Category Archives: Natomas Development News

Site of Sleep Train Arena to become new home to California Northstate University teaching hospital, by Matthew Nuttle, Jun 16, 2021, ABC10

The old home of the Sacramento Kings, formerly the Sleep Train Arena, will soon be the site of the California Northstate University (CNU) medical school and teaching hospital.

The announcement of the development was made during a press conference featuring Kings team owner Vivek Ranadivé and Sacramento city leaders. The Kings organization donated the arena and 35 acres of land on which it sits in North Natomas for development of phase one of the project that includes the medical school and a state-of-the-art teaching hospital.

https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/sacramento/sleep-train-arena-california-northstate-hospital/103-ed198231-79dd-41e4-ae2d-09d94867c20e

Click here to read the article in full.

Photo by RODNAE Productions from Pexels

Nesting in Natomas, Cathryn Rakich, Jul 2020, Inside Sacramento

Unaware they are trespassing on land owned by the Sacramento Kings, hundreds of snowy egrets and black-crowned night herons have taken up residence in a deserted oasis on the north side of Sleep Train Arena.

From a chain-link fence surrounding the grassland, the birds can be seen gliding among cement slabs and rebar, the foundation for a baseball stadium project led by Greg Lukenbill in the late 1980s that never came to fruition.

Click here to read the full article.

North Natomas’ Panhandle Annexation Update, Jul 22, 2019, Sacramento City Express

Despite numerous concerns raised by ECOS and other organizations for over a decade, the panhandle of North Natomas has been approved for the construction of houses, schools, parks, etc. Among these concerns are flooding hazards, negative impacts on wildlife habitat, an increase in air pollution, and various other issues. This article by Sacramento City Express also fails to address the environmental and agricultural concerns related to this plan.

10,000 homes – and lots of shopping – planned for new neighborhood near Sacramento airport, by Tony Bizjak, Mar 1, 2019, The Sacramento Bee

The project…would be built in an environmentally sensitive and floodable area of Natomas, and already is the subject of numerous concerns.

…environmentalists argue that such a large development means paving prime wildlife habitat and farmland. The project, they say, could undermine existing habitat conservation agreements that limit the amount of acreage to be developed in the Natomas basin.

The site also is outside of the county’s existing urban development boundary. In order to allow development, county officials would have to amend the county’s growth plan and extend the boundary west toward the river.

Click here to read the full article.

Click here to read the Environmental Council of Sacramento’s formal comments on this proposal.

Greenbriar: where Sacramento plans to put nearly 3,000 new homes, by Tony Bizjak, May 29, 2017, The Sacramento Bee

Advocates for the Swainson’s hawk, listed as threatened by the state, are unhappy with the habitat mitigation land chosen for the hawks, which is an orchard west of the airport, adjacent to the Teal Bend golf course. Advocate Jude Lamare said the site is too close the airport, where 11 Swainson’s hawks have been counted as hit and killed by jets in the last four years.

The hawks forage in various places around the Natomas basin, but, as development continues, nesting areas will be reduced, forcing more birds into limited sites, including the one next to the airport. “If you are picking a ‘forever’ home for threatened avian species, it would not be next to a runway,” Lamare said. “You are squeezing the species down.”

Read more here.