“I think talking about this is good for our community. We want a nice-looking town.”

DIXON, CA (MPG) - At the last City Council Meeting, on Item 12.3, District 3 Representative Kevin Johnson requested consideration of a “discussion” regarding a possible resolution for the look of Dixon’s future subdivisions. Councilman Johnson is a long-time real estate agent and handles property in many other cities other than Dixon where he resides.

“My motivation is that in the history of Dixon, [we] never before had potentially 1,500 homes all at once and we need to ask ourselves, ‘What do we want our city to look like?’ Do we want no guidelines or some guidelines...I struggle with having no guidance,” he said.

Councilman Johnson’s concerns were about “paving and impervious surface requirements” for front yards in single-family districts. In short, the possible overuse of concrete after seeing this issue in other cities.

Community Development Director Raffi Boyolan said that the Municipal Code does not say what can or can’t be in the front yard but there is not “an enforceable standard that we currently have.”

“Even having a discussion is disturbing,” said former Mayor Thom Bogue. “The problem of even having a discussion creates a belief that we have to act upon it. A lot of people have over 50% of their front yard as a driveway.”

Citizen Amy Boales said any potential ordinances should be put to a vote and Community Activist Michael Ceremello said it was a “solution looking for a problem.”

“We don’t need to be told what to do with our property,” he said.

District 2 Representative Jim Ernest noted that the water issue is going to get worse in the future and the problem with concrete/impervious surfaces is that water does not seep down into the ground the way it is supposed to.

“We have to respect the will of all our citizens,” he added.

“I think it’s good we have this discussion because we do get calls from both sides,” said District 1 Representative Scott Pederson. “I think talking about this is good for our community. We want a nice-looking town.”

“I am supportive of personal property rights and this is only a discussion item,” said Mayor Steve Bird after hearing several comments from the public. It is likely that this discussion will come back to the Council.

“When we get a Public Information Officer on board, we can do a public outreach campaign so we can better gauge what the community is looking for in that regard,” said City Manager Jim Lindley.