Voters approve Willowgrove, clearing the way for new homes in Davis

The Abridged version:

• After shooting to an early lead on election night, Measure W is positioned to pass, clearing the way for the Willowgrove development in Davis.
• Support for the measure was strong on election night, with votes in favor outpacing those against by thousands.
• The passage of the measure commits developers to building more than 1,200 homes, in addition to other features.

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More than a thousand new homes are coming to Davis.

After a strong showing on election night, Measure W gained a large enough lead to pass easily, giving the green light to developers of the Willowgrove housing development. The project promises to add more than 1,200 units to a plot of land on the northeastern edge of Davis.

With just under 45% of Davis ballots counted, votes for Measure W outnumber votes against by more than 7,000, making up 73% of the vote.

“While votes are still being counted, the strength of the early returns suggest Measure W will prevail by a historic margin,” said Austin Heyworth, Yes for W spokesperson, in a news release.

“We’re excited about what this means for Davis, especially for the young families and first-time buyers who want to build their lives here.”

The result rounds out a campaign that enjoyed widespread support in Davis and very little formal opposition.

Strong support early on

Support for Willowgrove was strong from the first release of ballots, roughly 15 minutes after polls closed on election night, when Measure W shot ahead by thousands of votes. Since then, its lead has grown.

Voting for Willowgrove has proceeded differently than for Village Farms, which failed by hundreds of votes in June.

The day after the primary election in June, the vote for Village Farms remained close, with just hundreds of votes separating “no” from “yes.”

In that election, the city was divided, with supporters winning precincts in western neighborhoods and opponents winning on the eastern side of town.

So far in the general election, supporters of Measure W have outpaced opposition in every precinct.

Baseline features

The passage of Measure W means that a group of developers led by James Koppert will move forward with the Willowgrove development. They have committed to a list of baseline features, including:

• Rezoning the site to allow for 1,250 residential units at high, medium and low-density designations. That includes at least 250 deed-restricted affordable units, which means that the deed on the property itself limits how much it can be sold for. Twenty of those units will be set aside for people with intellectual or developmental disabilities.
• A commitment of $6.8 million from the developer to the city for affordable housing development.
• A community park with an indoor basketball gym, three playfields with lights, an inclusive playground and retail space in the central area of the park.
• At least 44 acres of buffer between the project and surrounding agricultural land. The developer will also place 374 acres of the nearby Bullseye Farms property under a permanent conservation easement to meet agricultural mitigation requirements for converted farmland at the project site.
• Roadway improvements on East Covell Boulevard, Alhambra Drive and roads along the project site.
• Funding for traffic improvements elsewhere along East Covell Boulevard, Mace Boulevard and the Interstate 80 interchange and West Covell Boulevard and Highway 113 interchange.
• Three miles of bicycle and pedestrian trails that connect to the Wildhorse Agricultural Buffer trail, Gill Orchards property trail and the East Covell Boulevard undercrossing.
• Planting 2,500 trees.
• All-electric units that support EV charging.

Since they’ve now been approved by voters, those features can’t change without approval.

“The commitments there are binding,” said campaign spokesperson Austin Heyworth in an interview with Abridged by PBS KVIE last month. “There’s no bait and switch; there’s no promise that doesn’t actually get upheld. If this passes, we have to build that and we’ll deliver that on a timeline where people will actually see this sooner.”