Davis City Council approves local shopping center and housing development – The Aggie

The Davis City Council authorized a proposal that would help fill vacancies in the Oakshade Town Center and an environmental review for Shriners Property

By RORY CONLON — city@theaggie.org

On Aug. 18, the Davis City Council discussed a proposal to help fill vacancies in the Oakshade Town Center and moved forward with plans for developing Shriners Property, a proposed housing project in the city. 

Jennifer Hess, the leasing agent assigned to Oakshade Town Center properties, said her organization’s “first priority” was to fill two vacant spaces left behind by OfficeMax and Rite Aid. She said an amendment to a previous size ordinance would help recruit more potential buyers. 

“The cap of 15,000 square feet is definitely limiting our options for leasing boxes that are 17,000 and 21,000 square feet,” Hess said. “We are also seeking approval to remove the grocery store restriction of 40,000 square feet. We would like to extend that [building] to allow Safeway to expand into the [former] Rite Aid space.” 

Dara Dungworth, the principal planner for the City of Davis, said that upon inspection of the proposal by the city’s staff, the size limitations should be removed for the property.

“Size limitations in this planned development should be removed to allow maximum flexibility in today’s retail and commercial market,” Dungworth said. “[Without] size requirements, there are fewer restrictions limiting potential tenants.” 

Discussion of the amendment was then opened up to public comment. Davis community member Alan Hirsch opposed moving forward with the amendment because Regency Centers, the organization that owns the shopping center, violated environmental laws. 

“They are in violation of the city tree ordinance [that there should be] 50 percent shade in 15 years,” Hirsch said. “They have trees that are dead and dying, the irrigation system is not being maintained, and the north parking lot is almost tree-free. They would need to have a plan to put the project in compliance with city code.”

Davis Vice Mayor Bapu Vaitla proposed that Regency Centers submit an arborist report regarding trees and irrigation systems, as well as a timeline for when any problems would be addressed. Hess agreed to the report and timeline but emphasized the urgency of the proposal moving forward in the meantime. 

The city council members moved to adopt staff recommendations and pass the amendment. 

Another item on the agenda was Shriners Property, a housing development located north of Covell Blvd., which is in the beginning stages of an environmental impact review. 

In compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) developers have to provide alternatives to a planned project to reduce negative environmental impacts. 

Dungworth’s team analyzed six possible alternatives to the existing project, which varied in housing density and acreage, based on whether they would come in 15 percent below the baseline for VMT in the city of Davis. VMT is a measure used in transportation planning to project future traffic congestion based on the number of people that live in a location. She said two of the alternative plans had the potential to reduce vehicle miles traveled (VMT). 

“Alternative [plan] four was preliminarily identified to reduce the project footprint while retaining the same amount of units,” Dungworth said. “Alternative five is an increased number of units with the same footprint of approximately 232 acres… Alternative four shows a 30 percent reduction in VMT [from the city’s baseline] and alternative five shows a 28 percent reduction.”

The council members were then asked to choose potential plans to explore in more depth. They unanimously approved examining alternative options four and five to reduce traffic congestion in Davis. 

Written by: Rory Conlon — city@theaggie.org