A huge Sacramento project has no water, yet it’s up for a vote. Why? | Opinion

Within days, Sacramento County will consider approving a controversial 25,000-person housing development. north of Interstate 80 that currently lacks an amenity that no home or person can do without:

A water source.

The county officially plans to rely on the city of Sacramento to provide water to this land next to the Garden Highway and near the Sacramento River. But this proposed development is not within city limits, the city is under no obligation to provide the water and the city has publicly warned the county that there is no agreement to provide the water.

Also, City Council members on Tuesday will consider a motion to oppose the project.

The 2,000-acre plan known as Upper Westside is surrounded on three sides by the city and the Sacramento River to the west. Its proximity to existing Sacramento neighborhoods is why it makes sense for the city to plan for the future of this land and utter folly for supervisors to plow forward without finding ways to provide an array of municipal services, particularly when it appears nowhere close to finding a water supply.

A state law promoting better water planning two decades ago, and endorsed by the Sacramento Bee, aimed to prevent local land use agencies like Sacramento County from approving big developments with what is known as “paper water.” This describes some vague plan for water without a firm supply.

At the moment, Upper Westside has paper water. Until there is an agreement with the city of Sacramento or somebody else to provide the water, the Upper Westside proposal isn’t worth the paper it’s written on and deserves the dustbin.

It is beyond ironic that the county is poised to wrest from the city the ability to plan for this land’s future. So far, county staff has been ignoring how supervisors in 2002 agreed to let the city take the lead on growth decisions for this and the surrounding land. This same county is dependent on the city to provide the water, yet hasn’t gotten the commitment that it needs. The county’s aggressive power grab, led by area Supervisor Phil Serna, is now causing a backlash in City Hall.

“That’s a little presumptuous to move forward with something where there is no (water) agreement in place,” said Lisa Kaplan, the Sacramento City councilmember who represents the portion of Natomas that is north of Upper Westside. She is “extremely concerned” about the project.

The leaky water plan

At a casual glance, it would appear that Upper Westside has a bona fide water plan. The project fits inside where the city of Sacramento has the right to deliver its river water supplies. And the city has abundant senior water rights on both the American and the Sacramento rivers, with some of the most reliable water in California.

Sacramento County’s water agency has reported it has no water for this project. So looking for water, the county asked the city to officially assess whether it could reliably deliver water to Upper Westside. The City Council in December of 2022 agreed to conduct this water assessment and determined that it had the water.

But this was no guarantee. Water providers like Sacramento are required under a state law passed to conduct these assessments in hopes of preventing projects with insufficient water.

Two decades ago, there was an explosion of growth in Sacramento and throughout the state and a lot of iffy water plans. I wrote then about the legislation, Senate Bill 610. The goal, I wrote, was “to force local governments to make sure they have enough water for new developments early in the process.”

Based on the city’s water assessment, the county began depending exclusively on city water in its 2024 draft environmental analysis for Upper Westside’s water. “The City of Sacramento….would provide water service….” the county wrote.

Why Sacramento has no water obligation

Water departments like the one in Sacramento generally have an obligation to serve new projects in their service area. But here, this is not the case because Upper Westside isn’t in the city. So when the county started claiming how the city would provide the water, Sacramento politely took exception.

“The City has not entered into any agreement to provide water for the UWSP development,” Cheryle Hodge, Sacramento’s new growth manager, wrote to the county last year. “The Draft EIR incorrectly assumes and seems to have pre-determined that the City would provide water to UWSP.”

The county essentially ignored the city’s letter. In the final environmental review produced earlier this year, the county continued to claim that the city would provide water to Upper Westside.

The ‘backup plan’

Never fear, staff told Sacramento County planning commissioners on June 23, if the city were to deny Upper Westside its water. “We do have a backup plan for that,” said Matt Satow, county director of water resources.

That backup, said Satow, is a district that largely serves farmers in the area, the Natomas Central Mutual Water Company. But Natomas Central never conducted that legally required water assessment. It provides only untreated water, and the county has yet to study a treatment plant for Upper Westside.

Ironically, it was the city that was urging the county to find a real backup plan and conduct a “thorough evaluation” of all its water options in its official comment letter last year. But the county refused, saying there was “no requirement” to do so in its official response to the Sacramento letter.

Phil Serna’s notable creation

It is the supervisor who represents the northern half of Sacramento, Phil Serna, who is the leading board force behind the Upper Westside project.

When Serna voted to proceed to study this project back in 2019, he vowed he would only vote for it if it was an “exceptional” plan. “It’s going to be gracing the covers of the American Planning Association journal,” he said. “It’s going to be a model.”

Serna may get his wish, just not in a flattering way. Rather, Upper Westside is a case study on how to botch water planning in a state that must carefully manage this resource.

Upper Westside is set for approval before supervisors on August 20. Serna and Sacramento County staff has had literally years to reach out to the city to negotiate a water supply for Upper Westside. But that never happened. This inaction feels tactical. But why? More to come.