County planning action will make for an interesting summer

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Thursday, February 07, 2008

Comment

By George Bachich

I was intrigued by David Ryan’s article in the Napa Register of Jan. 24: “County cool to city housing move.”

I think it is interesting that Supervisor Mark Luce insists that we shouldn’t get excited because we are just processing a general plan amendment, not a project. Meanwhile, Mr. Westmeyer, Napa County counsel, seems to be implying that the general plan amendment is already a done deal. Ms. Gitelman, the county planning director, implies that Mr. Rogal, the developer of the Napa Pipe site, may already have property rights in the deal, based on investment-backed expectations.

Perhaps I missed something, but I have not yet seen the general plan amended. Yes, the Steering Committee proposed an amendment, and the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors are in the process of considering it during public hearings, but it has not yet been approved, and in fact, is being seriously considered for substantial alteration before it is approved, especially regarding Angwin and other “urban bubbles.”

I find it interesting that the re-designation of the Napa Pipe property to “study area” seems already so cast in stone, while other areas of the proposed general plan amendment seem so vulnerable to modification by the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors. In my mind, if the general plan amendment is already fixed once the process is started, as Mr. Westmeyer implies, then there should not be any discussion about changing the urban bubbles. Conversely, if the urban bubbles are still open for discussion, then so Napa Pipe should be. Why the inconsistency?

Of course, if some under-the-table commitments have already been made, if the board of supervisors or staff jumped the gun and prematurely rendered some assurances to Mr. Rogal and company, then perhaps the county might have some liability for its actions if the board of supervisors backs out of the deal. However, if they did not grant such assurances, then they should have nothing to worry about. If Mr. Rogal is the one who jumped the gun by betting that the general plan would be amended to his benefit, then he has no one to blame but himself if his wager does not pan out.

Citizens should know that the General Plan Steering Committee did not recommend the re-designation of the Napa Pipe property. When the Steering Committee expressed serious reservations about staff’s proposal to do that, staff withdrew that issue from further consideration by the committee, saying that it would be decided by the board of supervisors. Was that because the fix was already in on this issue? Had the board of supervisors already given Mr. Rogal advance assurance that his project would be approved?

I hope not, because circumventing and/or manipulating the ongoing general plan revision process in that manner would seem to betray an elitist presumptuousness unbecoming of elected representatives. In any case, I think they are about to receive their comeuppance in the form of the overwhelming passage of the Responsible Growth Initiative, and the unseating of at least one supervisor in the coming election. It’s going to be a very interesting summer.

(Bachich, the president of the Napa County Land Stewards Alliance, lives in Napa.)

4 comment(s)

citizen wrote on Feb 7, 2008 10:24 AM:

" Well spoken, Mr. Bachich. No doubt the citizens/voters of Napa Co. will be watching this closely. "

Paddy wrote on Feb 7, 2008 10:50 AM:

" Well stated Mr. Bachich! Based on what I've read to date there appears to be complicity between developers and our elected officials that does not reflect the desires of the great majority their constituants. "

Concerned Citizen wrote on Feb 7, 2008 11:59 AM:

" Oh boy! How twisty, turney and convoluted is this becomming? Sleeping with the enemy now, are we? Strange bedfellows? Unexpected alliances? Pots and kettles? Oh boy, this is developing into a stranger and stranger situation. Stay tuned, folks; we're about to go on the roller coaster ride of our lives here in little 'ole Napa as former foes and past allegences are now foes; one side of the fence sitters are now hopping to the other side. Does anyone else see the incongruity and inconsistency in the characters' roles...now, somehow; apparently and seemingly, reversed? What a tangled web ... ! "

JimClark wrote on Feb 7, 2008 12:57 PM:

" It is clear that most Napans, as other Americans are ignorant as to what will happen to them. Be it a nuclear explosion or the deprivation of their Constitutional rights as if they were supposedly protected by those who swore their personal oath to "protect, preserve and defend" those rights. Who elects these people? I certainly don't. The ill-use of rhetoric may create an issue (global warming) but that doesn’t make it real. It seems the Super Bowl reinforces the false sense of safety our fellow citizens have been “educated” to believe in. Most of our elected representatives gained office from words. Words that seem to have faded into oblivion. Do these people live up to their words? The Land Stewards political action group is merely another group interested in subverting the ignorance to which the major population is subject. So much for public education.

Napa Pipe (Kaiser Steel) has existed since I was but a tad. If the time is taken to consider the matter and come to an intelligent conclusion, the land may become of better use; even if it is simply rangeland as opposed to housing tracts. Yes, there are the human carnivores that would like to develop it. Just say NO!! "

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