City leaders assess housing, general plan at annual retreat
What should American Canyon’s priorities be over the coming year?
That’s one of the questions the City Council discussed during its annual all-day retreat at Holiday Inn Express and Suites. The Feb. 6 meeting, which was not video recorded but open to the public, included team-building exercises, discussions on community and city staff surveys and the city’s top goals for the coming year.
City Manager Jason Holley asked the City Council members to jot down their top priorities for the city on yellow sticky notes.
“What’s the one thing you want to have accomplished?” asked Holley, whose job includes implementing those goals.
Within minutes, Mayor Pierre Washington, Vice Mayor Mark Joseph and City Council members Brando Cruz, Melissa Lamattina and David Oro handed their lists over to Holley, who read the notes aloud.
Growth was a main topic of discussion.
“Hess/Laird, Watson Lane” and “Access to Watson Lane” read one note, referring to lands north of the city that could be annexed into the city one day.
Holley recognized Washington’s handwriting. The mayor told the group he would support working with developers who are “more collaborative” and willing to work with the city.
The developer of Watson Ranch has filed suit against the city over money and other issues.
The Hess/Laird/Persson property, also known as Hess/Laird, comprises more than 280 acres north of the city, including acres of land planted to vineyards for years. Plans have shown that Newell Drive could eventually be extended through the properties to reach South Kelly Road, creating a new roadway parallel to Highway 29;
The property owners have applied to annex their land into the American Canyon Fire Protection District, according to the Local Agency Formation Commission of Napa County. The annexation will be considered once a property tax exchange agreement is in place.
The property owners have not disclosed plans for the land, which could be developed into 4.5 million square feet of industrial buildings.
Hess/Laird has a “lot of connecting parts of it,” Washington said.
Oro cited as a priority circulation at Watson Ranch, a project under construction where 1,200 houses are expected to be built east of Highway 29.
Watson Ranch includes old industrial ruins now known as Napa Valley Ruins and Gardens, where a series of concerts have taken place last year.
Joseph said the city should “clarify city boundaries.” The Hess/Laird properties are part of the city’s circulation solution, he said.
Holley noted that the city’s new General Plan, the document that guides development, already identifies the Hess/Laird property as a study area.
The city’s northern boundaries have been a source of contention with Napa County over the years. A conflict was resolved in 2008 when the city put in place the urban limit line to manage growth. The urban limit line, which was created after 18 months of negotiations with Napa County, is valid through 2030.
Holley said the city is discussion with Napa County to expand the urban limit line, sharing state-mandated housing allocations and property taxes. Under state law, each jurisdiction must have a plan to house its residents with all income levels.
“The proposal is 89 percent drafted,” Holley said.
Under the possible deal, about 440 affordable housing units that Napa County must have to meet state housing mandates could be shifted to American Canyon in exchange for land annexations and a share of property taxes.
The possible deal with Napa County does not include anything related to the property at 1661 Green Island Road, Holley said.
The 157-acre former vineyard near the Napa River is outside the city limits. The owners want to rezone the property.
Signatures have been collected to place an initiative known as Measure L on the ballot. Measure L would allow the expansion of the city’s urban limit line to include the 1661 Green Island Road property. It would also rezone the land to allow industrial development and the construction of a sports complex.
Conservationists and others have argued the land should be protected, while others have said it is private property and the owner should have the right to develop it.
A similar initiative, which did not include the proposed sports complex, failed at the ballot in 2022.
The property, unlike Hess/Laird, is not included as a study area in the General Plan, Holley said. There is no public infrastructure there, he said.
Joseph predicted Measure L would probably fail. Still, 1661 Green Island Road should be brought in into the city, he said, with the concept that half of it is developed and the other should be left as open space to protect the land from future sea rise as an environmental protection, he said. It’s a compromise, Joseph added.
The property owner, Joseph said, is “receptive to some kind of a solution that doesn’t force him to double down on an initiative.”
Oro said the city can facilitate how the property is developed and protected. However, he cautioned that issues facing the city on the east side of town are bigger than 1661 Green Island Road question. “If his property sat there for the next 10 years, strategically for me, no problem,” Oro said, referring to owner David Gilbreth. There are “bigger fish to fry.”
Washington said compromise is probably the most reasonable option. “No one loses, and no one really wins. But it is private property,” Washington stressed.
Council member Lamattina said she has supported expanding the urban limit line to include 1661 Green Island property so that the city has “a little bit of control and a little more say” in what is going to happen there. She hears from the community that American Canyon needs housing, sports areas and open space. “To me, you can’t have it all,” she said, adding a compromise is what is needed.
Cruz said he wants to see “everything on the table” before making a decision.
No vote was taken.
Holley told the City Council he appreciated their perspectives. “And I think at the end of the day, what you’re wanting me to do is to strike out the best deal that I can.”
Joseph noted there is now more deference to the 5th District Supervisor Belia Ramos, who represents south Napa County and American Canyon.
“We have this opportunity to address boundaries that historically have been major ‘wars,’” with Napa County, Joseph said.
Oro noted Napa County supervisors Joelle Gallagher and Anne Cottrell, are running for re-election this year. Joseph said, given the pending political campaign season, the window of opportunity closes in three months.
Other priorities discussed included the economic development of Green Island Road.
The city has discussed investing a new system to process food and beverage wastewater, all in an effort to attract industries to Green Island’s industrial corridor.
The city may build a system that uses anaerobic membrane technology at the wastewater treatment plant. No timeline has been set.
With such a system, existing food and beverage plants would no longer have to treat their own wastewaters. The system could also be attractive to wineries that now haul their wastewater to East Bay Municipal Utility District.
NapaSan, Napa County’s agency that treats wastewater from Napa and unincorporated areas, does not accept untreated wastewater from wineries and other food and beverage companies.
Joseph said the industrial park has been on autopilot for 30 years. Historically, it has been American Canyon’s “bread and butter,” he said.
Napa wineries began to store their wines in Napa County 20 years ago. That has changed, Joseph said.
However, the wine industry is going through a hiccup, Joseph said. In addition, warehouse prices in American Canyon are not lower than those in Solano County.
“I think we really need to start looking at how do we reimagine our industry park,” Joseph said.
“The market is going to decide what goes in there,” Oro responded.
