Natomas Rail Project Open Houses Go Online

Bird’s-eye view of proposed site for a Natomas/Airport commuter railroad station which would be located east of Black Top Road and south of Elkhorn Boulevard. / Photo: Casey Saumure, Skyshot Drones

THE NATOMAS BUZZ | @natomasbuzz

Public meetings will now be held online for the railroad project that would extend passenger service to Natomas by 2023.

The Valley Rail Sacramento Extension Project proposes to build a Natomas railroad passenger station east of Black Top Road and south of Elkhorn Boulevard. The Natomas station would include a shuttle connection to and from the Sacramento International Airport.

The Natomas station location and layover track configuration is detailed in the draft environmental impact report released on March 31. Public comment on the report is being accepted through May 15.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the scheduled open houses for the report previously set to take place in Natomas, midtown Sacramento and Elk Grove, will now take place online via webinar. The virtual open houses will be held:

• Thursday, April 23, 2020 at 6 p.m.
• Tuesday, April 28, 2020 at 6 p.m.
• Monday, May 11, 2020 at 6 p.m.

The virtual open houses will begin at 6 p.m. with a live presentation providing an overview of the project and the CEQA process, followed by a question and answer session. Questions will be submitted by attendees via an online chat function during the webinar.

All three virtual open houses will be identical in format and content, but the question and answer period will be unique for each. Registering for the open houses is not required and the link for each will be made available on the day-of at www.acerail.com/valley_rail.

Attending one of the virtual open houses is not required to comment on the draft environmental report.

Open house organizers said questions asked during these events to not become part of the formal public comment record and encouraged those interested to submit comments by email or postal mail.

You may also be interested in:

• To sign up to receive email reminders for the open house webinars, please click here.
• Read Plan to Extend Rail Service to Natomas on Track
• An overview of Valley Rail is available at https://acerail.com/valley_rail/
• Submit public comment via email to [email protected]. Include “Valley Rail Sacramento Extension DEIR” in the subject heading for emailed comments.
• Submit public comment via snail mail to San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission, Attn: Valley Rail Sacramento Extension DEIR, 949 E. Channel Street, Stockton, CA 95202.