In a rare move, the city of Sacramento has filed a lawsuit against Sacramento County challenging its approval of Upper Westside, a controversial housing project that could add 25,000 residents to the Natomas basin.
City Attorney Gustavo Martinez filed the complaint in the Sacramento Superior Court on Thursday, the same day that three local groups filed a separate suit against the county in opposition to the same project, alleging that the project violates the California Environmental Quality Act.
The city’s lawsuit alleges that the county failed to properly study and disclose the project’s potential impact on the Natomas Basin Habitat Conservation Plan, a plan adopted in 1997 to oversee future urban development to mitigate the effect on local species and their habitats…