St. Helena council rejects office building plan

The St. Helena City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to reject Carl Doumani's plan to build five office buildings on his property at the corner of Highway 29 and Mills Lane.

Council members cited some of the same concerns that doomed the hotel project proposed by Doumani's neighbor, Rodney Friedrich: increased strain on the city's traffic, housing, and water and sewer capacities.

"I don't see how it's possibly good for our town to have more office space when we need housing, we have a traffic problem already, and we need water," said Councilmember Eric Sklar. "I can't think of one good reason for doing this."

According to the city's formula, Doumani's project would have created 303 new jobs, translating into a need for 201 new housing units. Doumani admitted that he would be unable to provide that much housing on the site -- or anywhere else in the city for that matter./Jesse Duarte

Senior center building permit expected in October

After hearing an optimistic report from the new architect of a center designed to serve Upvalley seniors, Rianda House officials predicted Friday that a city building permit for the Main Street St. Helena facility would be issued by the end of October.

The center is expected to serve Calistoga's senior residents, as a one-stop shop for senior services.

St. Helena architect Bill Bylund was selected despite the objections of Rianda House board president Jay Greene, who urged the board to instead select a San Francisco firm that had offered to do the job for $9,800 in about half the time.

When the board decided to go with the local architect, Greene resigned./Doug Ernst