Why do you ride transit? What would make you more likely to ride transit? How can transit improve our communities?
If you have thoughts about these questions, and live in South Sacramento, SacRT wants to hear from you!
You’re invited to the next in SacRT’s series of Transit Idea Exchange Workshops to hear directly from the community:
Wednesday, June 25, 2025
6 p.m. – 7 p.m. (doors open at 5:30 p.m.)
Pannell Center
2450 Meadowview Rd, Sacramento
Former Mayor Heather Fargo shares her concerns about the proposed Airport South Industrial Project, a landowner proposed project in the Natomas Basin. Join her in opposing the project and attend the June 26, 2025 meeting – 5:30 at 915 “I” St, in the Sacramento City Council Chambers at New City Hall. The City Planning Commission will make a recommendation to the City Council for their final decision on annexation of this land to the City.
On June 9, 2025, the Sierra Club, ECOS, and Friends of the Swainsons’ Hawk filed a lawsuit challenging the Sacramento Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCo) actions to approve the Airport South Industrial Project (ASIP).
We did not want to file this lawsuit before the project came before the City, but the law only provides for a 30 day window to challenge the LAFCo decision made on May 7, 2025. We would have preferred to have waited for the City Council vote, but this was not possible.
LAFCo erred in its decision to approve the landowners’ request to expand the City Sphere of Influence to enable 6 million sq. ft. of industrial use of existing farmland. They did so without due consideration of the City’s commitment to the Natomas Basin Habitat Conservation Plan (NBHCP).
Our three organizations strongly believe in the purpose of the NBHCP to balance development with habitat and farmland preservation. The NBHCP has worked well for 20 years, and we want the Natomas Basin Conservancy and the Natomas community to continue to thrive. Approval of the ASIP and other proposed developments threaten their future.
You may be wondering what we hope to accomplish with the lawsuit. We want local government to follow the rules and be fair to the public. Thirty years of agreements (USB, General Plan, NBHCP and more) are being set aside and, as some of you have personally experienced, the process has been stacked against the community and wildlife/habitat protections.
Finally, lawsuits are expensive and we need your help. Please donate to ECOS for our Natomas fund. None of us want to live with the traffic, air quality and other issues. Give generously.
A joint press release about the lawsuit from ECOS, Sierra Club and Friends of the Swainson’s Hawk is on ECOS’ can be read here.
A Business Journal article published on June 11, 2025 can be read here.
Please note the dates and, prior to the meetings, see the Natomas webpage for updates.
June 23 – 5:30 Sacramento County Supervisors Chambers at 700 H Street. Upper Westside will be heard at the County Planning Commission. The Commission will give a recommendation to the Board of Supervisors. The Final Environmental Impact Report was released today. You can find it here. There is an executive summary.
June 26 – 5:30 Sacramento City Council Chambers at New City Hall 915 I St. Airport South Industrial Project is the only item on the agenda. The City Planning Commission will make a recommendation to the City Council for their final decision on annexation
August 12 – City Council meeting on the Airport South Industrial Project to approve or deny the annexation request and the warehouse project.
TBD – County Board of Supervisors meeting on Upper Westside to approve or deny the project.
Although a Notice of Preparation has been filed for GrandPark Southwest, no public meetings are scheduled
Sign the petitions – one concerns Upper Westside and is directed to the Board of Supervisors. The other concerns Airport South Industrial and is directed to LAFCo and the City Council. Sign the petitions here.
Let your elected representatives know how you feel by sending an email, making a call, or testifying at the hearings.
Donate to the ECOS Natomas fund.
Learn more on ECOS’s Natomas website.
Regards,
Heather Fargo
President of the ECOS Board of Directors, ECOS
By Ben van der Meer | June 9, 2025 | The Sacramento Business Journal
Local environmental groups have filed a lawsuit opposing a sphere-of-influence amendment to the city of Sacramento that would enable an industrial project called Airport South to move forward.
The Environmental Council of Sacramento, Sierra Club Mother Lode Chapter and Friends of the Swainson’s Hawk are plaintiffs in the suit filed Monday in Sacramento County Superior Court, contending an environmental impact report for Airport South didn’t take a full accounting of possible impacts.
By The Sacramento Bee Editorial Board | June 7, 2025 | The Sacramento Bee
The perpetual roadwork on Sacramento’s highways is a never-ending story of surprise detours, dangerous lane splits, metal-smeared K-rails and tragic fatal accidents — all in the futile pursuit of a solution to relieve congestive traffic. A “solution” that will be obsolete in less than a decade.
June 9, 2025
Today, Sierra Club, the Environmental Council of Sacramento (ECOS) and Friends of the Swainson’s Hawk (FOSH), represented by Patrick Soluri, of the firm, Soluri-Meserve, filed a lawsuit in Superior Court challenging the approved expansion of the City of Sacramento’s potential boundary in North Natomas. The 474-acre expansion requested by private landowners is intended to allow them to develop 6 million square feet of megawarehouse space on farmland next to wildlife preserves managed by the Natomas Basin Conservancy, and the Westlake Community, including the Paso Verde School.
The lawsuit challenges the project’s deficient environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act. It also challenges the failure of the Sacramento Local Agency Formation Commission (SacLAFCo) to follow its own policies in its approval of the landowner application. The Project site is currently zoned and used for agricultural purposes. Its ongoing status as agricultural land is critical to maintain continued effectiveness of the Natomas Basin Habitat Conservation Plan (“NBHCP”), an enforceable legal agreement between City, Sutter County, and Federal and State wildlife agencies which has guided urban development in the Natomas Basin for over 25 years.
Mailing address: PO Box 1526, Sacramento, CA 95812
Email: office [at] ecosacramento [dot] net
909 12th St., Suite 203, Sacramento, CA 95814