AUBURN, Calif. — After nearly eight hours of discussing the Sunset Area and the Placer Ranch Specific plans, the Placer County Board of Supervisors approved the $370 million development project despite heavy opposition from environmental leaders.
The county set aside the Sunset Area back in the late 1960s, and in the past two decades, Placer County staff put together a plan to rezone and develop the land, which would include more homes, parks, schools and a university campus.
Currently, the zoning for the Sunset Area includes agriculture and industrial use. The Sunset Area and Placer Ranch are in the area between the City of Roseville, Rocklin and Lincoln.
Environmental leaders said they see the plan as a problem. The vernal pool ecosystem that exists in the creeks calls the Sunset Area home.
Leslie Warren, with the Alliance for Environmental Leadership, said on top of concerns over the effect on the ecosystem, unaffordable housing and traffic are a concern for the project plan.
"We are not opposed to this project; we understand that growth is coming to Placer County," Warren said. "We're opposed to the design because of the environmental impacts of it."
Project coordinators said the project's environmental impact studies guided their planning and rezoning of the project.
An alternative plan submitted by the alliance for environmental leadership included moving the development closer to established communities.
County Supervisor Kirk Uhler (District 4) expressed that the alternative plan was not an option because it suggested redeveloping land that was owned by people not previously consulted.
"It's tough to take seriously an alternative plan that includes property that people don't own or control," Uhler said.
Supervisor Bonnie Gore (District 1) said the alternative plan would promote too much development that would mirror a more urban set up like Placer County's neighbor. "I don't think we are ready for downtown Sacramento density in Placer County right now," Gore said.
The Supervisors ultimately decided to go forward with the project because of the over 7,000 jobs it could bring and the California State University, Sacramento satellite campus and Sierra College transfer center.
READ MORE: Placer County's plan to create an 8,500-acre district centered around new Sac State satellite campus
"We just now have the right combination of property owner and supporters from Sac State and Sierra College, and that combination is what is making this project viable," Uhler said. "With that combination, we really have the opportunity for the job center element that we are really focusing on."
The plan supervisors were discussing includes using 300 acres of the land to build a satellite campus for Sacramento State. The school would include a Sierra College transfer center on-site.
Some people, like Annie Bowler, who lives in Granite Bay, are concerned the proposed campus and housing would be too close to the Western Placer Waste Management Authority Landfill.
"The odor, it is the only landfill for Placer county, and so, if they build housing quite close to the landfill," Bowler said. "The smell has already been a problem for people that live a number of miles away."
The Placer Ranch project dictates that residential and school buildings must be at least 2,000 feet from the landfill.
Other proponents expressed concern that public transportation was not included in the plan and critiqued that the cost of living would be too high.
Emily Ward, a student at Sierra College, said that the plan did not reflect a future she wanted to see for Placer County, the place she calls home.
READ MORE FROM PLACER COUNTY:
FOR NEWS IN YOUR COMMUNITY,
DOWNLOAD THE ABC10 APP:
►Stay In the Know! Sign up now for ABC10's Daily Blend Newsletter