In light of the recent long-range growth subcommittee status report, the Davis community made their apprehension clear for the future of housing in Davis
By HANNAH SCHRADER — city@theaggie.org
On June 20, the Davis City Council’s meeting agenda had an item that outlined the future development of housing in Davis and was the subject of debate during the public comment section.
The item is a continuation from the prior city council meeting on June 6, but contained new revisions for appraisal. City Manager Michael Webb presented the plan at the meeting and summarized some of its goals.
“[The item is] really primarily geared towards providing assistance to the council in helping to sort of parse these, what are otherwise very big decisions, into some smaller components,” Webb said.
The plan outlines what steps the city of Davis should be taking in order to execute housing development effectively. This ranges from choosing whether to adopt a plan that includes a series of proposals specifically for North Davis or to accept various individual proposals and follow a more general plan.
Mayor Will Arnold shared his support for the subcommittee’s rubric for development.
“We know more now about the projects that are in front of us in part because of the usefulness of this tool than we ever have before we kicked off an EIR (Environmental Impact Report),” Arnold said.
Mayor Arnold decided to re-open the public comment on this item in order to gather more perspective on the issue.
Beth Foraker, the co-director of the UC Davis Redwood SEED Scholars Program, spoke during the public comment to express concern for housing.
“These students will graduate, they will have jobs here, and they would love to have housing here,” Foraker said. “So creating a specific identified supportive housing for people with intellectual disabilities is something to be really proud of and something we should do.”
A local Davis resident expressed their grievances with the city of Davis’ approach to development from an anti-capitalist perspective.
“We should also, more broadly, be moving away from the capitalist model overall to a broader society where resources are controlled democratically for the needs of the people and not the benefit of a few,” the resident said.
John Decker, director of community services for Alta California Regional Center, spoke to bring attention to the ramifications the housing crisis has on people with developmental disabilities.
“Alta California Regional Center serves 1900 individuals in Yolo County, and, again, many of these families want to continue to have their loved ones remain in Yolo County, but for the lack of affordable housing many individuals have to look at relocating,” Decker said. “And so, again, just want to implore this group to really look at affordable housing options for this community and specifically affordable options for people with developmental disabilities.”
Written by: Hannah Schrader — city@theaggie.org
