On June 10, 2024, ECOS submitted a letter to Sacramento Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCo) regarding the proposed Airport South Industrial Project. Below is an excerpt.
Thank you for the opportunity to share our concerns with you about the proposal for the Airport South Industrial Project (ASIP). We will submit our comments on the Draft EIR for ASIP soon, but at this time we would like to state our opposition to the ASIP, the proposed related expansion of the City’s Sphere of Influence and annexation.
The politics of the Sacramento region have long been fueled by its expansion, with land speculators, developers, builders and trade unions funding political campaigns. But the extraordinary power of this political bloc needs to be checked before they cost the region hundreds of millions of dollars in state funding and blow up Sacramento’s climate goals.
Related to inhibiting sprawl, SACOG is tasked with developing a new 25-year housing plan that lowers GHG emissions in Sacramento’s six-county region. The Land Use and Natural Resources Committee of SACOG will receive important new information on the region’s future housing demand on March 7, 2024. To watch a recording of the meeting, go to https://www.sacog.org/meetings/meeting-agendas; Advanced Search – insert meeting date, then see Item History.
Join CARB for this research seminar which explores changes to land use and transportation in the downtown areas of Fresno, Sacramento, and Santa Monica. The project aimed to measure the effect of these changes on vehicle miles traveled.
Senate Bill 375 (2008) directed the California Air Resources Board to collaborate with the state’s Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) to set regional targets for reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from passenger vehicles. Under this legislation California’s MPOs are required to adopt Sustainable Communities Strategies (SCSs) that lay out the strategies by which the region will achieve its GHG reduction targets, including strategies to reduce vehicle miles travel (VMT). Some strategies to reduce VMT include changes to the built environment, to both land development patterns and the transportation system, which reduce the need for driving. As one way to evaluate the effectiveness of these strategies, this project used available data to examine changes in travel patterns associated with changes in land-use patterns and the transportation system in three case study downtown areas: Fresno, Sacramento, and Santa Monica. For more information and detailed findings, visit the project webpage or contact the Research Division. The project webpage will host the final report and seminar recording once they become available.
Biography
The Principal Investigator, Susan Handy, is a professor in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy at the University of California at Davis, where she teaches in the Environmental Policy Analysis and Planning major and in the Transportation Technology and Policy Program. She is the director of the National Center for Sustainable Transportation, part of the federal university transportation centers program. Her research focuses on the relationships between transportation and land use, particularly the impact of land use on travel behavior, and on strategies for reducing automobile dependence. Her recent work includes projects for CARB and Caltrans on methods for evaluating the impacts on vehicle travel of proposed land development and transportation projects. Her new book, Shifting Gears: Toward a New Way of Thinking About Transportation, is published by MIT Press.
An October opinion piece in the Bee states the Sacramento region has already approved more suburban projects than the region will need for the next generation.
“It is time for supervisors to think far more strategically about growth. They must acknowledge that there can only be so much growth and what growth is approved must happen in a way that minimizes congestion and maximizes affordable housing and transit opportunities. Otherwise, it simply doesn’t make sense for the Sacramento County of today. . .
According to the latest SACOG population projections, the entire six-county region is expected to grow by approximately 278,000 between now and 2050. But Sacramento County’s transportation staff is suggesting that nearly half of the region’s entire growth is about to happen in Supervisor Phil Serna’s district.”
Read more at: https://www.sacbee.com/opinion/article280893568.html#storylink=cpy
“We think the annual Farm to Fork month, with so many people celebrating the locally grown food in the region, is a perfect time to highlight how important farms are to people and wildlife.” stated Heather Fargo, former Mayor of Sacramento and lead of the Natomas Campaign for the Environmental Council of Sacramento (ECOS).
ECOS is calling on the public to protect Natomas open space and embarking on a major campaign to educate the community about how important the Natomas farmlands and open space are to wildlife in our region and beyond. Natomas is a special place; it is a vital part of the Pacific Flyway and home to 22 protected species, in addition to providing food for our region and the world.
The Natomas Basin Habitat Conservation Plan was established in 1997 to ensure the basin’s natural resources are not lost with the growth of the Natomas community. Unfortunately, loss of these resources is likely to happen because of proposed residential and industrial development projects covering more than 8,200 acres of land intended to remain in agriculture.
The first of those projects is the Airport South Industrial Project, a 450-acre warehouse district proposed for land south of I-5 and adjacent to the West Lake neighborhood in North Natomas. If approved, it would put over 6 million square feet of warehouses on foraging habitat for the endangered Swainson’s Hawk.
“ECOS wants Sacramento to remember the value of open space and farmland as a way to support wildlife and combat climate change. We Sacramentans have a role in protecting one of the Earth’s biodiversity hotspots,” said Fargo.
A new message is on display on a digital billboard along I-5 in downtown Sacramento. It has a simple message – save Sacramento’s wildlife habitat and farmland.
Targeted to those who enjoy the local dining experience offered in the city, it simply says, ““There’s no Farm to Fork without farms” and “Natomas farmlands feed people and wildlife”.
The billboard is timed to coincide with the annual Farm to Fork Festival that includes the Tower Bridge dinner and the street festival on Capital Mall on Sept 22-23.
The billboard kicks off a major new campaign by ECOS, continuing its 50 years of efforts to protect the environment.
“The establishment of the Natomas Basin Habitat Conservation Plan was important for regional sustainability thirty years ago. Now with climate change, it is essential that we stop sprawl and protect biodiversity in this area. The NBHCP provided for development on 17, 500 acres, and the proposed projects are outside of that,” said Susan Herre AIA AICP, President of the ECOS Board of Directors. ECOS is partnering with Sierra Club, Habitat 2020, Audubon Society, Friends of the Swainson’s Hawk and California Native Plant Society.
Map of the Natomas Basin The proposed projects are in red and are labelled.
The ECOS Mission: Our mission is to achieve regional sustainability, livable communities, environmental justice, and a healthy environment and economy for existing and future residents. ECOS strives to bring positive change to the Sacramento region by proactively working with the individual and organizational members of ECOS, neighborhood groups, and local and regional governments.
On March 3, 2023, ECOS sent a letter of support for Assembly Bill 350, which would facilitate greater interregional collaboration by more closely aligning the Sacramento Area Council of Government’s (SACOG) sustainable communities strategy update with those of its regional partners, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and the San Joaquin Council of Governments (SJCOG), both for SACOG’s current plan update and into the future.
