The fate of two large housing projects in Browns Valley may hinge on the city coming up with a plan for faster fire and medical emergency response to west Napa.

City Council members put off a vote Tuesday on a 43-home subdivision on Carmel Drive until January, citing poor fire response and the need to reduce the size of some of the proposed houses.

Next Tuesday, another Browns Valley project, the 72-home Hussey development on Partrick Road, will encounter similar safety concerns.

Fire and medical response times to the more then 2,000 homes in Browns Valley have not met national standards since the first subdivisions were built in the '60s and '70s, but until now this was a back-burner issue.

When neighborhood groups organized to fight the Carmel Drive and Partrick Road projects, they made inadequate emergency response a centerpiece of their opposition.

Council agreed Tuesday to study solutions before it resumes voting on the proposed subdivisions. The continuation of the Carmel project is a "pause" on new development, not a "moratorium," Councilman Kevin Block said Wednesday.

Fire Chief Tim Borman laid out some options for improved emergency response. The city could cooperate with the California Department of Forestry on a new west side station to serve residents inside and outside the city, he said.

In the short term, the city could contract with Piner's Napa Ambulance for better paramedic coverage. Piner's has a substation on First Street west of Highway 29 that could be made a first responder to medical emergencies in Browns Valley, Borman said.

Borman said the city could consider raising fire impact fees on developers. Browns Valley residents could be asked to assess themselves for a new fire station, Block said.

The city has four fire stations, all of them east of Highway 29. From the time that a call is received at the dispatch center, the response time to Browns Valley is seven minutes or more. For the Hussey site, the average response is more than eight minutes, according to Borman.

If an engine isn't available at the nearest station in downtown or traffic is particularly heavy, the response can be minutes longer.

The national standard is five minutes -- about as long as a person can go without oxygen without suffering brain damage.

Council members said the city's deteriorating financial situation makes coming up with money for a new station difficult. It can cost $3 million or more to build and equip a station and more than $1 million annually to staff it. The city still owes $1.3 million on its newest station, Station No. 4, at South Napa Marketplace.

"I think the developers need to be part of the solution," Block said of a possible west Napa station. "They need to help the city with some of the solutions if they want to develop out there."

While the city looks at fire and medical service options in coming months, Silverado Napa Corp., developer of the Carmel Drive project, will be talking to neighbors about project design.

The council ordered Silverado's John Kolkhorst to meet with neighbors who say the proposed houses are too big and the yards too small when matched up against surrounding houses.

Mayor Jill Techel said Silverado Napa Corp. seemed close to putting together a project acceptable to neighbors and the council. Councilmen Jim Krider and Mark van Gorder agreed.

Krider cited the successful outcome earlier this summer when DeNova Homes, at council direction, met with River Park neighbors over a controversial townhouse development off of South Jefferson Street.

The council ended up approving 54 townhouses after DeNova cut four units and agreed to make traffic improvements desired by neighbors. Neighbors withdrew their opposition.

Block said the new Browns Valley houses need to be big enough to appeal to today's buyer, but not so big that they dwarf surrounding homes. In retrospect, the council erred when it approved the six-home Johnson subdivision at 3220 Browns Valley Road in 2004, he said.

"It was wrong," said Block, who called the new homes too big for the lots and the neighborhood. His was one of three votes that approved the project.

Cathy Felder, a leader of the Carmel project opposition, agreed that Silverado Napa Corp. was close to having an acceptable design. The perimeter houses need to be reduced in size to match up better with surrounding homes, she said.

Silverado Napa Corp. paid $9.6 million two years ago for the 10-acre Carmel site. The Napa Valley Unified School District sold it as surplus land, saying it was not needed for an elementary school in Browns Valley.

Echoing the concerns of neighbors, Councilman Harry Martin challenged the likely $1 million or higher prices of the larger Carmel houses. These homes will not be affordable to many people, he said.

The proposed houses would average nearly 2,500 square feet.

To encourage housing diversity and affordability, the city is requiring so-called granny units in 15 of the houses. These units, containing nearly 500 additional square feet, are not counted in the project's size calculations.

Skeptical neighbors objected to the additional bulk of these accessory units, while doubting they would be rented to non-family members.

The council told Silverado Napa Corp. to stick with 43 houses, but to shrink some of the models.

The O'Brien Group's plan for 72 houses off of Partrick Road could run into a similar fire response roadblock at next Tuesday's public hearing, Techel said.

Unless there is a plan for better fire service, O'Brien Group could have a difficult time convincing the council the residents of their homes would live in a safe environment, the mayor said.