{"id":245949,"date":"2026-04-01T01:16:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T01:16:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/245949\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T01:16:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T01:16:11","slug":"natomas-residents-seek-court-order-to-block-tiny-home-site","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/245949\/","title":{"rendered":"Natomas residents seek court order to block tiny home site"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Abridged version:<\/p>\n<p>Strong debate is stirring around the city of Sacramento\u2019s plans to add a 40-unit tiny home community in Natomas.<\/p>\n<p>A group of residents is seeking a court order for the city to \u201cimmediately cease\u201d all construction activities on the site and alleges that the city did not conduct enough environmental reviews on the site.<\/p>\n<p>The site is one of four \u201cmicro-communities\u201d in the city of Sacramento intended to provide more housing for homeless seniors.<\/p>\n<p>A group of residents went to court this week in an attempt to halt the construction of a 40-unit tiny home site planned in Natomas.<\/p>\n<p>Last September, Sacramento city leaders detailed plans to add four new \u201cmicro-community\u201d sites aimed at providing shelter for homeless people over age 55.<\/p>\n<p>A 1.58-acre strip of land at Arena Boulevard and El Centro Road was among the four sites that had been selected by then-interim city manager Leyne Milstein.<\/p>\n<p>While construction on the site was slated to begin as early as April, the group recently filed for a court order for the city to \u201cimmediately cease\u201d all construction activity on the site.<\/p>\n<p>\t\tSign Up for the Morning Newsletter<\/p>\n<p>The Abridged morning newsletter lands in your inbox every weekday morning with the latest news from the Sacramento region.<\/p>\n<p>The legal action was filed on March 30 by a group called the \u201cAdvisory Council for Legal and Ethical Oversight.\u201d In court records, the group is self-described as an \u201cunincorporated community association\u201d that represents West Natomas residents opposed to the project.<\/p>\n<p>The action names three Sacramento residents as plaintiffs, including Rosalee Lehr, Jaron West and Richard Loek. The action describes them as board members for the residents\u2019 group.<\/p>\n<p>Group alleges lack of environmental review on the site<\/p>\n<p>The group alleges that city\u2019s selection of the site on Arena Boulevard violates Measure O, the homelessness measure approved by voters in 2022. The legal filing alleges that the site is in close proximity to Sundance Park and Fisherman\u2019s Lake Parkway, which could violate the buffer distances outlined in Measure O.<\/p>\n<p>The legal filing alleges that no environmental review of the site has occurred and that the site has a lack of floodplain development permits. The group also alleges that the streamlined process for setting up the site sidestepped the city\u2019s required competitive bidding process.<\/p>\n<p>The group is also seeking a restraining order to prevent the city from \u201ctaking any further steps\u201d to advance the project.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"710\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/DSC00020-1024x710.jpg.webp.webp\" alt=\"Large poster with the word &quot;NO&quot; taped onto a brick wall with black duct tape.\" class=\"wp-image-1508 lazyload\"  data- style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 1024px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 1024\/710;\" data-smush-webp-fallback=\"{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.abridged.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/DSC00020-1024x710.jpg&quot;,&quot;srcset&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.abridged.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/DSC00020-1024x710.jpg 1024w, https:\\\/\\\/www.abridged.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/DSC00020-300x208.jpg 300w, https:\\\/\\\/www.abridged.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/DSC00020-768x533.jpg 768w, https:\\\/\\\/www.abridged.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/DSC00020-1536x1065.jpg 1536w, https:\\\/\\\/www.abridged.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/DSC00020-2048x1420.jpg 2048w&quot;}\"\/>A resident at Stadium Club Estates placed a banner protesting the location of the proposed tiny home site, as seen on Sept. 18, 2025. (Cameron Clark)<\/p>\n<p>Tiny home sites seen as solution for local homelessness<\/p>\n<p>Sacramento leaders are increasingly looking to tiny home sites as one way to alleviate the city\u2019s homelessness crisis.<\/p>\n<p>The Natomas site was detailed within Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty\u2019s \u201csix-point plan\u201d to address homelessness released last fall. The four tiny home sites are included in the plan, as well as an expansion of the city\u2019s current tiny home shelters.<\/p>\n<p>Two more tiny home sites are also planned for 6360 25th St. in Brentwood, near Executive Airport, and 2461 Gardendale Road in Meadowview.<\/p>\n<p>Pocket, Land Park site never named<\/p>\n<p>A fourth site was also mentioned for the city\u2019s District 7, which includes the city\u2019s affluent Pocket and Land Park neighborhoods. Six months later, an address for that site has not been made public.<\/p>\n<p>Representatives for McCarty did not respond to request for comment. <\/p>\n<p>City officials could not be reached on Tuesday to verify the status of the tiny home sites, as March 31 is holiday for most city staffers and state workers. Representatives for the city did not provide comment on the pending legal filing.<\/p>\n<p>City Councilmember Lisa Kaplan, who represents the district where the Natomas site is planned, has been a frequent critic of the process surrounding the tiny homes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile I support tiny home communities built on best practices, I am concerned that the city is not following those standards for this project,\u201d Kaplan said, in a written statement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI stand with my community in demanding that the city operate with transparency and accountability. We must follow established protocols and statutes, while treating our unhoused neighbors with the dignity they deserve in the development of these shelters.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Natomas site was selected by then-interim city manager Leyne Milstein. Since 2023, decision-making power over where the tiny home sites should go lies with the Sacramento city manager, per a vote by the Sacramento City Council that handed over authority to that position.<\/p>\n<p>Felicia Alvarez is a reporter at Abridged covering accountability. She\u2019s called Sacramento home since 2015 and has reported on government, health care and breaking news topics for both local and national news outlets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Abridged version: Strong debate is stirring around the city of Sacramento\u2019s plans to add a 40-unit tiny&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":245950,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[7999,121,123,122],"class_list":["post-245949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-highlight","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245949\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}