The Sacramento City Council is moving forward with the development of a commercial warehouse district on protected land in the Natomas Basin, south of the Sacramento Airport and West of Natomas’s Westlake neighborhood this week.
The council voted 5 to 2 on the annexation of approximately 450 acres of land into the city for development. This means the land will become a part of the city of Sacramento.
According to Sacramento City Spokesperson Jennifer Singer, the annexation request will need to be considered by the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors and Local Agency Formation Commission known as LAFCo. LAFCo oversees changes to city and county boundary lines.
The controversial project put laborers and neighbors at odds. Neighbors voiced concerns over loss of farmland, pollution and concerns over traffic related to industry, while laborers championed the project for its economic benefits.
Site map of Airport South Industrial Project, a controversial project in the North Natomas Region, which would be annexed into the city if approved.Courtesy of City of Sacramento
Ultimately the council decided that the projects– which include the creation of thousands of jobs for warehouse employees and laborers– were too good to pass on.
Councilmember Rick Jennings felt it will be a net positive and that the applicant has been sensitive when it comes to taking community concern into consideration.
“This is never easy, and in the end there are those who agree and those who do not,” Jennings said. “I will be supporting this project, I will be supporting it in order to make a difference in our city.”
Councilmembers Karina Talamantes and Mai Vang were the dissenting votes.
Talamantes took it upon herself to represent the community closest to the project afte councilmember Lisa Kaplan had to recuse herself. Kaplan’s home in North Natomas is too close in proximity to the project.
“That’s the most important thing to me, is to make sure people feel listened to,” she said. “As the councilmember in Natomas, I will not be supporting this project because of that.”
The project was approved on the conditions that the applicant team Northpoint Development create a larger buffer of approximately 300 feet between the residential neighborhood and the project, require quarterly progress meetings with the surrounding community and a requirement that the building closest to the Westlake neighborhood not be used as a fulfillment center.
The applicant also volunteered to build a line of trees within the buffer space between the project and Paso Verde School at the request of the Natomas Unified School District.
According to city documents, the project will have four major warehouses and some commercial properties such as a hotel, a few drive thru restaurants, and some buildings dedicated to utilities– which would be 26 parcels in total.
Applicant renderings of warehouse designs for the Airport South Industrial Project proposed for North Natomas, which has divided developers, laborers and environmentalists.Courtesy of City of Sacramento
Applicant team Northpoint Development presented their vision to council and the public at the first part of the public hearing Nov. 18, where they said that the warehouses would most likely be used as shipping fulfillment centers and would generate more industrial traffic.
According to their presentation, the development would create about 5,000 warehouse jobs and around 3,800 jobs during the construction phase. The developers expect the project to bring in an estimated total of $784 million annually.
Carpenter’s Local 46 Union Member Matthew Kelly said that having local jobs for laborers will ensure a more thoughtful build, and come with practical benefits.
“Local hire would allow people that are working on these projects who have children to be able to make sporting events, dance recitals, parent teacher conferences, things like that,” Kelly said. “It’s just simple… if the project is in your neighborhood, you’re going to take more pride in building it.”
Many environmentalists came to speak out against the project due to its impact on the open space and endangered species in the area such as the Swainson’s Hawk.
At the November meeting, city staff told the council that the project will have “unavoidable impacts” on the region’s air quality plan and will increase pollutants.
The land is a part of the Natomas Basin Habitat Conservancy Plan, an agreement the city entered into in 1997.
The purpose of the plan is to “promote biological conservation along with economic development and continuation of agriculture within the Natomas Basin while allowing urban development to proceed according to local land use plans.”
Heather Fargo, president of Sacramento’s Environmental Council, was mayor of Sacramento when the plan was adopted. She said that going forward with the development plan as it stands is premature.
“You have a lot of warehousing in the city and region that hasn’t been taken into account,” she said. “…this is not about jobs versus the environment. We have enough room in this county and in this city to do both.”
Applicants maintained their project is in line with the conservation plan and that the location is consistent with other industry in the area, such as the Metro Air Parkway.
At the end of the meeting, Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty acknowledged that development in Natomas is nuanced, and that the city is doing its best to weigh industry and environmental protection.
“This is a project that I think meets what the city’s needs are, what the region’s needs are for economic development,” he said. “I think it’s a fair balance.”
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