With speaker after speaker lining up to voice their opposition to the controversial proposal to move city hall and construct a medical office building in its place, Citrus Heights council members voted unanimously to postpone a final decision on the proposal Thursday night, pending a full Environmental Impact Review.
Although the City had prepared an environmental assessment document known as a “Mitigated Negative Declaration,” attorney Chris Butcher with the group Save Our Civic Center threatened a lawsuit last month over “inadequacies” in the document, asserting the City would violate the California Environmental Quality Act if it were to go ahead with the proposal before conducting a full EIR.
Tim Schaefer, who heads up the Save Our Civic Center Group, said potential litigation over the project “is not about saving a bug or a bird,” but rather about “quality of life” for Citrus Heights residents. The group hopes to delay a final vote in order to allow more thorough analysis of other options for the city hall facility, while keeping it within the existing civic center.
A full environmental report could be due as early as February or March, according to Councilman Jeff Slowey, who expressed “disappointment” that a final decision on the proposal was not able to be made Thursday.
