Airport South Industrial Project Vote

April 2, 2025

LAFCo is scheduled to vote on Airport South Industrial on April 2, 2025.  Please be there to help protect open space.

The Sacramento Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCo) will vote on including the acreage proposed for Airport South Industrial (ASIP) into the City’s Sphere of Influence (SOI).  This is the first step to approving the landowner’s request to build warehouses on agricultural land west of the City limit.

If five people on this commission vote yes, they will undo decades of public planning of land use in our community without the Sacramento City Council ever having a public hearing. We need to put a stop to this outrage.  We must be there in large numbers to ask Commissioners to vote NO on expanding the City of Sacramento at the request of one landowner. 

ECOS opposes this project for its inconsistency with every plan approved in the region for the last 25 years including: the City General Plan, the County General Plan, the SACOG Metropolitan Transportation Plan, the Urban Services Boundary line, and the Natomas Basin Habitat Conservation Plan.  In addition, according to the draft Environmental Impact Report, the three main issues that CANNOT be mitigated to an acceptable level are the increased air pollution, the loss of farmland and loss of aesthetic value of open space.  Sacramento already has some of the dirtiest air in the nation and the City should not put industrial warehouses with their trucks and pollution next to an elementary school and residences.

Perhaps most important is that ASIP is the first of three major proposed projects in Natomas, and if approved, would provide precedent and justification for the following two, which would add up to 70,000 new residents and several million square feet of commercial development.

On March 30, 2025, at 5 pm, ECOS will hold a Zoom meeting to review the project and talk about how to make a spoken or written comment to LAFCo.

For your Calendar:

  • Wednesday, April 2, 2025 5:30 pm, LAFCo meeting, 700 H St, Board Room, Sacramento
    The vote on the proposed Airport South Industrial project

Actions:

  1. Ask your friends, family, neighbors and networks to SIGN the PETITION to LAFCO! Just put your name here. We need 1000+ signatures. 
  2. Ask people you know to attend the LAFCo meeting on April 2, 2025. Comments are limited to 2 minutes each.
  3. To submit a comment:
    • Send your email comment to the Commission at BoardClerk[at]saccounty[dot]gov
      (Refer to April 2nd Agenda item #6, Airport South Industrial)
    • Write a letter: send to Sacramento LAFCo, 1112 I Street, Suite 100, Sacramento, CA 95814

Updates on the Campaign to Stop Warehouses Next to Residential Neighborhood:

At our presentation at Paso Verde School 50 people and two TV stations were present.  Heather had a great interview, with the proposed site for ASIP in the background.  See the CBS interview here.

If you want to learn more about the Airport South Industrial Project – An article by Heather was recently reprinted in N Magazine.  Nmag.net  It is on page 8.

Dennis Spear, publisher of N Magazine, wrote an article about the meeting at Paso Verde school.  Find it here, on Facebook.

Thanks:

Thanks to all of you who have attended meetings, organized meetings, passed out flyers at meetings and more. 

  • We were delighted to meet about 60 new supporters at the meetings at Leroy Greene Academy and at Paso Verde School. 
  • We met with another 85 who live along Garden Highway in the Alamar Marina, Bar and Restaurant. 
  • And a big thank you to the Ecology Task Force of Natomas Performing Arts Charter School and the student interns of Sierra Club and 350 Sacramento who have met with us several times and have provided invaluable help in creating flyers and wonderful videos. See a video about bird life on rice fields north of Elverta Rd!

ECOS letter

You can see the letter ECOS submitted in preparation of this meeting here.

Harvest Water Talk with ECOS Water Committee, 4/8/2025

Please join the ECOS Water Committee on April 8, 2025 at 5:30 pm over zoom for a special guest presentation and discussion about the Harvest Water Program. Jofil Borja, Legislative and Regulatory Affairs Manager, and John Nurmi, Senior Civil Engineer, of the Sacramento Area Sewer District, will be presenting this deep dive into a large, local infrastructure project. Harvest Water will bring high quality recycled water (tertiary treated recycled water from the EchoWater Resource Recovery Facility) to the southern portion of Sacramento County for use in irrigating agricultural and existing habitat lands.

The project represents a long-term solution for future drought conditions by reducing the pressure on local groundwater aquifer stores by up to 50,000 acre feet per year, equivalent to 16 billion gallons per year, which is equivalent to roughly 2000 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Harvest Water is currently under construction and is anticipated to be operational in 2027. By reducing the amount of groundwater pumped by farmers, it is anticipated that the groundwater aquifer can be restored to historic levels. This would bring a number of ecosystem benefits to the region including improvements in riparian and wetland habitat and increased streamflows in the Consumnes River. These benefits will enhance the habitats of various listed species including Sandhill crane, Swainson’s hawk, and fall-run Chinook salmon.

More info

Harvest Water Website
Harvest Water Ecosystem Benefits

To join the meeting

Link to join: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/6656164155
To phone in: 669-900-6833, Meeting ID: 665 616 4155

2024 ECOS Annual Highlights

Dear ECOS Community,

ECOS has achieved much this past year and I’d like to express my thanks to you for your time, effort, and financial support during 2024. Without you, ECOS would not be as effective in advocacy as it is today.

We still have a long way to go in our region to contain sprawl, build transit and infill housing, preserve open space, ensure equity and environmental health, and achieve net-zero carbon by 2045. Changes at the federal level obviously are making it even more challenging.

Since ECOS was founded in 1971, it has fostered a community of organizations and individuals dedicated to protecting the environment and ensuring its long-term sustainability. Over the years, we’ve earned a respected voice in the Sacramento. I am honored to have served as President of the Board from 2022 to 2024.

On January 1, 2025, we welcomed former Mayor Heather Fargo as our new president. Her experience in moving public opinion has already increased our effectiveness, particularly on the campaign to oppose proposed developments on farmland in Natomas.

ECOS increased its capacity by hiring a policy analyst in July and a part-time GIS policy/admin staff member, at the start of 2025.

As you read this Annual Report, please consider making a financial contribution to ECOS. Become a sponsor of Sacramento Earth Day now through April 27.

Sincerely yours,
Susan Herre AIA AICP
Immediate Past President of the Board

New! Streets for People Draft Plan – Comments due 4/6/2025

New! Sacramento’s Streets for People Draft Plan is out! We want to make it easier for everyone to choose walking, rolling, or biking for the short trips they take every day.

Sacramento’s Streets for People Draft Plan is available for review through April 6. You can comment on the Plan in the link below or by sending staff a comment.

Part two will include completing the Streets for People Active Transportation Plan, with the public review of the Draft Plan available March 5 through April 6, and Plan adoption in summer 2025.

Comment on the draft plan at sacstreetsforpeople.org.

Climate Change Speaker Series

Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL) Sacramento/Roseville is partnering with the Climate Reality Project to host several Zoom presentations to keep you current with how tools to fight climate change will be impacted by the Trump administration.

Read more and register here.

  • 3/24, 6 pm – Tariffs for the Climate
  • 3/27, 6 pm – SMUD’s March to Carbon Zero in 2030
  • 3/31, 6 pm – Climate Change and your Wallet
  • 4/7, 6 pm – How to talk about Climate Change so People will Listen