A map of the 447 acres of undeveloped agricultural land that the Sacramento City Council approved to annex into city limits in December. On Wednesday, March 4, the Sacramento Local Agency Formation Commission voted in favor of the project.
City of Sacramento
The Sacramento Local Agency Formation Commission voted in favor of the Airport South Industrial Project in North Natomas on Wednesday, marking the final stage in the regulatory process for the proposal to move forward.
Proposed in 2021, the project aims to convert about 450 acres of farmland just outside the city limits into a large industrial complex for warehouses, hotels and restaurants.
Heather Fargo, president of the board of Environmental Council of Sacramento, or ECOS, expressed her disappointment with the decision, while reiterating the environmental group’s commitment to pursue a legal challenge.
“This project is in the wrong location, it will worsen our air pollution problem, threatening the health of school children and nearby residents when there is already plenty of land within the city that is zoned as industrial and listed as vacant,” Fargo said on Thursday.
“Decades of thoughtful planning and critical habitat protection was disregarded by LAFCo last night, and it’s a big mistake, leaving us no choice but to ask a judge to intervene.”
Project supporters have emphasized city staff projections that the development could create about 5,000 jobs and bring in an estimated $3.4 million in annual general fund revenue. The Sacramento City Council approved the project in December, greenlighting the land to be annexed into the city.
ECOS, meanwhile, along with Sierra Club and Friends of the Swainson’s Hawk, filed a lawsuit against the city and NorthPoint Development, arguing that the project would violate the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA. The planned development would worsen air pollution in nearby communities and undermine decades of habitat planning in the Natomas Basin, the groups contended in the lawsuit.
“This is never easy, and in the end, there are those who will agree and those who will not…I will be supporting it in order to make a difference in our city, in the community and in our region,” said Councilmember Rick Jennings in December, as the council voted 5-2 to approve the project.
On Wednesday, environmental advocates, including Judith Lamare, co-founder of Friends of the Swainson’s Hawk, and Jim Pachel of Breathe California shared their continued opposition to the project.
Some advocates also raised concerns about diesel truck emissions, saying vegetative buffers proposed near nearby homes and schools could take years to become effective.
“Proponents point to the assets of this location for business. These assets were created with public funds for public purposes — the airport, flood protection in a deep floodplain, and an interstate highway,” Lamare said, while Pachel raised concerns about diesel truck emissions for nearby residents.
“The applicants are capitalizing on these public investments for private gain. Their claims about public benefits of the project deserve the most careful scrutiny,” Lamare continued.
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Chaewon Chung covers climate and environmental issues for The Sacramento Bee. Before joining The Bee, she worked as a climate and environment reporter for the Winston-Salem Journal in North Carolina.