Davis City Council Meeting Summary – May 13, 2025
Davis City Council Meeting Summary – May 13, 2025
The Davis City Council met on Tuesday, May 13, 2025, at 6:31 p.m. in the Community Chambers. The meeting included seven ceremonial proclamations, approval of the consent calendar (with one item pulled for discussion), public comments, and action on several major items: a Valley Clean Energy presentation on a municipal electric utility, a Fifth Street safety improvement pilot project, a discussion on potential amendments to Measure J/R/D, and a kickoff of the General Plan Update. The meeting adjourned at approximately 11:07 p.m.
Consent Calendar
- The Council approved the consent calendar (items 4A–C, 4E–I) by a 5-0 vote after pulling item 4D (Recommended Projects for Fiscal Year 2025-26 Funded by SB1) for separate discussion.
- Item 4D was later approved 5-0 after staff explained the funding allocation process and street selection criteria.
Public Comments & Testimony
- General Public Comments: Speakers addressed a range of topics. Diane Perrow (Davis Community Meals and Housing) thanked the Council for extending the winter shelter to June and expanding peer-to-peer training. Ning One questioned free speech regulations at the Farmers Market and expressed concerns about CCP infiltration. Natalie Nelson (Pence Gallery) thanked the Council for arts funding. Jim Watson opposed development citing affordability, traffic, and infrastructure costs. Amir Cole (Human Relations Commission member) criticized the HRC for what he called discriminatory treatment of a Jewish American Heritage Month event. Several speakers opposed amendments to Measure J/R/D, arguing it would undermine citizen democracy. Others supported affordable housing and the Willow Grove project.
- Item 8 (Measure J/R/D Amendment): Numerous public comments were received both in person and via voicemail. Most speakers opposed amending Measure J, citing the 2020 vote where 75% of voters supported it. Some expressed concern that amendments would disenfranchise voters and benefit developers. A few speakers, including representatives of Willow Grove, urged the Council to prioritize housing projects and put Willow Grove on the ballot as soon as possible.
- Item 6 (Municipal Electric Utility): One speaker supported municipalization of utilities to reduce reliance on PG&E.
- Item 7 (Fifth Street Safety): Residents of the Old East Davis neighborhood spoke in favor of the pilot project, describing dangerous conditions and frequent collisions at the intersections.
Discussion Items
- Item 6 – Valley Clean Energy Presentation on Municipal Electric Utility: VCE CEO Mitch Sears and consultant Don Dame presented a “greenfield municipalization” concept, where the city would build a new electric utility from scratch for undeveloped areas. They outlined options ranging from an ordinance update (estimated $50,000–$100,000) to forming a “shelf” utility. Council members expressed interest in exploring an ordinance update. A motion to direct staff to investigate the cost and scope of an ordinance update passed 5-0.
- Item 7 – Safety Improvements Pilot Project on Fifth Street at I, J, and K Streets: Staff proposed restricting northbound and southbound turns at these intersections using temporary plastic islands and signage, with monitoring and evaluation. The goal is to reduce collisions, which have averaged one per week at Fifth and J in 2025. Council approved the pilot project 5-0.
- Item 8 – Measure J/R/D Amendment and Major Projects Election Timing: The subcommittee (Councilmembers Chapman and Vaitla) presented draft concepts for amending Chapter 41 to allow exemptions from a public vote for projects meeting certain affordable housing thresholds (e.g., 50% affordable units), environmental mitigation, or community benefits. The amendment would require a public vote. Council discussed timing: placing a measure on the November 2025 ballot was deemed too costly (estimated $380,000) and premature. Consensus was to send the concepts to city commissions for review and public input, with a possible ballot date in June or November 2026. Council also discussed not combining a Measure J amendment vote with development project votes to avoid confusion. The Council took no formal vote but provided direction to staff.
- Item 9 – 2025 General Plan Update Kickoff: Consultants presented the process, community engagement plan, and feedback from the April 23 commission meeting. Council discussed the need for community connectedness, student engagement, and environmental justice. The update is on schedule.
Key Outcomes
- Consent Calendar: Approved 5-0, with item 4D (SB1 projects) approved after discussion.
- Item 6: Motion to explore ordinance update for municipal electric utility passed 5-0.
- Item 7: Resolution establishing the Fifth Street safety pilot project approved 5-0.
- Item 8: Council directed staff to send proposed Measure J/R/D amendment concepts to city commissions for review; November 2025 ballot ruled out; no final decision on ballot date.
- Item 9: General Plan Update kickoff received; Council provided feedback to consultants.
Meeting Transcript
Good evening, everybody. Welcome to the city council meeting, May 13th. I will note for the record that it is 6 31. I see that all my colleagues are here. Is there a motion to approve the agenda? So Councilmember Chapman is there. Councilmember Deos. Any discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. No, abstain. Motion passes five to zero. We have an agenda. We'll start with uh seven ceremonial presentations of proclamations, uh, and then take a brief break to do photos and then return to the regular agenda. National Public Works Week. Is that you, Councilmember Chapman? Great. Thank you, Mayor. Uh so I'm gonna invite up Diana Jensen, who I think has one of the longest uh titles uh at the City of Davis Director of Public Works Engineering Transportation and Stan Gresgo, the Cassandra City Manager and Director of Public Works Utilities and Operations. I'll invite you up to the lecture. Uh the proclamation declaring May 18th through May 24th, 2025 as National Public Works Week. The services provided by Public Works personnel to the Davis community involving streets, transportation, wastewater, storm drainage, water, facilities, urban forestry, and parks infrastructure, as well as administrative, environmental engineering, regulatory, and fleet maintenance services are an integral part of our citizens' everyday lives. The sustainable health, safety, and comfort of the Davis community greatly depends on public works to deliver cost-effective capital improvements. The quality and effectiveness of these facilities, as well as their planning, design, construction, and maintenance is vitally dependent upon the efforts and skill of public work employees. The efficiency of the qualified and dedicated personnel whose staff public works departments is materially influenced by the people's attitude and understanding of the importance of the work that they perform. Now, therefore, we, the Davis City Council, on behalf of the citizens of Davis to hereby proclaim May 18th through May 24th, 2025 as National Public Works Week in the City of Davis, and urge all citizens and civic organizations to acquaint themselves with the issues involved in maintaining, operating, and improving our public work facilities and to recognize the contributions which public works personnel make every day to our health, safety, comfort, and quality of life. Thank you. I'll turn it. No. Come on, Stan. No, I'll just say on behalf of the over 120 uh team members that make up the public works department across two departments. Uh thank you for the recognition of the uh service they provide to the community every day. Appreciate it. Thank you all. We'll move on to the hepatitis B awareness week. That is Councilmember Deos. Okay, would um Dr. Eric Check and Walton Walton Lee come up, please. There you are. This one's is special to me. My brother has hepatitis B. And so it's thank you. Um we are recognizing May 18th through 25th as hepatitis B Awareness Week. The month of May is designated as Hepatitis Awareness Month in the United States and is dedicated to raising awareness about the different types of hepatitis, promoting testing, vaccination, and treatment. May 18th to May 25th, 2025 is recognized as hepatitis B Awareness Week, with May 19th designated as hepatitis testing day. Center Health in Yellow and Team HBV San Jose are committed to raising public awareness about hepatitis B and liver cancer within our communities. In the United States, approximately 1.2 million individuals are living with chronic hepatitis B, with a notable overrepresentation among Asian and Pacific Islander communities who make up more than 50% of those affected. Due to appearing without symptoms, hepatitis B often goes undetected. As such, it is vital that awareness and testing be available.
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