State of the City: ‘There are a lot of constraints’
This year, officials put together the city’s first-ever State of the City “roadshow” with one public town hall on the city’s eastside and a second on the westside.
At times laughter-filled, at other times contentious or just plain awkward, talk at the town halls spanned development, water bills, road upgrades and other topics brought by some 50 residents to a panel that included City Council members Brando Cruz, Mark Joseph, David Oro, Melissa Lamattina, City Manager Jason Holley, Assistant City Manager Juan Gomez and Mayor Pierre Washington.
Council member Mark Joseph summed it up: “Clearly, we are not all bad. We are just not all perfect.”
The annual State of the City report, the basis for February’s town halls, is a survey of the past year’s events and accomplishments, plus a breakdown of the 2025-2026 budget.
“This is the first time we’ve done a meeting like this, so there’s a little bit of figuring it out as we go along,” Jason Holley cautioned the small group seated in the theater at Canyon Oaks Elementary School gym on the first night.
What in years past was a strikingly dysfunctional city council has morphed into a body of mostly polite optimists who lean pro-development. The council wants what residents want: less traffic, more shops, night out options and good roads and parks.
But, like any city, things can only happen so fast. As council member David Oro said: “My hands are tied until something happens.”
Measure L
A majority of each two-hour meeting centered a hotly contested issue: The future of 1661 Green Island Road.
In the fall, a group of residents raised the alarm when hired signature gatherers popped up outside Safeway and Walmart, telling signers that a signature meant another step to building a sports complex in city limits.
While a sports complex is a possibility, there is no guarantee. Owners of 1661 Green Island Road, a 157-acre swath of unincorporated agricultural land once home to Green Island Vineyard, are hoping to net enough signatures for a ballot measure — Measure L — that would bring the property under city control and rezone it for development.
More than half of attendees at both town halls told city council members that 1661 Green Island Road should be kept open space. They argued that the area is vulnerable to sea level rise and adjacent to the city’s famous wetlands, which attract migrating creatures and nature lovers from all over the U.S.
“Right now, the feeling is, the person who owns the land is not in American Canyon,” said resident Nicola Areshenko. “[Owners] want to get it rezoned to get an increased profit.”
Yvonne Baginski, a member of the Napa Solano Audubon Society, spoke for wildlife: “Animals, birds and plants have a right to exist as well,” she said. “If we are destroying all the land and destroying all the places wildlife lives, where are these animals going to go?”
Lamattina, a social worker, and typically a more reserved council member, said that a sports complex would be welcome. While youth like nature, she said, “when you’re growing up, you want to hang out with your friends.”
Brando Cruz, who acknowledged his own preference for listening, added that for his own kids, American Canyon has “nothing to do, nowhere to go.”
“The property owners are not trying to screw American Canyon,” lifelong American Canyon resident Joan Bennett told people gathered at the Adult Activities Center on day two, hoping to ease the room’s rising tensions. “They’re trying to improve American Canyon. They want clean industry.” Around the room, people shook their heads or groaned.
Mark Joseph, a former finance professional, said he couldn’t help but think of the bottom line with the city acquiring property — an “expensive undertaking.”
“When the community wants us to acquire [1661 Green Island Road as] open space, that’s a fine thing and I would be inclined to support it. But there’s got to be money to cover that.”
Joseph said that voters could strategize ways to preserve the land themselves, possibly acquiring the land through environmental grants or other funding sources.
Without directly referring to 1661 Green Island Road, David Oro said that the mostly industrial area — which includes G.L. Mezzetta, Inc., Amazon, PG&E, Mecca Halal Poultry and Livestock, several wine warehouses and Coparts Auto Auction — “is an opportunity to have jobs in town” whereas most people commute elsewhere around the Bay Area for work.
If the initiative gets enough signatures, open space advocates say what they want is to ensure Measure L is put on the ballot for voters to decide on — not to be fast tracked through a city council vote.
Council members reminded everyone that there’s only so much they can do. “There are a lot of constraints that are out of our control,” Lamattina said.
114 miles of roadways, 22 parks
Talk also focused on upgrades to the city streets and numerous green spaces. Green Island Road, an economic asset for the city, is the site of the “largest road project we’ve ever done,” said Jason Holley. The total project cost exceeds $19 million, with repaving, sewer line replacement and new water mains.
Sewer line, water line and paving upgrades popped up all over town in the past year, including along Alder Court, James Road, Melvin Road, Knightsbridge Way and Napa Junction Road.
“Especially on the east side of town, we spent more than $5 million paving roads,” Holley said. Much of the new paving is done with rubberized cape seal, an allegedly eco-friendly asphalt, which Holley said has built-in sound proofing and a five-to-10 year lifespan.
As for parks, that’s a slower process. Trees have come down because recycled “water is very low quality,” according to Holley, who added that they are replacing what is cut down, but new trees have to be able withstand poor soil conditions.
Wetlands Edge added a new outdoor education pavilion, and the groundwork has been laid for a new playground Veterans Park, which residents said is long overdue. Permanent restrooms are planned for other parks around the city.
Development
American Canyon residents have varying concerns about development. Some questioned what one commenter called “prolific building” around the city and giveaways to big property owners, while others said their faith in developers has worn thin.
Vintage Ranch, on the city’s eastside, where Karina Servente lives, was developed by Standard Pacific Homes. Developers built an elementary school onto the property — a boon for rents as well as residents — but never delivered on a gym agreed on with city officials.
According to Joseph, the gym wasn’t part of the formal agreement. Even so, Servente’s point was that a developer will worry more about the bottom line than residents’ lives. “I’m a little wary of backing a developer that doesn’t keep their promises,” she said.
Nightlife
Some attendees said rather than build homes, it should be a priority to get new restaurants in town — more to do for the people who live here now. This talk saw a rare moment of agreement between Cruz and Oro, who said that’s up to residents.
If they want restaurants and nightlife to thrive here, said Oro, “people have to go out to eat more.” He referenced the long delayed Watson Ranch Specific Plan, which outlines a town center with shops and entertainment, and the Broadway District Specific Plan, a 2019 document outlining a Highway 29 corridor open to buses, bikes and pedestrians that attracts commerce. One pandemic later, an update on the plan remains to be seen.
“Laso is gone, some other businesses are struggling. But nobody goes,” said Cruz. “Patronize, patronize, patronize,” he advised.
“Buy local,” agreed Joseph, noting difficulty for businesses navigating city requirements. “We have a planning director that says, ‘We want you to come here,’ and another that says, ‘But you have to follow all these rules.’”
Ultimately, mused resident Karina Servente after the second town hall, “We need to do a better job finishing projects before embarking on more.” While she appreciated the town halls, she said, “It would be great to have more collaboration when it comes to scheduling and communicating.”
