West Sacramento's Yarbrough plan promising 3,000 new homes now facing appeal
WEST SACRAMENTO – A new development set to bring 3,000 new housing units to West Sacramento's Southport community was hit with an appeal filed by a neighbor claiming that the existing environmental review for the project is outdated.
The Yarbrough Master Plan was first approved by the city council back in 2008, but the developer faced delays from the start thanks to the recession and lawsuit that has since been resolved.
The plan also promises to build new parks, trails, retail space and an 18-hole golf course along Jefferson Boulevard near Southport Parkway.
West Sacramento's planning commission reviewed the project on Aug. 1 and later voted to allow phase one to move forward, now 16 years later.
"This huge Yarbrough project with 3,000 more units has been sitting dormant and then it just rose from the dead like a zombie and began running toward approval," said Kimber Goddard, an attorney and 45-year West Sacramento resident.
Goddard reached out to CBS13 after he filed an appeal against the city that he hopes pumps the brakes on a project that was only just recently given the green light.
His filing prompted an official appeal hearing at the city council meeting on Nov. 6.
Goddard's appeal primarily questions the legality of allowing the environmental impact report (EIR) from 2008 to stand with no updates.
"You wouldn't need more than the naked eye to look around and say, wait a minute, things are a bit different now than in 2008. You couldn't have adequately prophesized everything that has come to pass. My big sticking point was that they pushed this through under the rug quickly and didn't hold another public workshop," said Goddard. "No new EIR, no amended EIR, no studies, no nothing. Just here it is, let's go. Because we've gotta get these numbers."
California cities are under pressure from the state to meet a certain threshold of new, affordable housing by 2029.
West Sacramento's state-mandated goal is more than 9,000 new units.
"We are nowhere near that. That's why they need these really big unit projects," Goddard claims.
He argues that pressure could be pushing West Sacramento leaders to act fast so they do not fall out of compliance with the state and potentially lose critical funding.
"Any city in California will say, 'We desperately need more housing.' Where else do you put it?" asked CBS13 reporter Ashley Sharp.
"I wouldn't argue with that," said Goddard. "Housing is needed that people can afford. That's a reasonable thing. But instead of dealing with the economic crisis and working to improve the state of running the state, we are lowering our expectation to high density, smaller units."
The second part of his appeal focuses on that. He says phase one will include too much high-density, high-rise housing.
"Birds of a zoning feather flock together. When you put high density next to low density right on its border you get calamity and you get mad neighbors. You get people who want to take action," said Goddard.
He is one of many people in Southport who would be next-door neighbors to the new Yarbrough development.
"This city government, I believe they want to remake San Francisco," said Goddard.
The Yarbrough Plan not only reimagines a growing Southport community but also a crumbling Jefferson Boulevard.
The developer will be required to expand and make improvements to Jefferson Boulevard, which is only two lanes running through the proposed development.
"I think the main feature of this project is it will help the city develop the full extent of Jefferson Boulevard through the project and even beyond to the north. With four lanes of traffic, bike lanes, sidewalks, landscaping," City Manager Aaron Laurel told CBS13 in August.
Goddard points out that those upgrades to Jefferson Boulevard are not required to come right away but says they are needed right away.
"The point is, we already can't get up and down there. The lights are a failure, the roadway is crushed and there's gridlock," said Goddard. "Until 400 units are developed in this Yarbrough project there will not be a finished and improved Jefferson Boulevard. 400 units first on an already destroyed arterial."
West Sacramento Mayor Martha Guerrero could not comment on the pending appeal to CBS13 Wednesday but said in August that she was excited about the project and that building the development would likely come with an economic boost for the surrounding area.
"More grocery stores, more retail such as restaurants and shopping locally. We need more people for that to happen, we need to continue to expand," Guerrero said.
The project's developer did not respond to CBS13's request for comment.
The city of West Sacramento put out this statement acknowledging the appeal on Wednesday:
"The West Sacramento Planning Commission recently approved the tentative phase I map of the project. The city received an appeal following the approval which will be discussed at a public hearing at the next City Council Meeting, on Wednesday, Nov. 6. Originally approved in 2008, this 713-acre project in Southport will bring 3,004 homes, 150,000 sq. ft. of commercial space, an 18-hole public golf course, and a 55.9-acre lake park with canals."
Goddard says if the appeal hearing does not result in the city council asking for an updated EIR on the project, he will take it a step further.
"If this appeal to the city does not go your way, then you'd file a lawsuit?" asked Sharp.
"I will and I have told them so," said Goddard.
Read more about the Yarbrough Plan, the development agreement and its supporting documents on the city's website.