With the opening of a Whole Foods Market in Napa just days away, a new plan to ease traffic congestion at Bel Aire Plaza met with skepticism from city officials on Thursday.

Owners of the popular north Napa shopping center plan to place a barrier prohibiting left turns off the main corridor of the center and add a flagman to direct traffic during peak shopping hours.

The barrier — at first to be made of traffic cones that would be picked up each night, and later to be made permanent — will prohibit left turns off the corridor into Caffino’s, the drive-thru coffee stand in the Bel Aire parking lot.

The plan was announced seven days before Whole Foods, a national chain offering natural, organic and gourmet foods, will open a store in the location formerly occupied by a Ralph’s supermarket and a Longs Drugs.

On Thursday afternoon, members of the city of Napa’s Traffic Advisory Committee voiced concerns that the traffic plan did not go far enough and that congestion will continue to plague the center.

“This is really dumb,” said Napa City Councilman Jim Krider, one of two councilmembers on the nine-member committee. Bel Aire owners, he said, “are not being good neighbors here.”

Councilman Peter Mott said the barrier is a good idea. But, he said, “I don’t think anyone recognizes what it’s going to look like when Whole Foods opens.”

Craig Semmelmeyer of Main Street Properties, which manages most of the center, did not return late afternoon calls seeking comment.

Krider ultimately said the city should not pass judgment until it sees whether the temporary plan works, although he expressed concern about the viability of having a flagman at the site and the fact that the flagman would have no authority to enforce traffic rules.

”We’ll give this thing a shot and see how long the guy lives,” Krider joked.

According to a release from the city Thursday morning, the plan calls for a barrier that will divide north- and southbound lanes of the main corridor through the plaza, which meets Trancas Street at the terminus of California Boulevard.

Shoppers entering from California or Trancas would no longer be able to turn left into Caffino’s or parking lanes to the west of the corridor until they are about 200 yards into the center. This, it is hoped, will keep traffic that funnels from two lanes as it enters the center from backing up onto Trancas.

The city’s release said the flag person would be stationed near a stop sign along the corridor, well north of Trancas. At that point, northbound drivers could turn left toward Target or Caffino’s and southbound drivers could turn left toward Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s.

But city of Napa Senior Traffic Engineer Farid Javandel said that the flag person might be stationed nearer the parking lanes by Umpqua Bank to keep traffic moving as it comes off Trancas or California.

For a more permanent plan, Javandel said Bel Aire owners had expressed interest in a hard rubber curb strip and plastic posts, or bollards, to replace the cones.

Javandel said the cones and flagman could be in place as soon as the weekend and likely no later than Monday.

Long-term parking

Members of the committee discussed several Bel Aire topics Thursday afternoon, ranging from the city’s frustration over its inability to compel a more comprehensive parking solution to the prospect that Main Street Properties, which city officials said recently acquired the building that houses the Lamplighter Lounge, might create a new entrance to ease the problems.

Bel Aire owners have discussed closing access from Diablo Street at the north end of the center, and committee members said Thursday they thought that would be a disaster, as well as a possible fire hazard.

However, the city does not own the land and has limited ability to control what happens on it. Meanwhile, the fact that Target, Main Street and others own pieces of Bel Aire has slowed efforts to fund or initiate traffic studies and solutions, city officials said.

Javandel said the city could install traffic-sensitive lights that would limit the number of cars stuck in the intersection of Trancas, California, and the Bel Aire entrance, but even this comes with a hitch: Caltrans controls some of the key light signals in the area.