Please join ECOS at two important meetings to oppose rampant development in the Natomas Basin: June 23 and June 26, 2025.

Join us to hold signs and/or testify:

June 23 – 5:30 County Supervisors Chambers at 700 H. The Upper Westside Project will be heard at the County Planning Commission. It is Item 3 on the Agenda and is available here. The Commission will make a recommendation to the Board of Supervisors for their meeting later this summer. The Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR) has been released and is available on the County website here.

June 26 – 5:30 City Council Chambers at New City Hall 915 I St. The Airport South Industrial Project will be heard at the City Planning Commission. They will make a recommendation to the City Council on whether or not to annex the land and whether to accept or deny the project. The FEIR has already been certified by LAFCo. This meeting is a continuation of the meeting on May 22, 2025. The agenda for June 26th is here.

Possibly as soon as mid-August the City Council will vote on the Airport South Industrial Project. The Board of Supervisors may meet on Upper Westside in late summer as well. Both of these meetings will be go or no go for the projects.

What You Can Do

1. Post on social media your concerns about the project. Do it today, and tomorrow and for the next week until June 26.
2. Encourage people to sign our petitions – they are here.
3. Donate to the ECOS Natomas Fund here. We have initiated a lawsuit against LAFCo over Airport South Industrial. We need your help to pay for it.
4. Come to the meetings on June 23 and 26. Please do speak. Tell the Commissioners what concerns you about the projects. Be sure to tell them if you live in Natomas.

Links to Learn More

ECOS media release about Upper Westside Project

Letter from the City to the County expressing their concerns about the Upper Westside project – very detailed

Article in N Magazine by Heather Fargo on rampant development proposed in the Natomas Basin.

ECOS press release for lawsuit brought by Sierra Club, ECOS and Friends of the Swainson’s Hawk against LAFCo over ASIP

Learn more about developer-initiated projects in the Natomas Basin at the ECOS website.

Regards,

Heather Fargo
President of the ECOS Board of Directors

On June 25, 2025, ECOS and allies released a media release regarding the Airport South Industrial Project, an expansion of the City of Sacramento in North Natomas with harmful impacts. You can read the media release below.

Environmental Council of Sacramento and Allies Ask City Planning Commission to Deny Mega Warehouse Project on Farmland Next to Residential Community, School and Wildlife Preserve

June 25, 2025

Sacramento, California – The City Planning Commission will hear public comment on the proposed Airport South Industrial Project, an expansion of the City of Sacramento in North Natomas with harmful impacts. The hearing is at 5:30 pm, June 26 at New City Hall, 915 I Street. In addition to environmental organization comments, neighbors will speak to the negative impact on residents, home values and school children. The proposed 474-acre project, requested by private landowners, is to develop 6 million square feet of megawarehouse space on farmland next to wildlife preserves managed by the Natomas Basin Conservancy, and next to the Westlake Community, including the Paso Verde School.

The Project site is currently zoned and used for agriculture only. The City and County General Plans do not allow warehouse or industrial uses on the proposed Project site. Its ongoing status as agricultural land is critical to maintain continued effectiveness of the Natomas Basin Habitat Conservation Plan (“NBHCP”), an enforceable legal agreement between City, Sutter County, and Federal and State wildlife agencies which has guided urban development in the Natomas Basin for over 25 years.

Noted Teri Burns, retired as Trustee for the Natomas Schools after 30 years, “Paso Verde School was designed to be adjacent to open space, based on the Natomas Basin Habitat Conservation Plan. None of our other elementary schools are located next to industrial property. They are schools located in neighborhoods where people are better able to monitor who is coming and going around the school. This is a safety issue for our youngest students.” ECOS is also concerned about the impact of toxic air contaminants on the students from nearby diesel truck operations.

“Our effort to save Natomas farmland and protect the Natomas Basin Habitat Conservation Plan (NBHCP) is important for the community and the economy,” noted Heather Fargo, President of ECOS and former Mayor and Councilmember of the City of Sacramento. “It is important for local food supply, the local wildlife species, and maintaining open space and quality of life.” Fargo was Mayor when the 2003 NBHCP was adopted.

In the NBHCP the City agreed to limit its urban development in the Basin to a designated 8050-acre Permit Area. Most of the proposed Project site is outside of the City Permit Area, in violation of the NBHCP.

“This project and other proposals in North Natomas would gut the Natomas Basin Habitat Conservation Plan,” said Sean Wirth, Conservation Chair for the Sierra Club Mother Lode Chapter. “Our region is woefully behind other metro areas in California in permanently conserving habitat, farmland and other open space. This approval is not in the public interest and will have permanent deleterious impacts.”

Jim Pachl, Legal Committee Chair for Sierra Club, pointed to the detention basins as a serious hazard of the project. “This project also contains 96 acres of detention basin 4,850 feet south of an airport runway which will be a waterfowl attractant that poses a serious hazard to air travel, and is inconsistent with FAA safety guidance.”

ENVIRONMENTAL COUNCIL OF SACRAMENTO (“ECOS”) is a nonprofit organization that gives Sacramento environmental leaders a place to come together to create an action-oriented coalition for the region. ECOS is a hybrid organization that has both 19 community-based organizations and approximately 200 individual members. Among the organizational members are Sierra Club Sacramento Group, Sacramento Audubon, Friends of Stone Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, Sacramento Valley Chapter of California Native Plant Society, Save the American River Association, Save Our Sandhill Cranes, Friends of Swainson’s Hawk, and Sacramento Area Creeks Council. These organizations, some of which are also parties to this petition, work to protect natural habitat and at-risk species. ECOS members, as well as its organizational members, reside in areas that would be adversely affected by the Project for wildlife observation, recreation, and aesthetic enjoyment if it is approved.

SIERRA CLUB is a national non-profit organization with approximately 832,739 members. The Sierra Club is dedicated to exploring, enjoying, and protecting the wild places of the earth; to practicing and promoting the responsible use of the earth’s ecosystems and resources; to educating and encouraging humanity to protect and restore the quality of the natural and human environment; and to using all lawful means to carry out these objectives.

FRIENDS OF SWAINSON’S HAWK (“FOSH”) is a grassroots unincorporated association that has taken on the challenge of protecting Swainson’s Hawk habitat.

For more information about this issue, please refer to:

Natomas Team

Click here to view the media release in PDF.