Frayed around the edges in St. Helena

Residents raise concerns about projects just outside city limits

By JESSE DUARTE
For the Register

South St. Helena is undergoing more changes than any other part of the city, but city and county officials agree that the area’s agricultural zoning makes major development unlikely.

With their bold architectural styles, the new Flora Springs Guest Center and the Frank Gehry-designed Hall Winery facility have raised the eyebrows of some St. Helenans, while others worry about the odd mix of industrial, commercial, residential and agricultural uses on the south entrance to town.

Yet city and county officials say that since most of the area is agriculturally zoned, there’s no reason to fear that projects like Flora Springs and Hall are signaling a shift toward major commercial development in the area nicknamed “the gateway to St. Helena.”

“I don’t think there’s really going to be any new development south of town, while there will be changes of uses on existing parcels,” said Councilmember Eric Sklar. “But I don’t see any dramatic changes happening there because there’s just no more land to develop that’s not agricultural.”

Peter McCrea, a St. Helena planning commissioner who also headed the county’s general plan steering committee, agreed that the ag zoning makes major development unlikely. Calling for the rezoning of ag land in the area would be a non-starter, he said.

Despite the somewhat industrial appearance of south St. Helena, most of the land is zoned for agricultural use. The second most common zoning in the area is residential.

Properties on the county side of the city limits that do have development-friendly zoning are mostly built out.

No design review

The real problem on the county side is businesses that, thanks to their economic success, are able to intensify their uses without sufficiently addressing the impact on issues such as traffic, Napa County Supervisor Diane Dillon said.

Because those aren’t new projects, it’s difficult to require them to make much-needed infrastructure improvements. “That’s really the big challenge down there,” Dillon said.

Mary Radu, who lives on Inglewood Avenue, said the county and city don’t have a cohesive plan for south St. Helena. That lack of a clear strategy is evident in the kinds of development taking place, she said. County officials need to look at the cumulative impact of development in the area, she said.

“I’m not sure there’s a vision of what they want this corridor to look like,” Radu said.

With the Flora Springs facility popping up in the county lands and several commercial projects being nixed on the city side, it may appear that the city and county are operating under different philosophies.

But it’s more complex than that, say officials. The Flora Springs and Hall projects were consistent with their zoning, so county officials didn’t have design review authority over either project.

There is a process granting the city to have input on county projects. Whenever a project is under review in county lands adjacent to St. Helena, county officials forward it to the St. Helena Planning Commission for comment.

The commission has no real clout on those projects, but it can at least request that the county consider certain issues.

City and county officials agree that process works, but it doesn’t do anything to address the design issues that the county has no control over.

City side

Flora Springs General Manager Nat Komes said the most troubling development issue in south St. Helena is not commercial projects like Flora Springs or Hall Winery, but the 78-unit Magnolia Oaks subdivision the city approved off El Bonita Avenue.

“That’s scary because people want country living, and yet here they’re building houses right next to each other,” he said. “Why would you want to be living in the country anymore if that’s going on?”

Komes added that he’s received mostly positive feedback on the new Flora Springs building.

Sklar said future commercial development should be concentrated in the central business district, not south St. Helena. The only development the council has allowed in the area recently has been Magnolia Oaks, and even that project was in limbo for more than a year while developers, property owners and officials worked out access issues.

Meanwhile, commercial projects within the city, like Rodney Friedrich’s hotel and Carl Doumani’s Mills Lane offices have gotten chilly receptions from the city council despite the existence of the growth-friendly Highway 29 Specific Plan, which was intended to guide development on several properties within city limits.

The city planning commission green-lighted the Friedrich and Doumani projects because they were compliant with city zoning, said McCrea. The council, which has more latitude in its decision-making, nixed both projects, citing insufficient infrastructure to support them.

Aside from specific projects, there’s the larger question of how “the Gateway to St. Helena” should be designed. The Highway 29 Specific Plan was concerned primarily with development and utilities, not design.

“The city has never had a view of what that area should look like from an aesthetic point of view,” said McCrea. “Ultimately that’s what people don’t like. It’s a bit of a hodgepodge over there.”

I think if anybody wants to sharpen up the city’s vision of what it wants south St. Helena to look like, the general plan is the right vehicle,” he said.

Sklar agreed. He said the Highway 29 Specific Plan was inconsistent with the 1993 general plan, which said development should occur primarily north of the Sulphur Creek bridge.

“I hope the question of what should happen in the southern part of St. Helena will be answered in the new general plan, and that very clear policies will be put in place instead of kicking the ball down the road with a specific plan,” Sklar said.

Having clear guidelines for design within the city limits would also put the city in a stronger position when it wants to comment on design issues in county lands, said McCrea.

Sklar said the city should be even further by crafting a form-based code with strong review guidelines to prevent new construction that’s out of character with the surrounding neighborhood.

Dillon acknowledged that the same issue exists on the county side.

She said the solution is for the county to establish some kind of review process that would ensure projects are consistent with the neighborhood character.

“I think it would be good if that happened, but I don’t know what the details would be,” she said. “And I don’t know if there are three votes on the board to do it.”

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