Watch Historic Houses Get New Neighborhood!

Over the past few years, I’ve spent much of my free time in The People’s Republic of Davis at the homes of friends whom all happen to live along B Street between 3rd & 4th Streets, directly across from Central Park.  In between Ciocolat and the Davis Townhouses, there exist a row of older single family homes with big lawns, deep histories, and a funky alley that is shared with their University Avenue neighbors.  The houses are all occupied by renters and have been passed down amongst from friends for decades.

Back in 2006, conspiracy theories abounded amongst my friends, about the status of their homes on B Street.  They were under the false impression that the City would soon tear down all of these old homes to make room for multi-story apartments.  This being Davis, I knew that a lengthy public approval process would have to occur in order to do anything of the sort.  The reality of the situation is that some of the land owners worked with the City to update the zoning regulations for this area to encourage our city goal of more dense housing all over town.

So, in 2007, the B Street & 3rd Street Visioning Process went forward.  During that process, local residents and concerned citizens weighed in on what exactly would be acceptable for density, use, and aesthetics for any redevelopment.  Since different individuals own the parcels in question, each site may be redeveloped on its own time line.  Well, that time is here for the homes at 311 & 315 B Street.

311 & 315 B Street will be moved to 3rd & J Street to make room for 6 new multi-story homes and alleyway improvements.

Instead of the current homes just being torn down and carted to the landfill, they will be moved to a new city-owned site… at the cost of the developer.  The new site for these homes is directly across from the J Street Co-op and the Solar Community Housing Association will be able to expand their low-cost cooperative housing offerings.

Green. Affordable. Local. Cooperative. The Solar Community Housing Association (SCHA) is infusing the best of the Davis spirit into a unique infill project that will reuse and retrofit two historic houses using cutting edge green building technology.  On August 2nd, the houses will travel from 311 & 315 B Street to the corner of 3rd and J Street, where volunteers, green design experts and community members will retrofit them to pursue the ambitious green standards of LEED homes.

SCHA reports that the retrofit houses will be a landmark of green building in Davis with

• energy-efficient windows
• rainwater catchment
• solar panels
• native landscaping
• neighborhood gardens
• reuse of entire buildings

This nonprofit effort is homegrown; SCHA has teamed with the City of Davis Redevelopment Agency, Davis Energy Group, Yolo Federal Credit Union, the Davis Historical Commission and Old East Davis Neighborhood Association to complete the work.  Davis volunteers will work with local contractors and community experts for much of the labor needed to retrofit the houses.

Now, all this green, re-use, infill, co-op development is great… but I know what most of you want… you want to see houses floating around the streets of downtown Davis.  It’s a perfectly natural desire, so don’t be ashamed to bring the kids downtown and pretend like you’re doing it for them or your bleeding green soul.

Ride your bikes down to the 300 block of B Street on Monday, August 2nd at 7:45am for free coffee, danishes and some pats on the back for a job well done.  After the reception, it’s time for the wonderment… get on your bike and follow two old houses as they travel 8 blocks through downtown to their new home.

After the hoopla is over and you’ve had your fill of the wonderfully absurd, volunteers will have hands-on opportunities to learn about green building through workshops led by community experts.  The first volunteer work party is scheduled for August 21st-22nd.

To learn more about cooperative housing, the goals for this project and ways in which you can become involved, visit the SCHA website at: www.schadavis.org.