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The following comments are the Sierra Club Yolano Group's response to the call for comments on the proposed scope of environmental review of the proposed Eastside (misleadingly called "Shriners") project. See earlier article for details: https://newdavisite.wordpress.com/2024/07/14/notice-of-preparation-nop-for-so-called-shriners-property-project/ .

Apologies for the weird numbering on the list — the SCYG Management Committee's intent should be clear.

From: Sierra Club Yolano Group
To: Dara Dungworth, Principal Planner
Re: Eastside NOP Comments
Date: August 7, 2024 

Transmitted via email: <DDungworth@cityofdavis.org>

Ms Dungworth – Regarding the Notice of Preparation (NOP) and the upcoming preparation of a Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) for the “Eastside” housing project (formerly referred to as “Shriners”), the Sierra Club Yolano Group offers the following comments and recommendations.

1. Alternatives
   
   1. City staff has recommended that one the Alternatives to be analyzed in the EIR should have “Higher Number of Units – Same Footprint,” but it does not specify the number of units to be analyzed. We recommend that a minimum of 1500 units be analyzed and that the design of this Alternative incorporate a substantial co-op model (perhaps similar to Dos Pinos or Muir Woods) that prioritizes alternative modes of transportation, especially bicycling.  This Alternative would better achieve the following goals: more traffic/transit efficiency, better for minimizing negative impacts to air quality and climate change, more equitable and affordable, better able to serve underserved populations.

2. Biological Resources
   

1. 1. We recommend the then current leasehold farmer not perform any cultural activities resulting in soil disturbances in environmentally sensitive areas, including planting of cover crops, until all of the biological studies are completed.
   2. In the analysis for rare plants, we recommend all historical records be consulted.
   3. We recommend all surveys performed for determination of Biological Resources be performed by specialists approved or certified to perform such studies under CEQA guidelines and performed in accordance with CDFW protocols.
   4. We recommend environmental evaluation also be performed considering the Yolo Regional Resource Conservation Investment Strategy/Land Conservation Plan (RCIS/LCP) in addition to the Yolo Habitat Conservation Plan & Natural Community Conservation Plan (HCP/NCCP).

3. Traffic

1. 1. We recommend the traffic impact analysis be studied for cumulative impacts of all the four proposed properties on Covell and the Mace curve including this project, Village Farms, Palomino Place, and On the Curve, as would be done in an East Covell – Mace Curve Specific Plan to assess cumulative impacts.
   2. Below is a diagram which illustrates the relationship between the developments by indicating the ¼ mile walking distance of each proposed project. We recommend the proposed transportation mitigation be developed in light of these findings to minimize walking distance to public transit.
   3. We recommend a study to determine long it would take to evacuate the residents of the 1800 units from the two exits in case of fire, flood, etc., and whether that could provide for a safe evacuation.

4. Air Quality

1. 1. Given that development is almost adjacent to the Open Space for Public Health and Safety housing exclusion zone around the landfill and sewage treatment plant, we recommend that an EPA-approved air dispersion modeling tool be employed to investigate potential harmful or nuisance odorous or particulate matter or other vectors be performed to determine the extent of possible exposure of residents of Eastside to emissions emitted from the Yolo County Landfill or the Davis Wastewater Treatment Plant.

Excerpts from Davis General Plan re Exposure to Odors and Vectors from Landfill

Section V: Community Facilities and Services Davis General Plan

Chapter 9: Parks and Open Space May 2001/ Amended Through January 2007 (p. 228)

“The land within one mile of the landfill and sewage treatment facilities is designated “Open Space for Public Health and Safety.” The intent is that residential development is prohibited within this area due to public health concerns including vectors and odors. In addition, this area poses a hazard to aircraft because of the large number of birds that congregate in the vicinity of the landfill.”

5. Hazards and Hazardous Materials–

1. 1. We recommend a Public Health Vector Control analysis be performed as a result of the proximity of the development project to the Open Space for Public Health and Safety housing exclusion zone. Concerns could include vectors such as mosquitoes (from the wetlands by the wastewater plant) as well as rats and seagulls potentially carrying dangerous impacts (feces, West Nile virus, etc.) toward the new development.

6. Hydrology

1. 1. Given the 100-year floodplain extends into the property, we recommend the potential impact of peak flows and volumetric capacity on the project and downstream system be studied using a 200-year flood event in the Drainage Report in addition to using a 100-year flood event.

Map of 100-year Floodplain Extending into Property

7. Noise

1. 1. We recommend noise analyses be performed to evaluate potentially loud noises from adjacent uses which have occurred in the past, e.g., sound guns to scare off birds from the landfill to the north of the property and from agricultural land to the north-east of the property.

8. Cultural Resources

1. 1. We recommend that the Yoche Dehe Wintun Tribe and other tribal groups be consulted with more than a certified letter to notice them of the upcoming DEIR and consultations opportunities.

City of Davis Extends Recruitment for Advisory Commissions

From Press Release

Post Date: July 03, 2024 4:00 pm

The City of Davis announced that applications to serve on one of the following City Commissions have been extended to July 19, 2024:

• Fiscal Commission 
• Senior Citizen
• Social Services
• Transportation

Due to a rescheduled City Council meeting in late July and an added commission recruitment, interested residents now have more time and options to submit an application for a City commission. Commissions have a critical role in the community and serve at the direction of the City Council. Commissions study issues within their scope of authority, analyze and recommend policies and programs and serve as public forums to hear resident interests and perspectives.

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June Davis City Council meetings were especially filled with clown-foolery.  Watch them online if you have nothing better to do.  I hope you have something better to do 😐

This post focuses on the clown-foolery of the 'special seats'.  Those visible to the camera during public comments.  Where political exhibitionists can be seen while others are speaking.  People in the *special seats* get special privileges that others in the audience do not.  Get there early, so you can make obnoxious facial expressions behind public speakers!  😐

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City promises made, need to be kept 

by Eileen M. Samitz                                                                      

The City needs to reject the North Covell Creek housing application to develop 75 acres of the Wildhorse golf course because it would clearly violate the 1998 Deed of Conservation Easement executed between the Wildhorse property owner and the City.  The Conservation Easement unequivocally states that its purpose is “…forever conserving the open space character…” of the property.

In the early 1990’s I was one of a group of neighborhood representatives from the surrounding neighborhoods of Green Meadows, Covell Farms and La Buena Vida who spent years in a citizen-based planning process negotiating long and hard for a better Wildhorse project. We emphasized and placed a priority on the condition of a  Conservation Easement on the golf course so that it would never be developed and  would remain a golf course with its open space nature and preserving the habitat features around it.

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by Elaine Roberts Musser,

It appears that our long established city commission system is in chaos!  

Look at what happened in the month of May – many cancelled commission meetings.

Because of Councilmembers Vaitla and Chapman refusing to appoint applicants to commission vacancies, the Finance and Budget Commission (FBC) has appeared not to be  able to meet for nine months and counting. Nor is the Senior Citizens Commission (SCC) meeting anymore, for lack of a quorum. Many commissions have not been able to meet on a regular basis because of quorum problems.  

To add insult to injury:

• In a staff report written by Councilmember Vaitla and Chapman, they prematurely and presumptuously claimed to be recruiting applicants for “newly merged commissions”, even though the City Council hasn’t weighed in on merging any commissions.
• Councilmember Vaitla has said publicly that commissions are dysfunctional, don’t give the City Council information it wants, and commissioners are somehow “privileged”.

159 commissioners, former City Council members and concerned citizens signed a petition to stop the mergers. Councilmember Vaitla did make the rounds of the commissions to be merged, and many commissioners voiced their concerns.

• Commissioners are not well versed in two disparate subject matter areas.
• There will have to be more meetings/longer meetings to cover all the material required.
• Critical issues will get less attention because of time constraints.
• Recruiting qualified commissioners will become more difficult since they will be expected to be well-versed in two subject matter areas.  Commissioners are apt to quit from burnout and frustration at the heavy workload. 
• The proposed scopes of the merged commissions are vague and unclear to the point of being almost meaningless.
• Once commissions are merged, it is highly unlikely the former commissions can be resurrected, if things go wrong (which is likely – 2 commissions are already defunct).
• Fiscal oversight of the city budget will be minimal, endangering any city tax measure. 

This issue is to be heard on Tuesday, May 21, 2024 @ 6:30pm.  SPEAK OUT AGAINST THE MERGERS AT THE MAY 21 CITY COUNCIL MEETING. Express your discontent. Either: 

• Preferably come in person to the City Council meeting on May 21; or
• Record a message ((530) 757-5693); and/or
• Write a letter to City Councilmembers (citycouncilmembers@cityofdavis.org). 

See petition and updates at the following link: 

https://www.change.org/p/reverse-city-council-decision-to-move-forward-with-merging-commissions-1e9f0d8d-0697-4f45-85ad-6a7720e2b8b3/u/32599079   

I just wanted to say that 111 people have given money to the Davis Vanguard, to ward off evil spirits.  Apparently these people weren't waiting for April fool's day to be foolish with their money, and fools.  And here they are:

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(Chart from Mr. Best’s presentation)

The School Board has completely ignored the massive student enrollment decline while they ask all of us to pay ever increasing taxes, indefinitely!

The only way to stop this disconnect is to vote NO now while you have the chance.

 By Michael J. Harrington, a downtown neighbor and Davis voter for 29 years:

On March 7, 2023, only months before Measure N was finalized and placed on the ballot, DJUSD Superintendent Matt Best testified to the Davis City Council that:

“There are fewer students of school age in our region. Not only being born but in the 5–19-year age group. This is information from the census.”

In my courtroom work, we lawyers call the testimony and slides in this video a “party admission.” It is considered the highest caliber of evidence because the best possible evidence comes from the other party’s mouth.

Mr. Best further states

 “ … the number of resident students has declined by more than eleven hundred over the past seventeen years. This decline has been masked primarily due to a large extent by the increasing number of nonresident students joining our district and it wasn’t until the pandemic that the number of nonresident students stopped keeping up with the decline of resident students … that is why we are seeing the overall decline in the district’s enrollment during the last couple of years.” 

This shocking set of admissions was hidden in plain sight, on the City Council web site last year.

Even the DJUSD Officials – long before they placed Measure N on the ballot – testified to the Davis City Council that the declining enrollment is a big problem, the supply of non-Davis transfer students is drying up, and without changes, the Davis school system is facing a major enrollment decline. This testimony was backed up with detailed professional slides filled with demographic data provided by a third-party demographics company, and clearly demonstrate DJUSD enrollment is declining and will drop further in coming years.

The video from the March 7, 2023, presentation to the City Council is so shocking that I decided to try and get it out even at this late hour so voters can see for themselves that the district is asking for an ever-increasing permanent tax even while the district enrollment shrinks. Voters deserve to know about this disconnect and you certainly won’t see any mention of it in the Yes on N campaign literature. The video included here is a collection of outtakes from the council meeting (the full meeting video is available on the City of Davis website).

(Slide from Mr. Best’s presentation)

Considering this plummeting enrollment data, that the Measure N tax will never expire because it lacks a sunset clause, and that the tax increases every year without end, voters will see that the only responsible course is to vote NO on Measure N.

Because it lacks a sunset clause it is all but certain that today, March 5^th is your only chance to vote NO. Future repeal will be almost impossible.

The enrollment data through 2027on this chart is taken directly from the DJUSD projections. The projections past that are based on CA department of Finance projections.

I have voted for every previous school funding measure, but Measure N’s indefinite increases when the student population is declining is outrageous, so I must vote NO.

The Board has long known about the declining enrollment and did not apply it to the Measure N tax amounts and removed the sunset clause so it would be almost impossible for the public to undue the tax in the future. Now, if voters slap their hands and vote this tax down, the Board has 15 months to fix this problem and several opportunities to bring a new measure to voters before the current tax expires in June 2025. 

Despite the fearmongering Yes on N claims, there is no emergency to approve this!

Vote NO and make them bring back a more reasonable proposal with a sunset clause so we can be sure the district properly addresses the demographic crisis in enrollment.

I’m writing this letter to voice strong support for Sheila Allen’s candidacy for Supervisor in Yolo County District 4 which comprises North, East and South Davis. I have lived in all of these three areas of Davis since I first moved here in 1975. Although with brief hiatuses to other Northern California communities I have always returned to Davis to live – and hope to remain here for the remainder of my days.

It is people like Sheila that make Davis such an incredibly supportive environment that endeavors to provide essential services to all members of the community and a special place to raise a family. Sheila’s experience on the Davis School Board and numerous other selfless endeavors in support of the Davis community is without measure. As a member of the Davis School Board, I have been impressed by how diligently she’s fought for all students to be appropriately educated and cared for by Davis public schools. And this is such an important perspective she would bring as a County Supervisor.

Whether you have a young family (like I once had) or are a senior citizen (like I am now), there is no candidate that can compare to Sheila’s knowledge, compassion, humanity, energy, humility, education, commitment and self- service. Please be sure to vote on or before March 5th — and if you live in Yolo Supervisorial District 4, please vote for Sheila Allen.

-Chuck White

Comments delivered by Tree Davis’ Executive Director to the Davis City Council regarding the re-alignment of City Commissions – January 30th,  2024

The proposal to amend the City’s Commission structure is a weighty issue, and we at Tree Davis feel that it would be a disservice to over half a century of effort from those that have served as Tree Commission Members to make this decision so quickly. To make such a decision with so little time to react for stakeholders like us and so many folks that have committed so much time is disappointing.

An extensive, healthy, and resilient urban forest is more important now than ever due to climate change stressors like excessive heat and drought. At the same time, these impacts pose new threats to the existing urban forest. Proactive planning and management is needed now to transition to the urban forest of the future, one that will be sustainable in 50 years. What would be the guiding principles of the newly formed commission that combines the Tree Commission and Natural Resources? How would the newly proposed Tree Removal Committee interact with the City, and how would people be appointed to it?

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