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Natomas residents recently received postcards and fliers inviting them to an “open house” scheduled Monday to showcase plans for a controversial west-side retail project.
Monday, July 14, 2008
3:30 – 5 p.m. or 6 – 7:30 p.m.
Westlake Clubhouse
4701 Westlake Parkway
Sacramento, CA 95835
“Natomas Landing” is proposed for a 70-acre, triangular-shaped piece of property at the corner of Del Paso and El Centro roads which is owned by the Ose family.
The land in question was originally designated for use as an employment center in the North Natomas Community Plan. About four years ago, the Ose family proposed a large retail project for the area instead.
Property located kiddie corner to the Natomas Landing site, owned by the Tsakopolous family, is slated for 400,000 square feet of community commercial development.
Area residents worry that if the Ose’s plan is approved, the two projects combined will create about 1 million square feet of retail — or the equivalent of Arden Fair Mall. Traffic congestion and pedestrian safety are among the issues being raised by those who oppose Natomas Landing as proposed.
In May, the Sacramento Planning Commission vote 5-0 against the plan and directed Ose “to go back to the drawing board,” sources tell THE BUZZ. Apparently the Ose’s want to get the project to the Sacramento City Council for a vote at its July 22 meeting in an effort to pull permits before the December FEMA moratorium goes into effect.
Click here to read a July 9 letter from Westlake residents opposed to the project as currently proposed.
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Great Info Buzz!!!
A decision or discussion about it at June’s City Council meeting was tabled until July 22, 2008.
http://tinyurl.com/5khs66
(Item 33.)
Come out to the 7/14 Open House *AND* the 7/22 council meeting and speak your mind.
Although I’m not a Westlake resident, I am an avid Natomas shopper and resident.
Our area is saturated with vacant space. With an approved center set to be constructed kitty corner to Ose’s, the thought of another complex with the same kind of nightmarish entrance/exit scenario as Natomas Marketplace doesn’t hold much appeal. The traffic and safety implications alone should make the City stop and reconsider.
There’s nothing wrong with the original zoning for Ose’s parcel of land. I hope it remains zoned as it was intended.
“The land in question was originally designated for use as an employment center ”
Yep, that’s our girl Fargo and Sunshine Ray for ya. Call them the REZONE TWINS. They continue to prostitute “New Sacramento” Natomas out for tax dollars to help them get out of the deficit crater they dug. But it gets worse: There are actually West and North Natomas residents who VOTED for Fargo in the primary. And what about ray Tretheway? Natomas residents are ok with this guy? What in the world?
So, at this point I am beginning to wonder if Natomas residents really care about the area. All people seem to want to do is sweet talk the local government and play patty cake with them. Until Natomas residents get up in arms and start calling these elected slackers out for what they really are, we can expect continued OBLITERATION of the original Natomas “plan”
I’ll play the bad guy once again and submit that we should be discussing recalling Ray Tretheway, not joining him for margaritas at “celebrating Natomas”
I am worried about the height and strength of lights along the project – which could shine into homes on both sides of I5. Who wants to go to bed at night with a neon nightlight?
Cathy
On a related note, how far have we come from the North Natomas Community Plan? I was just looking it over and I am trying to figure out if this graphic is still mostly accurate or not. Anyone?
The problem is the original North Natomas Community Plan was seriously flawed. It has too much office and not enough retail. There is a finite number of shoppers, folks. New retail does not create more shoppers. It dilutes the current supply of shoppers. If you have all the shoppers go to one spot (Natomas Marketplace), it’s a mess. If you spread it out, it’s not a mess. The new Target didn’t create the havoc that the anti-big-box-store crowd said it would. But if you think a couple of strip malls and a $1.5 billion dollar light rail train that goes 30 mph is a good plan, more power to you.
I would add a note of caution, you should look at the Ose plan with some skeptisim, the Lewis Corp promised a town center when they sought approval for the Safeway center, several years later it is not built and they want to build more apartments and housing, not the main street we all wanted. This plan has a lot of parking, a sure sign that it is the mall that is so common in today’s surburbia, just beware of what is sold, it may not turn out as promised.
The Lewis “Town Center” is a joke. It’s a strip mall with a Safeway. No one gathers there and that is why the food court can’t keep tenants. Now for phase two they want to give us condos instead of a real town center where people want to go and gather for entertainment. Town center phase two = condos. You gotta be kidding!!