The University of California, Davis has released an updated Long Range Development Plan and Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR). The DEIR assesses the potential environmental impacts of the proposed LRDP along with new housing projects and is available for public comment through 5 p.m., May 29.

The goal of the new LRDP is to plan for future growth in programs while providing a sustainable community where people can live, learn and grow. The plan identifies likely needs over a horizon of more than ten years and designates areas of the campus for functions including housing, research facilities and other services while targeting environmental goals in areas such as energy and water use, transportation and waste management. It does not commit UC Davis to specific projects, but currently planned and future development projects, including on-campus housing, will depend on the approval of the plan’s environmental impact report. 

Matt Dulcich, director of environmental planning for UC Davis, described the LRDP as a key component for building the campus of the future.  

“We’ve put a lot of work into planning how UC Davis will grow and thrive into the future and we’re looking forward to getting feedback from the community,” Dulcich said. 

Beginning in 2015, the LRDP process has already included extensive public outreach through forums, events and the “Campus Tomorrow” web site. The draft LRDP sets forward ambitious efforts to accelerate housing construction for UC Davis students and reflects plan revisions resulting from extensive public feedback from multiple stakeholders at UC Davis and within the larger community of Davis and Yolo County.

The DEIR can be found online at campustomorrow.ucdavis.edu. Physical copies are also available in public libraries in Davis, Dixon, Winters, Woodland and West Sacramento and in the UC Davis Shields Library.

Written comments can be submitted by email to environreview@ucdavis.edu or by US mail to Matt Dulcich, Director of Environmental Planning, Office of Campus Planning and Environmental Stewardship, 1 Shields Avenue, Davis CA 95616.

A public hearing to take comments about the report will be held at 7 p.m., May 3 at the International Center at the corner of California Avenue and Russell Boulevard on the UC Davis campus. 

Housing and sustainability

The plan creates capacity for an additional 8,500 students on campus in a mix of residence halls and apartments. In the 2016-17 academic year, there were about 9,800 students living on campus. Two housing projects currently being designed, the redevelopment of the Orchard Park complex and new housing at West Village, would provide approximately 5,200 of these additional beds on campus. The plan also provides capacity for two million square feet of additional classrooms, research laboratories, administrative and support space to accommodate growth in UC Davis programs. 

The UC Sustainable Practices Policy calls for campuses to become more environmentally sustainable through a series of performance goals. In developing the LRDP, UC Davis integrated these sustainability policies with the LRDP goals related to greenhouse gas emissions, energy and water use, waste reduction and disposal, and transportation. The campus has already made major steps towards sustainability, for example reducing campus water use by more than 27 percent since 2005 despite increasing population and square footage, and opening the largest solar power plant of its kind on a U.S. campus.