Meeting of the Grand Coalition to Save the Napa Valley
Tuesday, January 20 at 1 PM Napa Marriott 3425 Solano Avenue

Community activism has been largely responsible for the increased scrutiny of the cumulative impacts that current development practices are having and going to have on the county. It is up to all of the community groups that have just been born, or operated in isolation for many years to join together to represent the one constituency that has consistently been left out of previous planning decisions - the residents.
- Bill Hocker Jan 8 2015

We have all been mobilized to fight some outrageous project at our doorstep. In many cases we’ve met one another and shared thoughts on how to cope with the onslaught. We all agree we need to take action to find a way of changing some of the rules so that we are not forever consigned to fighting neighborhood fires. The purpose of this meeting is to begin that action.
Please come prepared to briefly introduce your group-but more importantly to describe what course of action you foresee to get a grip on this growth mania fueled by those who would destroy the wonderment of Napa County. The Supervisors will hold a meeting with the Planning Commission on March 10 and so we need to have our thoughts and plan of action in place by then. Making a list is the easy part. We will need experts to help us prioritize the plan and to be wise in how we approach the effort. A note from Geoff gives you an idea of the complexities, “Many in our camp are reticent to reopen WDO for fear of losing even more ground to the hospitality industry, that’s why many are talking about increasing parcel size, implementing Climate Action Plan and redesignating AG/Watershed zoning instead of going back into WDO, basically building the protections around it.”
To stimulate your thinking, here’s a list of issues that have suggested:

• How do we get a moratorium on winery and vineyard conversions until a cumulative analysis can be performed?
• Ag/Watershed/Open Space: how do we make watersheds more important as the best use of hillside land over ag?
• WDO changes
• Climate Action Plan, originally presented in 2010, needs to be adopted by
Supervisors
• How do we establish a Mandatory Oak Woodlands Management Plan?
• Compliance with existing regs (if 40% of self-questioned wineries are out
of compliance with their permits what does that portend for all of the wineries?)

Save the Date: We have made arrangements for the documentary: “Russian River: All Rivers” to be shown at the Cameo Theater on March 5 at 5:45. The producers will be in attendance. This will be a good opportunity for us to get out the “votes” for watershed conservation.
Gravestones of Trees: Deforestation in Angwin
This haunting photo by Duane Cronk shows 13’ high piles of downed and chipped trees to make way for a vineyard!