Lawsuit filed v. Sac County
- Jude Lamare
- Aug 2
- 3 min read
Environmental Council of Sacramento
In Association with
Garden Highway Community Association
and
Friends of the Swainson's Hawk
Represented by Patrick Soluri, Soluri Meserve
Sacramento, California, July 16, 2026
Media Advisory. For Immediate Release
Contacts:
Patrick Soluri, Soluri Meserve, 916-599-0474, patrick@semlawyers.com
Heather Fargo, President, Environmental Council of Sacramento 916-600-6615
Ryan Friedman, President, Garden Highway Community Association,
Jim Pachl, Friends of the Swainson's Hawk, jamesppachl@gmail.com, 916-844-7515
Lawsuit Filed to Protect Habitat Conservation Plans and Farmland in North Natomas
The Environmental Council of Sacramento, Garden Highway Community Association and Friends of the Swainson's Hawk today filed a lawsuit in Sacramento County Superior Court to require the County of Sacramento to comply with law governing environmental review (EIR) of a landowner-proposed development on farmland and habitat in the North Natomas unincorporated area. (See map below.) The attorney for plaintiffs is Patrick Soluri, Soluri Meserve.
Heather Fargo, President of the Environmental Council of Sacramento, stated "the plaintiffs support sound land use planning, focused on infill development, the protection of conservation plans as well as the permanent conservation of the remaining habitat and farmland in the Natomas Basin as part of the statewide 30 X 30 program for conserving 30 percent of our California open space by 2030. The project will have direct negative impacts that are not disclosed, assessed and mitigated by the project EIR.
Fargo added "The Upper Westside Specific Plan is not needed to supply more housing in Sacramento." ECOS Policy Analyst Luz Lim noted that “Studies based on SACOG data show that the over 140,000 housing units have been approved by Sacramento County, but not yet built. Rezoning more farmland won’t build more housing.” In addition, a Sutter County Specific Plan has been approved for 17,500 new housing units immediately north of Sacramento Airport and a few miles from downtown Sacramento.
"While the lawsuit is very technical," explained Friends of the Swainson's Hawk spokesperson Jim Pachl, "the purpose is to ensure that the County obeys state law in determining whether the project should proceed. The issue is of critical importance to the protection of the Natomas Basin Conservancy wildlife preserves and farmland. The Natomas Basin and Metro Airpark Habitat Conservation Plans implement the California and national Endangered Species Protection Acts in the Natomas Basin, permitting development in the Basin while protecting rare species habitat as required by law.
The Garden Highway Community Association members live on the Sacramento River levee road. "In addition to the serious environmental concerns that have been ignored by the Board of Supervisors, the EIR fails to properly protect public safety on Garden Highway from the huge increase in traffic the project will generate," said Ryan Friedman. “Garden Highway is a 2 lane country road on a levee, a critical part of flood control infrastructure, and not a highway for the thousands of cars the project will generate.”
Member organizations of ECOS including Sierra Club, 350 Sacramento and Sacramento Bird Alliance have vigorously participated in the public review of the Upper Westside Specific Plan, objecting to the inadequate EIR. Oscar Balaguer, representing 350 Sacramento, noted that "the Final EIR was not a good faith effort at full disclosure, repeatedly withholding information adverse to the project, and fabricating unsubstantiated arguments to support it."
Sean Wirth, Conservation Chair for the Mother Lode Chapter of the Sierra Club, said "the Sierra Club has a 30 year history of supporting the efforts to enforce environmental law in the Natomas Basin. We've been concerned about the integrity of the habitat conservation plans in Natomas since Day 1. This is another assault on habitat and farmland protection in our region."
The Natomas Habitat Conservation Plan protects open land and sensitive habitat critical to the Pacific Flyway. The Flyway is a major north-south migratory path for birds in the Americas. Migratory birds rely on habitat in the Flyway, such as preserve and farmland in North Natomas. It also protects nesting and foraging habitat for an estimated 59 nesting pairs of threatened Swainson's Hawks, a migratory species that depends upon nesting habitat in the Basin to survive as a species in California.
The Natomas Basin Habitat Conservation Plan (NBHCP) was initiated when federal funding for new flood control projects triggered compliance with federal endangered species legislation in 1994. The NBHCP was litigated by ECOS, FOSH and Sierra Club with the result that it required more protective measures than originally approved. The Metro Airpark Habitat Conservation Plan (MAPHCP) conforms to and relies on the NBHCP to enable the County's Metro Airpark warehouse development east of the SMF. Plaintiffs claim that implementation of these two linked HCPs will be permanently harmed by the County's project approval.
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