LAFCo Votes to Approve Airport South Industrial Project

May 9, 2025

ECOS is taking its message of opposition on the Airport South Industrial Project (ASIP) to the City Planning and Design Review Commission on May 22, at 5:30 pm.

Unfortunately, the Sacramento Local Area Formation Commission (LAFCo) voted 7 to 0 on May 7, 2025 to certify the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) and approve the Sphere of Influence (SOI) for the Airport South Industrial Project. This project would create 6 million square feet of warehouses on a 450-acre site next to the Westlake neighborhood, the Paso Verde elementary school, and existing habitat.

Despite 60 speakers voicing opposition at the April 2 meeting; despite 700 pages of comment letters; despite air quality and other negative impacts; despite our best efforts, they voted to move the project forward.

The next opportunity to turn things around is the City Planning and Design Review Commission hearing on May 22 at 5:30. The meeting will be held in the City Council chambers at 915 I St. If convinced of the flaws in the proposed project, the Commission may recommend that the City Council reject the project or offer suggestions for changes. I urge you to mark your calendar and plan to attend. Soon after that, the issue will go to the City Council for a final decision.

Thank you to everyone who wrote, called, posted on social media, and testified at the LAFCo hearings. Please contact your representatives as the meetings get closer. We still have a chance of saving this valuable farmland and open space.

Thank you and stay tuned.

Heather Fargo
President of the ECOS Board of Directors

In the News

Below are links to the report on Channel 10, a Sacramento Bee article published May 7, 2025, and today’s Sacramento Business Journal article.

Channel 10, “Battle over Sacramento annexation plan pits jobs against environmental concerns.”

The Sacramento Bee, “Sacramento commission approved annexing 472 acres. Residents are concerned.”

Sacramento Business Journal, “Sacramento LAFCo approves step toward Airport South project near Metro Air Park.”

Comments Re DEIR Coyote Creek Agrivoltaic Ranch Project

On May 5, 2025, comments were submitted on behalf of 350 Sacramento, California Native Plant Society, California Wildlife Foundation, Central Valley Bird Club, Defenders of Wildlife, Habitat 2020, Sacramento Audubon Society, and Sierra Club on the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) for the proposed Coyote Creek Agrivoltaic Ranch Project.

Click here to view the letter.

ECOS Letter to LAFCo re Airport South/LAFCo Meeting 5/7/2025

On May 7, 2025, ECOS submitted a letter to the Sacramento Local Area Formation Commission (LAFCo) regarding the Continued Public Hearing To Consider And Certify The Environmental Impact Report And Approve The Respective Amendments To The Spheres Of Influence For The City Of Sacramento And Sacramento Area Sewer District (LAFCo Project #2023-03).

Click here to read our letter.

You can read the recap and/or watch the recording of their last meeting on this here.

Sign the Airport South petition here.

Please attend the Airport South/LAFCo Meeting 5/7/2025

The Sacramento Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCo) will vote on May 7, 2025 on the two items they deferred on April 2: Adding ASIP to the City Sphere of Influence and certifying the ASIP EIR. The Agenda and supporting documents are here. LAFCo will allow public comment at the May 7 meeting.

When: Wednesday, May 7, 2025 at 5:30pm
Where: 700 H St., Sacramento, CA (in board chambers)

What you can do

Please show up, bring a friend, and bring a sign to express your opposition! It will be very important to be in the room and show the commissioners just how many people oppose the project.

Sign the petition here.

We hope to see you on May 7th for this important vote!

Make Polluters Pay Rally in Sacramento 5/27/2025

The fossil fuel industry has enjoyed some of the best profit margins in history, while externalizing the costs of their operations onto our health, communities, and our planet. They have known for decades the impacts of their industry pollution on the climate, and they continue to obstruct the energy transition. Big Oil has used these profits to corrupt our government at all levels, and Trump said the quiet part out loud during his campaign, promising big tax cuts and deregulation in exchange for millions in contributions. Now the administration is gutting agencies and programs that protect people and planet, and pursuing the “drill baby drill” agenda.

In California, the word “unprecedented” has started to lose its meaning as wildfires, floods, droughts, sea level rise, and even fire tornados hammer the golden state regularly. And as a potential Trump recession looms, social programs, environmental protection and disaster relief, among others, may face major face cuts as the state budget faces shortfalls. California is on the verge of joining Vermont and New York in creating a Climate Superfund, but we need your support!

It is past time that we hold polluters accountable for the damage they have caused, and make the major investments that our communities desperately need. It is time to Make Polluters Pay! Join us at a peaceful rally in Sacramento at the West Steps of the Capitol from 5 – 7pm on May 27th.

RSVP here

Airport South – What Happened at LAFCo and What’s Next

April 9, 2025

Here is an update on the Airport South Industrial Project!

The Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCo) held the first hearing on Wednesday, April 2, 2025. The Community response during the nearly four hour hearing showed the depth of feeling and opposition to this project. About 80 written comments were submitted and more than forty people spoke against the project.

Some highlights of the hearing included expert testimony on the failure of the EIR to discuss truck ultrafine particulate emissions’ impacts on health of children and residents in the neighborhood. A retired planning commissioner and a retired school district board member spoke to the incompatibility of the project with the adjacent neighborhood. Other issues: I-5 corridor traffic and trucks already disrupting the neighborhood; the incompatibility of the 96 acres of detention basins with airport runway. The hearing is available on YouTube.com in the video below.

In the end, LAFCo continued the hearing (delayed their decision). Staff and lawyers appeared to be concerned about getting their paperwork in order, and because the City has not yet held a hearing on the project. The next LAFCo meeting is scheduled for May 7. Plan to be there and show your opposition.

Meanwhile, please help get more signatures on our petition. Over 1050 people have signed our petition against approving the project.

Click here to go to the petition.