300 Grande Avenue was purchased by the Davis Joint Unified School District for use as a school site. Years later no school has been built and the property has been deemed too small for an elementary school. The Grande Neighborhood Association has influenced the future use of the 8 acre property.
The price was only $57,000, according to Jeff Hudson's October 16, 2005 and March 15, 2006 Davis Enterprise articles. The price may have been sub-market, as it sounds very low for 8 acres. However, RichRifkin points out that land in Davis was still pretty cheap in 1971 and suspects it may well have been market price for undeveloped land.
When I was a kid we would dig holes in this field, usually a shovel and a half deep X same size width, and we would dig a second twenty feet away and have dirt clod wars. Pretty sure a DJUSD tractor almost fell into one when it was tilling the field for fire prevention Daubert
A rumored proposal is of an Oakland firm wanting to put (cram) 52 houses on it. Another proposal is 41 units with respectable buffer spaces for existing greenbelts.
I grew up next to this site, I think it would be a wonderful location for small house / co-op style housing and could be gorgeously integrated into the adjacent bike paths whilst still giving 12-16 feet on the 3 non street borders for the joggers / etc. I have done preliminary sketches / concept work on the layout of the development, and the layout of the houses. It's all a pie in the sky idea of mine but I think it would go really nicely with the character of the neighborhood...
Photos
It was short lived mystery photo taken by StevenDaubert
2007-01-06 15:54:53 It has always been the field outside the house I grew up at. —StevenDaubert 2007-02-17 01:33:04 When we were young we would dig holes in in, about a shovel and a half deep by about the same size wide and have dirt clod wars with the kids from the street to the North. Fun times until you got hit with a clod! DJUSD hated that cause the tractor that cuts the brush for fire safety almost fell into one. Twice. —StevenDaubert
2007-03-20 08:58:58 My parents purchased their home way-back-when specifically near this plot of land so that I could go to school there. Obviously, I went to North Davis School instead... —WesHardaker
2008-11-08 14:09:11 I live just north of here and have seen the preliminary plan for the new housing. The lot sizes look pretty comparable to what's here now, so I wouldn't say "cram". As long as they keep a decent greenbelt buffer I'm pretty happy to see new houses here. Though it's too bad they probably won't look anything like the many Streng homes in the neighborhood. —EdHenn
2008-11-08 15:49:00 Ed: The new plan calls for 41 houses, it will have a zone of 50 feet on the East side, ~50 feet on the South Side, and ~45 feet on the West side for greenbelts, with the units in 2 cul-de-sacs. This proposal is more rational than the last one, and especially better than the "swap" plan. The houses are going to be built in the style of other homes around. Growing up around this field I would love to see it stay as open space but the only constant is change... —StevenDaubert
Chances are your going to get one of my "Grande Neighborhood association" flyers today about going to the city council meeting that will discuss the plot...
Comments:
You must be logged in to comment on this page. Please log in.