County may pop urban 'bubbles'

Land-use change would affect 12 sites, including Angwin

By KERANA TODOROV
Napa Valley Register

Napa County will update its land-use maps by removing hundreds of acres of land zoned for agriculture out of areas designated for residential use — from Angwin to Lake Berryessa and Napa.

On Wednesday, the Napa County Planning Commission took a preliminary look at the county’s planning staff proposal to remove about 1,800 acres of land zoned agricultural from Napa County’s 12 “urban bubbles” — circles and ovals on planning maps that delineate areas for potential residential development in unincorporated parts of Napa County.

Napa County Planning Director Hillary Gitelman said the planning Commission could vote on the new land-use maps in October. The agricultural zoning designation of the properties taken out of the urban bubbles will not change, she stressed.

Planning commissioners support removing agricultural land from the urban bubbles so that the county’s zoning maps better match land-use maps of Napa County’s updated General Plan, the document that will guide development in Napa County over the next two decades. The Napa County Board of Supervisors approved the updated General Plan on June 3.

Angwin plans

One of the urban bubbles is a 530-acre area in Angwin. Pacific Union College plans to build a 380-home Eco-village on part of that land, and has drawn opposition from Save Rural Angwin, a group of Angwin residents and environmental advocates.

The group wants changes to the area that would effectively kill the project and limit the college to building about 190 homes on campus.

The county’s staff’s recommendation is more modest, carving about 130 acres of agriculturally-zoned land from Angwin’s 530-acre urban bubble north from where the proposed Eco-Village could be built one day.

Terry Scott, chairman of the Napa County Planning Commission, said “Save Rural Angwin’s proposal would eliminate the Eco-Village proposal — which the majority of the planning commission does not favor.

“First of all, we haven’t even seen the proposal,” he said.

Chad Kiltz, project manager for Triad Communities, on Friday said he noted Save Rural Angwin had proposed to rezone Angwin’s urban bubble during the  General Plan review process.

“We do oppose the SRA plan,” he said.

The county’s proposal to remove agriculturally-zoned land from urban bubbles will not affect Triad’s project, Kiltz said.

“It does not impact us either way,” he said.

Allen Spence, spokesman for Save Rural Angwin, said he supports the removal of agricultural land from all urban bubbles.

“We also agree with having the bubbles reflect what’s on the ground,” he added.

Planning Commissioner Jim King said he hopes the commission will look at each of the 12 bubbles individually, adding each urban bubble is different. Others are at Moskowite Corners, near Big Ranch Road, Pope Valley and elsewhere.

But he is not sure the Planning Commission supports looking at each urban bubble individually, he said, adding SRA’s proposal to re-designate land in the Angwin urban bubble as “public institution,” does not seem to have support from the majority of the Planning Commission.

The ultimate decision on land use will be up to the Napa County Board of Supervisors.

Napa County Supervisor Chairman Brad Wagenknecht on Friday said everybody will be heard over time.

Gitelman said the agriculturally-zoned land taken out of urban bubbles will not be subject to Measure J. The measure, which requires voters to approve any proposed change in zoning in the county’s agricultural preserve, does not apply to urban bubbles.

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