December 5, 2025

On Tuesday, December 2, 2025, the Sacramento City Council voted to annex the 475 acres of farmland for the Airport South Industrial Project, allowing warehouses to be built next to residences and a school. They also approved the Environmental Impact Report. The vote was 5 – 2 with Karina Talamantes and Mai Vang opposing.

We at ECOS are deeply disappointed and you probably are too. The City requested and the developer agreed to some changes to the plan, which will make the project a little better for human neighbors, including an increased setback. For plants and wildlife, the project will be a disaster.

Loss of open space in the Sacramento Regions seems to be a theme. Open spaces in the Sacramento Region are not being protected by our elected officials, regardless of agreements, plans, rules, conventions and community action.

For example, on November 18, the Board of Supervisors approved the Coyote Creek agrivoltaic project in eastern Sacramento County. Thousands of oak trees and sensitive habitat will be lost to a project that could be moved.

On December 2, the City Council approved Airport South Industrial, allowing warehouses to be built next to residences and a school.

In addition, in Natomas, another 7000+ acres are under threat of development. These range from rice fields north of Elkhorn Blvd (Grandpark Southwest and Grandpark Trails) to the “Boot” area along Garden Hwy (Upper Westside Project).

For both Coyote Creek and for Airport South, the Sacramento community stepped up to show our opposition. There were 155 speakers at the Coyote Creek hearing. 193 people wrote comments to the City Council about Airport South Industrial and 1550 signed a petition opposing it. Thank you all.

Your participation enabled us to get a better hearing. The strength and persuasiveness of the opposition had an impact on Airport South Industrial and the level of attention paid to it by the City Council.

What’s Next?

1. The City and County are working out an agreement on tax sharing for the project and the income it will generate. The agreement is scheduled for discussion at the City Council on Tuesday, December 9.
2. Next spring, possibly in March, the Sacramento Local Agency Formation Commission will vote on whether or not the City can annex the land and provide City services. We expect them to vote to approve.

Take Action

Your support is needed – ECOS has staff to pay, stamps to buy and lawsuits to fund – you get it. We really need your donations. Our next step is a lawsuit to get a judge’s opinion on whether the City’s process followed the law. It is not cheap and we need donations to keep it going. Please give. Donate here.

In the News

Fox 40 segment on the City Council meeting
Sacramento Bee article about Airport South Industrial City Council Vote
Sacramento Bee article about Coyote Creek Board of Supervisors Vote

Thank you for your support and participation in opposing the loss of open space in our region.

Save The Date

Tuesday, Dec 2nd, 2025 – Continued City Council Public Hearing – Mayor/ Council will continue the hearing and council discussion, and may vote to accept or reject the project. 5 pm, City Hall, 915 I St.

Click here for the email we sent on December 1, 2025 regarding the December 2 hearing.

The Hearing

On November 18, the City Council met for an informational session on the Airport South Industrial Project. City staff and the developers presented the plans for the project. During the public hearing, about 50 people spoke, and half were pro project, expressing their support for construction and long term jobs.

ECOS volunteers, Natomas neighbors and many others, including the Lorax, expressed their opposition. Some of the issues brought up included the negative impacts to the Natomas Basin Habitat Conservation Plan, the loss of prime farmland and wildlife habitat, the improper CEQA process, the fact that other locations were not considered, and, of course, the impacts to neighbors and school children of truck traffic, polluted air and noise.

YOUR petition of opposition, with 1550 names, was presented to the City Council, with a map showing where signatories live. 1000 signatories live in the zip codes closest to the project, over 500 live in other parts of the City.

The Mayor and City Council members Karina Talamantes, Roger Dickinson and Eric Guerra asked staff to research a number of items and return with answers on December 2. The Mayor continued the meeting until December 2. Council members Lisa Kaplan AND Caity Maple are recused. We still need four NO votes.

Action Needed:

Help us keep up the pressure. Tell the Mayor and Council to VOTE NO.

How to write the City Council – email information is here.

Suggestions on what to say – here.

Links

KCRA 3 Coverage of the Hearing – here.

Hoodline Sacramento published an article – here.

Please plan to attend the Hearing on Tuesday, December 2nd, 2025.

November 1, 2025

Currently, the City Council dates for discussion and voting on the proposed Airport South Industrial Project (ASIP) are:

• Nov 18th – City Council Public Hearing – The meeting’s structure has not been published yet. However, we recommend preparing questions for the developer and Council members.
• Dec 2nd – Continued City Council Public Hearing – Mayor/ Council vote – this will be the City Council vote to accept or reject the project.

As promised, the City Staff published their recommendations on ASIP last week and the City Council voted to review them. The recommendations are available here. City staff recommend a YES vote on the project.

Note that there are two opportunities for public comment.

Please put Tuesday November 18, 2025 (5pm) and Tuesday, December 2, 2025 (5pm) on your calendar. The address is City Hall, 915 I Street, Sacramento CA.

Take Action: Write your Member of the City Council

We need your City Council member (CCM), regardless of their district, to vote NO on this project.

Normally, there are nine votes on Council, but CCM Kaplan has been recused from the vote due to the location of her residence very close to the project. Four “no” votes will block the project.

Everyone in the City of Sacramento can help build opposition to this project by writing to their CCM. Your CCM’s vote could be decisive.

Contact the Mayor and your City Council Member and help us get to four “no” votes.

Call, email or speak in person to your CMM and ask them to vote NO on the Airport South Industrial Project.

Council member contact information and emails are here.

Speaking/Talking Points

Some possible points to include in your call or email. Fill in the blanks as appropriate. The two most important points to make are – you are a constituent, and you want your CCM to oppose the project.

Dear Mayor McCarty and Council Member ___

I am your constituent and I live at ______________________ (address or at least zip code).

I am writing to ask you to vote no on the Airport South Industrial Project in Natomas.

I oppose this project because

(Choose one or two and put the idea in your own words)

This warehousing project is located next to a school, homes, and wildlife habitat. Impacts to neighbors include noise, lighting, air pollution, traffic, more trucks in the neighborhoods and more trucks on I-5.

The Plan is inconsistent with the Natomas Habitat Conservation Plan, City General Plan, County General Plan, SACOG Blueprint, Urban Services Boundary, Air Quality Plan, Metropolitan Transportation Plan.

The City should not develop farmland into warehouses, there are better, industrial-zoned locations for warehousing projects. It should pursue infill and renovation of aging facilities such as Blue Diamond and Arden Arcade. Or should put additional warehouses at Mather because there is an airport there already.

More warehousing outside the urban core sucks jobs and business out of existing industrial areas.

I object to putting developer profits over sensible growth and community health. Only the property owner/developer benefits from this project.

The project will be bad for the health of Natomas residents, particularly the children at the next-door Paso Verde school and the neighboring residential community.

Sincerely, your constituent, _____________

Plan to attend the hearings on November 18 and December 2 to let the City Council know you oppose Airport South Industrial, the first of four bad projects in Natomas.

Friends, we need a big turn out at both meetings. If you can’t make it to one, go to the other. You have a voice in local government. You have a voice in what Natomas looks like in the future. Use it.

Council member emails are here.

To sign our petitions: go here.

To donate: go here.

Honor Three Natomas Volunteers

Help ECOS honor three Natomas residents who have poured much time and effort into the campaign to save Natomas from developers. At this year’s ECOS Environmentalist of the Year event volunteers Susan Herre, Mackenzie Hollender and Edith Thacher will be recognized. Please join us in expressing your thanks. Environmentalist of the Year awards will be presented on November 14, 6 pm, at Fox and Goose. Become an event sponsor, buy a ticket or two or just make a donation. Learn more about the event here. I look forward to seeing you there.

October 16, 2025

There will be two hearings at the City Council on the Airport South Industrial Project, proposed in Natomas. The dates are currently set for November 18, 2025 and December 2, 2025. The City Council plans to vote on the project December 2. Go here for more information.

August 29, 2025

Friends – after the head-spinning events of last week, here is a summary of what happened and links to media coverage as well as a status of all the projects proposed outside the USB in the Natomas Basin. The Bee has published a series of articles about Upper Westside. They are listed below; select one and write a letter to the editor.

Proposed Upper Westside Project

The Board of Supervisors cancelled their meeting and their vote on the project that was scheduled for August 20, 2025. The vote on Upper Westside is “continued to a date uncertain”.

The City sent their official letter of opposition to the Board of Supervisors on August 19 and we hope this pause means that the City and the County are going to work together AND observe the agreements that have governed development in the Natomas Basin for the last 30 years.

We think that the Supervisors will wish to vote on this project soon, but we are not sure how they will treat the City’s objections or all the objections raised by you in your letters and comments on the agenda item.

The Rally was GREAT!

Six media outlets, Lisa Kaplan, Karina Talamantes, and about 100 to 120 neighbors and residents of Natomas participated. Several residents and our speakers were interviewed. Find interviews and photos of the event in “Links” below . Check out the photos for yourself and your neighbors.

Thanks to you all who shared this information, used social media, posted flyers and emailed friends so that we had such a good turnout. And thanks to the residents of Garden Highway and the Garden Highway Community Association who organized the Rally, made the signs, did terrific outreach and made it happen.

WE (all of us together) have demonstrated strong, educated and technical opposition. Perhaps it is making the Supervisors think harder about this project than they planned. However, they could schedule a vote at any time.

Proposed Airport South Project

This project has not been voted on by the City, we anticipate a vote in October.

Proposed Grandpark Southwest and Grandpark Trails

Both projects have started the review process of potential environmental effects, as part of California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), by reaching out to agencies that will be involved in the review process They held formal Notice of Preparation meetings and the agencies will provide comment. Both of these projects have numerous similarities to Upper Westside, including a reliance on City water.

Links

Media Coverage of the Rally

• Sacramento County delays Natomas housing vote after community pushback, ABC 10 video
• Sacramento County postpones vote on Natomas Housing Project, KCRA 3, video
• Many great photos of Rally participants and an article on the Facebook page of N Magazine – thank you Dennis Spear!
• Sacramento City Council formally opposes Upper Westside Natomas development, Capital Public Radio article

Debunking the “We-Need-More-Housing Myth” –  This article in the  Bee explains why we do not need to permit more greenfields for development to meet housing demand in Sacramento!  See the article here.

Take Action

A Sacramento Bee’s editor, Tom Philp, has written a series of terrific articles about Upper Westside, history, issues, process and more. Read his Opinion pieces here and write a letter to the Bee editors expressing your opinion on one of the issues raised or simply, thank them for these excellent articles. The articles listed are saved together in date order, here.

• “Sacramento Supervisor Phil Serna Chickens Out of Facing Natomas Neighbors” August 20, 2025
• “Why Approving a Bad Mega-Project in Natomas Won’t Add to Regional Housing” August 19, 2025
• “Why the Supervisors Will Say Yes to a Horrible Sacramento Housing Project”  August 18, 2025
• A Huge Sacramento Project has no Water yet it is up for a Vote. Why” August 11, 2025
• “Sacramento Fights Back and Opposes the County’s Terrible Natomas Project” August 12, 2025
• “Will Sacramento challenge the county on sprawling northward? It’s time “ August 8, 2025
• “Phil Serna isn’t sticking up for Natomas Schools in a development showdown”  August 7, 2025
• “Supervisor Phil Serna has disrespected Sacramento’s role in growth.  Why?”  August 4, 2025
• “Supervisors want sprawl to the Sacramento River?”  Republished August 1, 2025, Republished August 1, 2025

Write a Letter to the Editor of the Bee

Write a Letter to the Editor and reference one of Tom Philp’s articles. Submit it here. You are only allowed 150 words and letters are only published on Sundays. The more letters that are submitted, the greater the chance of one being published – so – write something!

What’s Next?

We’ll wait until we know when the next vote is scheduled and then will again ask for your participation in letter writing, attending hearings and submitting comments. 

Photos in this post taken by Monika Lee and Dennis Spear