Over this past summer Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Adela de la Torre and Vice Provost of Graduate Education and Dean of Graduate Studies Jeffery C. Gibeling established the Student Family Housing Redevelopment Committee to consult with community members, identify model housing facilities, and establish guidelines for student family housing at UC Davis that meets students’ needs.

Orchard and Solano Parks are two campus apartment complexes which were designed primarily to serve full-time students with children. The complexes have park-like settings and provide safe and comfortable facilities which complement family lifestyles. Due to increasing maintenance costs and the ongoing need for major repairs, the decision was made in 2009 to redevelop Orchard and Solano Parks.

After a former committee’s plans, proposed this past March, generated significant concerns from the community, Chancellor Linda Katehi halted those plans and began to focus on finding another approach that would address the community’s concerns more thoroughly. The new committee, which is comprised of a group of faculty, staff and students, brings different perspectives and expertise to the conversation. “There are several students on the committee this time and we are all examples of how important supportive family housing is to successful graduate students,” says Cutcha Risling Baldy, a member of the new committee who says she joined because she herself is a graduate student with a family living in Solano Park.

“I know part of the reason I have been successful in graduate school is because I have stability in my housing, an environment that is supportive of my family, and a place where I feel my family and I are safe,” says Baldy. “I think my real life experience living in this community should [help] inform how we develop student family housing.”

The newly appointed Student Family Housing Redevelopment Committee is meeting biweekly to establish an approach that will guide the more specific planning process to be undertaken by a new project design committee in 2015. The current committee will also identify model housing facilities at other institutions and collect information about student family housing options that will best serve the needs of UC Davis students. The final report will focus predominantly on addressing the redevelopment needs of Orchard Park first, with only general recommendations for the future of Solano Park.

Committee members plan to have numerous opportunities to engage with students and community members. The committee’s meeting minutes are posted on their website to increase openness and transparency with the public, in addition to holding open forums and providing other platforms to raise awareness and communication. “The committee plans to engage frequently with the community,” says Erica Vonasek, vice chair and interim chair of the Graduate Student Association (GSA). “We have already hosted two open forums with the Solano Park residents, and plan for several more.”

Vonasek reports to the General Assembly every month to better connect and inform graduate and professional students. “I hope that GSA’s continual support of students with families will help define the set of principles that can guide student family housing to plan for both the [short and long] term.”

A list of the committee members, the committee charge letter from Gibeling and de la Torre, as well as related reports and resources can be found on the Student Family Housing Redevelopment Committee website at https://gradstudies.ucdavis.edu/current-students/student-family-housing-redevelopment.

The Student Family Housing Redevelopment Committee highly values community participation and engagement during the process of forming the final report. For questions or comments about the redevelopment process, please contact project manager Marilyn Derby at mderby@ucdavis.edu or project assistant Brittany Derieg at bjderieg@ucdavis.edu.