In branding terms for the city of Napa and the Napa Valley a large, the St. Regis project is a dream come true. Well, almost.
Designed to nestle unobtrusively into 93 acres of vineyard-covered hills on the Stanly Ranch at the southern gateway to the city of Napa, the St. Regis Napa Valley, part of the world-renowned resort chain, would not only bring in an expected $60 million in revenue over the next 10 years but would set the tone for luxury tourism in Napa County. “It’s great for the county of Napa and the wine industry,” says Napa Mayor Jill Techel. “The brand will bring in visitors, who’ll enjoy the wineries in our valley and purchase from them.” Other Napa businesses will enjoy their patronage as well, she says. “We have some amazing restaurants and entertainment venues coming into downtown Napa, and the visitors who stay at the St. Regis will be a good fit.”
The “good fit” is a key concept. Over the years, in discussions of how to encourage tourism and growth while maintaining the agricultural character of Napa County, the answer has been to attract high-end tourism, which generates the greatest amount of revenue with the least amount of impact on the community. These visitors will be drawn to the beauty of the land and the famed wines and restaurants and will pay handsomely to stay and enjoy, as the Napa Valley Destination Council’s promotional video says, “the art of living well.”
Attracting the right visitors (and the businesses that cater to them) was the aim of Napa Valley’s recent branding campaign. But the equation had to strike a balance between land use that generated sufficient revenue while assuring sustainability of the agricultural nature of the area over time. “What we ended up with,” says Techel, “is ‘Legendary Napa Valley’ as the over arching theme.” The theme serves as a policy guide when evaluating projects. “We have a lot of historic buildings and, as we look forward to new projects, we want to be sure, as they’re viewed from the past, that they’ll fit into that ‘Legendary’ concept.”
The St. Regis Resort chain, 37 in all, spans the globe’s quintessentially legendary spots, including Cairo, Beijing, Shanghai, Bora Bora, Buenos Aires, Bangkok, Rome, London, Abu Dhabi and 11 in the United States and Puerto Rico—you get the idea—so the St. Regis Napa Valley would be, on the face of it, “legendary” personified. “It’s the single location that lets the city of Napa consider a project like this,” says Beth Painter, planning consultant for the project’s developer, SR Napa LLC. She says the area has appeal because it’s in the Carneros winegrowing area; it’s located within the city of Napa (and therefore not subject to the county’s agricultural preserve restrictions); and it’s accessible to the Bay Area.
Developer Jeff Selby of SR Napa LLC agrees. “It’s really a marvelous and unique piece of ground that has a topography that lends itself to this particular use very well.”
A dangerous precedent?
It’s important for the St. Regis development to maintain the integrity of the landscape that drew the developer to it in the first place. Painter points out that the owners of the Stanly Ranch are vineyard owners, and of the 93-acre parcel (which, Selby points out, is a small part of the 700-acre ranch), the development plan will leave 50 acres in vineyards and open space. The plan also includes public access to a trail that will be part of the Bay Trail Network. (See “Walk the Walk,” July 2010.) Painter thinks it will be a real attraction for locals and visitors alike. “It lets bicyclists cross Highway 121 and ride their bikes through the Stanly Ranch to connect to Cuttings Warf Road, which has already received some grant money as part of the Bay Trail,” she says. “That, to me, is a very important community benefit.” In terms of this added value to the community, she adds, this kind of public access wouldn’t be possible should the property stay as it is. “I look at public-private partnership as a very important contribution that a project can make to a community.”
“It’s going to be a stunningly special resort,” says Selby, “and yet, it’s part of the city of Napa!”
“It’s a win-win,” agrees Techel.
While the Napa City Council approved the project unanimously in April, Eve Kahn, chair of Get a Grip on Growth, expressed concern that, while this project seemed well thought out, environmentally responsible and of obvious value to the local hospitality industry, there are no stated restrictions to prevent further commercial or residential development within the Stanly Ranch area. “I said to the council, ‘I understand you’re looking eager to get additional TOT [transit and occupancy tax, which provides additional nonproperty tax revenue to local governments] and high-end tourism, but what happens next? Is this now opening the door for a high-end boutique and other shops to service the residential component of the St. Regis?’ Suddenly, that agricultural land and low intensity uses are lost forever.”
Kahn says Painter assured her the St. Regis company doesn’t want to see development mushrooming up around it, as that would destroy the very beauty and tranquility people would be coming to enjoy. She doesn’t oppose the project, she says, but she wants the council to codify its desires to keep the surrounding lands in agricultural use—to create specific guidelines for future councils. That way, all general plan amendments and future land use changes will have to undergo a more involved approval process. “All governed bodies tend to have short institutional memories,” she says. “I want them to formalize their intentions regarding future uses. Put it in the General Plan so future councils understand your reasoning and intent. That’s really what I want to see happen.”
Maintaining a sustainable standard
One unarguable standard the project will offer is that it will be environmentally sustainable. “We volunteered to be Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design (LEED) certified even before the city imposed its ordinance that now requires LEED certification for all commercial projects,” says Painter. In addition, pipelines running under the Napa River will carry wastewater from the development to the Napa Sanitation District and will bring recycled water to the resort from the Napa Sanitation District Soscol Water Recycling Facility. “This brings tremendous benefits to the area,” says Selby, “We’ll be using recycled water instead of city water for the irrigation of vineyards. It’s huge.”
The scope of the project is varied, but not totally self-contained. The St. Regis Napa will have a 150-room hotel as well as 25 “fractionally owned” and 70 “whole ownership” units. Selby explains “fractionally owned” means there can be up to 10 distinct owners of a unit and calls it an “ownership opportunity.” In addition, there will be a relatively small, 25,000-case winery onsite, which will be open to the public, one restaurant within the hotel building and probably one additional “signature” restaurant open to the public. When it comes to local entertainment (including shopping and visiting Napa Valley wineries and restaurants), she says, guests will need to arrange those activities for themselves. “Our project has limited retail uses and entertainment,” she says, “so we’ll have a strong connection to the dining, entertainment and visitor destinations in the downtown area.”
Techel imagines one unique way of connecting with that outside environment might be river taxis to shuttle back and forth between the St. Regis and the docks. What docks? She admits the docks aren’t there yet—but then, neither is the St. Regis. “When it’s all built, it’ll be a nice way for people to get into town without going onto the road and to be able to have a glass of wine without worrying about getting back into a car.”
In summary, the project, as described, will be environmentally sound, an asset to city businesses and a huge revenue generator. Perhaps most important, the St. Regis brand will set the desired tone for the gateway into the city of Napa.
So what’s not to like?
Judging by the Napa City Council’s unanimously favorable vote in April of this year, nothing. But according to Santa Rosa attorney David Grabill, the city of Napa has neglected an important factor in the magic equation: affordable housing.
Over the years, Grabill’s lawsuits against cities and counties in the interests of affordable housing have included Healdsburg (1991), Sonoma County (1998), Rohnert Park (2001), Santa Rosa (2002), Napa County (2004), Humboldt County (2006) and Mendocino County (2009). He says there seems to be a “hostile environment” toward affordable housing in Napa County. “The county officials, the city officials and a lot of people, including a lot of environmentalists, want to keep their county nice and green, which is great, but they’re also OK with forcing thousands of people who work in the county to live somewhere else. That’s just not acceptable,” he says. “It’s bad public policy, bad for the environment and bad for the economy of Napa County.”
He says the St. Regis project will create 500 new, low-wage service jobs, without sufficient planning for mitigating the housing impacts of those new jobs: “That’s what our lawsuit’s about.”
Asked for a definition of affordable housing, Grabill gave the following: Affordable housing, as defined by state law, generally means housing that is “affordable” to low- or moderate-income households. Median income in Napa County is $82,000 for a family of four. “Low-income” means annual income at or less than 120 percent of that, or $65,000 annually. “Moderate income” in the county is 120 percent of the median income, which is almost $100,000. However it works out on paper, he says, “You have to have affordable housing: Where it goes and what its characteristics are is something everybody can debate. But you can’t say ‘no’ to housing for people who work here.”
Saving open space is a concept he sees as obliged to balance against the needs of housing. If the public doesn’t want to lose the green space, he says, perhaps they shouldn’t approve so many businesses. “I’m a strong environmentalist, and I appreciate the need to resist sprawl,” he says, “but affordable housing—and maintaining a balance of jobs and housing—should be a high economic priority. Right now, that’s not happening in Napa.” He adds that the Napa Pipe area in the southern part of the county would be ideal for some affordable workforce housing, but “the city is fighting that project tooth and nail.” (See “Pipe Dreams,” Dec. 2008.)
Napa city and county officials disagree. Brad Wagenknecht, Napa County first district supervisor, points out that plans are already being made in the area south of the city for affordable housing. “The city and county have agreed that 20 acres in Napa Pipe land will be rezoned by July 2011,” he says, “and a percentage of that development will be affordable housing.”
As for the specific housing needs of the coming St. Regis workforce, Painter says the estimate of 500 employees was used for environmental review purposes and the actual initial employee count would be closer to 380 (with a maximum of 500). She says the location, being isolated away from stores or transportation, would be inappropriate for affordable housing onsite, unlike the Bardessono, in the center of Yountville, which has a portion of its property set aside for that use. (See “Hometown Luxury,” March 2009.)
Painter says the project has more than complied with the city’s requirements. “The standard process for the city of Napa for a project of this sort is to charge an inclusionary housing fee based on square footage and type of use, and the money that’s collected goes to the city of Napa Housing Trust Fund. Our project is providing more than double what the existing affordable housing fee would have been for the project based on the city’s current fee structure. That’s a condition of approval for the project.”
Napa Housing Manager Jan Mauer Watkins agrees. “The city views the St. Regis project as positively contributing to its efforts to ensure affordable housing needs are met.
“The St. Regis has a proven track record of equitable treatment of its employees, and the developer and operator for this project have committed to providing reasonable wages and benefits to its employees,” she continues. “To the extent that portions of the employees will be low income workers, the developer has committed to pay an affordable housing impact fee of $1.4 million—twice the amount required under the city’s affordable housing ordinance. In addition to the affordable housing impact fee, the project will increase the city’s tax base, which will result in additional revenue to enhance the city’s existing programs that provide support to resident low income workers.”
Mauer Watkins then says the city has completed a notice of funding availability (NOFA) for funding from both the city and county to move forward with some affordable housing.
“I think Mr. Grabill wants to see that workforce housing continues to get built,” says Techel, “and I think, in this case, he wants to be sure the developer has participated accordingly.”
Grabill admits there have been some discussions and says, “We’d prefer to work this out among the parties involved rather than have a court have to tell everybody what can or can’t get built. So we’re talking.”
Once the lawsuit is resolved, according to Painter, the developer plans to complete design review and construction documents and the project could begin “if we’re full steam ahead” within a minimum of 18 to 24 months.
Which is plenty of time to build the docks.
NOTE: At press time, NorthBay biz received word of a tentative settlement between Latinos Unidos Del Valle de Napa y Solano (LUNA), represented by David Grabill, and the City of Napa and SR Napa LLC (developer of the St. Regis project). The settlement, which was approved by the Court on November 3, requires the developer to pay approximately $3 million into the city’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund in addition to the $1.4 million contribution required under the terms of the project approval voted on by the city last April. The $3 million will be reduced dependent on how many affordable housing units are entitled in the city of Napa by June 2014.
