SCH Number 2020100103

Project Info

Title

Downtown Davis Specific Plan and Form Based Code

Description

The proposed project is intended to implement the community’s vision for the Downtown for reinvestment and future development through a 2040 horizon year and to achieve the community’s underlying goal of sustainability through safe multi-modal transportation, public access, adaptability to the future, guided by a form-based development approach. The proposed project would replace the former 1996 Core Area Specific Plan (CASP) and includes more regulatory authority, largely through the Form-Based Code. Once adopted, the Specific Plan would serve as the overarching land use policy document and provide new zoning and development standards that guide long term development and infrastructure and foster a vibrant Downtown Davis with a mix of residential and non-residential uses. As such, the proposed project would consolidate or amend several existing plans and regulations which exist in the city of Davis. The proposed project allows for the addition of 1,000 residential units and 600,000 square feet of nonresidential development in the project area by 2040. Because the project area is largely built out, the proposed project assumes development would occur as either infill of vacant lots, or as redevelopment of existing buildings or additional building on underutilized sites. The Form-Based Code is the primary mechanism to implement the Specific Plan. The proposed project includes eight primary land use designations and related development standards, with additional regulations pertaining to existing historic resources and various design elements. Building configurations and maximum heights would include detached, attached, and a mix of both detached and attached, with heights ranging from between two- and five-stories with limited seven-story buildings permitted in select areas. The proposed project identifies strategies to protect and preserve the existing historic resources in the project area while encouraging adaptive use and sensitive redevelopment. The proposed project includes several mobility provisions which encourage improvements to the public realm through a downtown circulation plan incorporated into the proposed project. These improvements would include preserving a safe and enjoyable pedestrian network, promotion of bicycling and transit, and the concentration of automobile transit on thoroughfare roadways. Improvements include streetscape improvements, grade-separated bicycle and pedestrian crossings, signalized intersections, intersection reconfiguration, protected and shared-use cycle tracks, and signal coordination. The proposed project includes policies which encourage the improvement of infrastructure within the project area. Such improvements include requiring low impact development and green infrastructure, stormwater management, water use, reuse, and conservation, and infrastructure for water supply and sanitary sewer water. The project requires the following approvals by the City of Davis for the project to proceed: 1. Certification of the EIR and adoption of the Mitigation Monitoring Plan. 2. Adoption of the Downtown Davis Specific Plan. 3. General Plan Amendment for the related land use map changes. 4. Adoption of the Downtown Form Based Code and related rezone of the plan area. 5. Zoning Ordinance Amendments related to the rezoning and code changes.

3 documents in project