Commissioners on the City of Davis Climate and Environmental Justice Commission voted to recommend a hybrid approach to how the city should address environmental justice in its general plan, following a consultant presentation on state rules, local data and community outreach.

Consultants from Ramey and Associates outlined three options for complying with state laws such as SB 1000 and SB 379: create a standalone environmental justice (EJ) element, integrate EJ goals throughout the general plan, or adopt a hybrid that keeps an EJ framework while also embedding policies in relevant chapters. Melissa Stark presented the draft vision and project outcomes and Tiffany Eane reviewed methods used to identify disadvantaged communities and locally relevant vulnerabilities.

The consultants told the commission that Davis' strict CalEnviroScreen screen identified no census tracts that meet the top‑25% statewide threshold, but combining income overlays and local pollution indicators highlighted pockets of higher cumulative burden. Eane summarized demographic findings including a 2023 population of about 65,800 and long-term growth and noted local issues such as pesticide exposure, groundwater threats, occasional limited walk access to services, linguistic isolation in roughly 13 census tracts, and housing overcrowding in specific tracts.

Commissioners and members of the public pressed staff and consultants to balance place‑based mapping with population‑level approaches for some hazards, and to expand community engagement. Commissioner Jordan Lottley moved that the commission recommend the hybrid option to city council; the motion was seconded and approved by voice vote.

Public commenters and stakeholders endorsed stronger enforcement and attention to renters and aging housing stock. Chris Granger of Cool Davis urged integrated policy and retrofit support for older rentals, saying the plan should help "retrofit our community for less vehicle use" and lower utility burdens for low‑income households. Student Ruby Burkhardt asked for tribal consultation and co‑management protocols with local tribes, noting that Indigenous residents are under‑represented in the city's datasets.

Council liaison Donna reminded the commission that council had discussed the standalone/integrated/hybrid tradeoffs and emphasized that the goal is for EJ measures to be meaningful, not an afterthought. Donna told the commission she would share council's ongoing discussion as it develops.

Next steps: the commission asked staff to refine recommendations on how to identify disadvantaged populations (including layering local indicators), to explore targeted outreach and incentives for rental retrofits, and to forward the hybrid recommendation to city council for further consideration.