21 lucky locals get to help plan county's future

By JAY GOETTING
Register Staff Writer

The Napa County Board of Supervisors' chambers were filled with hopeful residents Tuesday morning, people who had come to join a highly political process.

Board members were poised to pick 21 people to sit on a steering committee that will guide the development of the county's revised general plan, the blueprint for the future of Napa County.

"This is really an important matter," said Board Chair Diane Dillon. "There's been a lot of public attention."

Eighty-eight residents with diverse backgrounds, representing nearly all geographic corners of the county, submitted applications, although two dropped out at the eleventh hour.

Both applicants asking to be taken out of the running are professional planners, former county planning director Jim Hickey and St. Helena consultant Donna Oldford.

Board members proceeded to pick representatives one at a time, alternating first by supervisorial district, then reversing the order, then in alphabetical order until each of the five supervisors had picked four committee members from the lengthy list.

The first to be formally approved for the steering committee was Carol Poole, St. Helena's planning director, who was tapped by county CEO Nancy Watt in collaboration with the city managers of the county.

Supervisor Harold Moskowite voted against Poole saying, "I don't think she's the one to represent the cities."

The makeup of the remainder of the steering committee as picked by each supervisor includes:

* Brad Wagenknecht (Dist. 1): Mary Ellen Boyet, Jon-Mark Chappellet, Beth Painter and Jeff Reichel.

* Mark Luce (Dist. 2): Carole Meredith, Michael Haley, George Bachich and Debra Blodgett.

* Diane Dillon (Dist. 3): Guy Kay, Tom Gamble, Peter McCrea and Carol Kunze.

* Bill Dodd (Dist. 4): Conrad Hewitt, Jim Hendrickson, Tom Andrews and Robert Torres.

* Harold Moskowite (Dist. 5): Brad Simpkins, Stephen Cuddy, Stuart Smith and Duane Wall.

The committee will meet at least monthly, perhaps for the next two to three years. "I hope we can convince 62 unhappy people to remain a part of the process," said Hillary Gitelman, the county's planning director who is coordinating the overall general plan effort. "We look forward to working with this group."

Community Partnership Manager Howard Siegel said the first meeting will be held July 27. It will be an organizational session for members to meet one another and to pick officers.

The August session will begin the nuts-and-bolts part of the job with a detailed presentation of the county's work to date on a Baseline Data Report. The report contains technical information on a variety of topics ranging from geology and hydrology to fire ecology and public facilities.

Napa County has budgeted $1 million this year for the general plan process. Earlier this year, a series of seven meetings was held around the county to lay the groundwork for the plan's development.

The last general plan update was completed in 1983. The revision could be concluded as early as mid-2007.

Napa Valley Register Copyright © 2009