Former Napa City Council member Liz Alessio, a founding member of Operation: With Love from Home, addressed volunteers at Crosswalk Community Church in Napa before a care package packing bee Dec. 7, 2024. Alessio will be sworn in to the Napa County Board of Supervisors on Saturday.
Barry Eberling
Napa County in 2025 will again wrestle with how much winery, tourism and vineyard growth to allow and where -- and with a new-look Board of Supervisors.
Supervisors-elect Amber Manfree and Liz Alessio will be sworn in on Jan. 4 and join Supervisors Belia Ramos, Joelle Gallagher and Anne Cottrell. But this could be more than Napa County's first all-female board.
Gone are Supervisors Alfredo Pedroza and Ryan Gregory. At the Dec. 17 Board of Supervisors meeting, vintner Robin Baggett thanked them for their "unwavering support of the wine industry."
Of the five supervisors on the new board, the Napa County Farm Bureau supported their opponents in all but Alessio's case. Meanwhile, two supervisors -- Manfree and Gallagher -- were endorsed by the environmental and community coalition Napa Vision 2050.
This comes as the county prepares to update its 2008 general plan. A general plan in part is a guide to growth, a playbook for the future of the rural, world-famous wine country.
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Will a new-look Board of Supervisors chart new courses?
Napa Vision 2050 Co-President Eve Kahn hopes so. Some people feel that agriculture is the big elephant in the room and everything else is small, she said.
"I don't want to say that agriculture should be ignored," she said. "It just needs to be put in a balanced approach."
Kahn mentioned several hot button issues, such as when development should be allowed on narrow roads in mountainous, fire-prone areas or near streams that feed reservoirs.
Peter Rumble is the CEO of the Farm Bureau, having taken the position about three months ago. He's been talking to supervisors.
"I firmly believe they view agriculture as a benefit and sort of bedrock to our community," Rumble said. "I'm certainly committed to work collaboratively with them, to provide information about the needs of industry and the pressures the industry is facing."
He said the notion that agriculture and the environment are in opposition is harmful.
Alessio and Manfree both won election to the Board of Supervisors in March, are to be sworn in on Jan. 4 and will be key to future county decisions. They recently talked to the Register about land use and other issues.
Liz Alessio
Alessio is leaving the Napa City Council to become county supervisor. She comes from a family that has lived in the county for 140 years, a tie to the past that she says also makes her feel tied to the future and the next 140 years.
She considered what she can bring to clashes over how to balance vineyard and winery growth with the environment.
"I really hope to bring people together," Alessio said. "We can see the common ground and our shared goals and interests. We work on preserving and maintaining the industry while also doing the same for the beautiful, diverse environment are so fortunate to live in."
Alessio isn't a stranger to Napa County's sometimes bruising rural growth battles. She was a peripheral participant in the 2023 dispute over the proposed Le Colline vineyard near Angwin.
Le Colline would have been near a stream that feeds the city of Napa's Lake Hennessey reservoir. Alessio signed a letter with two other city council members saying the proposed vineyard could have a "devastating" effect on the watershed. Le Colline owners said evidence showed otherwise.
The Board of Supervisors rejected the project for various reasons, 3-2, prompting praise from environmentalists and criticism from the Farm Bureau and other wine industry voices.
More than a year later, Alessio said her belief that there can be common ground on land use issues is based on talks during her campaign with people from different sectors. People want to be heard and at the table and have some certainty.
"They are coming from their own areas of passion and personal interest," Alessio said. "But I see a lot of cross section on this."
While land use gets much attention in Napa County, Alessio made it clear she will have many other interests as a supervisor.
She mentioned the need for more affordable housing. That entails working with the cities and her understanding of city policies and governance will help, Alessio said.
"I really want to weave and tighten that collaboration between city and county," she said. "It's gotten better, even the six years I've been on council."
She ran for supervisor because she wants to increase access to behavioral health services, which encompasses mental health and substance use disorders, Alessio said.
The stresses of being unable to afford living in Napa and having to commute, the shortage of child care and the prices of utilities and groceries all play a role. Creating a better economic environment for working families is a priority, she said.
She talked about ongoing efforts to create a countywide climate action plan. The county and its cities and town are looking at how to reduce emissions from such sources as transportation and buildings.
But while renovating homes and multi-family buildings to meet climate goals, the community must guard against the unintended consequence of "renoviction" -- rents rising and people being evicted. There must be a balanced approach, Alessio said.
Alessio reflected on the county's new, first all-female Board of Supervisors.
"We're very diverse in terms of our life experience, professional experience and educational experience," she said. "I foresee us as being a very diverse board. I see five hardworking individuals who are very dedicated and committed to the task at hand."
Amber Manfree
Manfree, a geographer who lives on rural Soda Canyon Road, also has experience with Napa County's growth battles.
For example, in 2017 she said cave excavation soils from the proposed Mountain Peak winery might damage stream water quality. That same year, she objected to increased wine production at The Caves at Soda Canyon because that would add truck traffic to narrow, winding Soda Canyon Road.
Manfree recently struck much the same tone as Alessio about trying to find common ground.
"I would be really pleased if we could get to a place where we have less conflict overall...I want to start having conversations about that, about the bigger picture," she said. "About how we can get away from that conflict and get to a place where we're a lot more productive."
She noted that every supervisor was supported in their campaigns by some members of the wine industry, if not the Farm Bureau. The wine industry is part of the community's fabric, she said.
"The wine industry is a huge contributor to the economy and the community in general," Manfree said. "I'm sure they will continue to be that."
Manfree said she'd like to see the county explore having a habitat conservation plan. These plans seek to protect habitat for endangered species in less of a patchwork way and give developers more clarity.
"I think it could be helpful for us because it's a framework designed to move communities away from conflicts around land use," Manfree said.
Napa resident Yvonne Baginski has asked the county to explore establishing a habitat conservation plan. The Board of Supervisors is to hear from county staff early next year on the pros and cons of such plans and whether one might be suitable for Napa County.
Manfree wants to address issues besides land use. For direction, she's relying on her experiences while campaigning.
"Affordable housing and road quality are the number one and number two concerns of voters when you're knocking on doors," she said.
The community has succeeded in moving some affordable housing projects forward. She wants to build on that, though she knows it will be challenging, Manfree said.
On the pothole front, Manfree said Measure U should help. Measure U passed in November and allows bonding with the existing, half-cent street maintenance tax to allow street maintenance projects to be done sooner.
"I'm not trying to take us in a whole lot of new directions," Manfree said. "I think we just need to keep charging forward with the work already underway and make sure we do a good job at it."
She has said an all-female Board of Supervisors has symbolic value. But beyond that?
"Once we're sworn in and we're working on things, we're just going to be working on things," she said. "We're going to be like any other board in the county working on things. I'm really looking forward to serving alongside the other supervisors. My view is we're an extremely well-qualified board..."
The new Board of Supervisors will soon be leading the county.
"We have a great rapport, and I think we're going to be just fine," Manfree said.
You can reach Barry Eberling at 707-256-2253 or [email protected]
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