The University of California is preparing to expand its Davis campus to accommodate more students during the next 10 years. Although Davis's expansion is not expected to be as large as at other campuses in the UC system, UCD's plans could conflict with a slow-growth initiative that city voters approved in March. At the very least, Measure J appears to have strained relations between university representatives and city officials. Although the planning process is just getting started, UC officials have hinted that they might undertake development of a separate university town to ensure that future students and faculty members have someplace to live — maybe even in neighboring Solano County. "Nothing is firm," said Richard Keller, director of physical, environmental and capital planning for UCD. Still, Keller noted that the Davis housing market is extremely tight, with a 0.2%, apartment vacancy rate and home prices having risen 22% in one year. "If they [Davis officials] are not going to ensure capacity, we have to take a look at providing adequate housing," Keller said. In an interview with a campus publication after the March election, UCD Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef said: "With Measure J's passage, the cost of housing will, in my opinion, go up, as well as the rental costs of apartments. That means we have to be thinking about impacts on Winters, Dixon and Woodland. And we also have to be thinking about our own on-campus solutions for housing for our students, faculty and staff — solutions that would minimally impact the city of Davis." Vanderhoef even said that building an elementary school on campus is a possibility. Measure J requires an election for the rezoning of agricultural land or open space. Four of five current Davis city councilmembers supported the ballot measure. But Councilwoman Sue Greenwald, a Measure J advocate, said UCD officials ought not view Measure J as a vote against university growth. What sparked Measure J was the proliferation of new single-family-home subdivisions on the town's periphery. That growth has nothing to do with the university, as students do not live in the new subdivisions and even many UCD employees cannot afford the new houses, she said. Instead, Sacramento commuters, retirees and Bay Area refugees are buying the houses, she said. "I think if we didn't have Measure J, we'd have more of these subdivisions that don't serve university faculty and students," Greenwald said. Greenwald said she would love to work with UCD officials on developing housing in which UC would have some form of equity so that it could be reserved for faculty and students. "I don't know why they are being so hostile when we are so eager to cooperate," Greenwald said. But Davis Mayor Pro-Tem Susie Boyd said city-university relations began to sour about two years ago, and Measure J added to the strain. Now, UCD appears to be moving ahead without the city. "There doesn't seem to be an avenue down which we can walk together," Boyd said. "We learn of the university's intentions by reading the newspaper, which is indicative of how bad things have gotten." However, what course the university will eventually take is not clear. System-wide plans call for UCD to grow slower than other campuses but still add about 900 faculty and staff members and 6,000 students during the next 10 years, giving UCD about 31,000 students in 2010. Officials are completing a core Academic Plan that spells out UCD's educational and research missions. The Academic Plan will serve as a basis for a new Long Range Development Plan, on which officials intend to begin work this fall, according to Keller. The Academic Plan will go a long way toward defining what types of facilities UCD needs. The university adopted the existing Long Range Development Plan in 1989 and amended it in 1994. The plan has a horizon of the 2005-06 academic year. The new plan should be good through 2015. The university will establish a community advisory committee and invite input before selecting a preferred alternative. Once the campus leadership decides on a plan, a master environmental impact report will be prepared. Then the whole package will go the UC Board of Regents for final approval, probably in two to two-and-half years, Keller explained. In the past, UCD has primarily relied on the market to provide housing for students, staff and faculty. But that might not be a realistic expectation for the future, especially in light of Measure J. University planners will complete a number of studies and undertake what Keller calls "scenario planning" during the long-range planning process. "We would be in this scenario planning whether Measure J passed or not. We would have asked our question: ‘How do we go about accommodating our growth?'" Keller said. "I don't think we know the effects of Measure J." The university owns 5,200 acres, only 850 acre of which constitute the core campus. The rest is mostly small-plot agriculture that UC would like to avoid developing, Keller said. That approach could play into some type of Solano County strategy. For years, landowners in unincorporated Solano County, which is just across Interstate 80 from the core campus, have made pitches about collaborating on some sort of master development for UC, Keller acknowledged. It is also worth noting that UCD already provides a number of its own municipal services, including water service, irrigation, wastewater treatment, fire protection, an airport and a landfill. Thus, UCD is even less reliant on local government that most state institutions, none of which need local government approval for development. Moreover, UCD recently hired John Meyer, who had been Davis city manager for nine years, as vice chancellor for resource management and planning. All of these factors make Davis city officials nervous. Boyd, the Measure J opponent, said the community is based on its tight connection to the university. As UCD becomes more insular, the city as a whole loses, she said. "It's not a good situation for the city. It doesn't necessarily hurt the university because they will still get what they need," Boyd said. But Greenwald thinks people might be jumping to conclusions. There is no reason to believe voters, under the rules of Measure J, would not approve a "modest scale" student or faculty housing project. In fact, she said, Measure J should force developers to propose market-rate rental housing because students make up a large voting bloc in Davis, she said. And, Greenwald said, the pro-Measure J councilmembers will fight to ensure that developers of already-approved projects provide market-rate rental housing that serves UCD. Contacts: Rick Keller, UC Davis director of physical, environmental and capital planning, (530) 752-2433. Sue Greenwald, Davis councilwoman, (530) 756-5831. Susie Boyd, Davis mayor pro-tem, (530) 758-1435. UC Davis campus newspaper: www-dateline.ucdavis.edu