11-08-2025
Sacramento city leaders to consider sending letter of opposition over Natomas development plans
A Sacramento housing clash is pitting the city council against the board of supervisors over a massive Natomas development. A city hall formal letter of opposition could stop supervisors from approving the plans.
"So it's unusual for the city of Sacramento to oppose a county of Sacramento project," Sacramento Councilmember Karina Talamantes said.
Talamantes supports the unusual move to send the letter to the county to stop a massive housing development called the Upper Westside Plan.
"Housing is not the issue for me, for me it's the communication, or lack thereof, communication to the residents in Natomas," Talamantes said.
Talamantes said the county is breaking a Natomas joint vision agreement with the city that called on the county to preserve the space and leave the city to develop it.
The Upper Westside Plan between El Centro Road and the Sacramento River would include more than 9,000 housing units, three elementary schools and a high school, and be home to 25,000 new residents.
Josh Harmatz lives along the Garden Highway and is concerned that all the new homes and businesses will triple the traffic on this narrow two-lane levee road.
"There's just no room and there's no shoulder for this amount of traffic," Harmatz said.
Project supporters say the development will create much-needed housing for the Sacramento region.
Now, the city of Sacramento, awarded a pro-housing designation from the state, is preparing a formal opposition to this housing plan.
"That will be to be determined," Talamantes said when asked what impact the letter of opposition would have. "But the city and county working together is the best thing that can happen for the residents of Sacramento."
The city council will vote on sending that letter of opposition this week. The board of supervisors is set to vote on that development on Aug. 20.
