A lawsuit could stop new apartment complex from being built in Sacramento suburb. Here’s why
A suburban Sacramento apartment complex is the latest to be hit with an environmental lawsuit.
The lawsuit, filed earlier this month in Sacramento Superior Court, alleges the county violated the California Environmental Quality Act when it approved a new apartment complex with 81 units on a vacant lot near the corner of Mission and Whitney avenues in Carmichael. It was filed by the Mission Oaks North Neighborhood Association.
The association alleged the county had done a flawed traffic study and environmental impact study, required for CEQA exemptions, before county staff recommended the county’s planning commission approve the project.
“The (association) was adopted to preserve and protect the existing single family residential neighborhoods from further encroachment of commercial and institutional use and to adequately buffer these neighborhoods from potential noise, pollution, traffic and visual intrusion,” the lawsuit states.
The county declined comment on the lawsuit because the county does not comment on active litigation, said Kenneth Casparis, a county spokesperson.
The neighbors’ concerns were taken seriously by the Planning Commission, which voted in August to deny the project, according to a county staff report. The neighbors expressed concerns of increased criminal activity, parking concerns, and a change in neighborhood character.
Despite the denial, staff determined the county was required to approve the project by law, county senior planner Kimber Gutierrez said.
The developer David Mogavero, the applicant for this project, appealed the denial to the Board of Supervisors, with the staff siding with him. In December the board unanimously voted to approve it, reversing the decision of the Planning Commission.
“We do not have enough affordable housing in this community,” Supervisor Patrick Kennedy said at the Dec. 3 meeting ahead of the vote. “You cannot address homelessness without addressing that we have a housing crisis. When you put up multi-family housing like this on a SacRT line that is one of our premiere lines ... that screams ‘success’ to me as a project.”
The project will rent for market rate but will include nine units that are income-restricted, available only to tenants who meet the requirements to be considered very-low income, according to planning documents.
In June a separate group sued to try to block high-rise apartment towers along the American River near downtown Sacramento. That suit alleged similar CEQA violations.
Democrats in recent years have criticized CEQA for blocking new housing projects, as the state’s homelessness crisis has worsened. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed several bills last year that incorporated exemptions to CEQA.
This story was originally published January 28, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
CORRECTION: Planning Commission voted in August to deny the project proposed for Mission and Whitney avenues in Carmichael. An earlier version of the story incorrectly stated that the vote was unanimous when it was split.
