Posts

Update 6/27/23

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NVR 6/30/23: Napa County approves pared-back Stagecoach Vineyard expansion
Notice of Tentative Decision
The Tweedledum Alternative (on the left) wins the battle.

An interesting article in the NY Times a few days ago: Something Was Messing With Earth’s Axis. The Answer Has to Do With Us.
The pumping of water resources has become as existentially significant to the planet as the pumping of fossil fuel resources.

Stagecoach North will suck up 45 acre feet of groundwater each year, a drop in the groundwater bucket which consultants confidently predict will be replaced by future rainfall. But the reality, shown in the NY Times article, is that, in aggregate, groundwater, just like oil, will never be replaced as long as humanity doesn't drastically change its ways. And the county, as is evident in vineyard approvals, seems reluctant to change its ways. (The project will also add 317 metric tons of CO2 to the atmosphere each year toward that other existential threat.)

Despite a significant amount of rainfall this winter, my pond, which used to retain some water through the year, is now dry at the beginning of June. At a micro level it shows that even enough precipitation to recreate Tulare Lake will do little to replenish the groundwater we've used up. No consultant predictions will ever be more convincing to me than the reality on (or in) the ground.

At least in the case of Stagecoach, the water is used for an industrial product that is efficiently distributed worldwide - unlike the many vanity vineyards being created as one-off come-ons for the tourism industry, itself an additional cause of climate change and water depletion.

Update 1/17/23

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The county has unveiled the FEIR for the project. Acting County Planning Director Donald Barrella has sent a notification that the County will be shortly certifying the FEIR, perhaps in mid Feb. Contact donald.barrella@countyof napa.org with questions or comments.

The FEIR proposes some mitigations to the DEIR in response to pushback from commenters and perhaps the changing political climate within which the County now operates. The principal change is the reduction in vineyard acreage by about 25 acres. Two alternatives are preresented to reduce the acreage: one reduces vineyard area by adding to the open space to be preserved on the property. The other reduces vineyard area by increasing stream setbacks.

Reducing the developed area might have a positive impact on the amount of GHGs the project would have produced under the DEIR and will add to the land put into conservation easements to insure wildlife migration and species survival. And yet... the project will still be adding about 870 metric tons of CO2 each year including initial deforestation and uprooting and yearly operations, continuing to exacerbate a climate catastrophe that is already occuring. Our governments are still not ready to make the decisions needed to change the apocalyptic climate trajectory if it means constricting capitalism, in this case a few more bottles of wine sold by the largest wine maker in the world.

The FEIR Documents may be here. (The county website is working on fewer and fewer browsers.)
Center for Biolgical Diversity Letter
Amber Manfree Letter

Update 7/2/21

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NVR 7/2/21: Napa County's vineyard growth debates continue beneath surface

Update 3/29/21

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County Documents including comments submitted on the DEIR have been collected here
Center for Biological Diversity DEIR CEQA rebuttal
Amber Manfree DEIR CEQA rebuttal
Bill Hocker letter of concern

Update 3/11/21

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Amber Manfree writes that a public notice of the Draft Environmental Impact (DEIR) for the Gallo Stagecoach North ECP/EIR has been posted requesting public comment, with comments due by Mon. Mar. 29, 2021 to Donald.Barrella@countyofnapa.org.

Again, questions or comments regarding the project may be addressed to County Planner Donald Barilla at Donald.Barrella@countyofnapa.org

Update 10/14/19

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The County has just sent a Notice of Preparation for the Stagecoach North vineyards EIR. The Erosion Control Plan has been available for some time.

Notice of Preparation of the Draft EIR for Stagecoach North Vineyard Conversion
The County's Stagecoach North documents

Note below the concern that this expansion will become the precedent for the vineyard development of all the ridges surrounding the watershed, in a watershed already burdened by the greatest level of watershed development in the county.

4/23/19

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Winebusiness.com 4/23/19: E&J Gallo to Expand Stagecoach Vineyard

Gallo has taken up an expansion of Stagecoach Vineyards first proposed by Jan Krupp but then abandoned when he sold the property. The expansion adds 116 more acres to their existing 600 acres on the Rector Reservoir watershed.

The County documents page is here.

It's interesting to compare the Gallo proposal to Bloodlines, both similar sized proposals. Other than a couple of blocks which may not be developed, the Bloodlines proposal infills a development pattern that has already been established on the Rector Plateau which stays away from the ridgelines. The Gallo proposal pushes all the way up to the ridge, breaking the de facto development boundary and establishing a precedent for development on the rest of the ridges.

The Rector watershed is already the most heavily developed by percentage in the county. The impact of siltation on the capacity of Rector Reservoir has already been raised, and continued development of the the ridgeline slopes will only continue the process as well as further constraining wildlife movement. And of course will add that much more traffic on the road.

The County, at the 4/23/19 BOS meeting, requested $330,000 to contract for an EIR on the project (paid for by Gallo). The EIR will probably take a year of so to be finalized.

Update 7/10/23

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Bloodlines property up for sale (again).
Zillow Listing

Zillow includes a transaction history. It appears that the property was sold by Mr. Phinney in May 2023 (after several attempts over the last 6 years.) His purchase price was $851,000 in 2014 and his sale price was $3,250,000 in 2023, 9 years later. Probably enough to cover the cost of the vineyard conversion approval but hardly a great return on the 9 year investment and the headache of the EIR process. The property is now being offered, a month and a half after the purchase, for $21 mil, an most optimistic expectation.

Update 8/1/22

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Amy Whiteford of Bloodlines Vineyards sends a note to indicate that work on three stream crossings will be started this week but that there are no immediate plans for development to begin after that. The effort to keep residents in touch with the progress of the project is appreciated.

Update 12/4/19

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Final approval of the Bloodlines EIR and ECP

Update 9/14/19

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Bloodlines vineyard conversion Final EIR The County's Bloodlines page is here. The FEIR is scheduled for certification on Sept 23, 2019.

Update 3/6/19

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My comment on the DEIR and Dave Phinney's (prescient) response

Other response letters are here including pushback from the Ca. Dept of Fish and Wildlife and the Center for Biological Diversity.

Winebusiness.com 3/6/2019: Dave Phinney Plans to Develop Vineyard East of Napa

Update 1/8/19

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The Bloodlines Vineyards Draft EIR is available for comment through Jan 30 2019 (previously Jan 16). Comments may be addressed to County Planner Brian Bordona at Brian.Bordona@countyofnapa.org

Update 11/19/18

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Dave Phinney has sent the letter below announcing that the EIR that has been in process for the last year for the development of the Bloodlines Wine properties on the Rector plateau will be ready for comments in late November.

The ECP is here (EIR coming soon hopefully)


Update 5/28/18

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NVR 5/28/18: Napa County's Measure C and D campaign in six figures

According to this NVR article, Dave Phinney has contributed $25,000 to the NO on C campaign, the largest amount after the NVV's $200,000.

Update 12/27/16

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Notice of Preparation of the EIR for 114 acre Erosion Control Plan on Rector plateau
County's Bloodlines page

Original post 8/31/16

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Several residents of Soda Canyon Road accepted an invitation for an August 26th, 2016 BBQ meet-and-greet over the pending Erosion Control Plan for 114 new acres of vines on 2 separated parcels on the Rector plateau. The ECP, processed initially under the company name of Orin Swift, will be vetted by a full blown Environmental Impact Report, with the draft version due in early 2017. The time line is here.

With little previous interest in the world of high end wines, and knowing nothing about Orin Swift, the meet-and-greet has begun an interesting exploration. The invitation was in the name of the Phinney family, with an RSVP to Amy Whiteford. The vineyards are being developed by the former owner of Orin Swift Wine Cellars, Dave Phinney. Amy Whitehouse, is his viticulturist in their new company, following a similar stint at the Stagecoach vineyards.

Although someone had mentioned something to me long ago about the buzzwortihyness of "The Prisoner" wine, which I understood after seeing the label, only now did I learn that Dave Phinney was the creator. And only after a bit of research after the BBQ have I begun to understand what a wine phenomenon this very youngish-looking man is. His story seems already, at least in my infinitesimal knowledge of the wine world, the stuff of legend.

As summarized in this Wine Searcher article, Dave Phinney since 1998 has now developed two wine brands and sold them for a total of $325 million dollars. These wines were made from contract grapes in custom crush wineries. no land or construction investment necessary. It is the application of the tech startup model of ammassing a fortune. And it shows, while the wines are no doubt good, that in the real world, the business of wine (as with everything else) is all about the value of branding. The name of their new company is "Bloodlines".

There should be a lesson here for all of those entrepreneurs claiming that they simply can't survive without tourists swarming their wineries. The Dave Phinney story shows that survival in the wine business, and in fact over-the-top success, can be achieved without the the threats that tourism urbanization poses to the long-term viability of an agricultural economy and a rural environment.

Dave Phinney has purchased a significant chunk of the Rector watershed, and whatever he does will have an additional impact on our lives. The proposals talked about at the BBQ - conservation easements, worker van pooling, urban tasting rooms, a winery in Vallejo, alternative marketing and branding techniques, a? desire to reach out to residents and to develop a charitable purpose to the business model - all point to an approach that is looking for success that is sustainable and beneficial with a minimal impact to the agricultural land and open space that is our home. The cloud in the narritave is that Mr. Phinney's considerable expertise and success seems to be in building up brand and then flipping it. What development limits is he willing to place not just on himself, but on the potential next owner of the property? We hope those limits will be known by the time the EIR is completed.

There is another small cloud as well: currently, 46 people have written letters to the planning commission opposing the Mountain Peak Winery project on the Rector plateau. 6 people have written letters of support. 5 of the supporters are people with a financial interest in increased development of the watershed, development of more tourism on the road, or direct contracting with Mountain Peak. Mr. Phinney is among them. Opposition to Mountain Peak is not about the responsible development of more vines here; the time to prevent the Rector watershed from being consumed by vineyards is long gone. The concern now is about the use of this remote residential-agricultural community as a tourist destination. Mr. Phinney's support of the Mountain Peak project does raise questions about where his interests will lie once his vineyards are in place.

Response letter, typos and misspellings included, sent regarding the Stagecoach North DEIR

4/29/19

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Another episode of siltation in the Rector Reservoir water system is reported in the Sun this week

This last year following the fire, a neighbor just uphill from us cleared off the area surrounding the creek that then goes through our property on its way to Rector Reservoir. Removing the dead trees and brush was the right thing to do but there were consequences.

This year, after one of the large storms, an area of our creek, with a three-foot-deep channel, silted up, sending silt overflowing into an adjacent meadow. I was happy to have the additional topsoil but not so happy to have to re-establish the flow-line of the channel. After another storm, the silt was completely gone from the channel, ending up, doubt at the bottom of Rector Reservoir.

It was a demonstration, albeit small, of the relationship between land clearing, heavy storms and the quality of Yountville's drinking water.

There is continuous replanting going on in the Rector watershed, often with deep ripping to remove Smart-car sized boulders that was not done in the old days. There are two major ECP's in process in the watershed totaling 200 acres of new vineyards. And there is still almost a thousand acres of land on which new vineyards are possible in this already most heavily developed of Napa's watersheds.

There is only so much that Best Management Practices, straw and retention basins can do to prevent siltation from newly cleared land in the event of major storms. The runoff from one replanting done two years ago is shown below.

In this era of global warming the types of storms we experienced this last year, and worse, are predicted to become more frequent. The modest proposals made by the Supervisors following Measure C concerns over the development of the watersheds will do very little to reduce the siltation that earthmoving operations in the watersheds are likely to produce. The best protection against siltation, and the best protection for the global warming future that has become all too apparent, is to leave natural vegetation and its soil undisturbed.

The amount land that can be developed into grapes in this small county is finite, and the quantity of wine that can be produced with Napa grapes is likewise limited. (Some might see the rarity as a valuable attribute.) The continued development of the watersheds for vineyards is an attempt to ignore the limits for just a few more years to squeeze a little more profit out of the land before the wine industry must really confront its limited resource. But, as the silting at Rector shows, it a gamble with the quality of drinking water of the people of the county as the wager.

Unfortunately, absent a more rigorous protection of Napa's watersheds, Yountville residents and the residents of the rest of the county that depend on watershed water should probably be looking at home water filtration systems.

Original post 3/22/17

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At the Yountville City Council on Mar 21st, 2017, the residents of Soda Canyon Road presented a white paper on the dangers of the potential pollution of Rector Creek and Rector Reservoir caused by the construction of the Mountain Peak project. The project envisions moving massive amounts of earth around on a constrained site bordering one blue line tributary to the reservoir and bisected by another.

The construction calls for 29,500 cubic yards of cave spoils, another 19,000 cy of other excavation, the removal of approx 7 acres of topsoil so that the excavated spoils can be distributed on the site and then the recovering of the spoils with the topsoil (calculations here). The excavated crushpad, through which all of the cave excavation must be moved, is within 100 ft of Rector tributary. A major fill area, comprising 2 acres of soil removal, placement of spoils and redistribution of topsoil, is just adjacent the tributary that bisects the site. A second area of fill surrounds a wetlands area of the site that also drains within a few hundred feet into the canyon.

The environmental concerns are obvious. Silting from vineyard development in the Rector watershed in the 1990's caused damage to the Rector Reservoir filtration system resulting in millions of dollars in repairs. The county should be requiring Environmental Impact Reports (EIR's) to assess similar impacts on this project and other land clearing projects now going on in the watershed. The Mountain Peak project, with only a negative declaration of environmental impacts, was approved by the Napa County Planning Commission on a 3-1 vote at the beginning of 2017 and an appeal of the decision to the Napa Board of Supervisors was later denied. The BOS decision will now be challenged in court. An EIR should be required.

Rector Watershed White Paper

Update 3/28/19

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The initial scare last year over a water shortage was probably related to this 2017 lawsuit brought by lawyer William McKinnon representing Water Audit California against the administrators of the Rector Reservoir for failing to provide enough water release to Rector Creek below the dam to maintain fish populations. It is one of numerous efforts Water Audit California has pursued with dam regulators, including Bell Canyon, Kimball, Milliken, and Hennessy to insure release enough water for fish habitat protected by California law.

The lawsuit contains some of the most extensive documentation and analysis of the conditions of the Rector water system.

NVR 11/25/16: Lawsuit demands monitoring, fish protection at Yountville-area reservoir

Update 2/26/18

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The subsequent article in the Yountville Sun notes that siltation has decreased the volume of Rector Reservoir from 4500 to 3100 acre feet in the last 70 years. Which means that in addition to the potential loss of spring water into the reservoir from groundwater pumping for vineyards, that siltation from the creation of those vineyards since the 1980's (1500 acres) is reducing the capacity of the reservoir and the water available for use. Which also means that it takes an ever diminishing amount of water to fill the reservoir each year, giving a false sense that agricultural development and a warming climate have not had an impact on water levels. The siltation shown in the photo in this post from last year is from a vineyard re-planting a bit up from the road crossing.

Again Rector Reservoir, given the high ratio of vineyard acerage to watershed area is proving to be an interesting indicator of the potential effects of ongoing vineyard development in the other watersheds of the county. This story just keeps getting more interesting.

2/21/18

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NVR 2/21/18: As Yountville reservoir falls, state studies supply -- and possible water purchases from Napa

An article in this week's Yountville Sun was pretty arresting: "Rector Dam water could Run out in Aug". I was both surprised, and, given concerns over climate change and the enormous amount of ground water being sucked out of the Rector watershed for vineyard development in the last 25 years, not surprised.

The prospect of Rector going dry, if indeed that is the case, will raise a couple of questions: What impact is vineyard development in the watersheds going to have on water availability, both surface and groundwater, as climate change happens. When it comes to apportioning water for residents, agriculture or tourism who gets preference?

Rector water level and watershed development

The Rector watershed is the most heavily cultivated of Napa's 5 watersheds with approximately 21% of its surface area in vines. The amount of ground water being pumped must be enormous. Does that pumping result in lower levels in the Rector Reservoir? Ground water and surface water are an integrated system, each impacting the other. The Rector Reservoir is over 1000' below the vineyards on the watershed and is undoubtedly augmented with the water of numerous springs from the sides of its steep canyon. While vineyard developer's consultants may try to make a case otherwise, the decreasing water table created by groundwater pumping undoubtedly contributes to a reduction in water reaching the reservoir. The water table is falling on the Rector plateau - I know that from changes in the water level of our spring-fed pond which no longer overflows into the canyon each winter and now dries up completely in the summer. Whether from less rainfall or from increased ground water pumping is impossible to say. Both have been happening since we moved there 25 years ago.

I have always felt that the Rector watershed, given the acerage of vines that cover it, should be a test case for all of Napa's watersheds, illustrating how continued development of the watershed for vineyard use will ultimately impact the water all Napans rely on. The fact that it is the first water supply experiencing the possibility of drying up, should be of concern to all.

Rector water level and tourism development

On the same page of the Yountville Sun, there is an article about a proposed rate hike for water and sewer services in the town. (The city of Yountville gets its water from Rector Reservoir, under contract from the State Dept of Veterans Affairs which owns it and the Veterans Home.) In the article and in LTE's in the same issue, there is a great deal of consternation among city residents that they should be asked to pay for the infrastructure costs of water and sewer systems when, as they rightly surmise, it is the continual increase in the tourism population that necessitates the upgrades. The resident population of Yountville has decreased slightly in the last 30 years from 3200 to 3000. By contrast, the hotel population, 460 rooms or so, has increased the daily population by 900 people, almost all since 1990. In addition, the day-tripper population has grown considerably as the valley has exploded into a good-life mass-tourism destination. The amount of water used and sewage generated has increased proportionately. In fact, high-end hotels and restaurants are high water users compared to residences. Residents are right to ask why they should pay. One frustrated resident recommended raising the TOT instead, stoking a huffy response from Visit Napa Valley's Clay Gregory, Napa's official tourism promoter, saying that the costs are fairly prorated based on water use. Which, of course, still means that residents are paying a portion of the costs necessary to accommodate the tourist population.

The problems of a drying Rector Reservoir highlight the tradeoffs that all Napans may eventually have to make between residents, growers, wine makers and tourists (as well as fish). In reading an article on the drying up of Cape Town's water one comment struck me: "Letting a well-heeled German tourist use some [water] to rinse beach sand off his bottom probably does more good for the economy than spraying it on a wheat field." At what point will the TOT be prioritized over the vines on the basis of the most profit for the available water? Perhaps not soon. But tourism is definitely a more profitable use of land than agriculture, and a water shortage will only accelerate the transfer from an agriculture to tourism economy. At some point, as I tried to bring out in my bit on Bali's water shortage, tourism and agriculture will be on a collision course over water as they are now over the county's economic soul.

Response letter sent regarding the Bloodlines Vineyards Draft EIR

The County has issued the Negative Declaration on the ECP for for the Hendrickson Vineyard, a 29 acre vineyard on a 47 acre parcel, of which, the ND indicates, 10 acres had already been cleared and planted "without the benefit of an approved Agricultural Erosion Control Plan".

Public comments may be submitted to Planner Don Barilla Donald.Barrella@countyofnapa.org through Mar 4, 2019, 5:00pm

Hendrickson Vineyards ND
County's Hendrickson page

NVR 4/7/18: Assemblywoman Aguilar-Curry: Going to bat for Napa County


It may be rusty pipes. Or possibly some of the 1400 acre feet of silt that has now filled up Rector reservoir most probably from the vineyard creation in the over-developed watershed in the hills above.

JancisRobinson.com 5/18/17: Gallo march back into Napa
WineSearcher 3/27/17: Napa Vineyard Sale's Knock-on Price Effect
SRPressDemocrat 3/23/17: Gallo buys Napa County vineyard
Winespectator 3/23/17: Gallo Buys Stagecoach Vineyard and its 600 Acres of Napa Valley Hillside Vines
NVR 3/23/17: Gallo buys Napa's Stagecoach Vineyard
Winespectator 6/9/16: E. & J. Gallo Purchases Wine Brand Orin Swift Cellars

Please note in the articles that Gallo is considering planting another 100 acres, the same acres, no doubt, that Dr. Krupp decided to back away from in the face of a $220,000 EIR, and the knowledge that someone else would be along shortly to deal with it.

[Letter from Amber Manfree, UC Research Biogeographer and Rector watershed resident to Nick Hickman, Yountville Water System Maintenance Staff]

From: Amber M
Date: Wed, Jul 27, 2016 at 3:55 PM
Subject: Rector Creek water quality
To: nhickman@yville.com
Cc: dmoore@yville.com

Hi Nick,

Thank you for taking my call on Monday regarding Rector Creek water quality. As I mentioned, I hiked a portion of the creek last Saturday and was dismayed to see more sediment than usual in both the mainstem and largest tributary to Rector Canyon.

Having been raised in the Foss Valley area, I have hiked the creek nearly every year for the past 20 years and am intimately familiar with conditions there. My first hike was in 1989, and my family has been making treks there since the 1950s.

I am attaching photos labeled with dates for comparison. The 2016 and 1998 photos show poor conditions while the other dates show what it looks like under better summer/fall conditions. Since vineyard conversion, there is always some fine sediment present. Before that, and in side channels with more intact watersheds, the water is crystal clear. My memories of the deeper pools from the early 1990s are of water like glass, where the bottom was clear, bright, and sediment-free at 12+ feet.

Compared to many systems, the sediment shown may not seem out of hand but it's the thickest coat of fine sediment I have ever seen in Rector, even exceeding the 1998 sediment load, which previously held the record in my observations (photos attached). Unlike 1998, sediment is heavy in two, not one, branches of the creek.

The Rector drainage now has about 1,500 acres of vineyard, essentially all converted from wildland over the past 25 years. As a resident, my observation is that the County does a poor job of ensuring compliance in this remote "out-of-sight, out-of-mind" valley, and the county planning department doesn't have a sense of the big picture, cumulative impacts that are happening.

I am writing primarily to alert you of this possible water quality concern related to sediment loads, of immediate interest to the City of Yountville. The status of much of Rector Canyon as a designated wildlife area is also a concern.

Based on my long-term observations, my sense is that the riparian system is at a tipping point - particularly because of the new and persistent presence of invasives, which indicate warmer and steadily lower-quality conditions. Invasive aquatic species including bullfrog, green sunfish, and largemouth bass have all made their first appearance in the Canyon proper in the past 6 years.

If the County keeps approving every proposal, the high quality habitat that still exists in Rector Creek will slip away. Rector Creek presently supports robust populations of rainbow trout and foothill yellow legged frog.

The most alarming proposal at this time is for a 100,000 gallon winery with 15,600+ tourists/year at "the mailboxes" on upper Soda Canyon. Most residents are concerned about noise and traffic that would be caused by the Mountain Peak project, but there will also be substantial impacts to Rector Creek if this project is approved. The winery would operate within 33,000 square feet of caves, and all of the material excavated will be placed just outside the required stream setback along two blueline creeks. The project managers literally bulldozed a road through one of the creekbeds already, so I am not eager to find out how they manage cave spoils.

Moreover, if this project goes through, it will set a precedent for the Rector watershed in terms of scale, scope, and marketing plan, and more of the same will likely follow.

The City of Napa recently weighed in on the Walt Ranch proposal in the Milliken drainage (attached PDF), and I hope the City of Yountville might consider doing the same for the Mountain Peak proposal.

Napa County's Mountain Peak project page is here.


I know this is a long email, so thank you for taking the time to consider this information.

As water managers, I strongly encourage you to see the entire length of the creek firsthand. If you ever would like to hike Rector Creek from the top down, please let me know; I am always happy to guide intrepid adventurers.

Amber

?

My concentration on this website has been on the impacts that continued urban development is having to all of us living in Napa County. I haven't spent a lot of time in public comments on the specific impacts that the Mountain Peak project next door, the fountainhead of all my angst over the future of the county, will have on our lives. But I will do so here because it is a modest example of the larger issue of water depletion in the watersheds that we first heard about on Woolls Ranch, and in many of the watershed projects coming before the county in the last 2 and a half years.

Upon our return from a 3 week hiatus on July 15, 2016 we discovered two new occurrences on our Napa property. 1. Another oak had fallen dead, the second this year in addition to one major limb lost. This brought to 6 the number of oaks within a 200' radius of our pond that have died in the last 10 years, with the one large valley oak adjacent the pond on its last legs (roots?). 2. The spring-fed pond had dried up completely for the first time in our 22 years here.

To be sure, for the last 10 years the surface of the pond at the end September has been getting lower and lower. But this year by mid-July it had dried up completely - hard dry. I have probably been less concerned than I should have in the diminishing water level over the 10 years. It has been a period of drought. I should have been especially concerned over the last 2 years knowing that a large winery was being planned next door. It was not until I was staring at the completely dry hole that I thought, this could be serious.

Our property is surrounded on 3 sides by a gorge. The fourth is our property line with the Mountain Peak project. Any water that makes its way to our spring and to the 100' deep well just adjacent to it has to pass under the Mountain Peak site. They are planning to add a second well on the property. How much more will they be pumping to accomodate a 100,000 gal winery, 80-100 visitors and 19-27 employees per day? The water availability analysis for the project indicates they will be using less than is currently used. No amount of number crunching will convince me of that.

The current irrigation on the Mountain Peak site is probably not a whole lot more than it was 20 years ago (although a portion of the site was replanted in narrow rows thus increasing water use). There are some low areas of the site that may have had drainage lines put in which may have diverted the water table that feeds the spring. Just as important, many more vines have been planted uphill from us in the last 20 years in addition to Mountain Peak. And, although last winter's rains should have done something to improve near surface springs, the drought is still with us. Whatever the cause, extracting more water from the area has to be considered a reasonably foreseeable contribution to an already ominous situation for our continued water availability.

Our pond and the dying trees may not rise to the level of a canary in the coal mine when it comes to changes in water availability in the eastern watershed. But it is a real example of a water source drying up. As such, in an era of global warming and continued exploitation of groundwater for ever more agricultural and urban development, it is an occurrence worth noting.

This screenshot of local urbanization from the The Disappearing West mapping project shows the Napa Valley from Napa to St. Helena. It is interesting to note the development of the Rector watershed due north of Napa city (the entire watershed is outlined) in comparison to the hillside areas in the rest of the watersheds on each side of the valley. The only other area of comparable vineyard development is the flatland of Wooden Valley in the lower right.

There are clear-cuttings going on all over the watersheds, of course, but they have yet to join up into the massive visible deforestation evident here on the Rector plateau. They will eventually, however, if county policies remain as they are and the plutocrats needing a winery of their own continue to arrive.

Update 6/10/16: the night sky is disappearing along with the West. 80% of Americans can no longer see the Milky Way. We on Soda Canyon are among the 20% whose sky has not become so polluted that the Milky Way is no longer visible, but probably not for long. Note in the article that Sedona, Ariz. has become an international dark sky area - it is possible to stop the pollution if communities and their governments have the will.

On Dec 16th 2015 County Planning Dir. Morrison asked the BOS for the money ($220,000) to hire a consultant to write an EIR for a proposed 116 acre vineyard conversion by Stagecoach Vineyards in the Rector watershed. The notice of the pending ECP has shed a light on the watershed, perhaps the most heavily developed in the county. There are 3 other pending ECPs amounting to 260 acres of development [Stagecoach was pulled so as of 8/16 we are down to 145 new acres proposed], the realization of which encouraged me to express concern to Dir. Morrison. I had long assumed that the Rector watershed had reached its development limit. I was wrong.

Opposition to the proposed vineyard development of the Walt Ranch, and the drought, has begun a discussion in the county about the value of watersheds and the woodlands that cover them in maintaining the water resource necessary for agriculture and for municipal water supplies. That discussion is documented on the SCR Walt Ranch page and on the posts on this page. Rector, given its compact size, sole source for the domestic water supply of the the Veterans Home and Yountville, and the extensive amount of development having taken place, may make it a case study in the future development of the other watersheds in the county.

Stagecoach Vineyards currently comprises about 650 acres of vineyards (much of the area north of Rector gorge in the photo at the top of this page). The project was begun with a mile and half access road built in 1996 and then the first clearing and vineyard in 1997. This late 90's phase of the Rector development was overlooked in the 2002 James Conaway book that documents the problems that hillside clearing was continuing to cause despite the conservation regulations enacted by the county in 1991. It is unfortunate - more vineyards were probably being developed on the Rector plateau at the time than anywhere else in the county. And perhaps causing significant erosion problems.

Gary Margadant has spent some time looking at the relationship of the first Stagecoach Vineyards ECP's in 1996 and 1997 (search on Stagecoach Vineyards here) and the recorded silting of Rector Dam in 1996 and 1998. The silting of the dam
was not noted as being related to the land clearance, but the coincidence of the events is worth noting. (In fairness, it should also be noted many other blocks of Stagecoach Vineyards have been subsequently cleared without reported silting.)

From my house near the end of Soda Canyon Road I have a clear view of the sides of Rector Canyon just below the Stagecoach vineyards, and I did notice 2 new runoff gullies at some point in the first years of our residence. They are still visible. We took up residence in 1995.

Update 6/13/16:
Jan Krupp has pulled his application for an additional 116 acre expansion of the Stagecoach Vineyards. This was probably not the best time given both the current political climate and the current real climate to push the boundaries of rector watershed development, and I think most of his neighbors applaud him for the decision. I was also informed that the Antica ECP is technically a replant of existing vineyards and will exclude it from the tally of additional vineyard conversion on the Rector plateau. We are currently at 142 acres to be converted in the next couple of years.

Documents
Stagecoach North EIR timeline (taken over by Gallo)
Orin Swift EIR timeline (DEIR due Apr 2017)
Yountville Sun 7/28/16: Turbidity discolors water
NVR 5/17/1998: Veterans water system a threat to public health.
SCR: Stagecoach Rocks
SCR: New Rector Watershed development

[Email to Yountville Mayor John Dunbar 11/25/15]

John,

Diane and I live within the Rector Watershed and we have also questioned the explosion of vineyard development in this area. I would like you to be aware that another problematic business exists which is located on the Stagecoach property, a stone and gravel business with rock crushing machines and which involves a continuous cadre of trucks ferrying the material up and down Soda Canyon road. I do not know if they quarry the stone or if the stone is residue from the excavation of vineyard clearing and/or if the are required to have a permit since the rock and gravel site is within the Rector watershed.

Is there a water use for the rock and gravel business? As with SYAR is an EIR required for a rock and gravel business, particularly within a sensitive watershed? Are there safeguards at the gravel and rock site for erosion and sediment that may enter the Rector reservoir? The landscape in the Rector plateau has already lost thousands of oak and other native species due to the expansion of vineyards. The rock and gravel business adds another factor that may impact the reservoir and the water supply for Yountville and the Veterans home.

Regards,

Alan Shepp

[Email sent to Planning Director David Morrison on 11/24/15]

Director Morrison,

I hate to bother you. Gary Margadant just sent over a list of ECP's which I see added another expansion of Stagecoach vineyards at the top of Soda Canyon Rd. (my own less accurate list is at the top of this page) Right now the list includes the following projects in that same Rector watershed:

Stagecoach 116 acres
Orin Swift 108 acres
Hendrickson 28 acres
Vongone 8 acres


That's 260 acres of new vineyard development. That means a lot more new wells. A lot more traffic on a long 1-lane gravel road and on the already problematic Soda Canyon Rd.

Below is a Google map image of the Rector watershed.

I had felt, looking at the google map, that perhaps vineyard development was reaching a limit on the Rector watershed (the Chopping property just north of Antica is the only large chunk left). If you scroll around on google maps you will see that It is more developed than any other mountain watershed in the county by a wide margin. But apparently development is still going to continue. Is there no concern on the county's part about the impact that such a massive amount of vineyard development in the last 20 years is having on the Rector watershed and on the water supply for Yountville and the Veterans Home? I assume that Rector Reservoir still fills up, but shouldn't someone be doing some studies to verify that it will continue to fill up even as more and more acres are developed? Given the EIR required for Walt Ranch's 500 acres and the EIR required for Circle S's 460 acres, it does seem odd that the Rector watershed has had perhaps a thousand acres added since 1996 (plus the 700 acres developed in the 1980's) and now is planning another 313 acres and that, to my knowledge, no EIR has ever been required. These developments encompass almost the entire Rector watershed. Am I out of line in asking about this?

Bill Hocker
bill@sodacanyonroad.org



The Google map of the area is here
Download link to Google Earth view of watershed

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Divid Morrison replies:

Mr. Hocker,

Of course you are not out of line for raising these concerns. These are serious issues and you are relying on observable information.

You are correct about the overall pattern of development. Staff has also noticed that the Rector Reservoir watershed has seen the greatest amount of interest in vineyard development over the past 10-15 years. We generally analyze projects with the GIS database and hadn’t looked at an aerial photo comparison. Thank you for passing that along, it was very informative.

A couple of notes for clarification. The acreages listed are gross acres, not net acres. They include farm roads, staging areas, and other ancillary uses to the vineyard. The number of proposed planted acres is less than 285 acres.

Havenner has already been approved.

Please note that further development is proposed to continue. The outcomes of these applications remain to be seen. Not all applications are approved. While the County does not have the ability to legally prohibit people from pursuing what the zoning and General Plan permits, it also cannot guarantee a successful outcome for the applicant.

EIRs were required for both the Circle S and the original Stagecoach applications. EIRs are currently being prepared for the new Stagecoach application and the Orin Swift proposal. An EIR is also being prepared for Walt Ranch. We are reviewing the appropriate level of CEQA review for Hendrickson.

The General Plan anticipated that 12,500 acres of new vineyards would be planted between 2005 and 2030. At this point in time, based on a straight-line projection, the County should have approved 5,000 acres. To date, the County has approved 3,587 new acres of vineyards. This isn’t offered to justify the approval of any pending applications, only to note that overall vineyard development across the County is running less than expected. Currently, the County has about 1,000 acres of proposed vineyard pending. What activity that is occurring, however, is somewhat concentrated in the Rector watershed.

Impacts to both surface water and ground water supplies are required to be evaluated in any EIR, as are cumulative impacts. The County is very aware of the broader implications of vineyards expanding within the hillside areas and are thoroughly looking at each proposal for its potential impacts.

I would be glad to speak with you further about this and other concerns. If you have any questions or have information to share with us that sheds light on potential issues, please feel free to share them with us.

Thank you for bringing this to my attention.

David

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John Dunbar replies:

Bill, thanks for copying me on this email. I have forwarded to Town Manager for further discussion.
I also plan to contact Supervisors as they consider the APAC recommendations on Dec. 8.
As Rector is Yountville's primary water source, I appreciate the information.

Cheers! John Dunbar

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Bill Hocker replies:

Dir. Morrison,

Rector Watershed

My sincere thanks for the reply (and for yours, Mr Dunbar). My concern in the issues that have come up in the last 2 years, triggered by MPV next door, have more to do with the impacts of tourism and urban development than in vineyard conversion and water availability. We have watched from our perch up on Soda Canyon Road in the last 20 years most of the conversion that has happened north and west of Antica. I have been less concerned because, as many pro-growth editorials in the NVR now hammer, it's agriculture or houses. (I'm afraid I have a slightly different definition of agriculture than they have - or the county has.) Also much of the land developed on the Rector plateau was scrub land. Further development is a concern because it is now pushing into the woodlands higher on the ridges, and in the battle over woodlands vs vineyards I think its time to start protecting woodlands. (The recent flattop haircut given to the knoll just south of Clos de Val is an utter travesty on the landscape.)

While others will probably take on the water threats to Rector reservoir, my concern with further conversion is in the additional traffic that it will generate on the road. The residents of SCR are now in continuous battle mode with the new and potential wineries on the road and a key issue is traffic (as it is everywhere in the county). So far the largest traffic impact on the road has been from the vineyard development and we are now up to a 30-50 car caravan filled with vineyard workers each afternoon, and the occasional heavy equipment and trucks. (Most of us aren't up when the crews arrive in the morning). If the 200+ acres are added it will mean just that many more opportunities for an accident and a somewhat longer line up at the Trail trying to make that hair-raising LOS F left turn.

If these conversions are going to be allowed, is it time to begin explorating the feasibility and practicality of shuttles as a way to move workers to the vineyards. Do such shuttles already exist in the valley? Have they ever been considered as a potential to reduce traffic county wide? In the case of SCR I'm not sure whether 50 cars are any safer than 5 large buses but perhaps the idea needs to be broached. One of many fanciful solutions (briefly mentioned on the SCR website solutions page here) are airport parking structures with shuttles for workers and tourists throughout the county.

The Trail at Soda Canyon

In a recent email to Mr. McDowell (I will send you a copy) I raised another issue about development concentration at the other end of Soda Canyon Road. My screed on it is here. It was triggered by the upcoming Reynolds winery request and I began to envision what the approved and pending winery use permits might mean for that chunk of the Trail. As you mentioned, looking at the cumulative impacts in a graphic form presents a perspective that is often lost in the scrutiny of individual projects even if cumulative impacts are discussed in reports. Cumulative impacts in reports, of course, never seem to consider what might occur if all adjacent properties are allowed to develop in a manner similar to the application.

The area of the Trail at the bottom of SCR is beginning to approach buildout and I would argue that the winery strip mall, already a feature of certain stretches of Hwy 29 is now a possibility on the Trail as well. It is evident that it may be more logical to have 3 lanes along this entire stretch rather than a series of left turn bumps. Either scenario, while perhaps somewhat safer, is a clear sign that the fate of the Trail, given continued winery development, will ultimately be no different than Hwy 29. And that is a tragedy. As I mentioned in the screed, cruising the Trail is the time and place where the iconic, even mythic, character of the Napa Valley becomes visible for most residents and visitors alike. Is it not time to consider the views from the Trail as a scenic resource more important to the future of the county than the tourist dollars generated by the wineries and signs and "art" that will obscure the view? It needs much more protection than the General Plan, setback and viewshed ordinances currently give it.

Forgive me for rambling on here. As you said, I feel these to be serious issues and they are becoming more and more observable.

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Divid Morrison replies

Mr. Hocker,

No apologies necessary. I can see how my comments may have been interpreted in that manner.

For the record, I agree that the issue of when public art becomes a part of commercial branding is a valid concern. However, I am also familiar with the challenges involved in regulating First Amendment speech. The Supreme Court has ruled on this kind of issue numerous times, clearly stating that regulating the content of speech may be allowed only when narrowly tailored to serve a compelling state interest. That sets a very high bar for government when it seeks to limit what people can say and how they say it. While I understand the sentiments and concerns regarding the use of iconic art in a commercial setting, I can’t in good faith recommend to the Commission or the Board of Supervisors a course of action that would not stand in court and would result in public tax dollars paying attorney’s costs for the ACLU or other prevailing parties.

Certainly a more equitable approach would be, as you suggest, to prohibit all structures within 600 feet of certain roads (possibly with exceptions for gates, fences, water wells, etc.). Then private art would not be singled out for discrimination. And you would have to take into consideration structures that are already within the setback. Would additions be allowed? My guess is that expanding the restriction, both to include a greater range of buildings and to include more roadways, would create a great deal of concern from affected landowners.

Another approach, as staff has suggested to the Commission, would be to adopt design standards. While standards could not regulate content, they could provide a vehicle for the community to agree on what the rural landscape should generally look like.

The policies regarding scenic highways are found in the Community Character Element, not the Circulation Element. You may want to talk with the Board of Supervisors to see if there would be any support in providing staff with that direction.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I hope you find this information useful.