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Davis, California

Wednesday, February 19, 2025

Updates on Davis development given at a recent Yolo County/city of Davis 2×2 meeting

The joint committee discussed the construction and budget for the Walnut Park Davis Library and Pacifico Housing Community

 

By YUENJO FAN — city@theaggie.org

 

The first Yolo County/city of Davis 2×2 meeting of the year took place on Jan. 8 to discuss the upcoming South Davis Library construction, Pacifico Housing Community and updates from the county administrative officer and assistant city manager. The meeting includes two members of the Davis City Council and two members of the Yolo County Board of Supervisors.

The Walnut Park Davis Library — Yolo County Library’s newest planned branch — is scheduled for completion in 2026 with plans for the project emerging as far back as 2017. There is an estimated size of over 12,000 square feet and a $21.3 million price tag. Following a slight delay due to the winter holidays, Ryan Pistochini, the Yolo County director of general services, is expecting the project to break ground very soon.

“It really depends on the land transfer being signed,” Pistochini said. “If it’s not early January it would be early February. I do know the contractor and their team have just finished a job [and] they’re going to be ready to stand up [at the] end of January, so the timing will be ideal for them as well as us.”

Planned to be located next to the Marguerite Montgomery Elementary School, Pistochini also addressed the committee’s concern about the potential impact of construction on safety and traffic in the area.

“Our biggest concern is what we call the laydown area, which is the area that the contractors have space to operate,” Pistochini said. “We told them to stay within the parcel, so it will stay far away from the school district. The other concern we have is coordinating, and we will do further coordination on where the contractor staff will park because that will impact the parking lot. […] And then in terms of commuting to the school, the reason why we gave the bell schedule to the contractors is to make sure that major deliveries are times outside of [school hours].”

With construction nearing, both the city and county have made preliminary efforts to avoid any inconveniences to students and staff commuting to school.

Yolo County has also been working with the city of Davis to rehabilitate Pacifico housing, a CalWORKs Housing Support Program, buildings A and B. With the 30% design phase reached, the county is now seeking a cost estimate on this impending project. For Nolan Sullivan, the Yolo County director of health & human services agency, having the ability to make renovations for the housing programs is crucial in supporting locals in need.

“Homelessness is growing across the state and across the county,” Sullivan said. “[…] I just want to set that stage. We have homeless families tonight that will be in motels because they have nowhere else to go, or on the streets or in shelters, unfortunately. And so the program [is needed] in Davis and in Yolo County.”

Yolo County and Davis’ ability to follow through on the building rehabilitation will largely be decided by the state’s budget and how much is allocated to the CalWORKS program. As of right now, Sullivan believes there to be enough funding but stressed that the project must be put into motion soon.

“First initial glimpse, the state [budget] looks stable, so hopefully that holds and we’ll be in good shape,” Sullivan said. “We have $1.2 million budgeted in this project in CalWORKS housing support funds. Those funds do expire on June 30 of this year; they have to be spent or encumbered. We’ve rolled these forward twice now — this project has stretched pretty far — so I don’t anticipate we will be given another grace waiver to roll these funds forward. So if we do not get this project either built or at least encumbered by June 30, that $1.2 million returns to the state of California.”

Furthermore, County Administrative Officer Dirk Brazil updated the committee about budget issues, also voicing his concern about financial challenges.

“[County] departments are going through a 7% across-the-board budget reduction exercise right now,” Brazil said. “We’re anticipating our general fund hit to be about $15 million this year with some subsequent issues in the outyears as well.”

Davis Assistant City Manager Kelly Stachowicz provided her updates on city budgeting, citing an optimistic outlook through a recently passed measure that will benefit the city of Davis by $11 million.

“In November we were able to pass Measure Q which will bring much-needed revenue to the city starting with the sales tax increase [which] will take place at the start of April 1, and the city will start to see revenues from that toward the end of the fiscal year,” Stachowicz said.

The Yolo County/city of Davis 2×2 committee members are: Yolo County Supervisors Sheila Allen and Lucas Frerichs, Davis City Councilmembers Gloria Partida and Josh Chapman. Also present at the meeting was Pistochini, Sullivan, Kelly Stachowicz and Brazil.

The Yolo County/city of Davis 2×2 meeting convenes on the second Wednesday of every other month. Dates, times and agendas can be found on the Davis city calendar.

 

Written By Yuenjo Fan — city@theaggie.org

 

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