COUNCIL: New system will score projects

From Page A1 proposals. “That puts us in a very, very strong position — a position that I don’t think we’ll ever have, a position that affords us the ability to create a vision for what we want to see.” He urged the council to create a satisfying vision rather than a “binding route” that could give up hundreds of possible housing units.

At the northwest intersection of Pole Line Road and Covell Boulevard, Village Farms is surrounded by development, except on its northern border. While it’s been referred to as the only infill peripheral development proposal, the city’s general plan defines infill as “urban development or redevelopment on vacant or ‘underutilized’ urban-designated land within a city’s boundaries, as an alternative to accommodating growth through expansions of city boundaries.”

Amid this, the city is struggling to finalize its Housing Element in a way acceptable to the state. They don’t have to prove they will produce, but they must make it possible through zoning and other means to reach the housing targets.

City Attorney Inder Khalsa said while the California Environmental Quality Act, which was developed in the 1970s, favors open space — the denser the project, the more environmental impacts occur — the council could look at higherdensity alternatives more frequently, allowing council more flexibility.

“Because then you have done the homework of analyzing the environmental impacts, and it’s already in your EIR, and then you don’t end up in a situation … where you find yourself with a final EIR, but you’d actually like a higher density project.”

Many preferred to see infill as the priority while acknowledging some city expansion may also be needed.

Stating the overall density is “quite low at 3.5 units/acre, and far more creative and sustainable site designs are possible” for the Village Farms location, UC Davis Professor of Human Ecology Stephen Wheeler challenged eight teams of students to propose Peripheral Development Standards for Davis and to propose alternative site plans for the East Covell site that would have at least double the density of the proposal as well as have other sustainability advantages. A subset of the class presented Peripheral Design Standard recommendations to the council on June 6.

During public comment this week, Davis resident Alan Miller said he was disturbed by the lack of cohesion between alternative transportation options brought forth with the various proposals. “I’m just disturbed by how there are these blobs, and then everything gets put in the blob. And there’s no connectivity to the blob next to it and the future blobs.”

Criticizing a comment by a developer at the previous council meeting, stating their project was to include a multimodal center, Miller said, “The Amtrak station is a multimodal center; having a bus stop at your development is not a multimodal center.”

Additionally, this week, council members voted unanimously to approve a tool to score developments submitted for planning review. Developers get to self-score, though their completed rubrics are reviewed by council. Vaitla acknowledged the time they took to fill it out but stated there are some aspects that he disagrees with. “But that’s OK. That’s the kind of conversation we can have.”

Stating the rubric had already been “showing its usefulness,” Mayor Will

Arnold said, “We know more about some of the projects that are in front of us at this stage in project presentation than we ever have prior to starting an EIR process.”

As modifications to the rubric, including “ideal residential density,” were suggested, the city lowered the number of dwelling units per acre to make points more attainable for peripheral projects, as Webb explained.

Councilwoman Donna Neville said the rubric solicits information that sometimes “just isn’t known from the outset.” In other cases, it’s “giving points to an applicant for doing things that are actually required by law — things that are given, that you would do, regardless,” she said. Where the real added value stems from whether a project is making a meaningful impact or achieving the city’s state housing obligations, it also determines if a project is well-integrated with the community, Neville added. — Contact Monica Stark at monica@ davisenterprise.net.

Wilson, who remains in Yolo County Jail custody, returns to court July 24 following his evaluation by a court-appointed doctor to determine whether he understands the nature of his court proceedings and can assist his attorney in preparing a defense.

— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise. net. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene