Hillside and open space preservation got a nudge forward Monday
night when the Urban Limit Line Committee approved three areas of
the city to be protected from development and reserved judgment on
a fourth.
Hillside and open space preservation got a nudge forward Monday night when the Urban Limit Line Committee approved three areas of the city to be protected from development and reserved judgment on a fourth.
Most of the three-hour meeting was spent hearing consultant, Bob Odland, discuss the parts of a functioning, effective greenbelt management system.
Voting 10 ‘yes’ and two ‘no’ with one abstention, the committee noted its satisfaction with greenbelt lines drawn on hillsides above an elevation of 490-feet in the area roughly south of West Edmundson Avenue, west of Sunnyside Avenue and north of Sycamore Avenue.
The greenbelt area does not include elevations lower than 490-feet near those roads. That elevation was chosen because that is generally where the hills begin their sharp rise.
Community Development Director David Bischoff told the committee that the city normally forbids development on land with more than a 20 percent slope, which is the case which most of the designated land.
A second line at the 490-foot elevation was also approved west of Llagas and Oak Glen avenues in western Paradise Valley.
The committee also approved a greenbelt line in the eastern hillside, but starting at the lower elevation of 460-feet and only north of Dunne Avenue. The line would be drawn starting at Cochrane Road, following Coyote (or Cochrane) Road as it turns south, Liberata Drive and McDonald Lane and ending up at Dunne Avenue, all east of Hill Road.
Drawing the greenbelt line against the east hills south of East Dunne Avenue was reserved for a future vote since the committee was not able to reach a consensus at a previous meeting. The vote was advisory only; final decision will be made by the City Council.
The committee’s recommendation are expected to go the council early next year.
Odland, of Robert Odland Consulting, was part of the group that went to Russia in 1997 to advise on setting up a privatized land system.
He advised the ULL committee on the types of land preservation and greenbelt programs, how to implement them, costs, sources of funds, ways to acquire and manage property, how to maintain environmental compliance and how to prioritize. The City of Davis has been in the forefront of land protection in California, he said.
Odland cleared up questions about the differences between buying a conservation easement and a fee interest in property. Fee interest is buying the property outright; a conservation easement is purchasing the right to forbid development on the property, while allowing the property owner to continue farming, ranching or other approved use.
It was this distinction, and the possibility that land owners would be paid for their property or for the development rights, that broke the logjam at the Oct. 15 meeting over drawing a greenbelt line on the east side, south of Dunne Avenue.
Tim Chiala, whose family still grows vegetables on land on the east side, challenged a statement that farming is over and all farmers want to get out.
“I love to farm,” Chiala said. “I went to college for it. But I’m not willing to give up my option (not to farm) – I want it to be my decision.”
Voting ‘no’: Alex Kennett and Bruce Tichinin; abstaining: George Thomas, whose family owns property in the area east of Hill Road. Voting yes were Mayor Dennis Kennedy, Councilwoman Hedy Chang, Planning Commissioners Bob Engles and Joe Mueller and committee members Tim Chiala, Jim DiVittorio, Rocke Garcia, Jan Guglielmo, Dick Palmisano and Art Puliafico. Mark Grzan was late and missed the vote; Anne Beale and Jessica Fitchen were absent.
The next meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 10 at The Villas behind City Hall.
