Commentary: Wildhorse GHG Plan

Local Leader Examines the Potential of Measure P

Ed. Note – This post is one in a series of balanced articles and columns written to inform the electorate about the upcoming election on November 3rd when Davis voters will be asked to vote whether or not the agricultural land at Wildhorse Ranch should be converted to a housing development.  Click HERE for our full coverage.

One of the hardest working citizen committees I’ve ever seen was the city’s Housing Element Task Force. Fundamentally its charge was to implement the city’s goal of meeting Davis’ housing needs and obligations under state law with available infill sites – not surrounding agricultural land.

Working from thorough staff analyses, the task force deliberated at length on all potential infill sites and ranked them. They recognized that meeting the city’s housing needs on infill sites would require greater density than is typical of Davis’ existing residential neighborhoods. A range of densities was suggested for each site.

The newest Wildhorse development was included on the list of infill sites because it is the last phase of the Wildhorse development which has already been approved by public referendum and it is currently within the city limits. This phase will again be up for public vote on Tuesday, November 3, 2009.

As a member of the Planning Commission, I can tell you that density is the most contentious issue we see when new housing is proposed for the city. Surrounding neighbors prefer the lowest possible density down to zero; city decision makers are obligated to approve the highest density consistent with city infill, affordable housing, and other policies, while taking into account neighbor concerns.

It’s obvious that this tension will only increase as the city works through its list of internal development sites.

We’re in an early stage of implementing another policy – zero carbon development – which may turn out to be more difficult than the density issue. This time, the developers are usually on the other side.

While city decision makers push for the greenest possible buildings and neighborhoods, developers argue that it’s too expensive, not cost-effective, or otherwise infeasible. We are at their mercy. They are the people with the pencils. Why, you might wonder, have there been no new Village Homes in Davis despite the world-wide celebration of this early green development. A local developer laughed as he told me Village Homes is so uneconomic in today’s marketplace that we will never see another one.

I hope the last Wildhorse phase will prove him wrong. I hope it will provide an existing, successful example of the green developments we need and have committed ourselves to. Parlin, the Wildhorse developer, has retained as environmental consultants two of the city’s most innovative low-carbon technologists. David Galbraith and Dean Newberry of Talbot Solar promise a 90% carbon reduction through a variety of design and technology approaches that range from passive solar lay-out of the neighborhood to active solar photovoltaic on most housing units.

I’m voting for Measure P because I hope it will once again put Davis’ in the lead in this urgent new era of climate change.

Mark Braly is Chairperson of the Davis Planning Commission and a member of the Davis Climate Action Team.