Napa County rules against Le Colline vineyard
Barry Eberling 08.15.23
A controversial proposal to create the Le Colline vineyard in the mountains near Angwin failed to gain the Napa County Board of Supervisors' support.
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On a 3-2 vote, the board on Tuesday indicated it will uphold an appeal of a prior county approval for the project's erosion control plan and deny the project. The final vote is to be in November.
Supervisors Anne Cottrell, Joelle Gallagher and Belia Ramos voted to uphold the appeal by the Center for Biological Diversity. Supervisors Ryan Gregory and Alfredo Pedroza dissented.
This was the first controversial land use issue to come before the new-look Board of Supervisors. Cottrell and Gallagher joined the board in January, though both are veterans of local, rural growth disputes from their years on the county Planning Commission.
Whether the vote against Le Colline marks a change in how the Board of Supervisors views the balance between agriculture and the environment remains to be seen. Some of the environmentalists watching in the board chamber had been on the losing end of several previous high-profile cases.
"Today is not a referendum on agriculture in Napa County," Gallagher said.
Rather, the issue as explained by the board majority was location, location, location — these supervisors thought the 90-acre Le Colline site was the wrong place for a 20-acre vineyard.
The site is near the headwaters for Conn Creek, which feeds the Lake Hennessey reservoir used by the city of Napa. It abuts the Linda Falls nature preserve owned by the Land Trust of Napa County.
Cottrell and Gallagher cited a number of county conservation regulations as the underpinning of their votes.
Pedroza and Gregory saw things differently. They agreed with Le Colline's proponents that the project, in the making for almost a decade, meets county standards.
"If there's an interest in changing the rules, we should change the rules," Pedroza said. "But we can't do it project by project. ... This project has followed the rules."
Gregory said he didn't see Le Colline as a matter of either agriculture or the environment. "I do believe both can exist together, if it is done right," he said.
Board of Supervisors Chair Belia Ramos was the last to reveal her position and tipped the outcome in favor of the appellants. The county has rules and regulations, but not every parcel is suitable for a stated, allowable use, she said.
In particular, she mentioned how the project might affect Lake Hennessey, a "sensitive, domestic water supply." She mentioned the barrage of atmospheric river storms that hit the Angwin area this past winter.
Dave and Kathleen DiCesaris want to create the vineyard on their property near Angwin in the mountains northeast of St. Helena. They secured an erosion control plan from Planning, Building and Environmental Services earlier this year.
But the Center for Biological Diversity appealed that approval. Opponents said clearing forests, woodlands and shrubs for a vineyard could hurt the environment near Conn Creek and the Linda Falls preserve. They said the environmental impact report was inadequate to show otherwise.
Attorney Frances Tinney made the case for the Center for Biological Diversity on why the erosion control plan approved by the county planning department should be overturned.
Tinney pointed to Le Colline's presence next to Conn Creek – which runs into the city of Napa's main local water source – and near the biodiversity of the Linda Falls preserve.
"Land like this is part of Napa County's birthright," she said.
The environmental impact report said the Le Colline vineyard project will protect water quality and reduce wildfire risk better than the healthy ecosystem that's already there. But science shows otherwise, Tinney said.
Attorney Thomas Adams made the case for Dave and Kathleen DiCesaris as to why the county-approved erosion control plan should stand.
Le Colline's owners are doing such things as working with the city of Napa on monitoring water quality in Conn Creek. The project would preserve 70% of the site's forest land and 50% of its shrubland, and the work is supported by science, Adams said.
"We are doing everything we can to protect the resources on the property," he said.
Opponents have lost perspective, Adams added. Without a viable agricultural future, opponents are putting at risk everything that has been accomplished over the last 50 years, he said.
"Agriculture in Napa County has provided the lifestyle and open space we enjoy today," said Adams.
Supervisors got plenty of advice from the public. More than 30 people addressed them in the chamber or by phone during the public comment period, most opposing the Le Colline project. Many wore blue shirts that said "Protect Angwin" and had a picture of Linda Falls.
"You should not allow the destruction of our watershed for any reason," Dan Mufson told supervisors.
Another told supervisors that the forests and animals are irreplaceable.
The Napa County Farm Bureau issued a statement in the wake of the decision. President Peter Nissen decried what the group sees as a trend: emotional appeals by a vocal minority against agricultural projects, appeals he said are lacking in scientific evidence.
"We are highly disappointed with the outcome of the Board of Supervisors' decision," which sets "a very dangerous precedent for the future of agriculture in Napa County," Nissen wrote.
Shortly after the meeting ended, an altercation occurred between two people in the board chamber, but “neither party requested any further assistance from law enforcement,” according to county spokesperson Janet Upton.
Witnesses later said the brief scuffle was between Dave DiCesaris and Mike Hackett, who has publicly opposed the project. Reached Tuesday evening, Hackett said that unless further actions were taken against him "this incident is in my rear-view mirror."
On Wednesday afternoon, DiCesaris stated that after he and his wife were walking out of the chamber, Hackett "made a defamatory remark" towards the two of them. In response, DiCesaris said he got "very close" to Hackett and the two men exchanged words. Nothing else happened, he said.
Napa Valley Register executive editor Dan Evans contributed to this report.
Editor's note: This version clarifies the nature of the incident between Dave DiCesaris and Mike Hackett.