Sustainable Napa County found success by seeking community collaboration and consensus.
“Sustainable Napa County” is the name of an organization, but it also describes a mindset that’s been gaining traction since mid 1990s. At that time, facing environmental crisis in the form of recurrent and unpredictable flooding, local government, business, community leaders and environmentalists proved that, by working together, even a costly, flood-prone river could be managed in a way that created a sustainable asset. The success of the Napa River Flood Project has since become a model for how to move past divergent views and work together for the common good. While the organization did not directly spring from the flood control efforts, Sustainable Napa County (SNC) has become one of the many successful examples of this model at work in Napa County.
The idea for SNC was born the summer of 2006, when Henry Gundling, vice president of the Gasser Foundation, was out on a glorious hike in the Sierra. He was observing the fragile beauty of the landscape and reflecting on the seemingly overwhelming environmental problem we face as result of our use of resources. Feeling discouraged, he asked himself how he—or anyone—could help. “About halfway through the hike, a light bulb went on in my head,” he says. “I thought, ‘I wonder if I could convince the other Gasser board members to launch an initiative about sustainability in Napa County.’”
He came home, met with each board member individually and presented his idea. “Every single one agreed we should launch a sustainability initiative,” he says. “But also, they agreed that if we were going to do it, we should ‘walk the walk.’”
Their journey began in 2007. The first thing they did was convert the entire building that houses the foundation to solar. They then began working with local government, businesses, nonprofits and community groups, offering education, advocacy, expertise and financial support (to nonprofits) so they could save money through energy and water conservation—money the nonprofits could put back into programming.
“We decided that, for our community, we should focus on the most obvious economic benefit of helping the environment,” says Gundling, “which is the cost savings.”
To do this, SNC would approach a group with the compelling question: “If we can save you money while helping the environment, are you interested?” The beauty of this approach is that it circumvented any political arguments involving climate change or environmentalism by demonstrating the economic benefits of conservation.
Finding what works
SNC functions primarily as a networker, facilitator and creator of collaboration. The work is circular in nature, so the Gasser Foundation, through Sustainable Napa County, could, for example, help a nonprofit conserve water and electricity and, thus, help it save money while helping the environment. “They’re really helpful to other businesses and organizations in the community,” says Joelle Gallagher, executive director of Napa family services agency Cope Family Center, which partnered with SNC in 2009, “and if other businesses have the opportunity to work with them, they’ll learn a lot, reduce their costs and learn to change their behaviors. In turn, those agencies can help their customers and clients learn to be good stewards of the environment as well.”
The idea is that the money saved then goes back into the nonprofit’s work; and the water and energy saved help maintain the reserves for all. Organizations working in this way can feel good that they’re helping create a sustainable Napa County, and that they’re also helping themselves as they do it. “It’s the gift that keeps on giving,” says Gundling.
Jeri Gill, CEO of SNC, gives an example of how this works. “The first issue we worked on as an organization was the Napa High Performance Building Ordinance in 2008,” she says. “We were a young organization and had just started working with local elected and appointed officials and staff, planning and building departments and other interested community groups. The building and development communities started asking things like, ‘What does this mean?’ ‘How is it going to work?’ and saying, ‘I don’t understand how it works with the state code.’ Those groups felt a growing sense of concern, and the hearing for the Building Ordinance was coming up before the city council fast.”
SNC and the supporters of the Building Ordinance decided it was more important to do things right than to do them fast. They decided they needed to take the time to talk to the people who had concerns about how the new ordinance would affect their way of doing business as a builder or developer. “So we decided to push the pause button. There was no need to rush this,” says Gill. Instead, SNC pulled together workshops, hosted coffees and informal gatherings, met one-on-one with concerned parties and said, “Tell us what you’re concerned about. Let’s try to figure out how to erase that and see what works for this community.”
The result was that, by December 2008, after doing all the groundwork, the measure came before the city council in reduced form—applying to just 30,000 square feet or more of new construction—but as a solid first stake in the ground. SNC gave a presentation showing all the benefits of green, high-performance building and, at the end, asked everyone who was in favor of the green building ordinance to please stand up. Everyone in attendance stood. “The council looked around at all these people, who’d been against it, but who were now standing for it…and it passed unanimously.”
“We learned it takes time, listening and making sure you have buy-in—that people end up feeling heard,” says Gill. “And we ended up with a much better policy at the end. We learned a very valuable lesson: None of us is as smart as all of us together!”
What did Napa gain?
In 2008, due to the ongoing recession, new construction in Napa had practically come to a standstill. But, says Gill, “[The slowdown] gave people time to get used to the new standards and understand that it was actually a plus to be able to market a new building as high-performance.” According to SNC, high-performance buildings show excellent cost/benefit and return on investment, on average, yielding close to a 35 percent reduction in energy use and an average of 36 percent reduction in air pollutant emissions over their life.
The benefits to health and comfort from better air and cooling, more efficient design, plus the ongoing benefits of energy cost savings make these new buildings appealing to tenants as well as owners. “Green building is less expensive over time,” says Gill. “And tenants want the comfort inside, and the lower energy bills.”
When developers Harry Price, Rodger Heggelund and Larry Nelson of CDI Development and Realty Co. joined to form Napa Square Associates and refurbish and develop Napa Square during the first phase of the ordinance, it was important to them to develop it as a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified green building. “The certification process is something the city doesn’t require,” says Price, explaining that the city’s high-performance ordinance sets standards approaching LEED, “but you don’t have to go through the certification process and all the documentation that LEED requires.”
Though Price and his partners completed their project before the city adopted its green ordinance, he explains that building according to high-performance standards continues to pay off with quality tenants who are there because of the building’s environmental standards. “It’s been very well received, and we have several key tenants who are there only because it was a green building.
“I think Napa is one of the communities that’s leading because of the high-performance ordinance. In the future, green, LEED buildings will be the norm.”
Gill explains that LEED certification is a “brand name” designation, and that the green standards to which Napa builders must now adhere are similar, though not as well known. “I think the fact that there was some consistency applied through the high-performance ordinance was helpful, and made it easier for [Price], because he had contractors who knew what was required.” She says SNC wants builders seeking LEED certification to understand that the Napa high performance building ordinance will get them at least most of the way.
SNC moves forward
Now that its building standards are well established, SNC is turning its attention to other initiatives. “We’re working now on climate action strategies and policies and sustainability plans here with our local jurisdictions,” says Gill, “and we’re realizing that things like a high-performance building ordinance nests snuggly under a climate action plan. So now we’re talking about the energy and dollar savings and GHG emissions reductions you can project to 2020 because of the various policies in place, like the building ordinance, waste diversion and recycling goals, or a streamlined process for renewable energy permits, for example.”
When PG&E was looking for a partner for its Energy Watch program, it contacted Sustainable Napa County. “That’s been a wonderful collaboration,” says Gundling. SNC now works with PG&E to help nonprofits and businesses with sustainable energy management to save on their energy bills while reducing energy consumption by providing energy efficiency audits, retrofits, energy efficiency design assistance, installation of energy efficiency equipment, local energy efficiency seminars and training and education.
Gill explains the partnership between PG&E and SNC and how it works for nonprofits. “When we became partners with PG&E through our contract to administer, coordinate and deliver energy efficiency programs as part of the Napa County Energy Watch—a program that helps cities, nonprofits, special districts and commercial customers with energy planning and greenhouse gas reduction assistance, regional planning for energy reduction methods and outreach, and local training opportunities—we decided that helping nonprofits would be one of the sectors we focused on.”
The partnership works like this: SNC sends in a team, consisting of its own project engineers, a representative from PG&E and one of PG&E’s lighting contractors, to conduct a free audit and give the nonprofit an assessment of what to change to save them energy and money. “Then we help them find every PG&E rebate and incentive they qualify for and put that toward the things they’ll need. Whatever the shortfall is between what the rebates cover and what the final cost will be, SNC can cover by using a special Gasser Foundation fund earmarked for this purpose.
“In this way, there are no out of pocket expenses for the nonprofit, and they start seeing a positive return on their next utility bill. It also provides a teaching opportunity, so nonprofit staff, clients and even donors start thinking about energy use in a whole new way. It’s a simple formula that really works.”
Cole Family Center’s Gallagher says the help her organization received from the SNC/PG&E partnership a few years ago has continued to pay off and helped change the culture of Cope to one of sustainability. “SNC did an assessment of our building and recommended both property improvements and behavioral habits we could implement, including a ‘green policy’ that was adopted by our board of directors,” she says. “In addition to doing some training with our staff, they funded improvements to our HVAC system and helped us implement the conversion of our traditional yard to a native, drought-tolerant landscape and small vegetable garden.”
PG&E representative Katie Kerns Davis believes the relationship between SNC and PG&E is proving mutually beneficial. “PG&E appreciates our continuing collaboration with Sustainable Napa County on a number of energy initiatives in Napa County,” she commented via email. “Like PG&E, SNC has a demonstrated dedication and passion for sustainable communities, making this a natural partnership.
“By working with SNC, we’re able to promote resources in the region that work best for the community,” she writes. “PG&E and SNC have created a model partnership for other local business organizations to follow.”
Everything comes together
Christy Abreu is public education director for her family’s business, the Upper Valley Recycling and Disposal Center in St. Helena. She’s also been on the SNC board of directors for more than one year. “It’s a wonderful group of people, and the cause is right along the lines of what I’ve been doing my entire life. So it’s a good fit for me,” she says.
She describes one project SNC shared with St. Helena’s Climate Protection Task Force, called Main Street Sweep, where members of SNC and the Task Force reached out to the businesses on the town’s Main Street, asked them how they were doing with their energy conservation, as far as kilowatt hours consumed, and let them know PG&E was available to help through a program called Napa County Energy Watch. Businesses, she says, were receptive, and many were already working toward their own sustainable goals.
SNC is now working with a group called Lodging Savers, Abreu says, which targets energy reduction and conservation in the lodging industries. The groups meet with local owners of hotels and bed and breakfasts to show how the facility’s overall footprint can be reduced by even simple things, like changing to LED light bulbs or adjusting the thermostat slightly.
The partnership with PG&E is an example of collaboration, sharing of best practices and developing successful programs to conserve energy. Other programs, outreach and collaborations are focused on water conservation, reuse and recycling—all as part of a mindset that’s making and keeping Napa “green.” One vivid example of the cycle of use and reuse is the composting program Abreu runs at the Clover Flat Resource Recovery Park in Calistoga (formerly known as “the landfill”), where food waste proceeds from the plate to the composter to Cindy Pawlcyn’s gardens and then, in the form of fresh organic veggies, back to local tables.
Along the river, efforts such as the Rutherford Reach and Oakville to Oak Knoll Reach restoration projects, which were initiated by landowners and the county to help restore the riparian and aquatic habitats along the Napa River, are paid for by Napa County Measure A funds and grants from state and federal agencies. The success of these restoration efforts show what can be done when owners put aside immediate interests and instead give time, funds and a few feet of land (to establish a reasonable riparian buffer zone between the river and active agriculture), thereby creating a more healthy watershed for all.
Supervisor Diane Dillon says the Napa watershed is doing much better than it was 15 years ago. “Part of that is because our attention has been called to things that we should be doing to improve our watershed and to right the wrongs of the past. We can’t take it back to where it was, but when people learn about the river—how it used to be and what’s happened in the Valley over the last 150 years—they immediately think, ‘Let’s not make things worse than they are right now! Let’s see what we can do to restore them to a sustainable level.’”
With Sustainable Napa County and all the other local organizations working together to manage the county’s energy footprint, the sustainable mindset is strong. As Supervisor Mark Luce says, “Sustainability involves not just the environment but community equity and the economy. All of those things need to be considered together to find optimal solutions. In my mind, it’s a way of saying we’re doing good planning. And when you have people working together from different perspectives to accomplish goals that you, by nature, agree on, you’re working for sustainability. So that’s what we do!”
In Napa County, sustainability groups are working steadily, educating, informing and working together with people so that, when issues are on the table that may affect the character of the valley they love, creative collaborators are ready to determine what needs to be done and figure out how to do it.
