The Abridged version:
- With 47% of registered votes counted, “no” votes have maintained a slight lead, though the race is tightening.
- Measure V will decide the fate of Village Farms, with approval coming only if at least 51% of voters say “yes.”
- At the end of last week, “no” votes held a slight lead, similar to the margin as of Tuesday afternoon.
The race to pass or fail Measure V remains tight a week after Election Day, with “no” votes maintaining a slim lead.
With about 47% of registered voters counted, the “no” campaign had 51.3% of the vote as of late Tuesday afternoon, while 48.7% voted in favor of the measure connected to the Village Farms housing development.
To move ahead, the project would need a simple majority, or 51%, of Davis voters to approve it.
The fate of the Village Farms development, which would add up to 1,800 residential units just west of Wildhorse, depends entirely on the result of the Measure V election.
If the majority of voters approve, construction can begin. If they reject it, the land will not be annexed or re-zoned and any proposed project would have to start the approval process from the beginning.
Early returns last week showed “no” with a slight lead from the beginning. On Friday, that lead tightened to just over 400 votes. Now, “no” leads by 438 votes.
One of a few proposed projects
In 2005, a similar development on the same site called Covell Village was rejected by Davis voters. Like that project, opponents of Village Farms have pointed to concerns about the environment, traffic and an affordable housing plan that they have said is not good enough.
Supporters of the project point to the approved environmental impact report, as well as the development’s potential to add hundreds of students to Davis schools that are struggling with enrollment.
Whether Village Farms is approved or denied, Davis voters will have another development-related decision to make during the November election. Willowgrove, which is a 1,250-unit proposal also on the northern end of Davis, was approved by the Davis City Council in May. It will face the same approval process as Village Farms.
Daniel Hennessy joins Abridged from the California Local News Fellowship. He’s a reporter covering Yolo County.