In this editorial from today’s Bee the Natomas Vision plan of years back is brought into focus raising good questions about the city and county’s role in Natomas development, particularly now that the existing levees have been found to be inadequate.
Here is an excerpt.
Editorial: A Natomas vision?
City, county need to clarify partnership
Published 12:01 am PDT Tuesday, May 23, 2006
The plot thickens in Natomas, the vast basin that encompasses Arco Arena, Sacramento International Airport and all those new homes that seem to be sprouting as fast as weeds.
Even with all the stunning growth, there are still thousands of acres of undeveloped land from Elkhorn Boulevard north to the Sutter County line whose future is unsettled. There, landowners are getting increasingly curious as to what is going to happen to them. One of them is former Rep. Doug Ose. (See his commentary on the opposite page). The landowners' curiosity is justified, because the political leaders of the city and county seem to have forgotten what was once a clear strategy about growth in Natomas.
At present, the Sacramento city limits end at Elkhorn. The county controls the land in question. But the county and the city some time back struck a deal. They called it the Joint Vision. Under the deal, the county was to let the city annex the land that was to be developed. The county was to stay out of the development game. Within this broad arrangement, the city and county had to agree on some key details, such as how to share in some tax revenues and how to devise the map that identified both government's future turf.
Then came one complication after another. Federal Judge David Levy, ruling in a related lawsuit, questioned whether future development in Natomas could comply with the Endangered Species Act. The Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency found that levees protecting the basin are vulnerable to seepage and may not protect Natomas against a 100-year flood, the minimum standard that is necessary for new development.
