Back in February, the city announced it would start embarking on a General Plan update. At the time, the anticipation was that the process would take two to three years.
On February 9, 2024, the council received a staff memo seeking direction regarding the proposed process for obtaining a consultant for the General Plan Update effort, which is (was?) expected to begin this year.
“Embarking on the General Plan update has been long in coming, and is a highly anticipated effort and fundamental to shaping the future of the Davis community,” staff wrote on February 20, 2024.
The last General Plan update process was initiated back in 1993—more than 30 years ago.
So it’s September—where are we?
Back on July 30, staff reviewed proposals after sending out a Request for Qualifications to about a dozen firms doing general plan work in California. From that effort the City received 4 responses, all from firms doing work in Northern California.
Staff whittled that down to two: Raimi and Associates and Dyett and Bhatia.
Staff noted at the time that they will “will ask the two finalist firms to complete a more detailed scope of work including cost estimates. From there, staff will ask the consultants to work with staff and the General Plan Subcommittee to refine and reflect the expected General Plan Update process.”
The expectation according to the City Manager is a contract with one of these firms by October or November.
Meanwhile, time is moving on, and by the time a contract is in place we are looking at nine months just to obtain a firm to consult on the General Plan.
I think two to three years from February 2024 is unrealistically optimistic. But now the timeline for this is going to push onto the timeline for the City to implement its Seventh RHNA cycle Housing Element.
The city is going to have to decide a lot of critical questions with this General Plan update.
As noted earlier this year, the city which finally had its Housing Element approved early this year, has recognized now for several years that they will likely need to go outside of the current boundaries to meet the next cycle housing needs.
That’s of course assuming they can stay within compliance—a month ago, we reported that the city was falling behind and making “slow progress” on meeting its housing targets.
“This city is falling behind. It is not on track to meet its housing targets,” YIMBY Law on their new tracker that was released this summer.
The tracker noted, “Every 8 years California assesses housing need and assigns each city with a target they must hit. If Davis repeats its efforts from the previous cycle it will only meet 82% of the identified need.”
That’s just to keep the city on track with its current obligations. Going forward will be even more challenging.
In December, then-Mayor Will Arnold warned, “I would just say to those who have said that we will be able to meet our next RHNA cycle numbers without going outside of the city limits… I suggest they tune in or watch the recording of this meeting as we really try to meet our current requirements simply with infill and the difficulty we’re having in doing so.”
The city had originally intended to look into a Measure J amendment in order to potentially facilitate new housing.
Last year, the city noted that it intends to: “Amend language already in Measure J/R/D that exempts from its public vote requirements projects that provide affordable housing or facilities needed for city services, or other changes to city ordinances that would help create affordable housing. Any change to Measure J/R/D would require a public vote.”
In the meantime, the city has also pushed off two critical peripheral projects—one to a special Measure J vote perhaps this next spring and the other in 2026.
Will the voters approve these measures? Also, can the city make this increasingly tight timeline?
That all remains to be seen.
Can the city meet its housing needs in 2030 without adjusting Measure J? I am highly skeptical.
But that could prove a daunting task—already some have pushed back on even the concept of amending Measure J. That’s one reason the city pushed it off from 2024.
But it figures to be no easier in 2026.
At some point the city needs to have a long-term discussion with the community on the future and lay on the table all of the challenges.
The General Plan update could be part or even a majority of that conversation, but again, here we are, and another year is passing before the process has really begun. By the time a consultant is in place, it might be nine months into the process and rapidly approaching the holidays.
Raimi and Associates contract with Thousand Oaks for a General Plan update is $1.891 million in 2022. Despite the population differences, my guess is the Davis contract would be similar or higher. Any way to find out that information readily?
What could the city do more productively with nearly $2 million?