SMUD’s controversial Coyote Creek solar project moves forward, November 11, 2025, Capradio

By Manola Secaira | Capradio | November 19, 2025

The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the Sacramento Municipal Utility District’s (SMUD’s) controversial Coyote Creek solar project at a packed Tuesday meeting.

Over 150 people showed up to share concerns or support over the course of hours. The solar project involves developing over a thousand acres in southeastern Sacramento County. The site lies near Rancho Murrieta and the Prairie City State Vehicle Recreation Area.

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Luz Lim, a policy analyst for the nonprofit Environmental Council of Sacramento, also spoke against the project.

“We think it is necessary to have solar development to reach our climate goals, but we also need to be strategic,” Lim said. “It doesn’t make sense that we are going to, in the name of green energy, kill thousands of blue oak trees, native trees, that have been here for a really long time.”

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Sacramento Supervisor Phil Serna chickens out of facing Natomas neighbors, August 20, 2025, The Sacramento Bee

By Tom Philp | August 20, 2025 | The Sacramento Bee

“Over the past six years the City has tried to work with the County on this project, including numerous meetings and letters to address the City concerns,” McCarty wrote. “Unfortunately, those concerns remain unresolved.”

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Why approving a bad mega-project in Natomas won’t add to regional housing, August 19, 2025, The Sacramento Bee

By Tom Philp | August 19, 2025 | The Sacramento Bee

Approving an Un-Natomas, the basin’s first Uncity, would be a huge step backward, regional planning at its very worst. For being so close to downtown, Pluckebaum’s rosy perspective aside, Upper Westside is a last century project, as it sets aside more than half of its housing land for low-density neighborhoods.

Read more at: https://www.sacbee.com/opinion/article311750253.html#storylink=cpy

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Why supervisors will say yes to a horrible Sacramento housing project, August 18, 2025, The Sacramento Bee

By Tom Philp | August 18, 2025 | The Sacramento Bee

These supervisors are wired to overlook how Upper Westside has no water supply. Or an agreement with the Natomas Unified School District to help pay the hundreds of millions of dollars for four new schools. Or a plan to preserve the river environment that is consistent with a quarter century of planning in the surrounding Natomas Basin and local agreements with state and federal wildlife officials.

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Sacramento City Council formally opposes Upper Westside Natomas development, August 13, 2025, CapRadio

By Tony Rodriguez | August 13, 2025 | CapRadio

Former Sacramento Mayor Heather Fargo, now president of the Environmental Council of Sacramento, told the council the plan is a severe danger to the vital grassy areas of the city.

“There is no reason why we can’t include nature in our plans. There is no reason why we should think that we’re the most important species in the world, and that we don’t have an obligation to make room for other species,” Fargo said.

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Supervisor Phil Serna has disrespected Sacramento’s role in growth. Why? August 4, 2025, The Sacramento Bee

“We’re looking at major developments that fly in the face of every plan that’s been approved in the county of Sacramento for the last 25 years,” said former Sacramento mayor Heather Fargo, a Natomas resident and now an activist against Serna’s emerging growth agenda. “Phil has taken the lead on this and encouraged this kind of development.”

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