OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Davis City Council Meeting - September 30, 2025: Peripheral Projects and Policy Considerations

City Council & Planning Commission — Tuesday, September 30, 2025
BodyDavis, California
SessionCity Council & Planning Commission
DateTuesday, September 30, 2025
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 2:16:01

Transcript — Verbatim
0:09

Colleagues here present.

0:10

Is there a motion to approve today's agenda?

0:15

Councilmember Deos, is there a second?

0:16

Second.

0:17

Vice Mayor Neville.

0:18

Any comments?

0:19

All in favor say aye.

0:21

Aye.

0:21

Nay.

0:22

Abstain.

0:22

Motion passes five to zero.

0:24

We have an agenda.

0:25

Welcome everyone to the meeting of the Davis City Council Tuesday, September 30th, 2025.

0:30

We'll start with brief announcements from our city manager Dunstan.

0:34

Thank you.

0:34

And good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and members of the council.

0:44

And we are expecting over a hundred parties.

0:49

And we're asking folks to have fun, but also to be safe.

0:54

You can visit the city's website that's up on the screen for additional information.

1:00

Tune into KDRT 95.7 FM for prizes and great music.org.

1:15

And we also um want to highlight a great accomplishment, uh Campamento Allegre, uh, which is a summer program um in partnership with uh Davis Parks and Community Services, YOLO County Housing.

1:30

Um, and these activities took place at the Davis Migrant Center, and there were five days of educational fun and activities.

1:38

Um Campamento Allegre translates to happy camp.

1:42

And we're super excited about uh this this successful program that's been in place for three years now.

1:48

Um the activities were on site and uh offered in in Spanish, and we do want to acknowledge um donations from the offices of Supervisor Sheila Allen and Assembly Majority Leader uh Aguilar Curry because without their support that this wouldn't have been possible.

2:07

Um and we also want to shout out YOLO County Housing and as well as our parks and community services department.

2:13

Uh and that concludes my remarks, Mayor.

2:15

Thank you, City Manager Dunstan.

2:17

Are there any brief announcements or liaison reports for my colleagues?

2:21

No.

2:21

Uh is there any intention to pull items from the consent calendar?

2:26

Great.

2:26

We'll move on to public comment.

2:28

Uh please come on up uh if you're in the house to give a comment on items that are not on today's agenda, or if they are and you can't stay.

2:37

Please limit your comments to two minutes.

2:40

Welcome.

2:50

Hi, my name is Dorda Jensen.

2:52

I live in Davis.

2:53

Um, so I wanted to talk to you about the fact that you don't have uh police officer here anymore in the back of the chamber.

3:01

I don't know why.

3:02

Uh when I first started coming to see you guys and to give public comment, there was a police officer here in the back of the chamber uh just monitoring the situation.

3:13

And I really appreciated that.

3:15

I think it's a uh gives people a feeling of stability at order, the rule of law that we matter and uh things are going to be uh monitored properly.

3:25

And so now we don't have a police officer back there.

3:28

I don't know why.

3:29

We don't have the police chief here either, as far as I know.

3:33

I'm trying to look around and see if he's here.

3:34

He's certainly not here in his um in his uniform.

3:40

So it's just I don't know what the problem is.

3:42

Um do you is there not enough people at the Davis police department now to spare somebody for your meetings?

3:49

And I think there should be a meet uh somebody over there for the um meeting in uh two days usually after you guys in this same venue.

3:57

That's the DJUSD meeting.

3:59

Uh there should be a police officer there too.

4:02

Uh one time I was here and we did need a police officer.

4:05

Uh Officer Helton was here.

4:07

That was about a year ago.

4:08

He did an excellent job.

4:10

Um recently at the DJUSD meeting about two weeks ago, uh, they needed to call in three police officers.

4:17

There was no police officer there originally.

4:21

So we need them here.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Affordable Housing██████████████████18%
Climate Change Mitigation██████████████14%
Public Comment█████████████13%
Sustainability and Renewable Energy████████████12%
Public Engagement█████████9%
Village Farms███████7%
Infrastructure███████7%
Procedural██████6%
Housing█████5%
Summary of Proceedings

Davis City Council Meeting - September 30, 2025

The Davis City Council met on Tuesday, September 30, 2025, at 6:30 PM in the Community Chambers. The meeting focused on policy considerations for peripheral housing developments, including a workshop on traffic impact fee programs and climate/energy requirements for the Village Farms Davis and Willowgrove projects. The Council also approved the consent calendar, heard public comments, and adjusted the timeline for upcoming public hearings.

Consent Calendar

  • Approved all consent calendar items (3A–3G) unanimously (5-0), including task order amendments for Bretton Woods, Chiles Ranch, and Davis Center projects; an amendment to a bill credit agreement with Clean Energy Assets LLC; renewal of the Independent Police Auditor contract with The OIR Group; approval of Transportation Commission tasks on traffic safety, intelligent transportation systems, and speed hump policy; and approval of minutes from the Human Relations and Planning Commissions.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • In-person comments:
    • Dorda Jensen expressed concern about the absence of a police officer at council meetings and requested an explanation.
    • Alan Hirsch (Davis Loraks) urged the city to enforce tree planting compliance in developments and raised concerns about the Human Relations Commission's handling of Jewish community divisions.
    • A speaker recounted a personal incident involving a burn and lost possessions, requesting assistance from city staff.
  • Comments on Item 4 (Peripheral Projects):
    • Multiple residents and representatives urged the Council to avoid delays to the Village Farms and Willowgrove projects, citing the need for additional housing to stabilize school enrollment and support local families. Speakers included parents, realtors, and community advocates.
    • On traffic fee study: Brian Fosher (Village Farms engineer) and Clark Morrison (Village Farms attorney) requested more time to review the scope of the proposed fee study and raised technical concerns. Bree Mobius (Willow Grove counsel) supported the study and agreed to contribute costs.
    • On microgrids: Ari Helberstat, Lorenzo Kristov, and Mark Harsing urged the Council not to defer microgrid requirements, arguing for local energy resilience and affordability. John Johnston proposed delaying projects until the General Plan update. Alan Prior warned against imposing costly, undefined microgrid requirements. Sabrina Teller (Village Farms CEQA counsel) cautioned that imposing a microgrid now could trigger recirculation of the EIR. Tom McCalmon (Willow Grove engineer) stated that on-site solar could offset 62% of annual load but that full microgrid/net-zero was impractical for affordability.
    • A few callers submitted voicemail comments in support of microgrids and higher density, while most callers expressed support for moving forward with Willow Grove without further delay.

Discussion Items

  • Policy Considerations for Peripheral Projects – Traffic Impact Fees (Item 4): Staff recommended Alternative 2: a focused fee program covering only Village Farms Davis and Willowgrove, using existing traffic analysis data. The study would cost $360,000 (to be split between the two projects) and take 4–6 months. Councilmembers Neville, Deos, Partida, and Chapman supported this option, emphasizing it would not delay project timelines. The motion passed 5-0.

  • Policy Considerations for Peripheral Projects – Climate and Energy (Microgrid): Staff presented three options: (1) defer microgrid requirements until the General Plan update, (2) create a community microgrid through ad hoc negotiations, or (3) pause processing of peripheral projects. Council discussion revealed lack of support for any of these binary options. The Council instead directed staff to work with the City’s new Climate Resilience Coordinator, Sam Blacklock, and the project subcommittees to develop a list of feasible climate resilience options (aligned with the Climate Action and Adaptation Plan) that would not trigger EIR recirculation or delay project timelines. This direction will be presented at the November 4 workshop.

  • Long-Range Calendar (Item 5): Staff proposed moving the public hearing for Village Farms from December 2 to December 16 to accommodate councilmember travel. The calendar was confirmed as: November 4 workshop, November 12 Planning Commission, December 16 City Council public hearing, and January 6 City Council public hearing.

Key Outcomes

  • Consent Calendar: Approved 5-0.
  • Traffic Fee Study: Council directed staff to proceed with Alternative 2 (focused fee program for the two peripheral projects). Motion carried 5-0.
  • Climate/Energy Direction: Council rejected the three staff options and instead directed staff to work with the Climate Resilience Coordinator and project subcommittees to develop feasible climate resilience options for the November 4 workshop, with the guardrails of no EIR recirculation and no project delays.
  • Scheduling: The Village Farms public hearing was moved to December 16, 2025 (from December 2), to ensure all five councilmembers could attend. The full calendar was confirmed.

Note: The meeting lacked formal minutes; this summary is based on the agenda and raw transcript.

Meeting Transcript

Colleagues here present. Is there a motion to approve today's agenda? Councilmember Deos, is there a second? Second. Vice Mayor Neville. Any comments? All in favor say aye. Aye. Nay. Abstain. Motion passes five to zero. We have an agenda. Welcome everyone to the meeting of the Davis City Council Tuesday, September 30th, 2025. We'll start with brief announcements from our city manager Dunstan. Thank you. And good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and members of the council. And we are expecting over a hundred parties. And we're asking folks to have fun, but also to be safe. You can visit the city's website that's up on the screen for additional information. Tune into KDRT 95.7 FM for prizes and great music.org. And we also um want to highlight a great accomplishment, uh Campamento Allegre, uh, which is a summer program um in partnership with uh Davis Parks and Community Services, YOLO County Housing. Um, and these activities took place at the Davis Migrant Center, and there were five days of educational fun and activities. Um Campamento Allegre translates to happy camp. And we're super excited about uh this this successful program that's been in place for three years now. Um the activities were on site and uh offered in in Spanish, and we do want to acknowledge um donations from the offices of Supervisor Sheila Allen and Assembly Majority Leader uh Aguilar Curry because without their support that this wouldn't have been possible. Um and we also want to shout out YOLO County Housing and as well as our parks and community services department. Uh and that concludes my remarks, Mayor. Thank you, City Manager Dunstan. Are there any brief announcements or liaison reports for my colleagues? No. Uh is there any intention to pull items from the consent calendar? Great. We'll move on to public comment. Uh please come on up uh if you're in the house to give a comment on items that are not on today's agenda, or if they are and you can't stay. Please limit your comments to two minutes. Welcome. Hi, my name is Dorda Jensen. I live in Davis. Um, so I wanted to talk to you about the fact that you don't have uh police officer here anymore in the back of the chamber. I don't know why. Uh when I first started coming to see you guys and to give public comment, there was a police officer here in the back of the chamber uh just monitoring the situation. And I really appreciated that. I think it's a uh gives people a feeling of stability at order, the rule of law that we matter and uh things are going to be uh monitored properly. And so now we don't have a police officer back there. I don't know why. We don't have the police chief here either, as far as I know. I'm trying to look around and see if he's here. He's certainly not here in his um in his uniform. So it's just I don't know what the problem is. Um do you is there not enough people at the Davis police department now to spare somebody for your meetings?

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