Upper Westside Executive Summary
The Natomas Joint Vision Plan and associated planning efforts for County lands outside of the North Natomas community and northwest of the City of Sacramento have been in process for several decades. This collaborative, complex, multi-agency planning effort first started in the 1990’s as the Northwest Special Planning Area Master Plan, resulting in a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the City of Sacramento and Sacramento County in 2002 to ensure cooperation between the two agencies.
Following approval of the MOU, the Natomas Joint Vision Plan process included four distinct phases: consultants developed key planning principles, property owners provided input, stakeholder groups provided comments, and four planning areas or “precincts” were established. These areas included the North Precinct, the West Precinct, the South Precinct, and the Upper Westside (previously referred to as the Natomas Boot Precinct). The Natomas Joint Vision Plan also proposed a Resource/Conservation buffer west of the Sacramento International Airport, and a portion of the Upper Westside provides an agricultural and open space buffer to the Garden Highway and the Sacramento River.
The County held a workshop on April 22, 2009 to discuss the extensive planning process. Many stakeholder groups were contacted during the community outreach and conceptual planning process. Twelve Guiding Principles were developed to guide future master planning efforts.
On January 13, 2010, the Board of Supervisors initiated proceedings to designate the Natomas Joint Vision area as a Special Planning Area (SPA) within the County’s General Plan.
In November of 2011, the Board of Supervisors approved the 2030 General Plan, which included a planning overlay for the Natomas Joint Vision Plan. The Natomas Joint Vision Plan and overlay is discussed on page 14 of the Sacramento County 2030 General Plan, Land Use Element.
On February 7, 2012, the Board of Supervisors initiated a Master Plan process for a proposal to move the Urban Services Boundary (USB), the Urban Policy Area (UPA), and to consider the General Plan Amendments (GPA), Rezones (RZ), and other land use entitlements, for all four precincts. Unfortunately, landowners within these four precincts differed in their ability to fund the Natomas Joint Vision Plan effort, and the effort stalled.