On June 16, 2026, the five members of the Sacramento Board of Supervisors voted to approve the Upper Westside Project.
With that vote, the land changes from agricultural to development and increases in paper value – much to the advantage of the developer and other land owners.

The meeting was lopsided to favor the developer. County staff presented the project and responded to supervisor questions. Then, the developer described the project and responded to supervisor questions. The presentations lasted about 2 and half hours. Members of the public were given ONE minute each to speak. The supervisors did not ask the public speakers any questions. There were about 70 speakers both in opposition and to approve.

In their questions and in the County Planning Staff presentations, requirements in the process were identified that could be show stoppers for the project. The developers and County made a number of assumptions such as that they can successfully navigate the many steps needed to provide water for the project. Another is that they will receive permits from the state and federal wildlife agencies.

The first obstacle will be lawsuits challenging the County’s environmental review. ECOS and allies have less than 30 days to file a petition to overturn the EIR. Donations to our legal fund can be made here.

ECOS and allies pointed out the many legal flaws in the development Plan and EIR and the harm the Upper Westside Project will do to the Habitat Conservation Plans in the Natomas Basin. ECOS also explained that far more land is zoned for housing than can be built in the next century, as detailed in a letter to the supervisors. The claim that the rezoning will benefit the housing crisis is a hoax.

We are, of course, very disappointed that the Supervisors chose to endorse such a bad plan. In future, we must elect leaders who will say no to business proposals that harm the public interest. We are grateful for the response to our outreach and the increased awareness about land use, in our community. We will not be discouraged and will continue to bring people together to protect climate, farmland, habitat and habitat conservation plans.

Community opposition will continue. The City and Natomas Basin Conservancy are strongly opposed to the project. A coalition of groups that include ECOS, 350 Sacramento, Sierra Club, Friends of the Swainson’s Hawk, Garden Highway Community Association, North Natomas Community Coalition, and others will continue to work together to oppose this project.

News and Links:

To see a recording of the meeting – go here. The video is about 9 hours long, so advance to 2:04 pm, 4 hours and 40 minutes into the video to see the Upper Westside Hearing.

The Sacramento Bee published an article on the front page, June 18,2026. You can Google “Supervisors Approve Controversial Upper Westside” or try one of these links:

• The front page of the Bee with photo and article
• The same Article, on MSN

An article in Abridged provides a good summary of project.

• Sacramento County greenlights controversial housing plan against city concerns https://www.abridged.org/news/sacramento-county-upper-westside-housing-plan/

We will continue to keep you updated and ask for your support. Please make a tax-deductible donation here.

The Board of Supervisors (BOS) has scheduled a vote on the Upper Westside project for Tuesday, June 16 at 2 pm. Plan to attend at 700 H St, Sacramento.

To confirm that the vote will be held, the morning of the 16th, check our webpage or social media pages.

Places where you can get updates include:

• The ECOS Natomas Campaign webpage – see the Important Update message
• Facebook, Instagram, X and Bluesky

You can also check the agenda on Board of Supervisors meeting webpage.

Background

The vote is to approve or deny this project which will rezone over 2,000 acres of farmland to enable residential and commercial development.

The fundamental reason to oppose this project is that the County should not build an unincorporated city, the size of Galt, in a flood zone, next to the Sacramento River. It will destroy valuable farmland and wildlife habitat. The project will add over 20,000 people to Natomas and will not improve main transportation arteries, resulting in increased traffic and congestion. This project also flouts long-standing agreements between the City and the County.

The City and the Natomas Basin Conservancy have retained counsel and sent strongly worded letters to the County explaining how proposed rezoning will destroy the Natomas Basin Habitat Conservation Plan. You should help us to oppose this project.

Submit a Comment to the Supervisors

Email a comment to BoardClerk[at]saccounty[dot]gov. Include “Upper Westside Specific Plan” Item #58, in the subject. Providing your contact information is optional. Or, you can mail a comment to the County Board of Supervisors at 700 H Street, Suite 2450, Sacramento, CA 95814

Ideas for your comments could include the following. You don’t need to use them all – use ones that reflect your reasons for opposition.

• The City’s opposition – The City Council passed a resolution against UWSP. The City’s excellent letter is here. 
• Habitat – There will be irreversible and fatal impacts to the Natomas Basin Conservancy, the Swainson’s Hawk and the Swainson’s Hawk Zone. Two excellent letters from NBC are here. There is total disregard for 3 decades of planning for habitat preservation. There are conflicts with the Urban Services Boundary (County’s ultimate boundary for growth) and the Natomas Basin Conservancy.  
• Traffic impacts – I-5 and I-80, West El Camino, and Garden Highway will be severely impacted by the addition of 20,000 residents.
• Water – There is no viable source of water. The urban water rights do not exist for these parcels and water reliability is diminishing with climate change. ECOS wrote a letter in response to the project’s recent proposal to use agricultural water.
• Fire & Police – Concern with the ability of the county to provide adequate protection for urban scale services typically handled by the city, not the county.
• Negative business impact – Millions of square feet of new commercial space will pull business from existing businesses in Natomas and downtown.
• Evacuation Risk – Increased congestion creates dangerous evacuation conditions in case of flooding or other emergencies.
• Air Quality Damage – Excessive and unhealthy air quality emissions are not sufficiently addressed. The EIR identifies significant air quality impacts that can’t be mitigated.
• Lack of Affordable Housing – This project does not address the region’s affordable housing need. Our housing need is for low and moderate income housing which is a minor part of this project. More importantly, plenty of land is already zoned for housing. See ECOS’ letter that argues against more SacCounty approvals of Greenfield projects including the Upper Westside proposal.

Please join us in opposing this project.  Attend the meeting, give a 2 minute spoken comment and/or, submit a written comment.

Thank you for taking action to demonstrate your opposition to this project.