City of Sacramento sues county over controversial Natomas housing project
In a rare move, the city of Sacramento has filed a lawsuit against Sacramento County challenging its approval of Upper Westside, a controversial housing project that could add 25,000 residents to the Natomas basin.
City Attorney Gustavo Martinez filed the complaint in the Sacramento Superior Court on Thursday, the same day that three local groups filed a separate suit against the county in opposition to the same project, alleging that the project violates the California Environmental Quality Act.
The city’s lawsuit alleges that the county failed to properly study the project’s potential impact on the Natomas Basin Habitat Conservation Plan, a plan adopted in 1997 to oversee future urban development to mitigate the effect on local species and their habitats.
The Sacramento City Council has long vocally opposed the project, which is not within city jurisdiction but unincorporated county land in Natomas, arguing that the development would violate a decades-old habitat conservation agreement with the county, among other concerns.
Councilmember Lisa Kaplan, whose district covers North Natomas, listed a number of issues she felt had not been addressed: habitat preservation, traffic mitigation, water access and a lack of an agreement with Natomas Unified School District that would ensure funding for the construction of new schools.
“I want development and housing and economic development, but it feels like the cart is before the horse, that a dream was slapped down that isn’t going to be what everybody says it is because there are too many issues to address,” she said in an interview Friday. “My hope is that all parties can come together so we can address the issues that are outstanding and put forward something that can work for everyone.”
The housing project was approved by the Sacramento Board of Supervisors 5-0 on June 16, despite hours of public comment from local groups and residents opposing the project. Previously, Councilmember Karina Talamantes urged the board to delay the vote until a new supervisor governing the area takes their seat after the November election.
The lawsuit represents another stress point in an often-strained relationship between the city and county, two entities which share a tax base and a number of regional goals. The two jurisdictions were last in court when District Attorney Thien Ho sued the city in 2023 alleging Sacramento’s approach to homeless encampments let the city “collapse into chaos.”
Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty also wrote to the county last year to express the city’s concerns over the Upper Westside project.
Patrick Soluri, an attorney for the three groups who filed the other lawsuit, said he wasn’t surprised by the news of the city’s suit.
“I think it’s the right thing for the city to do based on their comments,” said Soluri, who is representing the Garden Highway Community Association, Friends of Swainson’s Hawk and the Environmental Council of Sacramento in the suit.
Former Sacramento Mayor Heather Fargo, who is board president of the Environmental Council of Sacramento, said she had never heard of the city suing the county in her two terms as mayor or her two terms on the City Council prior to that.
“The city rarely challenges the county,” Fargo said. “It was unusual for the city to even send a letter to the county saying that they opposed the project. So it’s very unusual, and I think that that that supports the idea that there’s a lot at risk here.”
This story was originally published July 17, 2026 at 2:36 PM.
