduced footprint” alternative proposed by Davis citizens requested at  the Dec, 12, 2023 City Council meeting. This alternative should have been included, which is similar to the “environmentally superior” reduced footprint alternative which was included in the previous Covell Village Draft EIR. Because this “Alternative Analysis” chapter is included in the Partially Recirculated DEIR, comments on the Alternatives Analysis are now “in-scope” until Jan 2nd at 5 pm. That means the city has to evaluate and respond to all significant points you make related to this topic. It’s your right under CEQA. Here’s a definition of what makes a point significant:

    “A “significant point” is a substantive comment that raises a material environmental issue or identifies a   specific deficiency in the EIR’s analysis, conclusions, or mitigation such that the agency must address it with a reasoned written response grounded in the record (not a mere acknowledgment).”

    Because the Village Farms process has been so aberrant and fast-tracked from the beginning, our public input has been compressed timewise. Because all of this was piled on during the holidays, including back-to-back public meetings, we now only have until this Friday Jan. 2, at 5pm to submit our comments to ask for this reduced footprint alternative.

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  • Celebration of Abraham: Save the Date

    (from press release) SAVE THE DATE

    Celebration of Abraham, 3 PM
    February 1, 2026

    Woodland Mosque and Islamic Center
    613 East Street
    Woodland, CA 95776

    More info to come!

    Celebration of Abraham is a tax-exempt, nonprofit organization that aims to increase understanding and respect among all faiths in Yolo County based on the principles of religious pluralism.

  • Vigilance Neighbors, In this Season Rest

    By Scott Steward

    Overcome and grateful for the rest, my activist colleagues, near and far, may you feel the blessing of solstice on these longest nights.

    Many rest, taking the season to focus more on charity.  The people’s work, to organize and break through the repression, is set to a simmer.  Settle down – take the following “caring for the world” paragraphs one at a time, holding a warm mug. Rest and restore.  Inspiration will call you to act soon enough.

    Our Actions Abroad

    Blankets and dollars for Gaza.  Here is one of the most effective places to send aid to the children and families in occupied Palestine

    Children in Gaza ride in the open bed of a truck with water and all their possessions.

    Help Gaza survive this winter by donating to @projecthopepalestine. Part of the Taxpayers Against Genocide family of humanitarian efforts that go hand in hand with ending the illegal funding of genocide in Israel/Palestine.

    Our Actions Here at Home

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

    [The following message was shared with the Davisite for posting]

    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;

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  • “No” to a Fourth Fire Station

    By Elaine Roberts Musser

    The newly released city staff report for Village Homes still includes a fourth fire station. It also adds a public safety center for police and EMS for good measure. It is estimated the fourth fire station alone would cost the city $3.5 million per year. God only knows how many more millions of dollars the addition of police and EMS at that spot would set the city back!

    Where in the heck does city staff think the money for all this is going to come from? Last I looked there was no money tree in the back of City Hall. Nor do taxpayers have unlimited pockets. Many citizens are struggling just to make ends meet, as Mayor Vaitla has noted often enough, especially in light of what is going on at the federal and state level.

    Additionally, City staff is trying to claim the city’s General Plan requires a fourth fire station, which is a patently false assertion. The general plan called for an analysis of fire facility needs, not construction of a 4th fire station.

    The next fairy tale spun by city staff is that the Fire Department or the City Council itself already made the decision to build a 4th fire station. Where does staff get this tarradiddle from? First, the October 30, 2018 City Council minutes prove otherwise – the City Council just flat out didn’t make such a commitment. Second, the Fire Department has no authority to approve such an undertaking.

    If the City Council wants this development project to pass a measure J/R/D vote, then any mention of a public safety center and 4th fire station should be completely removed. Any lame attempt to supposedly set aside a parcel for “public safety”, to disguise the real intent to build a fourth fire station, will not fool anyone.

    For more complete information go to the following link: https://davisvanguard.org/2025/12/city-council-revisits-fire-station/

  • Do you still believe good will prevail?

    Trump, Mental Health & our Farmers Market

    By Alan “Lorax” Hirsch

    Dear Nora:

    You mentioned your need to curtail your exposure to politics and reading news as it often becomes too much.

    I offer you an opportunity to recharge. Come down to the Saturday Davis Farmers Market between 8 and 1 and table with me as I pass out free “Love Your Neighbor” lawn signs.

    As strangers walk by my booth I call out “Free lawn signs!” And “Make your neighborhood a friendlier place!”  Like a carnival barker. Rudely, Intruding into their conversations, texting, or thoughts of their shopping lists.

     In response I get not ignored, but smiles, hundreds of smiles. And people responding, “glad you’re here!” And “Thanks— I’ve got a sign.” “I wish I had a lawn- I live in an apartment” or “You inspire me.” Half the people respond somehow. And I get hugs from total strangers every Saturday.

    About once a Saturday, someone, usually from Davis who has seen me before, will spontaneously offer a donation so someone else can have a sign, often as they live in an apartment or have a landlord that forbids signs. (Hey city council- this is social equity: why does Davis allow HOA or landlords to forbid signs, even in windows. It makes places impersonal, an abridgement of speech for renters.)

    Today: an older homeless man pushing shopping cart came by. The cart was filled with empty soda cans and liquor bottles he was collecting presumably to recycle for cash. He stopped across from me in the market, slowly read my signs, and then came over to give me $1.17 in change as a donation.

    I frequently have heartfelt conversations with strangers who reflect they struggling to maintain their equanimity in face of The Darkness. People from out-of-town express regret that the 18×24 lawn signs won’t fit in a suitcase. Thought my signs don’t flag they are political everyone “get it” that these values a refutation of Trumpism.

    Today a visiting UCD alumna now living in “deep red” Iowa suggested I was needed there to table. Someone from rural Nevada told me about her neighbors…first demurring on a “Love Your neighbor” sign afraid it would upset them …then came back and took one.

    These Saturday mornings’ experiences are like no other I have had in my entire life giving out my Love lawn signs.  “Love is one thing you get more of when you give it away.”

    But I remember; it’s not about me.

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  • Why is a Portion of the Village Farms DEIR being Recirculated and has the Proper Process been Followed in Doing So?

    by Alan Pryor

    A portion of the Village Farms DEIR (contained in the Utilities and Services chapter) is being recirculated because the City, as the “lead agency” in the EIR process, has received a last-minute report from Brown and Caldwell dated November 7. This report indicates that the City’s existing Wastewater Treatment Plant (“WWTP”) is perilously close to exceeding its maximum flow capacity and needs to be upgraded to meet the City’s wastewater treatment permit issued by the Regional Water Quality Control Board. This information was not known by the City when they prepared and circulated the current Village Farms DEIR for comment.

    However, since the new information impacts the analysis of the Village Farms project’s impact on the City’s WWTP, the City determined that the portion of the Village Farms DEIR addressing Utilities and Services needs to be recirculated with the updated information for public comment prior to consideration of the revised FEIR for certification by the City.

    Unfortunately, the City has done a poor job explaining this need to the public when they recirculated the portion of the DEIR needing additional comment. Two questions immediately come to mind that should have been answered by the City in more detail and explained better when the DEIR was recirculated.

    1) What Information Came to Light that Necessitated the Recirculation of the Portion of the Village Farms Davis DEIR?, and

    2) Is this Process Proper and Legally Compliant with CEQA and State Regulations Regarding Public Noticing and Subsequent Consideration by the Planning Commission and the City Council?

    The following discussion addresses these questions.

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  • Take action today for Cache Creek habitat

    By Catherine Portman

    Urge the Yolo County Board of Supervisors to postpone the Dec 9th vote on Cemex’s application to extend the Granite Capay Mining and Reclamation permit another 10 years. Send your comments to clerkoftheboard@yolocounty.org and Lucas.Frerichs@yolocounty.gov

    Almost 30 years ago, I participated in the Cache Creek “gravel wars”. We believed the aggregate industry could mine gravel and reclaim mined areas. The County adopted the Cache Creek Area Plan (CCAP) which included reclamation requirements prioritizing reclamation of farmland, then secondarily habitat.

    Well, after all these years the reclamation hasn’t worked out too good. Turns out it is very difficult to meet the “healthy soil” requirements of the Surface Mining Reclamation Ordinance. It takes a long time to accumulate enough soil to put back to recreate an ag field. And when the soil is stored so long it loses its mojo according to a soil assessment by consultants House & House.  The assessment identified one reclaimed ag field produced only wheat but before it was mined it produced sunflower, corn, tomatoes and peppers.

    Habitat reclamation is sad too. Deep pit mining was supposed to result in recreational lakes in a proposed Cache Creek Parkway. Turns out the stagnant water in the pits has high levels of methyl mercury that precludes recreational use—also not too good for fish and water fowl. The Cemex application adds two more, larger (204 acres) deep pits. Some of the pits are into the water table so ground water goes into the pits and evaporates from the surface further depleting ground water. Lakes were not the natural ecosystem of the Creek—riparian floodplain was.

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  • Have a Rebellious Rebellious Christmas. la la la la

    (Sung to the tune of Rosie O’Donnell’s album holiday hit “Have a Rosie Christmas (Donna Summer’s lyrics). 

    By Scott Steward

    Perhaps Rosie O’Donnell, the abrasive and enduring talented comedian/artist, who also has a famous feud with Trump (dating back to 2004), will accept the recalcitrant Marjorie Taylor Greene, should Trump make becoming an expat in Ireland all the more attractive for Greene, too.  Mmmmm – except that Greene has been very mean about LGPTQ (and other people) until very recently. 

    O’Donnell and Greene are far apart, but share a talent for the spotlight, a caring for kids and families, and their persona non grata status with Trump.  You decide if this tumultuous declaration of Greene’s reconciliation is a path toward common ground, and while you’re mulling it over, here are some other rebellious pre-holiday actions to consider.

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