Sacramento Planning and Design Commissioners voted to move forward with a housing project that would bring hundreds of apartment units along the American River Parkway in the city’s River District. However, a recent lawsuit seeks to stop it from being built due to environmental concerns. The American River One project proposes to build four high-rise residential towers with a total of 826 units. The project would be built on two vacant lots on Bercut Drive north of downtown Sacramento. One of the lots was home to the Rusty Duck restaurant, which closed in 2008 and was demolished more than a decade later. Last week, the Save the American River Association filed a lawsuit against the city and the developer, LPA Design Studios. The suit seeks to void the city’s approval of the project until more environmental studies are done, since it was exempted from certain California Environmental Quality Act requirements. The lawyer representing the Save the American River Association, Matthew Chalmers, said the group’s main concerns were about the negative impacts the project could have on plants and wildlife in the area. The project was approved by the urban design director in April and the group appealed the decision, which led to a review of the proposal by the Sacramento Planning and Design Commission. At the meeting Thursday, the commissioners unanimously voted to deny the appeal after hearing from people for and against the housing project. “We now have the pending lawsuit,” Chalmers said. “We’re going to need to go back to our client and have a series of discussions with them about how we want to proceed.”In a statement to KCRA 3, the city of Sacramento said it has received the complaint and is “currently evaluating it to determine the appropriate next steps.”See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app.
Sacramento Planning and Design Commissioners voted to move forward with a housing project that would bring hundreds of apartment units along the American River Parkway in the city’s River District.
However, a recent lawsuit seeks to stop it from being built due to environmental concerns.
The American River One project proposes to build four high-rise residential towers with a total of 826 units.
The project would be built on two vacant lots on Bercut Drive north of downtown Sacramento. One of the lots was home to the Rusty Duck restaurant, which closed in 2008 and was demolished more than a decade later.
Last week, the Save the American River Association filed a lawsuit against the city and the developer, LPA Design Studios.
The suit seeks to void the city’s approval of the project until more environmental studies are done, since it was exempted from certain California Environmental Quality Act requirements.
The lawyer representing the Save the American River Association, Matthew Chalmers, said the group’s main concerns were about the negative impacts the project could have on plants and wildlife in the area.
The project was approved by the urban design director in April and the group appealed the decision, which led to a review of the proposal by the Sacramento Planning and Design Commission.
At the meeting Thursday, the commissioners unanimously voted to deny the appeal after hearing from people for and against the housing project.
“We now have the pending lawsuit,” Chalmers said. “We’re going to need to go back to our client and have a series of discussions with them about how we want to proceed.”
In a statement to KCRA 3, the city of Sacramento said it has received the complaint and is “currently evaluating it to determine the appropriate next steps.”
See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app.
