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El Dorado Hills will continue in its quest to incorporate as a city without preparing a full environmental impact report, the community services district’s board of directors unanimously decided Thursday.
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California environmental law requires local agencies such as the El Dorado Hills Community Services District to evaluate a project’s potential environmental effects and determine how much review is required.
El Dorado Hills concluded in an initial study that incorporation would have no significant environmental effects. Incorporation would reorganize local government by creating an elected city council and hiring city staff, actions that would not affect the environment, according to the study prepared by consulting firm Environmental Science Associates.
Future decisions about land development and construction, which could require environmental review, would be up to the new city council, the study said.
“It is impossible for us to opine, and we should not opine, on what a future city council may or may not decide,” said General Manager Stephanie McGann Jantzen during Thursday’s board discussion. “Environmental studies are done on a piece of land for a specific project.”
The directors voted 4-0 Thursday to approve a negative declaration, an official finding that the proposed incorporation would not have significant environmental effects and would not require a full environmental impact report.
The declaration will be sent to the El Dorado Local Agency Formation Commission, the state-mandated agency overseeing the incorporation process, completing the district’s initial cityhood application.
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LAFCO previously said the application, submitted in June 2025, would not be considered complete without the environmental study.
The vote marked another incremental step in an incorporation process that could take years. Next, LAFCO will review the environmental documentation and formally evaluate the district’s application, including whether the proposal is financially feasible. The agency also will hold a public hearing before determining whether incorporation can go before voters.
Cityhood, however, is far from guaranteed. In 2005, after the district completed the LAFCO approval process, 56.3% of El Dorado Hills voters rejected incorporation.
Conversations resurfaced in 2020 when an ad hoc committee was formed, soliciting interest from local agencies, like the El Dorado Hills Fire Department and El Dorado Local Agency Formation Commission, to form a working group. A preliminary financial analysis at that time showed El Dorado Hills would likely be viable as a new city, but the board didn’t move forward.
The current push toward cityhood was backed by El Dorado Hills Citizens for Cityhood, a group of residents that argue incorporation would give residents greater control over decisions including land use and development and affordable housing mandates.
It would also create a dedicated police force in El Dorado Hills, which was served by the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office. The group split the $67,000 cost of the environmental study with the community services district.
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