Napa has the perfect stocking-stuffer for that certain someone who might enjoy cuddling up with a 3-inch-thick environmental analysis of the largest development in city history.

The newly released $300,000 study analyzes the Gasser Foundation's proposed mega project of 500 units of housing, some 200,000 square feet of stores, offices and restaurants, a 60-bed homeless shelter, a 2,500-seat movie theater and 24 units of single-adult housing.

Stretching from behind South Napa Marketplace north to Oil Company Road, the project would expand shopping at the southern end of Soscol Avenue, while creating a new residential neighborhood overlooking the Napa River.

The homeless shelter is already under construction. In 2006, Gasser wants to build the theater, which would replace downtown's Cinedome. Other components, including the housing, may be delayed until the Napa flood project protects the area in 2009.

Many flooding and financial issues need to be worked out before Gasser can develop 45 acres, with the remainder reserved for wetlands, trails and other forms of open space, said Joe Peatman, foundation president.

A consulting firm, Design, Community & Environment of Berkeley, spent the past year analyzing how the project would impact southeast Napa. Gasser has so far spent "well over" $1 million on studies, Peatman said.

A project of this magnitude will produce thousands of extra vehicle trips daily, but the overall traffic impact will be less than significant if major road improvements are made to intersections as far away as Silverado Trail/Third Street and Imola Avenue/Highway 29, the consultant said.

A separate $175,000 study looked specifically at traffic issues and recommended a long list of road and signal projects. Most significantly, Gasser Drive behind South Napa Marketplace would become a four-lane road, with a northern extension creating a four-way intersection at Soscol Avenue with a realigned Silverado Trail.

Gasser Drive would intersect Soscol just south of the Gasser building. The new four-way intersection will cost an estimated $5 million, with the Gasser Foundation picking up a substantial amount of the cost, Peatman said.

The cost of the Gasser Drive extension and new four-way intersection at Soscol is estimated at $12 million, which is beyond the Gasser Foundation's financial ability, Peatman said.

"We'll wait until a financial mechanism comes along that makes sense or someone else builds it and we pay our share," Peatman said.

The Gasser Foundation currently makes more than $1 million in charitable donations annually to local organizations and hospitals. With the additional revenues this project will generate, yearly grants should exceed $2 million, Peatman said.

The acreage proposed for development was once part of a wide swath of Soscol land owned by Peter Gasser, a legendary businessman who bequeathed his assets to a Napa-based foundation.

The foundation owns South Napa Marketplace, which includes such major retailers as Target and Home Depot, as well as property on Soscol and Imola avenues occupied by restaurants and car dealerships.

Before the flood project, only six acres of Gasser's remaining 80-acre holding was flood-free and suitable for development. With the completion of flood control later in this decade, 56 acres will be buildable, according to the environmental report.

The foundation and the flood project have had a mutually beneficial relationship. The foundation donated land to the flood project and accepted excavated dirt that raised acreage out of the flood plain while saving the project money.

The first phase of the new Gasser development will focus on the 25 vacant acres south of Tulocay Creek, Peatman said. The movie house and homeless shelter would wrap behind the new city firehouse on Gasser Drive.

The draft environmental impact report will be open for public comment for 45 days through the end of January. The Planning Commission will hold a hearing on the draft document on Jan. 12.

The Planning Department has two copies available to check out and a third available for review in the Community Services Building, 1600 First St. A copy will also be given to the Napa library.

Public comments will be incorporated into the final EIR which is expected to go the Planning Commission and City Council for hearings by next summer, Peatman said.