What’s New
Builder group seeks to limit input from SACOG
ClimatePlan Blog – April 30, 2013
The saga of the Cordova Hills mega development project in the Sacramento region continues. In February, the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors approved an 8,000 unit subdivision in Cordova Hills, a sprawling development that, if built, will threaten Sacramento’s economic and environmental future. Last week, a group of commercial developers called Region Builders recommended that the Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG) silence its staff from offering opinions on development projects.
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Sacramento County sued over Cordova Hills development OK
Sacramento Bee – March 4, 2013
By Brad Branan
The Environmental Council of Sacramento and the Sierra Club have sued Sacramento County over its approval of the Cordova Hills development on the eastern edge of the county. “This project is classic leapfrog sprawl development,” said Sean Wirth, conservation chair for the Mother Lode Chapter of the Sierra Club, in a news release.
Link to article
Cordova Hills will cost the entire region
Sacramento Bee – February 24, 2013
Opinion – By Christopher Cabaldon, Tom Stallard and Steve Miklos
In approving the Cordova Hills mega development project, the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors dropped a whole new city into a rural part of the region that was intended to be protected from the bulldozers of sprawl. And it challenged the resolve of our region to get everyone to live up to our civic compact so that we don’t trample on our shared economic prosperity and environmental sustainability.
Link to article
Cordova Hills, SB 375, and the Inertia of Sprawl
ClimatePlan Blog – February 1, 2013
By Autumn Bernstein
Earlier this week, Sacramento County approved the controversial Cordova Hills project, a sprawling and far-flung subdivision outside the region’s urban footprint. Cordova Hills flies in the face of the Sacramento Region’s 2012 Sustainable Communities Strategy (SCS), hailed by ClimatePlan and others as a model for SB 375 implementation. The debate over this project offers an interesting case study for SB 375’s impact on local land use decisions.
About the Region
The six-county Sacramento region is currently home to more than 2 million residents, and is expected to grow to more than 3.3 million by 2035.
It’s estimated that Sacramento motorists spend 36 hours a year sitting in traffic, but if the Sustainable Communities Strategy is implemented, residents will have more choices such as safe walking and biking and efficient and convenient transit.
The SB 375 GHG reduction targets are 7% per capita reduction for 2020 and 16% per capita reduction for 2035.
About the Sustainable Communities Strategy
The Sacramento region adopted its Sustainable Communities Strategy (SCS) along with its Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP) in April 2012. The plan has been hailed as a model for success, but some questions linger about whether sprawl projects will continue to be approved. Click here to read a sign-on letter from ClimatePlan partners on the MTP/SCS.
The region’s Sustainable Communities Consortium, led by SACOG, is currently working to produce a Regional Plan for Sustainable Development, which will build upon the MTP/SCS. Click here for more information on the Consortium.
To get involved and learn more, see the websites of partner groups below. Contact ClimatePlan for help getting connected.
Regional Resources
Final Metropolitan Transportation Plan & Sustainable Communities Strategy
Adopted by SACOG on April 19, 2012
Link to download the plan and its EIR
ClimatePlan Sign-on Comment Letter on MTP/SCS
January 9, 2012
Download the letter
Vision California: Sacramento Regional Results
By Calthorpe Associates, October 2010
This analysis assesses the economic, energy, health, and land impacts of different ways to accommodate Sacramento’s expected growth. Scenarios were developed to reflect a range of land use choices, from a business-as-usual future based on past trends to more compact options, including those represented by the regional Blueprint plan.
Download the Regional Results Summary
Quick Fact
SACOG estimates that the Sacramento region’s taxpayers will save at least $16 billion on infrastructure costs by implementing the Blueprint and focusing most new growth in existing communities. (source: Sacramento Area Council of Governments)
SACOG’s Blueprint Project
This site provides detail on the Blueprint Project which was completed in 2008 and was a great step towards achieving the goals of SB 375.
Link to Blueprint website
SACOG’s Rural-Urban Connections Strategy
In the same way that Blueprint Project is an economic development strategy for urban areas, the RUCS project is an economic and environmental sustainability strategy for the Sacramento region’s rural areas.
Link to RUCS website
Sacramento County’s Greenhouse Gas Inventory June 2009
This GHG inventory provides an important base of knowledge for regional planning and developing strategies for GHG reduction.
Download the inventory presentation
Click here for ClimatePlan’s complete Resource Library.
What They’re Saying
“Senate Bill 375 and the Sustainable Communities Strategy in Sacramento gives us the opportunity to talk about how our region should grow. The bill is a real tool to make the region more sustainable and to make sure that future growth benefits all of our residents, not just the wealthy.” — Shamus Roller, Sacramento Housing Alliance
Partners in the Region
American Lung Association in California
California League of Conservation Voters
Coalition on Regional Equity (CORE)
Environmental Council of Sacramento (ECOS)
Housing CA
Local Government Commission
Planning and Conservation League
Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates (SABA)
Sacramento Housing Alliance
TransForm
WALKSacramento
