Sacramento council set to vote on this controversial North Natomas development
The Sacramento City Council is set to decide the fate of a controversial retail project in North Natomas on Tuesday.
City staff recommended the council reject a developer’s request to build a gas station, two restaurants with drive-through windows and other retail shops on vacant lots near Duckhorn Drive and Arena Boulevard.
The Rocklin-based developer also has plans to build a hotel in the area, according to a city staff report. The company wants a rezoning and also a conditional use permit to allow the project to move forward.
Staff found the proposal does not match the long-term plan for the area, however, catering too much to drivers on Interstate 5, and not enough to the neighborhood. The 1994 North Natomas Community Plan designates the site as an “employment center,” along with most sites in North Natomas. The project would require a rezoning to “general commercial.”
“Staff is of the opinion that North Natomas was not envisioned to support highway commuters, but rather provide a jobs-housing balance that allows residents to live and work in one area, in order to reduce vehicle miles traveled, which leads to other associated benefits such as improved air quality and more established and walkable neighborhoods,” the staff report said.
The report lists Gateway West LLC as the applicant. That LLC is registered to the same address as Western Care Construction Co. in Rocklin, according to California Secretary of State records. Calls to Western Care Construction were not returned.
Rejecting the project could mean the site sits vacant longer, preventing the city from receiving increased taxes, the report notes. The vote comes at a time when the city is losing more than $90 million in expected tax revenue due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In an August letter to the city, the Sundance Lake Owners Association, which represents about 240 home sites, said the project would have “a serious impact on our standard of living.”
The association opposed the project for the reasons in the staff report, and also because it would add a roundabout on Duckhorn Drive, the gas station would sell tobacco and alcohol, and would require 23 trees to be cut down, the letter said. The developer would plant replacement trees and donate $47,000 to a tree planting fund, the staff report said.
Dozens of residents of the affluent area wrote emails and letters opposing the project, many calling it a “truck stop.”
Some are in support of the project, however.
“This project will help alleviate the congestion of trying to buy gas at the tiny Bel Air gas pumps (the only gas in the area),” former Planning Commission Chairwoman Debra “Red” Banes said in a letter. “This will be a new job generator, especially for first time job seekers, which will give opportunities to our neighborhood youth.”
Several who wrote in in support said the employees of Centene’s new West Coast Headquarters opening near the site would likely visit the coffee shop, gas station and other retail options.
In September, the Planning Commission went against the staff recommendation, voting 8-2 to recommend council approve the plan, the report said.
The council has been trying to decrease “auto-dependent” uses in other parts of the city. Last year, the council banned new auto service shops and mini storage facilities to open along sections of Stockton Boulevard and Broadway. Earlier this month, the council prohibited new pot shops, massage parlors, check cashing centers and some tobacco retailers from opening along two sections of Folsom Boulevard.
The meeting will take place at 5 p.m. Tuesday. It will be livestreamed on the city’s website.
