Genji Schmeder
Napa Group Conservation Chair

For the November election, the Sierra Club endorsed opposition to two Napa County ballot measures. We are pleased with the failure of Measure T, the Oakville dining ordinance. This was the second attempt to change county law to allow a large tourist serving restaurant in the middle of the agricultural preserve. The property owner mounted an expensive campaign with several mailers, a full-page ad in the local daily newspaper, public events with free food, and the services of our county's best known pro-development legal firm. But the voters defended the community vision which directs urban development to urban zones. We hope this second defeat will discourage similar spot-zoning attacks on the agricultural preserve.

Measure W, the advisory vote on widening Jamieson Canyon Road to four lanes, won by a large margin. In spring when the Board of Supervisors refused to place a transportation tax on the ballot, we thought our dialog with the highway expansionists was about to shift from conflict toward community discussion. But they preferred to continue fighting instead of beginning to build consensus. This large vote supporting their favorite project for enabling more car traffic into Napa County may make them less interested in hearing about modern ideas for long term transportation solutions. Experience with advisory votes elsewhere has shown them to be poor predictors of success when voters are asked to increase their taxes for the same project they overwhelmingly supported with no price-tag attached.

success. We have given strong support to the application by the Napa County Transportation Planning Agency (NCTPA) for a quarter-million dollar grant for a community-based process to update its strategic plan. We expect to participate, and hope it will be a forum for education in modern transportation concepts and an opportunity to create consensus.

Finally, another transportation tax measure is being composed by NCTPA. This would last for 15 years and direct revenues to street and road maintenance plus several highway expansion projects for south county (including Jamieson Canyon widening). It may be on the November 2005 or June 2006 ballot. Our position on it will depend partly on reform of transportation policy in the strategic update.

The county general plan will be updated over the course of several years. Basic rules for protecting watershed, wildlife and agriculture, and for handling transportation, urban development, wineries, tourism and open space recreation will be rewritten. We call on our members to join this demanding, long term but crucial process to help guide Napa County's future.