West Sacramento Robyn Davis speaks on Aug. 21 at a regularly scheduled council meeting, in which she most often notes her issues with the local zoning ordinances and other city matters. Photo courtesy of the West Sacramento News Ledger

WEST SACRAMENTO, CA (MPG) - Resident Robyn Davis has an issue living by the rules here.

The 33-year-old resident approaches the West Sacramento City Council at every regularly scheduled meeting. Rain or shine, Davis takes the podium for at least two to three minutes to explain why exceptions should be made for her Tiny Home on Wheels (THoW).

“Hello, I am Robyn, and I live in my 160-square-foot semi-off-grid tiny home on wheels on my undeveloped residential property,” Davis says at most meetings when alleging unfair government policies affecting her and others in her situation.  

For five years, Davis had drawn media attention, most notably a local ABC station in January 2023, when she admitted, “I'm living illegally.”

Davis said then the city's “standards are out-of-reach and unaffordable, not just for me but the majority of the population.” However, the nearly six-minute news clip told Davis's story and the city chose not to comment then. 

This week, the West Sacramento News Ledger spoke with Community Development director Andrea Ouse, who spoke at length about Davis and her home. 

“So a lot has happened in the last two years,” Ouse said, providing a 2023 staff report detailing Davis' matter.

According to the staff report, in 2020, officials began monitoring Davis' Tiny Home on Wheels on the Bryte neighborhood residential lot, which was noncompliant for several reasons.

“Most notably, that it is not a legal dwelling type and not connected to municipal utilities such as water or sewer, instead utilizing a neighbor's garden hose to supply the unit with domestic water and a compost toilet,” according to the staff report, adding the Tiny Home on Wheels uses solar panels rather than electric.

“She (Davis) calls it a semi-off grid,” Ouse said, adding the residence is essentially a travel trailer. “It's just that hers looks better.”

No matter the name, in 2023, resident complaints brought attention to the lot, which Ouse said is “well maintained” but not zoned legally specifically since it has no foundation. 

“After working with her for a long time to try to achieve compliance, she was going to put it on a foundation at some point, which she would be allowed to do as long as she connected to city water and city sewer,” Ouse said. “She could take the wheels off, put it down on a concrete foundation, pave a driveway like everybody else does and she would be able to get permits for it.”

However, that was not an option, according to Ouse, who said, “The type of trailer that she has apparently could not be retrofitted to take the wheels off and put it on a permanent foundation without some sizable investment.”

That is when Davis brought her situation to the council for relief regarding legally connecting to city water and sewer.

“We then took the question formally to the council for a workshop to get direction from them and asked if they wanted to change the codes to make it easier for Robyn and others to have a tiny home on wheels,” Ouse said.

The answer: yes but in time.

“We have been working on that ordinance for quite some time,” Ouse said, adding that staffing changes and critical priorities cause delays. “We have not been able to complete our work but we have a pretty good head of steam on it.”

The director said the new ordinance will be presented to the Planning Commission and the City Council. However, permits and city water and sewer utility hookups remain a mandate.

West Sacramento Robyn Davis speaks on Aug. 21 at a regularly scheduled council meeting, in which she most often notes her issues with the local zoning ordinances and other city matters. Photo courtesy of the West Sacramento News Ledger

Ouse said there's more.

“The other part of this is that Robyn would also like us to look at a proportional reduction of impact fees or connection fees associated with the utilities,” Ouse said. “There are some utilities that the city controls the fees and some utilities like a sewer that the city does not control those connection fees because our sewer goes across the river to a regional sewer treatment plant.”

Bottomline, Ouse said Davis' dwelling still has two pending issues.

“There's the zoning piece that we're getting closer to but there's also the fee structure piece that we're not as close to but we hope to get there,” Ouse said, adding city officials are working on both to present to the Planning Commission and city officials again before the end of the year, if possible.

In the ABC report two years ago, the city did not comment; this time, Davis did not respond to a press inquiry from the West Sacramento Ledger.