- Being off target in the middle of an eight-year cycle is not the same thing as failure at the end of that cycle.
SACRAMENTO – The partial recirculation of the environmental impact report for the Upper Westside Specific Plan in Sacramento County is a good reminder of two things at once: how messy big housing approvals can be and how premature it is to declare California’s state housing policies a failure halfway through a RHNA cycle.
Upper Westside is a massive proposal: more than 9,300 homes and 3 million square feet of commercial development on 1,532 acres between the western city limits of Sacramento in Natomas and Garden Highway, with a 534-acre agricultural buffer on the western side.
Notably, it is also contentious, drawing opposition from the city of Sacramento, Natomas residents and environmental groups…