McKinley Village Lawsuit Plaintiffs, ESP Q&A

Our neighborhood group has received many queries about the identities of the plaintiffs against McKinley Village developers and the City, what exactly this will do and why should other neighborhoods be concerned.

Q: Who is East Sacramento Partnerships for a Livable City (ESPLC)?

A: East Sacramento Preservation is not the plaintiff. East Sacramento Partnerships for a Livable City (ESPLC) is a small group of East Sacramento neighbors who have the means to fund a lawsuit and court battle. They live in the community and care deeply for East Sacramento.

Q: Why are they suing?
A: ESPLC brought the suit because they believed the McKinley Village Project, as proposed, would produce serious traffic congestion and hazard. They are not antidevelopment and they hope that the final outcome will be a tenable traffic plan for East Sacramento. They also realized that a victory in the courts would benefit all Sacramento communities with new development.

Q: If they won the ruling why is there a problem?
A: The Court ruled in their favor and the California State Supreme Court upheld that ruling.

The Court instructed that the McKinley Village EIR be re-circulated. This was a landmark ruling that said that the traffic snarl that might have been allowable under the City’s General Plan was definitely not allowable.

But the developers did not re-circulate the EIR. They and City tried to block its publication.

That tactic failed, so they are now attempting to rush through a “Revised Draft EIR for McKinley Village.” This hastily devised new draft does not comply with state law (CEQA) or the published ruling of the Court. It will not analyze traffic impacts or offer remedies.

Q: Why does the neighborhood need to act?
A: The ruling provides a chance for the neighborhood to redress the traffic study and to get significant mitigation. The developer and City’s action deny us the rule of law. Think about this as you drive down H Street any work night between 5 and 6 pm. Recall that the Court has ruled in your favor, and the Supreme Court upheld that ruling. If the law is enacted, the whole city benefits. Truly smart, realistic traffic planning will have to be enacted in all neighborhoods.

It is troubling to us that developers and their agents in city government have so little regard for the law of the land. We have to ask, do the developers and city officers intend obey the law or circumvent it? Do they consider themselves a special group not bound by the rules the rest of us recognize as valid and essential in a Democracy?

Contact the city today to voice your concern.

Please note that the correct E-mail address for Dana Mahaffey, Associate Planner at the City, receiving comments for the “Revised Draft EIR for McKinley Village” is dmahaffey@cityofsacramento.org