It’s not easy trying to be a Citizen Environmentalist. Besides being diligent in recycling and composting, I never really thought of myself as one. But as you’ll see, the following story highlights my efforts in trying to keep a part of our beloved Napa County from environmental neglect and destruction from unrestrained development.
Recent storm wastewater runoff spills into Napa’s Sheehy Creek from a sloppily maintained construction site drive home the reality of the county approval process of winery buildings near creeks without the continous monitoring and oversight by county officials. It took almost eight weeks from initial discovery of a stormwater breach, with many complaint emails, and verifying photos, for a temporary repair of the site to be completed.
What would have happened if no one noticed?
Relying on citizen complaints to find and report environmental violations is Napa County’s unofficial policy and unfortunate reality as building and development forge ahead without staff or resources to insure that promises made on approved permits, are kept.
Citizens, like myself, don’t always know what a violation is, or what a standard practice is, or a temporary fix is. (By the way, please let me know if you are having the same issues trying to protect the areas you love, and maybe we can work together to demand that our interests and issues be heard and appropriately dealt with. Contact me here.)
It all started on my regular dog walks along the path next to Sheehy Creek, in Napa’s industrial park. I like the fact that I am always the only one walking, there’s privacy , nature and quiet. I have never run across another person on this path.
Last year, a fence went up on the parameter of the path, and work started on the new Gateway East Winery, a behemoth project including new roads, a bio-retention pond and three very large, cement buildings. After a couple of months, I started noticing a substantial increase in litter along the path. The workers on the project threw their plastic water bottles, fast food containers, Modelo beer bottles and chip bags over the fence, into the brush alongside the creek. Now, when I walked, I brought along a trash back and wore gloves to collect their litter.
One day, alongside the creek, I discovered several large plastic containers, filled with oil. I started making calls to find out who would be responsible for cleanup. One call, led to another, and finally to the Napa County sheriff. Yes, the sheriff went out to look at the containers…but, he wasn’t sure what to do next. No one knew who had jurisdiction for cleanup. After two weeks, I got through to the Napa County environmental office, and someone agreed to meet me out at the creek. He was surprised to see the path, and admitted that he didn’t even know that the walking area existed. While he wasn’t sure who would be cleaning up the mess, (he thought it might be Cal Trans), I did find out that eventually, the containers were removed.
But, it didn’t stop there. In November, I started wondering why so much vegetation had been destroyed along the creek, and who had jurisdiction of the creek, and so on November 1, I emailed County Supervisor Belia Ramos, describing issues at the building site and asking her who is responsible for monitoring the creek?
Two weeks later, November 12, I received her response, which she copied from county staff, “It looks like there was a minor failure of one of the bio-retention ponds (due to the plugging of the culvert and recent heavy rains), which caused the flows to overtop the bank of the pond, resulting in major gullying. It has since been repaired.”
I saw no evidence for anything being repaired.
I reached out to a local activist and creek expert, Chris Malan, a Sierra Club member since 1992, for help. On December 5, we walked the creek together.
She pointed out that the site was a mess, including:
- Failure of an onside stormwater detention basin;
- Improperly installed silt fencing and wattles;
- Lack of appropriate protection around stockpiled material;
- Damage to riparian vegetation along Sheehy Creek.
We took photos.
My untrained eye, as a bystander, had noticed this without knowing that these are violations.
Malan told me to report to the County Planning’s Department engineer, and the SF Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board. I sent out photos and reports of our findings to county supervisors, the planning commission and all reviewing agencies.
I received only one response from a county administrator, “The Engineering Division will be reviewing the project SWPPS’s documentation to ensure it was reported properly.”
On December 15, I spoke before the Napa County Board of Supervisors, imploring that someone oversee what is happening at the construction site at Sheehy Creek, and I asked for a moratorium on all future construction sites until there is adequate staff to monitor compliance. I was thanked for my testimony.
On December 16, I received an email from the Regional Water Quality Board indicating that Napa County staff had been out to the site, and “did identify a few corrective actions for the developer to implement.:
On December 17, I published an opinion piece, a “Love Letter to Sheehy Creek” in the Napa Register.
December 26, I walked out again, and noticed nothing changed. I took more photos, and reported to the Napa County Stormwater Department that the waddle was improperly placed, and several more breaches had occurred due to more rains. (Emails were also exchanged with the SF Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board, who was awaiting more information from county officials.)
Altogether, weekly site visit continued, and hours were spent constructing emails, writing an editorial, testifying, etc.
Finally, the first week in January, action was taken. The bank of the river, stripped of vegetation, is now covered with jute erosion control matting. New waddles were installed. On January 7, I received a copy of a letter (from the SF Regional Water Quality Control Board) documenting the repairs that were completed at the site.
One glaring error in the letter, however. The letter of event documentation state that the Napa County Engineering Staff “received a citizen complaint describing these issues on December 28, 2021 and performed an inspection on site on December 30. “
My initial complaint (with photos) was filed on December 7, and it was sent via email directly to the SF Regional Water Quality Control Board, Patrick Ryan, Napa County Planning Department Engineering Manager, Belia Ramos, Napa County Supervisor and David Morrison, Director of the Napa County Planning Department. I have a series of emails indicating that county staff had been out to the site several times in December. And, I also have the email from December 13, indicating that the site had been repaired.
The final January documentation also states the area had been seeded (no reference kind of seeds) and the riparian habitat would be restored at construction completion. (No idea who would be overseeing and how the planting would be determined.)
As a citizen, with no knowledge of the rules/obligations of constructions entities, the county planning officials, chain of command or jurisdiction, or even the environmental protections of this creek, I tried to follow through on every aspect of the situation. I am retired, have time, and basically was invested enough to doggedly pursue each lead. However, this cannot be expected to be the overriding reality of of monitoring and overseeing development in our community. Current practices mean that much goes unnoticed and unreported.
I asked what are the consequences to the developer for the breach and destruction of the habitat. There are no consequences. No fines, no stern looks, no admonishments. Just the request that “they have to implement corrective action.” And, any future monitoring will be done by the occasional citizen who might walk by, take an interest, or even notice that something is amiss.
And, finally, “After construction completion, the Project is required to conduct vegetation and geomorphic monitoring for a minimum of five years to demonstrate that riparian vegetation is successfully restored and that the stormwater outfall is functioning as designed.”
I guess that means I’ll be walking that path for another five years. Again, please let me know if you are having the same issues trying to protect the areas you love, and maybe we can work together to demand that our interests be heard.