Improving Measure J Begins Here & Now

Should we continue the Beta run or upgrade to Version 2.o?

Measure J, known as “The Citizens’ Right to Vote Use of Open Space”, was passed on March 7, 2000 with 53.6% of Davis residents voting “Yes” and 43.6% voting “No”.  According to the actual ordinance, Measure J is

An ordinance of the City of Davis amending the city’s general plan to add a policy requiring voter approval for certain changes to the land use designations or entitlements of properties shown on the general plan land use map and enacting the citizens’ right to vote on future use of open space and agricultural lands ordinance to provide for voter approval of (1) any general plan land use map amendment that changes a land use designation from an agricultural or urban reserve designation to an urban designation or from an agricultural designation to an urban reserve designation and (2) any proposal for development on the last two large vacant properties designated for urban use commonly known as the Covell Center and Nishi properties; this ordinance to be adopted by the voters and effective upon adoption by the voters of the city.

Since then, two projects have come forward that required a Measure J vote.  The Covell Village concept, also known as Measure X, was rejected on November 8, 2005 by a vote of 12,578 NO to 8,843 YES (58.7% to 41.3%).  The Wildhorse Ranch Concept, also known as Measure P, was rejected on November 3, 2009 by a vote of 9,465 NO to 3,201 YES (74.7% to 25.3%).  It is widely accepted that these two processes, guided by the same document, were vastly different.

Measure J expires in 2010 and will be considered for renewal during the June 2010 election.  Today, DavisVoice.com announces the launch of a forum to discuss why and how Measure J can be improved.  Kevin Wolf will be leading and moderating this online forum.  Our working mission statement for this project is:

Provide a civil forum to discuss the effects of Measure J and how it could possibly be improved to: save the City money; conserve the time and efforts of city staff and concerned citizens; encourage innovative development concepts from developers; ensure and front load community, commission and council input; and strengthen the citizens’ right to determine new land uses.

This forum will consist of a series of post that will be contained in the category “A New Measure J” which is seen on the right hand side of this page.  The dedicated url for this category is: www.davisvoice.com/measurej .  The most recent posts will be at the top of this category list, so, to view the full history and thread of this ongoing conversation, start at the bottom of this series of posts.

The actual text of Measure J, with proposed changes that reflect the most recent comments and input, will appear in a recurring “stand-alone” post.  Please direct your suggested changes to the actual text of Measure J in the comments section of that post.  Do NOT include comments about motivations, politics, history etc.  This post is for suggested changes only.  The most recent version of the actual text of Measure J will appear at the top of the thread.

Commentary pieces about Measure J will be accepted from any community member.  Use the commentary section of these posts to discuss the why’s, how’s, wherefore’s etc etc about Measure J.  All users will kindly follow the DavisVoice.com Code of Conduct which can be found here.  Basically, be fair and play nice.

Welcome to an online discussion about that ongoing quest to make Davis an even better place to live.