Important Update: Cannery Park
We are sorry to report that on Monday, March 16, 2009, Lewis Planned Communities (“Lewis”) owner and developer of the former Hunt-Wesson tomato processing plant site withdrew its application to redevelop the vacant property into a new mixed-use neighborhood known as Cannery Park.
Cannery Park was an innovative proposal for infill development with a balanced mix of employment and housing designed to meet the internal demands of the Davis community over the next seven to ten years, and minimize pressures to convert valuable farmland. The development of Cannery Park, now vacant for ten years, would have brought a new 20-acre Business Park to Davis along with 610 new homes designed to provide desired “workforce” housing; all within the current city limits. In addition, the Cannery Park proposal included a new neighborhood park as part of a 20-acre Integrated Open Space system envisioned to encourage interaction between future employees and residents, as well as the surrounding Davis neighborhoods. As a focus group project in the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED for Neighborhood Development Pilot Program, Cannery Park also presented a significant opportunity for accreditation and international recognition as an example of innovative and sustainable development in the context of the emerging environmental revolution.
Since acquiring the property in May 2004, the Lewis team has been diligently engaged with the community to define a neighborhood approach for redevelopment of this vacant property. Throughout our time in Davis, Lewis has continued to positively work toward gaining support and approval to enable the development of a new mixed-use neighborhood scaled to fit the surrounding community. Lewis purchased the property with full understanding of its PD-Industrial zoning, but with a realization of the infill site's extraordinary potential to provide a balanced mix of uses to benefit Davis. Lewis submitted its initial mixed-use proposal in July 2004.
Following city direction, the Lewis team began a significant outreach effort to “solicit community input on the proposed mix of uses”. Through a series of five formal community meetings and many discussions with individual neighbors, stakeholders, and community leaders, the Lewis team welcomed and received great community input. We are grateful for the warm community reception and the many innovative ideas which helped to strengthen the design of Cannery Park. Given the success of our outreach efforts, we felt confident that great strides toward defining a new neighborhood in the best tradition of Davis had been made.
In October 2007, the City Council directed city staff to process the mixed-use proposal, complete a Non-Residential Viability Study, and “embark upon a community outreach process to solicit input on the site”. While disappointed that city-led community outreach did not take place, the Lewis team continued to solicit input from the community throughout 2008 in an effort to create a cutting-edge neighborhood that would serve Davis' workforce.
The Lewis funded, but city staff directed, Business Park Viability Study for Cannery Park was completed in September 2008. The study, in our opinion, clearly indicated the infeasibility for development of the entire site as only a business park. The Business Park Viability Study was received and reviewed by the city's Business and Economic Development and Planning Commissions, both of which recommended moving forward with the Cannery Park mixed-use proposal.
The City Council's December 2, 2008 vote to proceed with preparation of the required Environmental Impact Report (“EIR”) was a key step in completing a review of the Cannery Park proposal. However, just prior to the City Council hearing, staff recommended adding an EIR analysis of all-business park project with “equal weight” to the Cannery Park proposal. Less than a month earlier, city staff recommended that the Planning Commission direct Lewis to increase the business park/office to at least 40-acres. These widely varying recommendations illustrate a systemic lack of clarity and guidance for future planning of the site which regrettably persists despite a successful citizen-based General Plan Housing Element Update process, the completion of the city's Viability Study, and Lewis' extensive outreach with the community. Ultimately, the inclusion of an “equal weight” EIR analysis for the infeasible development of a 100-acre business park at this location further demonstrated a continuing lack of any meaningful consensus regarding the future use of this valuable land asset.
Unfortunately, after five long years of extraordinary and indisputable commitment by Lewis, no clear path to bring about any type of project approval that would allow for an economically feasible development of the property in a reasonable timeframe was evident. Although much of the Davis community has been very receptive and helped us to design a new vision for the old cannery, the continued lack of clarity and consensus for the future use for this unique site has proven an insurmountable hurdle to overcome.
It is extremely disappointing that Lewis has been unable to navigate through the arduous Davis application process within a timeframe that would enable the successful development of Cannery Park. Contrary to any rumors, the Lewis decision to suspend efforts to develop Cannery Park is not the result of the current “poor economic times”. The Lewis Group of Companies remains a strong and vibrant family-owned development business that will continue to produce leading-edge master planned communities in the region.
As a family business, Lewis thanks the many community members for taking the time and interest in Cannery Park. We very much appreciate your suggestions and encouragements over the past five years. We enjoy working with the residents of Davis and respect and appreciate your love and dedication to community. We are saddened by the loss of such an opportunity for Davis.
Our thanks to you always,
The Lewis Team