By Ben van der Meer | July 23, 2024 | The Sacramento Business Journal
A leading local environmental group is challenging the Airport South industrial project, asserting everything from its environmental impact report to its location are questionable.
Sierra Club, Friends of the Swainson’s Hawk and ECOS submitted expert opinions to the City of Sacramento and LAFCo on the draft Environmental Impact Report for the Airport South Industrial Project. The legal opinions are those of Patrick Soluri, Soluri Meserve, a Law Corporation, expert comments on transportation issues prepared by Daniel Smith (Exhibit 1) and expert comments on biological resource issues prepared by Shawn Smallwood, PhD (Exhibit 2).
On July 17, 2024, ECOS submitted a letter to the Local Area Formation Commission (LAFCo) and the City of Sacramento regarding the Airport South Industrial Project (ASIP) Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR).
July 2024 | N Magazine
The proposed Airport South Industrial Project represents 6 million square feet of Warehouses.
Right now, is the time for the community to speak up about whether this is a good idea, or not. Should more farmland be paved? Should we sacrifice habitat for warehouses? Do we want to live next to warehouses, and endure more traffic, more noise and more pollution?
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:
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
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.
