Charged with creating their ideal project for the Napa Pipe site, several dozen people gathered Wednesday night for the first in a series of workshops on the controversial south county development proposal.

Participants at the special Napa County Planning Commission meeting — held at the Napa County Office of Education — were asked to brainstorm, “What makes a successful neighborhood?”

Planning specialist and Napa Pipe consultant Reid Ewing kicked off the workshop addressing the benefits of compact developments like the one proposed at Napa Pipe. High-density developments reduce reliance on cars, improve air quality and build a sense of community, he said.

Ewing stressed the benefits of developments with a range of housing types, activities  within walking distance and access to a variety of transit options — all elements of the 2,600-home proposal for Napa Pipe.

Following Ewing’s presentation, Napa County Planning Director Hillary Gitelman divided the crowd into four groups to discuss the design of their own neighborhoods and to brainstorm ideas for Napa Pipe. Each group was joined by a planning commissioner — Planning Commission Chairman Bob Fiddaman was absent — and a member of planning department staff.

A handful of Napa Pipe architects joined the discussion, as did several Napa Pipe supporters. A few opponents from the group Get A Grip on Growth attended Wednesday’s meeting.

The results of the brainstorming session were remarkably similar to the project proposed at Napa Pipe.

Groups called for a mixed-use development with affordable housing within walking distance of restaurants, offices and mom-and-pop shops. They asked for parks, bike paths and community centers.

The development should take advantage of the railway that runs through the property, groups said, and should have some light industrial use.

Young people spoke Wednesday to the need for entertainment and activities that go later than

7 p.m. Several called for art studios and other creative gathering spaces.

Alex Lydon, 23, the founder of Wandering Rose, a local arts organization, showed up with two of his friends to represent young prospective home-buyers. “We’re here because we heard this was affordable housing that’s aimed at our demographic,” Lydon said. “We want to be part of making sure the development happens.”

Elaine Markovich, another Napa Pipe supporter, said she and her husband wanted to add their voices to the mix. “We live in Napa, we love Napa, and we want to make sure Napa continues to be the community we want to live in,” she said.

While Napa County Planning Commissioner Matt Pope commended the enthusiasm of participants, he noted that the proposal must still undergo an environmental impact review before a final decision is made.

“This process cannot be a substitute for, of course, the EIR,” he said. “Certainly, pending those and other conclusions, while (Wednesday’s) meeting was enjoyable … it could all be rendered academic.”

Critics of the project, including officials from the city of Napa, have said it is too large. Slow-growth activist Eve Kahn from Get A Grip on Growth called Wednesday’s meeting “very informative,” but took issue with the fact that Napa Pipe consultants participated in the discussions, putting their ideas on the board along with the rest.

“I think the people who are paid by the developer shouldn’t be participants,” she said. “They should never be viewed as speaking for the community.”

Pope agreed, “Obviously, that shouldn’t be considered as unbiased input.”

Napa Pipe developer Keith Rogal responded that consultants made up only a small number of participants Wednesday; and that they never explicitly said what should be at Napa Pipe.

Rogal said Kahn’s group has only a couple of active members and that their regular appearance at meetings and in coverage of Napa Pipe skews perceptions about the project. “Their voices drown out a vastly larger number of people who don’t know to go to public hearings,” he said, “but they’re starting to speak up.”

The next Napa Pipe workshop will take place at 6 p.m. on April 8 at the Napa County Office of Education, 2121 Imola Ave., Napa.

Dedicated to “Neighborhood character and design,” the meeting will take ideas from Wednesday’s meeting and incorporate them into an overall design. Later meetings will delve into more technical topics, such as water and traffic.

People who missed Wednesday’s meeting can still e-mail their ideas to STRIPPI@co.napa.ca.us.

Design award

Meanwhile, Napa Pipe reached another milestone in the design process. The U.S. Green Building Council awarded the Napa Pipe plan a preliminary gold rating in its LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) for Neighborhood Development program.

Though typically focused on buildings, the LEED certification program now ranks neighborhood developments in terms of smart growth, urbanism and green building. If Napa Pipe is approved in its current state or with slight modifications, the project will advance to the second stage of certification. After it is constructed, it will would qualify for the third and final stage of LEED for Neighborhood Development certification.

“We spent a quarter of a million dollars just on the associated studies to investigate, plan, and document how (these) best practices and innovations in sustainability would be integrated into our design,” Rogal said. “Now that they have been validated by the world’s leading green building rating organization, we would be ready to make them binding commitments, integrated into the proposed project’s approvals.”