Tag Archives: Urban Services Boundary

MORE Development Proposed in the Natomas Basin

The Natomas Basin is under threat of development again, and we need your help to stop it. We need people who will join our mailing list, read our email blasts, look at and comment on the draft environmental impact report for Airport South Industrial, who will donate money and who will join us in the fall at a LAFCo hearing to consider expanding the potential city limit into Natomas farmland.

Thirty years ago the Natomas Basin Habitat Conservation Plan was approved in order to allow development in the floodplain of the Natomas Basin. The plan established a balance between residential and commercial uses, farmland and habitat preservation. The County also established the urban services boundary beyond which open space would be preserved. These plans are very much under threat from three projects.

Along Elkhorn Rd is the proposed project of Grand Park, 5675 acres slated for residential and commercial uses. An additional 2083 acres are proposed for residential and commercial development, west of El Centro to the Garden Highway, called Upper West Side.

The project up first is 6.6 million square feet of warehouses proposed for 450-acres, the Airport South Industrial project (ASI). It is south of I-5 and not part of the Metro Airport development. It would be located on valuable farmland and would add heavy duty trucks and other traffic to I-5. (See map)

It is also the first of over 8000 acres of development proposed outside of the agreed to urban service boundary.

What do we want to see in the Natomas Basin? Now is the time for our community to speak up. Should more farmland be paved? Should we sacrifice habitat for warehouses? Do we want to endure more traffic, more noise and more pollution?

The current timelines for the projects are:

  • Now – The ASI Draft Environmental Impact Review (EIR) is available and the public comment period is until July 17, 2024
  • July 2024 – Draft EIR will be available for Upper West Side
  • July 2025 – Draft EIR will be available for Grand Park

The ASI draft EIR is long and detailed, but it is critical to understanding the impacts (on air quality, water, traffic, habitat, endangered species, loss of farmland, flood protection, etc.) of this project and the mitigations proposed to make up for their damage. ECOS will brief you on these impacts on July 10. The EIR is an essential process used to inform both the public and government agencies on the consequences of land use proposals.

An ECOS Committee, the Natomas Campaign, chaired by Former Mayor Heather Fargo, is leading an effort to stop ASI as the precedent setting project in order to stop all three projects. These developments are NOT a done deal. Now is the time to make our voices heard about the impact of ASI.

Before July 17, please submit your comments on the Airport South Industrial Draft Environmental Impact Review to the City by emailing: Senior Planner Scott Johnson at srjohnson[at]cityofsacramento[dot]org

We need your support and action now to preserve our farmland and open space for the next generations.

If you would like to learn more about what’s in the EIR and can’t bear to wade through it ….. Join us on a Zoom discussion.

July 10, 6:00 pm – Zoom Call
We’ll give a preview of the significant issues in the ASI EIR and how the project will affect Natomas residents. We also want to know what you are commenting on.
Link to join: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/6656164155
To phone in: 669-900-6833, Meeting ID: 665 616 4155

ECOS Letter to LAFCo re Airport South Industrial Project, Jun 10, 2024

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.

Click here to read the letter in full.

Opposing development on land that was planned to support threatened species, by Brad Branan, May 1, 2023

Photo by Brad Branan: Osprey nest in the Natomas Basin

By Brad Branan is an ECOS Board member and representative of Sierra Club Sacramento

ECOS members are leading efforts to protect the Natomas Basin from several large-scale developments proposed for the environmentally sensitive area.

Developers are proposing three major projects in the basin, including the Airport South Industrial Project (ASIP) on 450 acres of farmland outside the city of Sacramento and the County’s Urban Services Boundary line. Together the projects total 8,191 acres, larger than the entire North Natomas area.

The basin is subject to environmental protection through the Natomas Basin Habitat Conservation Plan (NBHCP), which was a federal and state requirement in 1997 to mitigate planned development in the City. The NBHCP was later approved by a federal court. The basin, which includes 54,000 acres in Sacramento and Sutter County, from the Garden Highway to the Cross Canal in Sutter County, provides habitat for the protected Swainson’s Hawk and Giant Garter Snake, among other animals.

The developers of the ASIP need approval from the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCo) so the land can become part of the City of Sacramento.

Habitat 2020, an ECOS committee, opposed the first step taken by the City and LAFCo staff in that process – to make the city and the commission co-lead agencies on the environmental review of the annexation and the project. A law firm hired by Habitat 2020 and Friends of the Swainson’s Hawk sent the commission a letter saying that having co-lead agencies is a violation of state environmental law. They are waiting for a response.

ECOS member and former Sacramento Mayor Heather Fargo, along with the ECOS Climate Committee’s Natomas Team, has been meeting with officials to explain why environmentalists oppose the project. Fargo and other project opponents are meeting with LAFCo members and Sacramento council members and are asking that the proposed annexation be brought to the Council for a public hearing and decision by the city council.

10,000 homes – and lots of shopping – planned for new neighborhood near Sacramento airport, by Tony Bizjak, Mar 1, 2019, The Sacramento Bee

The project…would be built in an environmentally sensitive and floodable area of Natomas, and already is the subject of numerous concerns.

…environmentalists argue that such a large development means paving prime wildlife habitat and farmland. The project, they say, could undermine existing habitat conservation agreements that limit the amount of acreage to be developed in the Natomas basin.

The site also is outside of the county’s existing urban development boundary. In order to allow development, county officials would have to amend the county’s growth plan and extend the boundary west toward the river.

Click here to read the full article.

Click here to read the Environmental Council of Sacramento’s formal comments on this proposal.

ECOS and Partners Letter re Upper Westside of North Natomas, Feb 22, 2019

Area of “The Boot,” aka the Upper Westside Specific Plan site

February 24, 2019 [UPDATE]

On Tuesday, February 26, 2019 at 2:15 pm, the County of Sacramento Board of Supervisors will consider starting a master plan process to urbanize 2,000 acres of prime agricultural land in Natomas (covering most of the existing farmland between the City limit and Sacramento River, south of Fisherman’s Lake). If possible, please attend the hearing. Please send a note to the Board (emails below) opposing this expansion on Farmland. Suggested language follows.

Click here to view the letter from ECOS, Habitat 2020, Sierra Club and Friends of Swainson’s Hawk, delivered February 22, 2019.

Email string for Supervisors (copy and paste)
SupervisorSerna[at]saccounty[dot]net, nottolid[at]saccounty[dot]net, susanpeters[at]saccounty[dot]net, kennedyp[at]saccounty[dot]net, supervisorfrost[at]saccounty[dot]net, BoardClerk[at]saccounty[dot]net, LundgrenJ[at]saccounty[dot]net.

Suggested text:

I oppose development of farmland in Sacramento County and ask you to deny the request to create an Upper Westside Master Plan for 2000 acres in the Natomas “Boot.” My reasons are:

  1. This proposal violates County General Plan policies, including the Urban Services Boundary and agricultural preservation policies, to preserve agricultural and open space lands in the County.
  2. There are thousands of acres of vacant land inside the Urban Services Boundary in the County where future urban development is already authorized. There is no economic need to provide for more zoning for urban uses.
  3. There are thousands of vacant acres approved for development in the City and Sutter County portions of the Natomas Basin and these projects have a Habitat Conservation Plan in place to mitigate for their impacts on wildlife and are included in regional air quality and transportation plans. There is no economic rationale for advancing development in the portion of the basin that lacks infrastructure and mitigation programs.
  4. I support the Natomas Basin Habitat Conservation Plan. Urbanization of the Boot area would undermine the effectiveness of the Natomas Basin Habitat Conservation Plan and directly conflict with the preserves located in and adjacent to the plan area.

Ask the Supervisors to endorse the Natomas Habitat Conservation Plan as the best plan for the Boot.

Thank you,

Friends of the Swainson’s Hawk
swainsonshawk[at]sbcglobal[dot]net
Judith Lamare
James Pachl
916 769 2857 c

February 11, 2019

Please read the latest call to action below, from Habitat 2020 Member Organization, Friends of the Swainson’s Hawk:

Landowners in the Boot area of North Natomas have asked the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors to start the legal process needed for approval of a development plan for 2000 acres of urban development in the County covering most of the existing farmland between the City limit and Sacramento River, south of Fisherman’s Lake.

The proposal directly contradicts and would undermine the Natomas Basin Habitat Conservation Plan (NBHCP) which covers the entire Natomas Basin. This plan — a binding contract between the city of Sacramento and County of Sutter and the state and federal wildlife agencies — relies in part on the Boot continuing to remain in agriculture and open space. It protects the Swainson’s Hawk population which nests along the Sacramento River and forages for rodents in the Basin, including the Boot area. The 2001 Natomas Basin Habitat Plan designates the mile-wide strip of land, in County jurisdiction, next to the Sacramento River levee as the Swainson’s Hawk Zone, which must remain free of urban development for the HCP to succeed.

Most of the proposed Boot development would be within the Swainson’s Hawk Zone. The City’s Incidental Take Permit (issued by USFWS and CDFW) for new development in North Natomas depends on the continued integrity of the NBHCP, including continuation of agriculture and open space in the Swainson’s Hawk Zone, and would be jeopardized by new development in the Boot.

Bob Thomas, who is the project representative, was formerly the City Manager who signed the NBHCP Incidental Take Permit as City Manager, and is very aware of the importance of the Swainson’s Hawk Zone, including the Boot area, to conservation of threatened species and the City’s buildout of North Natomas.

Please help us convince the County Board of Supervisors to deny this request. Letters to the Board members can include these important points:

  1. Urbanization planning in the Natomas Basin is contrary to important County General Plan policies, including the Urban Services Boundary, and policies to preserve agricultural and open space lands in the County.
  2. The Urban Services Boundary (which excludes urbanization in this area) is the basis for our regional air quality and transportation plans which protect our health and prevent the congestion that urban sprawl engenders. This is our region’s core strategy for Climate Action and mitigation for Climate Change.
  3. There are thousands of acres of vacant land inside the Urban Services Boundary in the County where future urban development is already authorized, and thousands of acres of vacant land already zoned for development. There is no economic need to provide for more zoning for urban uses.
  4. There are thousands of vacant acres approved for development in the City and Sutter County portions of the Natomas Basin. These projects have planned infrastructure and mitigation programs. There is no economic rationale for considering development in the portion of the basin that lacks infrastructure and mitigation programs.
  5. Express your support for the Natomas Basin Habitat Conservation Plan. Urbanization of the Boot area would undermine the effectiveness of the Natomas Basin Habitat Conservation Plan. Ask the Supervisors to endorse the Natomas Habitat Conservation Plan as the best plan for the Boot.
  6. For residents of Natomas, public safety, emergency evaluation, freeway and airport access and other issues may come to mind in contemplating urbanization west of El Centro and North of I-80.

The hearing is set for 9:30 am, Tuesday, Feb 26, 2019.

The emails for the Board are: SupervisorSerna[at]saccounty[dot]net, nottolid[at]saccounty[dot]net, susanpeters[at]saccounty[dot]net, kennedyp[at]saccounty[dot]net, supervisorfrost[at]saccounty[dot]net, BoardClerk[at]saccounty[dot]net, LundgrenJ[at]saccounty[dot]net.

Please also cc or forward what you send to swainsonshawk[at]sbcglobal[dot]net.

Send an email to the Board Clerk requesting hearing notice and notice of availability of documents: BoardClerk[at]saccounty[dot]net.

For more information on the proposal, check the County website at https://planningdocuments.saccounty.net/. Search for “Upper Westside Specific Plan” Control #: PLNP2018-00284

Swainson’s Hawk in flight

Please share this call to action with friends and family who can help.

Thank you.

Friends of the Swainson’s Hawk
swainsonshawk[at]sbcglobal[dot]net
Judith Lamare
James Pachl