Supported by former Sacramento mayor, groups file suit over Upper Westside Project
Three environmental groups filed a lawsuit Thursday challenging the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors’ approval of the Upper Westside Project.
The board voted 5-0 on June 16 to approve the project, which could add about 25,000 residents to a rural area along the Sacramento River in the Natomas basin west of the city of Sacramento.
Patrick Soluri, a Sacramento environmental attorney, filed the suit in Sacramento Superior Court on behalf of the Garden Highway Community Association, Friends of Swainson’s Hawk and the Environmental Council of Sacramento. The last group is led by board president Heather Fargo, who served as mayor of Sacramento from 2000-2008.
“I’m glad we got it all filed away the day before the deadline, so that’s all good,” Fargo said. “I feel very positive about it. I think it needs to happen. I actually felt even stronger about it after that hearing that was just so disrespectful and dismissive of the public.”
The lawsuit was first reported by the Sacramento Business Journal.
What the lawsuit alleges
The lawsuit alleges violations of the California Environmental Quality Act and that the project is inconsistent with the county’s general plan.
The Upper Westside Project, the complaint states, “would destroy 940 acres of prime agricultural land in order to construct urban development in unincorporated Sacramento County.”
The suit seeks to “vacate and set aside” the project’s approvals.
“It really is kind of a harebrained scheme, and it’s one of the more poorly, I think, designed projects I’ve seen in my 25 years of land use,” Soluri said Thursday. “It really doesn’t make sense.”
The county is listed as a defendant in the lawsuit. County spokesperson Kim Nava said in an email Thursday that the county doesn’t “comment on pending litigation.”
Supervisor Phil Serna, who isn’t running for reelection, led support for the project. “I think doing the right thing is understanding that we are way behind the eight-ball of housing of all types,” Serna said at the June 16 meeting.
The lawsuit lists Nick Avdis, an attorney who spoke at the meeting on behalf of landowners, as a party of interest. It also lists Avdis’s legal firm and another company, Upper Westside LLC, in that capacity.
Avdis didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.
What happens now
CEQA litigants can seek injunctions to prevent construction. Soluri said he didn’t think this would be necessary.
“We only need to do an injunction if we think that they’re going to be out there moving dirt,” Soluri said. “And my understanding is that they’re not anywhere close to moving any dirt.”
He was prepared for what could be a long fight.
“You never know what courts are going to do,” Soluri said. “We feel that we’re absolutely right on the law with respect to, frankly, a variety of issues.”
It remains to be seen if the city of Sacramento joins in legal action. Alicia Guerra of the firm Buchalter spoke at the June 16 meeting to voice concerns on behalf of the city related to the project.
Fargo said she was expecting some legal involvement from the city.
“I’d be surprised if the city didn’t sue,” Fargo said. “And I’d frankly be disappointed.”
