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Lawsuit Against McKinley Village – Appellate Court Hearing Set

Below is information from East Sacramento Partnerships for a Livable City regarding their suit against McKinley Village, including a link to the legal brief.

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

The lawsuit brought by East Sacramento Partnerships for a Livable City (ESPLC) to protect our neighborhood and future residents from the dangers of the McKinley Village project will be heard on Monday, September 19, 2016. ESPLC will present oral argument to a panel of judges at the Court of Appeal in Sacramento.

ESPLC pursued legal action after all attempts failed to persuade our City leaders to put the interests of City residents above special interests of developers. ESPLC continues its advocacy for first preserving, protecting, and improving environmental quality of life for residents throughout Sacramento. Common sense reveals the dangers and irresponsibility of approving a residential housing complex on an island of land surrounded by a major freeway on one side, high‐volume railroad tracks on the other, and bordering a former landfill:

• Increased cancer risks up to 12 times the accepted standard.

• Noise and toxic air particles from the anticipated 100 trains per day that require installation of air filtration units inside all of the homes and will render the outdoor portions of these residences, and project playgrounds, virtually unusable.

• An additional 1.2 million vehicle trips per year generated by this car‐dependent project through our already‐congested neighborhood.

• Potential methane contamination from the adjacent landfill site and inadequate monitoring systems that two independent agencies have described as not “fully effective in detecting and/or controlling landfill gas migration.”

These dangers, and many others, are simply too grave to ignore, and will never go away. ESPLC encourages you to join in support of our advocacy for common sense and for a fair and just public process by attending the oral argument before the Court of Appeal and by reading ESPLC’s attached legal brief. The oral arguments are open to the public and typically last less than an hour.

Legal Brief

When: September 19, 2016

2:00 p.m.

Where: Court of Appeal of the State of California (Third Appellate District)

Stanley Mosk Library and Courts Building

914 Capitol Mall, First Floor

Sacramento, CA 95814

Case Name: East Sacramento Partnerships for a Livable City v. City of Sacramento, et al.

Case No. C079614

ATTENDANCE
For those attending the hearing, please plan to arrive by 1:30 PM.  We have visited the Court and spoken to the security officers about procedures.  Business or business casual attire is appropriate.  Electronic devices (including cell phones), food, and drinks are not allowed.  Visitors are asked not to speak once inside the courtroom and proceedings have started.
PARKING
The parking lot closest to the Library and Courts Building is the City Parking Lot on L Street between 10th and 11th Streets.  Entrance is on 10th Street between L and K Streets.  Payment is collected by credit card at the “Pay Here” machine on the 10th Street side, or by cash on the 11th Street side.  (It is a large facility used by downtown employees but usually has plenty of room.)
THANK YOU
For your support of our neighborhood efforts to preserve and to protect the quality of life for all people within the City of Sacramento through advocacy of common sense and a fair and just public process.

 

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McKinley Village Lawsuit Update

Slide5McKINLEY VILLAGE

An update for the Neighborhood

PRIOR TO GROUNDBREAKING AT THE McKINLEY VILLAGE PROJECT SITE, neighbors – both individually and united through neighborhood associations – expressed their deep concerns about the accuracy and thoroughness of the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) required for the project to go forth. Enormous amounts of organization, research and time were dedicated to our attempts to be heard by City leaders.

A DEIR is published, in part, to inform the public about a project, allowing and requiring sufficient mitigation measures that address the areas of the DEIR that are of concern. Some examples, in the case of McKinley Village, were a designated and granted access point to the development, various unapproved changes to the General Plan, and traffic impact on the surrounding area. Other areas of concern pointed out the dangers of building homes at a location surrounded by a former landfill, a congested freeway, and busy railroad tracks. After all other options were exhausted, and as a last attempt to be heard, East Sacramento Partnerships for a Livable City (ESPLC) was compelled to file a lawsuit on behalf of the neighborhoods most negatively and directly impacted by the McKinley Village project. Specifically, as ESPLC’s legal brief explains, the approval of this development violated the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and was inconsistent with the City’s own General Plan.

WHILE A LAWSUIT IS ALWAYS AN OPTION OF LAST RESORT, in this case it was necessary to ensure that we had done everything possible to protect our community from the misguided and dangerous McKinley Village development.

ON MAY 16, 2016, ESPLC filed its final legal brief in its ongoing effort to expose the process by which our City leaders are abdicating their responsibility to protect current and future residents in favor of developers.

DEVELOPMENT PLAYS A NECESSARY AND IMPORTANT ROLE in the evolution of any community. Done correctly, with a commitment to a fair and just process in which those most directly impacted have a voice in the outcome, development can serve the interests of the public by enhancing the quality of life for all residents. This is our goal. We invite everyone – residents, elected officials, developers, public health experts – to join us as we strive to make this goal a reality.

The lawsuit decision now rest with the court of appeals. The document was filed on May 17, 2016.

THE ENTIRE LAWSUIT IS NOW IN THE PUBLIC RECORD.

Reply Brief Final

 

 

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