Tag Archives: 2017

Amador County says Sacramento growth plans will turn Jackson Highway into a parking lot

By Tony Bizjak

July 7, 2017

The Sacramento Bee

Sacramento County has asked Caltrans to give it control of 8 miles of the two-lane road so the county can turn it into an urban arterial street that would function as the spine for up to 30,000 new homes in the coming decades, allowing the metropolitan area to march east as far as Grant Line Road.

…

The Jackson corridor is one of several large undeveloped areas of east county slated for growth, along with projects underway to the south near Elk Grove and to the north in Rancho Cordova and Folsom, along the Grant Line Road corridor.

Several of the Jackson Highway development teams are conducting environmental reviews of their project proposals now, one of the last steps before they will receive county approvals to build.

Read more here.

The Bilby Ridge Sphere of Influence Amendment

June 9, 2017

The City of Elk Grove continues to fail to demonstrate a need for more land on which to build, and yet they want more anyway. The Bilby Ridge Sphere of Influence Amendment proposes to increase the City of Elk Grove’s Sphere of Influence, thereby allowing increased urban sprawl around the area of Elk Grove and South of Sacramento. The Environmental Council of Sacramento has submitted our comments regarding the Notice Of Preparation Of A Draft Environmental Impact Report For The Bilby Ridge Sphere Of Influence Amendment_(Lafc 04-16) Application.

Our comment letter addresses the Demand for the Project, the Loss of Agricultural Land, Water Demand and Availability, the Growth-Inducing Effects associated with this amendment, as well as the important Biological Resources at stake.

Click here to read the full letter.

Sprawl Control Ballot Initiatives Introductory Discussion

If you are interested in stopping urban sprawl please come to a meeting to discuss possible ballot initiatives on Wednesday, June 28th, 2017, 6:00pm – 7:30pm at Mogavero Architects, 2012 K Street, Sacramento, CA.

Background: Low-density sprawling suburban communities cause automobile dependency and large amounts of greenhouse gas emissions, as well as many other negative impacts on our communities. Redirecting growth into existing neighborhoods has synergy in many areas of social, economic, and environmental aspects of daily living. Currently there is zoning for nearly 120,000 new single family homes already approved in the Sacramento region, not counting the much larger number of residences that can be built on empty lots in existing neighborhoods. Nonetheless, Rancho Cordova, Elk Grove, Folsom, Roseville, Placer County, El Dorado County, and Sacramento County are working to approve development for over 50,000 new single family homes in remote areas.

This Meeting: the purpose of this meeting is to gauge the level of interest in undertaking a campaign to run ballot initiatives to control sprawl boundary and urbanization expansions by regional cities and counties over the next few years. If you would like to stop this egregious violation of the public trust and public value giveaway to land speculators please join us.

Friends of the Swainson’s Hawk Letter re Airport is no place for hawk preserve, May 29, 2017

 

This is where Sacramento plans to put nearly 3,000 new homes, by Tony Bizjak, May 30, 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.

A Message from Judith Lamare, President of the Friends of the Swainson’s Hawk, a member organization of Habitat 2020/ECOS. May 29, 2017

Here is a text you can copy and email to urge the City to reject the Moody Preserve as part of the Greenbriar project. Use this in the Subject line of your email: Item 19 May 30, 2017: No Hawk Preserve Next to Airport

Dear City Leaders:

  • Please reject the proposed Moody Preserve as part of the Greenbriar Project at your meeting on Tuesday May 30. (Agenda Item 19)
  • The property is about 600 feet from the Airport’s west runway.
    Eleven Swainson’s Hawks have been listed as fatalities in the FAA bird strike data base for SMF between 2013 and 2016.
  • Airport operations are expected to grow by 30 percent over the next twenty years.
  • This is the wrong location to preserve in perpetuity for conservation of a threatened bird species.
  • Please require the Greenbriar developer to provide another mitigation site that offers more protection to the Swainson’s Hawk, listed as threatened under state law.

The email string to use is:
MayorSteinberg[at]cityofsacramento[dot]org, Angelique Ashby <aashby[at]cityofsacramento[dot]org>, Allen Warren <awarren[at]cityofsacramento[dot]org>, Jeff S. Harris <JSHarris[at]cityofsacramento[dot]org>, Steve Hansen <SHansen[at]cityofsacramento[dot]org>, Jay Schenirer
<jschenirer[at]cityofsacramento[dot]org>, Eguerra[at]cityofsacramento[dot]org,”Lawrence R. Carr” <Lcarr[at]cityofsacramento[dot]org>, Rick Jennings <rjennings[at]cityofsacramento[dot]org>, clerk[at]cityofsacramento[dot]org,swainsonshawk[at]sbcglobal[dot]net

Thank you for your help in averting a bad decision on conservation for our threatened wildlife.

Judith Lamare, President
Friends of the Swainson’s Hawk
www.swainsonshawk.org
swainsonshawk[at]sbcglobal[dot]net

Read the letter from the Environmental Council of Sacramento, Habitat 2020 and Friends of the Swainson’s Hawk here.

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.