(July 2007)

Angelo Tsakopoulos is proposing to develop 2800 acres of Yolo County farmland along I-80 between Davis and the causeway/Vic Fazio wildlife area, just east of El Macero and the Warmington neighborhoods in south Davis. He has apparently been in negotiations with local leaders for some time on this, wining and dining them in back room private dinners at the Sutter Club. Has Yolo County surrendered to the high powered (and fancy dinner) politics of Sacramento?
He is offering a carrot in this deal, and that is a stem cell research facility on part of the property, and it looks like some of our supervisors are going for it. Thursday's Sacramento Bee and Enterprise quoted three of our supervisors on the issue. Mariko Yamada, in whose district this parcel lies, appears open to this proposal. She is quoted as saying, “We are in the 21st century, and we need to keep an open mind about how we are going to approach land use in the I-80 corridor from the Bay Area to Sacramento.” She goes on to state that there are already so many high tech facilities along the corridor that it is being called the “innovation corridor” and that Yolo should not be the only county not in the conversation.

Supervisor Mike McGowan also appears more than open to the proposal, but given his record on growth, this is no surprise. Apparently the only supervisors who want to protect this valuable agricultural land and wildlife habitat are Duane Chamberlain and Matt Rexroad. Matt is quoted in the Bee as saying, “The place where the Tsakopoulos family owns land is pretty good farmland….Would it be great to have a research center like this in Yolo County? Yes. Does it have to be located on that parcel? No.”

If Tsakopoulos wants to build a research center, there are far better places for it than in the middle of farmland. The U.C. campus is one such location, for example. But this is not about a stem cell research center. This is about thousands of homes and acres of commercial development on prime farmland, in a flood plain, next to a sensitive wildlife area. This is exactly the type of sprawl we do not want. So much for considerations of the SACOG Blueprint Process, habitat, open space or farmland. This is poor planning at its worst. Why is Mariko supporting it? The answer will come at the end of July when she reports her financing for the assembly race.
This is not the first time Davis's own two supervisors have talked about changing direction and pushing for development in the county. Earlier this year they proposed to look into joint study areas on the periphery of Davis as possible locations for future development. This is in total violation of our pass- through agreement with the county. The agreement assures that city's retain the sole right to determine growth on their borders in exchange for passing through redevelopment funds to the county. In Davis's case, this is more than $2 million.

Both El Dorado and Sacramento County turned down Tsakopoulos proposals for massive developments in their jurisdictions. Yolo County needs to see this for what it is: another attempt to pave over hundreds of acres of farmland and open space in exchange for a sea of houses and commercial buildings for a huge profit to the developer and a huge loss to the county and its residents.

Mariko says she is just keeping an “open mind”, studying the facts, and seeking input from all sides before making a decision. That is “politician-talk”. Some proposals should be dead on arrival and this is one of them.

Contact Davis Supervisors Mariko Yamada and Helen Thomson and tell them we do not want this massive development on our borders. We want the county to honor our pass-through agreement, and leave planning decisions for development on our borders to our community.
Mariko Yamada. Phone: 757-5554 or 666-8624; email: mariko.yamada@yolocounty.org
Helen Thomson. Phone: 757-5557; email: helen.thomson@yolocounty.org