City battling Napa Pipe plan

Offer to county designed to provide housing without project

By KEVIN COURTNEY
Register Staff Writer

The city of Napa, fiercely opposed to a large-scale residential project just outside the city’s border, has revitalized efforts to help Napa County solve its affordable housing problem without counting on full development of the more than 150-acre Napa Pipe site.

Though one city proposal was jettisoned last year, Napa County is hearing the city out, agreeing Tuesday not to proceed with a plan to zone 50 acres of the Napa Pipe site for residential use.

Napa is asking the county to consider housing on just 15 or 20 Napa Pipe acres, with the understanding that the city might be willing to provide municipal services to a scaled-back development.

Napa Mayor Jill Techel said Tuesday she is hopeful that the City Council and the Board of Supervisors can reach a housing agreement that does not require the county to make any moves toward developer Keith Rogal’s plan for 2,600 homes, a condominium hotel, 40,000 square feet of retail and 190,000 square feet of office and industrial space.

Assistant City Manager Dana Smith outlined the city’s new offer in a letter on March 9. “City staff believes a cooperative agreement between the city and county can be reached that will remove the dependency on the Napa Redevelopment Partners project approval and allow the county to move forward with a smaller area for a rezone to housing,” Smith said.

Smith’s nine-page letter criticized the county’s draft environmental report for its new housing plan, which would have zoned 50 acres to hold 850 units of housing. Smith characterized that as essentially the same number as the planned Phase I of the Napa Pipe project.

The county has done an “inadequate” environmental review at Napa Pipe while failing to evaluate alternative sites, the city said.

“The county’s selection of housing sites should be motivated by more than the speculative investments of private land developers,” Smith wrote.

If Napa Pipe is developed with significant housing, that could lead to a “physically divided community,” Smith said. The draft environmental report does not fully assess the feasibility of proposals to alleviate traffic congestion from a large new development, she said.

Smith’s letter said the county environmental report should further analyze railroad noise, water supply impacts, flood risks, fire protection and wastewater treatment.

The chance that the disagreements over the Napa Pipe project could spill into court remains in the background. Last year, attorneys for Napa Pipe suggested the city’s housing plan may not comply with state law. For several months, the Napa City Council has discussed strategies for dealing with the county over Napa Pipe in closed sessions under the “anticipated litigation” exemption to open meetings.

“Litigation is the last choice for a government agency when you reach an impasse that is not resolvable,” Smith said. “I don’t think that’s the case here. It’s completely resolvable.”

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