The advocacy group continues the fight against the housing project along the American River in Rancho Cordova

RANCHO CORDOVA – A neighborhood in Rancho Cordova continues to fight against construction of homes along the American River.

The group Preserve the American River held a family fall festival Sunday afternoon to educate neighbors about the proposal.

“There is a proposed development of 40 acres here. 20 of those acres are in the designated flood plain,” said Mark Berry, Steering Committee for Preserve the American River.

As CBS13 previously reportedTrumark Homes plans to build nearly $30 million in homes overlooking the American River in Rancho Cordova and build more than 400 riverfront units.

“The proposal is to build a six-foot-tall retaining wall about 15 to 20 feet from the escarpment of the river and build the proposed floodway over it,” Berry said.

Vince LaPena was a guest speaker at the event on Sunday and said no one is against housing, but they would like to see the city do it without filling the 20 acres of flood plain.

“This whole area is a cultural landscape and is used to produce traditional foods, fiber for making baskets, making medicine, and of course there are living plants and animals here that are important,” LaPena said.

The developer submitted the proposal under Senate Bill 330 in 2023, nearly doubling its original request to 245 units in 2022.

“The city has said that objective standards were not met. One of them was that they can't fill in the floodway, and the developer has come back and said they don't believe that's an objective standard,” Berry said.

Berry and LaPena said the housing project would destroy sacred Indian lands and important wildlife habitat and limit access to a large portion of the American River Parkway.

“The indigenous people, we are still here. We still need these places to be able to protect and preserve our cultural heritage,” said LaPena.

“Trumark has submitted a development project application to the city pursuant to Senate Bill 330, also known as the Housing Crisis Act of 2019,” the city of Rancho Cordova said in a statement. “During the consistency process involving this application, the City will apply objective standards and require the applicant to answer questions about the project. It is very important to the city that this is a transparent process and we are taking a proactive approach.” Keep the community informed by providing information about the project and any activities taking place on the property.