Mar 25th 2015 deadline for comments on Calistoga Hills
on the web at: https://sodacanyonroad.org/forum.php?p=695
Charlotte Williams | Mar 13, 2015

On behalf of Citizens for Green Community in Calistoga I'm asking you to forward to your contacts this message:

Any resident of California can comment on THP 1 - 13 - 126 NAP.

Please email CalFire (California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection) at
SantaRosaPublicComment@fire.ca.gov
reference THP 1 - 13- 126 NAP
Calistoga Hills Resort (map)

To view the complete file on this project go to: this ftp file (you may have to register as guest)
Open the "Public Comment" folder to view the comments of concerned citizens.
(A sample comment letter is here)

The most pressing issues are water, wastewater pollution of the Napa River, cutting of 8000 trees, air quality/carbon sequestration, traffic impacting the whole Napa Valley via Hwys 29 and 128 as well as Petrified Forest Rd to Sonoma County, destruction of wildlife habit and corridors, loss of viewshed.

This Timber Harvest Plan will allow developers (most recently a Chinese corporation) to build a 110+ room resort with ballroom, two restaurants, 35 - 7000sqft homes, shops, a spa, pools, etc. on approximately 20 acres of land at the top of a ridge within the city limits of Calistoga.
8000 trees are scheduled for cutting.
The total property is 88 acres, approximately 66 of those acres are greater than 35% slope.
The base of the slope is at Highway 29, about 200 yds from the Napa River.
The immediate watersheds are Diamond Creek and Kortum Canyon.
The water source is the City of Calistoga which buys most of its water from the City of Napa via the North Bay Aqueduct -- a pipe that runs up the Napa Valley from the Sacramento River Delta.
The city's wastewater treatment plan is overburdened and inadequate, currently leaching into the Napa River through its unlined holding ponds.
The spas already in Calistoga are under court order - now 12 years old - to meter their effluent. They have never installed these meters and the city has never enforced the court order.

The spas use city water as well as geothermal from wells. This water contains high levels of boron (making it unusable for grape agriculture), arsenic, mercury, antimony, copper.

Contact Charlotte Williams if you need further information at cdevorak@sonic.net

In the photo below the highest ridge is Diamond Mtn. The closer ridge is the Calistoga Hills Resort property. More Info is here



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Christina Aranguren of California FIsheries and Water Unlimited adds:

Your assistance is greatly needed. To date, there have been nearly 70 public comment submissions questioning and/or opposing Timber Harvest Plan 1-13-126 NAP for Calistoga Hills Resort, but more are always welcome which address serious environmental concerns.

The San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board, which is one of several agencies involved the multi-agency review team headed up by Cal Fire to approve this misguided project, has come out in opposition of the THP as planned because of adverse impacts to the Napa River watershed. A last report is due in from them at any time; with hope they will stay tough and remain squarely in defense of the watershed. There have been the only agency to do so.

For more history on the project, suggest consulting the CF&WU's comments of June 23, 2014; although they're no longer completely up-to-date, they were composed purposely in a narrative form so that folks connect the dots.


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