Category Archives: ECOS Updates

South Sac Habitat Conservation Plan – Final Comments from ECOS

What is the South Sac Habitat Conservation Plan?

Comments from ECOS

September 5, 2017

Attention: Rich Radmacher, Senior Planner
Sacramento County Planning Department
827 7th Street, Sacramento, CA 95814

Delivered via email to: radmacherr[at]saccounty[dot]net

These comments on the public draft of the South Sacramento Habitat Conservation Plan are presented on behalf of the Environmental Council of Sacramento (ECOS), Habitat 2020, the Sierra Club, the Institute for Ecological Health, and Save Our Sandhill Cranes.

Issues addressed by these comments include:

  • long-term sustainability of vernal pool resources in our region
  • agricultural-residential development
  • effects of pesticide use on agricultural preserve lands
  • effects of artifical lighting on species covered by the plan, as well as the insect prey of those species
  • effects of rodenticides on various species
  • better monitoring of how species are doing
  • avoidance and minimization measures
  • available inventory (in acres) remaining for each cover type/habitat type in the Plan Area
  • the regular review of relevant new scientific studies and reports for applicability in Preserve management

Animals of special concern include:

  • various local species of raptors (birds of prey) including the Burrowing Owl, the White Tailed Kite and the Swainson’s Hawk
  • the American Badger
  • the Loggerhead Shrike (a “songbird with a raptor’s habits”)
  • the Greater Sandhill Crane (which has one of the longest fossil histories of any bird still in existence)
  • the Tricolored Blackbird
  • the Western Red Bat

Read Our Comments

Click here to read the full comment letter.

Corresponding Addendum to our letter:

Addendum 1- 3

Addendum 4

Addendum 5, Part 1

Addendum 5, Part 2

Addendum 5, Part 3

More Resources

Click here to learn more about the South Sacramento Habitat Conservation Plan

Click here for a glossary of terms used in and in relation to the South Sacramento Habitat Conservation Plan

Click here to learn more about the Sandhill Crane

Kammerer Road-Highway 99 Sphere Of Influence Amendment DREIR

On September 11, 2017, ECOS submitted our comments on the Draft Recirculated Environmental Impact Report (DREIR) for the Proposed Kammerer/Highway 99 Sphere Of Influence Amendment (SOIA) Application for the City of Elk Grove.

Click here or on the image above to read the comment letter.

Summary

We appreciate the added attention to detail offered in the recirculated draft EIR, but rather than alleviate our concerns expressed in our original letter, the DREIR only further confirms those concerns. ECOS remains strongly opposed to the proposed Kammerer-99 Elk Grove SOI expansion and stands by our initial observation summarizing the project: Elk Grove’s anticipated growth can be accommodated within the existing City limits, and we find no justification for expansion beyond the Sacramento County Urban Services Boundary (USB) established in 1993 to be the ultimate growth boundary within the County. The proposal is inconsistent with the Sacramento Area Council of Governments’ (SACOG) Metropolitan Transportation Plan/Sustainable Communities Strategy (MTP/SCS) for meeting State mandated greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions, Federal mandates for Air Quality Attainment under the State Improvement Plan (SIP), as well as myriad regional goals for social equity, public health and natural resource conservation. There is an extreme lack of certainty that municipal water can be provided to this area without severe regional impacts, and the impacts to invaluable agricultural and biological resources by the proposal are potentially impossible to mitigate. The RDEIR confirms significant and unavoidable impacts in all these above-mentioned areas, with the exception of less than significant biological impact after mitigation which is a finding we disagree with. The question is, what justification is there for these impacts? We, again, find that there is not, and we strongly recommend that LAFCo decline the proposed Kammerer/99 SOIA.

Click here to read our comment letter to the Draft Environmental Impact Report, submitted March 31, 2017, which is referenced in our letter.

Click here for the Friends of Swainson’s Hawk’s comment letter on the Draft Recirculated Environmental Impact Report, submitted September 11, 2017, which is also referenced in our letter.

Join Us for our Sept. 18 Board Meeting

Join the Environmental Council of Sacramento – ECOS for our September ECOS Board Meeting! Everyone who is interested is welcome. Bring a friend!
 
Monday, September 18, 2017, at Location: SEIU Local 1000, 1325 S St, Sacramento, CA 95811
 
5:30 pm Reception – Please come and meet and socialize with ECOS Board Members and guests. Light appetizers and refreshments served. Feel free to bring something to share.
 
6:00 pm Meeting Begins
Keynote Speaker: Jonathan K. London
Associate Professor: Human Ecology/ Community and Regional Development
Chair: Community Development Graduate Group
Faculty Director: UC Davis Center for Regional Change
 
Professor London will speak about the Center for Regional Change’s work on Environmental Justice. The Center for Regional Change has grown into a well-known policy-oriented research organization that aims to create linkages between the university and the region of which it is a part.
 
For more about Professor London and the Center:
Twitter: @jklondon_ucd
 
As usual, ECOS Committees will report on their current business. Announcements from members and attendees are welcome at the end, as time allows.

ECOS’ Comments on the 2017 SB 375 Update

July 28, 2017

The Environmental Council of Sacramento, along with Organize Sacramento, the Sacramento Housing Alliance, the Planning and Conservation League, Mogavero Architects, 350 Sacramento and the California Bicycle Coalition submitted our collective comments on the recent update to SB 375, The Sustainable Communities and Climate Protection Act of 2008. Below are our opening comments, with a link to the letter in full. 

Dear Chair Nichols, Air Resources Board Members, and Staff:

In 2004, the Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG) adopted the Blueprint. This plan provided vision for how the region would integrate land use and transportation planning to curb sprawl, reduce vehicle emissions, and cut down on traffic congestion to improve quality of life. This is to be accomplished by encouraging a sufficient variety housing options close to jobs, schools, and other critical community amenities. The adoption of the Blueprint—and subsequent Metropolitan Transportation Plans/Sustainable Communities Strategies (MTPs/SCSs)—has made SACOG a leader in the state and the nation in its efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and vehicle miles traveled (VMT), and build more equitable communities.

While we support the recently adopted MTP/SCS, we also believe there is tremendous room to improve the plan. We believe that neither the SB 375 target recommendations made by SACOG staff (-18%) or Air Resources Board (ARB) staff (-19%) represent the full GHG reduction potential from improved land use and transportation behavior in the Sacramento region. Considering the substantial amount of greenfield development anticipated in the current SACOG MTP/SCS and the extremely low densities of the existing urban footprint, we feel that a stronger GHG reduction target is very feasible.

Read our full comment letter by clicking here or on the image of the letter below.

Photo: Smog over LA – is this what we want for the Sacramento region?