Measure J Has Served Davis Well

History

Measure J was a long time in the making.  In the late 1980’s Davis voters passed Measure “ L” advising the City “to grow as slow as legally possible” and advised planners that “future growth should be concentrated on lands already incorporated into the city, with future annexations to be discouraged.”

City Councils approved development 30 percent faster than anticipated under the 1987 General Plan.    In the decade of the1990s we paid the price—with costly infrastructure investments, unsustainable city services, dramatically increased traffic, and the loss of valuable farmland and viewsheds.   In response to this accelerated growth, Davis citizens, with the support of a new City Council, drafted Measure J. The new Council placed it on the ballot, and despite significant developer opposition Davis voters passed the ordinance.

Today

Ten years later the pressure to sprawl remains very strong—and, if the recent past is any indication, a return to the old planning process prior to Measure J would again result in more ill-timed, ill-sized and ill-conceived projects.   Without Measure J the planning process would again be unable to manage peripheral development pressures in ways consistent with voters’ vision of Davis as a small city surrounded by agricultural and open space land. 

Provisions

Besides requiring a public vote on all Council approved projects to be built on peripheral ag and open space land, Measure J has a number of other important features.

The ordinance requires developers to deliver on promises if and when voters approve a project.  Parks and open space, senior and affordable housing components, environmentally sustainable planning and design elements, and phasing schedules are guaranteed.

The ordinance exempts schools and parks from the public vote requirement, as well as large public service projects (e.g., waste treatment facilities) and affordable housing to meet State fair share mandates.

Under the renewal terms of Measure R, the ordinance contains a 2020 “sunset” provision.  

Finally, Measure J requires that developers— not the public—pay for any special election triggered by the project.

Myths debunked

Contrary to what opponents of Measure R say, Measure J has not turned citizens into technocrats of the planning process.   The sub-divisions rejected by voters over the past ten years did not lose by margins of 60 and 75 percent because of technicalities or planning details.  They lost because they were out of step with voter sensibilities on the big issues.

Contrary to what opponents say, Measure J has improved the planning process.  Today it is much more transparent.  In addition, the City has gained leverage in its negotiations with developers and is better able to argue for sustainable projects that will have the least negative impact on our environment and farming community.

Contrary to what opponents intimate, Measure J is not at fault for poorly designed in-fill projects.   To the extent that infill has undermined any neighborhoods, it is city planners and the Council that are responsible.    Good in-fill is not easily accomplished and must be designed and sized carefully.  The City needs to include the citizens in the process and honor the “Infill Guidelines” in our citizen-based General Plan.

Finally, contrary to what opponents suggest, school budget problems cannot be solved with massive new peripheral development.  Other nearby cities that have embraced “fast growth” face more severe fiscal issues than Davis.  These nearby cities, could not—and we cannot—“pave our way out” of the school budget crises.  School financing issues are state and national issues demanding comprehensive solutions.  The old sprawl model financed current needs with fees gleaned from new development— and the needs of new development with more development.    It would appear that the opponents of Measure J would like us to go back to the old Ponzi scheme which gave us too much growth, too fast, with poor planning.

One of several important planning instruments

It is important to see Measure J in its larger planning context.  Measure J is one of several essential instruments Davis has pioneered to achieve its vision of maintaining a dynamic small city in the midst of a world-class agricultural zone.  Not an easy thing.  These other measures include: Davis’ long-standing agreement on development with the County; its Farmland Preservation Ordinance, requiring adjacent mitigation for ag land lost to development; its permanent funding of open space through Measure “O.”  All of these instruments—along with Measure J— aim to stabilize the ag-urban boundary and to reduce speculative pressures that have turned our farmers into renters and have threatened what remains of the native environment.    These speculative pressures have built up over the better part of a century; it will take time, but Davis has begun to work out a new “social contract” with all our neighbors, human and otherwise.   

Vote Yes on Measure R

For 10 years Measure J has proven an effective guarantor of full citizen participation in the most important development decisions affecting Davis’ fiscal sustainability and quality of life, most notably reversing Council decisions on the Covell Village and the Wildhorse Ranch proposals.

Measure J is neutral on growth itself.   All Measure J does is say, “Let’s pause” when a development project is proposed for ag land.  Let’s all of us as a community pause and consider— is it the right location, size? Should we develop it now? Most importantly, is it environmentally and fiscally sustainable?  Measure J simply gives us the means to consider a development on a holistic and community-wide basis.  It gives citizens a voice that counts.  For the future of Davis, please vote YES on Measure R to renew Measure J. For more information call 756-5165 or 756-6856 or email YesOnMeasureR.@dcn.org and see our website at YesOnMeasureR.org.

Mark Spencer, Former City of Davis Planning and Open Space Planning Commissioner
Eileen M. Samitz, Former City of Davis Planning Commissioner
Pamela S. Nieberg, Environmental Activist, Environmental Recognition Award 2001.
Ken Wagstaff, Mayor of Davis 2000-2002.
William B. Kopper, Mayor of Davis 1982-1984
Steven M. Ingram, City of Davis Finance and Budget Commissioner
Elaine Roberts Musser, Chair, Senior Citizen’s Commission
Richard K. Grosberg, Former Chair, Open Space Commission, Professor, UC Davis
Nora Oldwin, Attorney and Spanish Tutor
Desmond Jolly, Former Planning Commissioner , Director Emeritus, U.C. Statewide Small Farm Program