Going with experience, the Napa City Council reappointed planning commissioners Gordon Huether and Michael Basayne to new two-year terms Wednesday night.

Huether, an outspoken artist who had completed two terms on the commission, and Basayne, a financial consultant ending one term, were selected over three first-time applicants.

During his council interview, Huether decried the amount of “mediocre architecture” that gets approved in Napa and the city’s frequent failure to stop developers from deviating from approved designs.

“I think we should be approving buildings we’ll want to restore 50 years from now,” not structures that only last a generation or two, he said.

Huether reaffirmed his reputation as someone who calls them as he sees them. Asked why he deserved another term, he said, “I think we need me. I don’t know how else to say it.”

Councilman Mark van Gorder praised Huether’s aesthetic sensibility. “I sometimes think I’d enjoy living in a world designed by Gordon Huether,” he said.

Basayne said he was getting his “sea legs” after two years on the commission. He learned in his first term that it is “very important to honor the interests of neighbors,” he said.

Neighborhoods need to be protected from developments that would alter their character, Basayne said. He advocated placing the highest density residential projects on busy thoroughfares, such as Soscol Avenue. Both Napa Valley Exposition and Napa Valley College have the potential for multi-unit housing, he said.

Huether and Basayne were reappointed on the council’s first ballot, each receiving four votes.

Heather McCollister, Suisun City’s redevelopment director, and Marquita Marquis, a public health manager with Napa County Health and Human Services, each received a vote.

McCollister, who had 13 years of land use planning, said projects should be weighed for neighborhood compatibility. It would be good if the commission offered conceptual reviews of projects before developers invested a lot of money, she said.

Marquis said her public health background would allow her to evaluate projects for sustainability. Higher density developments save natural resources, she said.