The Abridged version:
- Measure V, which would have authorized the Village Farms housing development, has been rejected by Davis voters.
- With few ballots left to count, the narrow margin of “no” votes is poised to hold.
- Rejection means the project cannot move forward and a new plan is needed to restart the approval process.
Measure V has failed at the hands of Davis voters, halting plans to build the Village Farms housing development.
With fewer than 400 ballots left to count in Yolo County, many of which likely are from outside of Davis, “no” leads by 238 votes. The county elections office will not certify the race until all ballots are counted.
“I won’t bet my house, I won’t bet even my bottle of shampoo on this,” said Sandy Whitcombe from the Yes on V campaign. “There’s really no way.”
Sign Up for the Yolo County Newsletter
Stay in-the-know on all things Yolo! Weekly email with stories and insights from Yolo County reporter Daniel Hennessy.
The last hope for the “yes” campaign is a recount, but Whitcombe said that is also unlikely.
She said the count would have to be within half of a percentage point, meaning the tally in favor would need to gain roughly 100 votes. Then, the Yes on V campaign would need to initiate the process.
“If we wanted to do a recount, we would have to pay for it,” she said.
Whitcombe said that Davis still needs the housing, but she doesn’t see the families behind Village Farms spearheading another project.
“We need a break,” she said. “We got so close.”
Davis voters were split on Measure V from the beginning, with supporters touting Village Farms’ potential to bolster the city’s housing stock and opponents raising concerns about the environment, traffic and the affordable housing plan.
Results show that more voters on the western side of Davis near the university supported the development, while those living in eastern neighborhoods were more likely to oppose it.
Daniel Hennessy joins Abridged from the California Local News Fellowship. He’s a reporter covering Yolo County.Â