‘We already fought this battle’: Measure L reignites fight against development
The saga of a failed south county vineyard isn’t over
For the past month, signature gatherers have been posted around American Canyon asking residents to endorse an initiative called Measure L, which would add 157 acres of unincorporated fallow land at 1661 Green Island Road into city limits and rezone the property for sports and industry.
The effort has given American Canyon residents whiplash. Just three years ago, in 2022, an identical initiative was rejected by voters — albeit by a slim margin. Now, it’s back, this time framed as a boon to the city’s development goals by inviting industrial development.
Wine industry attorney David Gilbreth and vintners Ed Farver and Will Nord purchased 1661 Green Island Road in 1996. They dubbed the 157-acre property Green Island Vineyard, forming a company of the same name. Nord died in 2022.
For a while, rows of grapes produced Pinot Noir, Malbec, Merlot and Chardonnay. Green Island Vineyard was poised to become a winemaking hub to rival neighbors concentrated in northern Napa Valley.
But after a dozen or so harvests, the vines began to decay. Crops plunged into what Vineyard Soil Technologies scientist Paul R. Anamosa called a “death spiral” in a 2021 soil analysis. Vines died off in large numbers, and the earth was found to be too salty to grow grapes or any other crop. This was largely attributed to the use of American Canyon’s reclaimed water for irrigation, necessary due to a short supply of fresh water in the city.
In 2022, Gilbreth, Farver and Nord put forward Measure J in an attempt to rezone the land and make it more desirable to buyers. The proposal was advertised as “truck traffic reduction,” a measure that would alleviate traffic on Green Island Road — which many allege was intentional misinformation. The measure was defeated by 52% of voters. Turns out, that wasn’t the end of it.
While Measure J garnered enough signatures to be put to vote, petitions for Measure L still need to net around 1,400 signatures by May 2026 to qualify for the November ballot. And the re-emergence of a rejected proposal has rankled some.
“It’s the initiative that keeps on giving,” said Tammy Wong, a longtime resident and organizer with American Canyon Engaged, a group formed by Wong and Jeannette Goyetche in 2024 to represent resident interests.
“To see the owners come back around with this, it feels like — not again. We already fought this battle,” Wong said. “Some of us felt like, ‘You’re not listening to what we want.’”
A number of locals and city leaders have shown support for Measure L, including Fil-Am Club member Joe Del Cruz, former city council member Joan Bennett and former city attorney Bill Ross. Their claims about the need for development are not off-base: American Canyon is the only city in Napa County where the population is growing, now estimated at 21,700 residents, and local youth and families want more space for housing and recreation.
The measure doesn’t outline any specific development of the property, but it does set the stage for future construction. For years, Measure L’s proponents have argued that industrial development on the property is inevitable: 1661 Green Island Road is situated at a crossroads of scenic marshland and operations like the Copart auto auction and GL Mezzetta warehouse.
Simultaneously, rezoning would likely add hundreds of thousands of dollars in value to the land, which is currently unsalable as farmland, and which Gilbreth and Farver have unsuccessfully tried to sell several times.
Don Clark managed Green Island Vineyard while it was a booming wine producer. “I put the first vines in the ground in 1996” he said, and worked “up until the last vines came out,” around 2022.
“It’s not any kind of natural habitat. There’s nothing native about the area,” Clark said. Before the land was a vineyard, it was “denuded” cattle grazing land, he added.
“It can’t be used for farming,” Clark said. “Not just grapes — we looked into all sorts of different options … It’s surrounded by warehouses, so [Measure L] makes logical sense.”
But opponents of Measure L cry wolf. A coalition of environmentalists, residents and big ag groups say the rezoning attempt is simply a quick way for property owners to wash their hands of the land. But each group has its own issue with the initiative.
For vintner-focused organizations like the Farm Bureau, Measure L opens the door for failed wine ventures all over the valley to claim bad harvests, rezone the land and sell at a higher margin.
Environmental groups like the Sierra Club and the Napa Solano Audubon Society say the acreage should remain open space, and that Measure L would destroy a thriving refuge for birds and wildlife that maintain the valley’s biodiversity. They also cite the loss of some 80% of Bay Area marshland, which operates as a buffer zone for impending sea-level rise.
Early in 2025, landowners got their first break. 1661 Green Island Road has historically been an unincorporated part of Napa County, meaning it is stuck with its zoning as farmland. Future development would require it be included in American Canyon city limits, which requires approval by Napa’s Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) and, eventually, a vote by American Canyon residents.
At a March 18 American Canyon City Council meeting, council members voted 4-1 to issue a letter to LAFCO backing Green Island Vineyard’s quest to be included in city limits, with Council Member Mark Joseph the sole dissenting vote. City Manager Jason Holley called the move a “symbolic gesture of support.”
At the meeting, Gilbreth told the city council that opponents were “over-concerned about the previous initiative that did not pass.” Gilbreth was a critical part of American Canyon’s incorporation as a city in 1992, and he pointed out that “the previous effort to incorporate the city failed twice,” and that opponents of development have long decried efforts to expand the city. But, he said, “we didn’t give up on the city then and we hope that the council doesn’t give up on this now.”
“I don’t object to bringing it into the city,” Council Member Mark Joseph told the Current. “But we could be going down the path that could be counter to the community’s best interest. A good chunk of that parcel ought to be saved for sea level rise or habitat.”
Joseph said that if it were a different property, he’d have no issue zoning it for industrial use. “I’d say, ‘Make money, because we’ll make money afterwards.’ But warehouses are shutting down. Right now, we don’t need more industrial land.”
Plus, Joseph said, “We really shouldn’t be trying to do land-use zoning by an individual property owner who can afford to pay for the signatures.”
Organizer Tammy Wong agreed that the financial resources are lopsided. “I just live in American Canyon. I’m just me. I’m not a person with the same resources that the owners of the property have. It’s a lot of work to start a group from scratch,” she said, referring to American Canyon Engaged. “We’re not going to profit from this.” But, Wong noted, Gilbreth and Farver will profit if Measure L passes next year,
Letter of support in hand, Gilbreth’s proposal to LAFCO succeeded at an April 7 meeting in a 3-2 vote, which included Supervisor Belia Ramos and City Council Member David Oro voting to support 1661 Green Island Road’s inclusion in city limits.
A few months later, in October, Gilbreth and Farver did away with Green Island Vineyard, renaming the company AC Recreation, Open Space and Economic Benefits, LLC. On Oct. 29, Measure L was filed with the city clerk by a group of American Canyon locals who support the property’s inclusion into city limits: lifelong resident Fran Lemos, martial arts instructor Jessie Corpus and real estate agent Richard Peterson.
Multiple approvals are still required to determine the property’s annexation into American Canyon. Learn more about the history of 1661 Green Island Road, Measure L and Measure J on the City of American Canyon’s website here.
