They thought it was a permanent nature preserve. Now developer Tsakopoulos wants to build there.

The Sacramento Bee

December 11, 2017

By Hudson Sangree

Residents of Sacramento County’s Vineyard area are angry about the prospect of losing open space they thought the county had protected permanently more than 25 years ago.
It turns out the land, known as Silver Springs Lot P, has been owned all along by developer Angelo K. Tsakopoulos, whose company now wants to build houses on it.

“The applicants argued that they had never intended for Lot P to be preserved in perpetuity,” a county report said.

The developer has proposed constructing 48 houses on half-acre lots near Calvine and Excelsior Roads in the semi-rural area southeast of the city of Sacramento.
The plan is scheduled to be heard Monday by Sacramento County’s planning commissioners.

Residents of the Vineyard area thought the 91.5 acres in question had been preserved long ago to protect seasonal wetlands. Buyers paid premiums for houses adjacent to the land, believing it would always be open.

Click here to read the full article.

What a wonderful awards ceremony!

Thank you to everyone who attended or otherwise supported the 44th Annual Environmentalist of the Year Awards on November 8, 2017! We have photos of the evening in the album below, as well as on our facebook page — enjoy!

This year’s honorees were as follows:

Jennifer Wood of Citizens’ Climate Lobby Sacramento (Environmentalist of the Year)

Lower American River Salmon and Steelhead Restoration Projects (Environmentalist of the Year – Habitat)

March for Science Sacramento (Environmentalist of the Year – Innovation)

Robert Meagher (Environmentalist of the Year – Volunteer of the Year)

As always, the awards ceremony was hosted by the Environmental Council of Sacramento.

Photos compliments of the talented photographer and ECOS volunteer, Anny Huang. Thank you Anny!

[Show slideshow]

ECOS Board Meeting Nov. 20th

*NOTE* Location Change for this month:
This month (November) the ECOS board meeting will be held in the Sierra Club California Conference Room at 909 12th Street (2nd Floor), Sacramento, CA 95814

Join the Environmental Council of Sacramento – ECOS for our November ECOS Board Meeting! Everyone who is interested is welcome. Bring a friend!

Monday, November 20, 2017

5:30 pm Reception
Please come and meet and socialize with ECOS Board Members and guests. Light appetizers and refreshments served. Feel free to bring something to share.

6:00 pm Meeting Begins
Paula Lomazzi, Executive Director of the Sacramento Homeless Organizing Committee (SHOC) will speak to us about the Homelessness Crisis in the Sacramento region. Did you know there was at least a 30% increase in the homeless population between 2015 and 2017? After we hear from Ms. Lomazzi, we will have a discussion/question and answer session.

As usual, ECOS Committees will report on their current business. Announcements from members and attendees are welcome at the end, as time allows.

Urban living in a suburb? Developers say that’s the latest trend in Folsom and Davis

By Hudson Sangree

November 12, 2017

The Sacramento Bee

In place of big houses and sprawling lawns, some buyers in the Sacramento suburbs are opting for townhomes or densely packed houses on tiny lots.

Click here to read the full article.

ECOS would love to see developers in our region pursue denser housing and walkable communities as the new norm, especially in Folsom. Let our region lead in reducing vehicle dependence and greenhouse gas emissions!

Jonathan K. London at ECOS Board Meeting – highlights

Professor Jonathan K. London of the Center for Regional Change at UC Davis spoke to ECOS at our September 18th Board Meeting about their work on Environmental Justice. The Center for Regional Change has grown into a well-known policy-oriented research organization that aims to create linkages between the university and the region of which it is a part.

Professor London presented several tactics for how an organization such as the ECOS coalition can do more to help improve social equity in the Sacramento region. London directed us to get to know the Center for Regional Change’s report called “Capitalizing Environmental Justice in the Sacramento Region.” The report assesses the dire conditions of environmental injustice confronting low-income communities and communities of color in California’s Capital Region. However, local residents and regional leaders have begun to develop a cohesive framework for action to improve conditions in their communities, and to contribute to the region’s burgeoning Environmental Justice movement.

London reminded us of the plethora of information offered by CalEnviroScreen, including some analyses done by the Center for Regional Change on mapping pollution levels and drinking water contamination in the Sacramento region.

London also highlighted a tool called “IVAN” (Identifying Violations Affecting Neighborhoods). IVAN is an Environmental Monitoring System that connects the community with real people that can help solve local environmental problems.

The presentation emphasized the importance of environmental injustices to people living in rural areas and engaging them in environmental advocacy work. Connecting with neighborhoods, working to help bolster affordable housing options and joining food justice efforts are all also effective.

ECOS members in attendance were appreciative of the presentation, its cutting-edge research and the new tools for advocacy with which we left. Thank you to Jonathan K. London!

You can suggest future speakers to present to ECOS by emailing our office at office[at]ecosacramento[dot]net.

Kammerer Road-Highway 99 Sphere Of Influence Amendment DREIR

On September 11, 2017, ECOS submitted our comments on the Draft Recirculated Environmental Impact Report (DREIR) for the Proposed Kammerer/Highway 99 Sphere Of Influence Amendment (SOIA) Application for the City of Elk Grove.

Click here or on the image above to read the comment letter.

Summary

We appreciate the added attention to detail offered in the recirculated draft EIR, but rather than alleviate our concerns expressed in our original letter, the DREIR only further confirms those concerns. ECOS remains strongly opposed to the proposed Kammerer-99 Elk Grove SOI expansion and stands by our initial observation summarizing the project: Elk Grove’s anticipated growth can be accommodated within the existing City limits, and we find no justification for expansion beyond the Sacramento County Urban Services Boundary (USB) established in 1993 to be the ultimate growth boundary within the County. The proposal is inconsistent with the Sacramento Area Council of Governments’ (SACOG) Metropolitan Transportation Plan/Sustainable Communities Strategy (MTP/SCS) for meeting State mandated greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions, Federal mandates for Air Quality Attainment under the State Improvement Plan (SIP), as well as myriad regional goals for social equity, public health and natural resource conservation. There is an extreme lack of certainty that municipal water can be provided to this area without severe regional impacts, and the impacts to invaluable agricultural and biological resources by the proposal are potentially impossible to mitigate. The RDEIR confirms significant and unavoidable impacts in all these above-mentioned areas, with the exception of less than significant biological impact after mitigation which is a finding we disagree with. The question is, what justification is there for these impacts? We, again, find that there is not, and we strongly recommend that LAFCo decline the proposed Kammerer/99 SOIA.

Click here to read our comment letter to the Draft Environmental Impact Report, submitted March 31, 2017, which is referenced in our letter.

Click here for the Friends of Swainson’s Hawk’s comment letter on the Draft Recirculated Environmental Impact Report, submitted September 11, 2017, which is also referenced in our letter.