City Of Davis: Appeal On Trackside Project Decided; Ruling In Favor Of City

Press release from the City Of Davis:

December 20, 2021 4:03 pm

The City of Davis announced today that the State of California Third Appellate District Court of Appeal has issued an opinion, reversing a trial court ruling that the City of Davis’s approval of the Trackside project should be vacated and rescinded. In the ruling overturning the trial court decision, the Court of Appeal noted, “We conclude substantial evidence supports the City’s approval, and the Association’s contentions on cross-appeal lack merit. We will therefore reverse the judgement granting the petition for writ of mandate.”

The Old East Davis Neighborhood Association (plaintiff) filed a lawsuit regarding the Nov. 17, 2017, City Council approval of the Trackside project. The City of Davis and Trackside Center, LLC were defendants as the approving body and the project sponsor respectively. Yolo County Superior Court had ruled in favor of the plaintiff on May 15, 2019, and the trial court decision was appealed to the Court of Appeal.

The Trackside project is a 27-unit, mixed-use, urban infill project located on a half-acre of mixed-use zoned land in a transition area between the Downtown Core and the Old East Davis residential neighborhood. The Trackside site (among others) has long been identified as an opportunity site in the Davis Downtown and Traditional Residential Neighborhoods Design Guidelines where projects at an average density of 40 units per acre are envisioned. The Court of Appeal ruling outlines the staff report analysis on the Trackside project and the City Council’s deliberations where compliance with numerous City policy documents were discussed that support the staff recommendation and the City Council approval. The Court of Appeal ruling noted “In sum, we conclude substantial evidence supports the City’s approval in that “we fail to find that a reasonable person could not have reached the same conclusion” based on the evidence before the City. The City therefore acted within its discretion and the trial court erred in reversing its approval of Trackside.”

Mayor Gloria Partida noted, “The Court of Appeal supported the decision of City Council to review thorough staff analysis of adopted city policies and take action after focused deliberations. I look forward to seeing a project move forward that will bring more vibrancy and residents to downtown Davis.” Vice Mayor Lucas Frerichs noted, “Prioritization of infill projects has been a priority of Davis land use policy as we promote them through our various adopted policy documents. Bringing additional people downtown to live, work and recreate, just a short distance from our major transit hub at the train station, is good for both our environment and economy, and it is also something we want to encourage more of in the future.”

Download a copy of the Third Appellate Court Decision (PDF).

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For more information, contact Diane Parro, 530-747-5803, dparro@cityofdavis.org

This press release was produced by the City Of Davis. The views expressed here are the author’s own.