Lawsuit could halt apartment high rises planned along Sacramento’s American River
A new lawsuit could halt plans to build four high-rise apartment towers along Sacramento’s American River.
Save The American River Association Inc. last week filed the lawsuit against the city and LPA Design Studios in Sacramento Superior Court alleging city staff, in its approval process, improperly bypassed certain California Environmental Quality Act requirements.
The city declined comment because it has not yet been served with the lawsuit, city spokesman Tim Swanson said. Sacramento-based LPA Design Studios, also named as a defendant, did not immediately provide a comment on the lawsuit.
Developers plan to build American River One, four high-rise towers with 826 apartment units at 450 and 500 Bercut Drive, just east of Interstate 5 at the former site of the Rusty Duck and Hungry Hunter restaurants. The units are planned to be market rate, not government-subsidized affordable, according to the application submitted to the city in December 2022.
Staff determined the project was exempt from certain CEQA requirements, speeding up the process and bypassing it from needing City Council or Planning and Design Commission approval. It’s there that neighborhood opposition can sometimes kill big housing projects.
City staff determined the project was exempt from a more lengthy environmental review partly because the project is located within a half mile from a light rail stop and a planned light rail stop, which allow exemptions from the state law, city documents state. The idea is to speed up the process for local officials to build housing around transit stops and to decrease the need for vehicles amid climate change.
The lawsuit alleges the project is actually 0.7 miles from the existing light rail station, at Richards Boulevard and North Seventh Street, not a half mile. It also alleges that while the planned light rail station would be 0.3 miles from the project, it does not meet all the requirements to count.
In January, the Sacramento Regional Transit Board reversed a previous vote to approve a new light rail station at Richards Boulevard and North Third Street. But it would have to be built within a certain timeframe for it to be used for the exemption, the suit alleges.
The station will take over two years to open, said Regional Transit spokeswoman Jessica Gonzalez. It’s unclear if that would be fast enough.
“As of this petition, we have been unable to find any specific plans, proposals, or other commitments to establish this specific stop at this specific location, or any other specific qualifying stops within one-half mile of the project site,” the lawsuit stated.
In April, the nonprofit submitted an appeal to the city. That prompted it to go to Planning and Design Commission, which will happen at its meeting 5:30 p.m. Thursday.
The group filed the suit because the city had not yet responded to the appeal, the suit alleged.
In the suit the group alleges the project will negatively impact plants and wildlife along the Parkway in sensitive habitat areas, as well as have negative sound and light impacts to the surrounding community.
The suit also alleges the city violated the Urban American River Parkway Preservation Act.
The Save the American River Association, formed in 1961, is based in Orangevale. Its president is Stephen Green, of Fair Oaks, according to a document the nonprofit submitted to the state in 2021.
The suit asks a judge to issue an order to void the city’s approval of the project and stop all work on the project until more environmental studies are done, under both CEQA and the Urban American River Parkway Preservation Act.
The River District, just north of downtown, is undergoing a lot of construction, including a new Kaiser Permanente hospital and a large new state office complex.
