2024: A look back at the past year in Yountville

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Residents of all ages joined in the town’s first Yountville Night Out, during which firefighters, law enforcement officers, city officials, and members of the Napa County Sheriff’s Department Mounted Posse paraded through various neighborhoods, stopping at the eight different parties that were being held. Kim Beltran/Yountville Sun File Photo

It wasn’t a single event that dominated the news in Yountville this past year but rather a project.

Yountville Commons, the town’s own community development plan taking shape on a former elementary school site, was in Sun headlines at least once a month, but often more.

Beginning with a Town Council goal-setting session in February (where the project was deemed the top priority for the year) to this month when a building on the 6.8-acre property was named in memoriam, the mixed-use development has been the subject of no less than 12 public meetings, study sessions, and open houses.

The architects for the project, designed to include low-income and workforce housing as well as open space and a hub of service-oriented businesses, began in August holding weekly office hours for residents to ask questions and offer input on the space.

Those Tuesday morning and last-Saturday-of-the-month sessions will continue through February.

During an August study session, the council unveiled a community engagement timeline giving residents multiple opportunities to weigh in on the project over the following six months.

Calling this period the “visioning” phase, the council and Town Manager Brad Raulston said they hope to move into the actual “planning” phase by March of 2025.

Other top news stories included the disbanding of Yountville’s only service organization, the Kiwanis Club, founded in 1990.

The Napa Valley Museum, housed on the grounds of the Yountville Veterans Home, announced a major update, and the town of Yountville finally built an off-leash dog park, albeit a temporary one.

Here’s a month-by-month look at the stories and issues that Yountville residents were talking about in 2024:

January

The year started off with a couple of charity events, one for refugees from a war a world away, and one a beloved annual tradition.

Mixed among the social soirées, town business included tightening planning rules to avoid unpermitted developer actions, and adjusting the budget to account for higher-than-projected hotel taxes.

A nonprofit founded by Yountville resident Debbie Alter-Starr jointly supported the fundraiser, “Napa Valley Stands with Ukraine,” with and for some 40 families living in Napa and Sonoma counties after fleeing Russia’s attack on their country. “We fundraise for humanitarian aid to Ukraine,” Alter-Starr said at the time of her Napa Valley to Ukraine nonprofit. Funds raised have helped purchase warming huts, camera drones, an ambulance, and many other supplies needed by the soldiers on the front lines of the battle. Of Ukrainian-Jewish ancestry, Alter-Starr’s connection with Ukraine grew stronger when her son, Aaron, lived and studied there. He was still in the country when Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.
The Yountville Kiwanis Club, a pillar in the community for more than three decades, held its 34th annual Crab Feed – a benefit for the club’s scholarship program and other philanthropic efforts. Little did many know then that it would be the last time the club would host the popular event.
Town staff considered changes to its building permit and design review rules after Planning & Building staff had to red-tag several projects the previous summer and fall. In two of the cases, the developers were granted approval to remodel or add on to the existing home on their properties. Instead, both houses were demolished in violation of approved plans. Then-Planning and Building Director Irene Borba, whose department is tasked with making sure builders follow the rules, presented several ideas to the Town Council for ways to deter developers from running afoul of their permits. Among the solutions: strengthening the town’s Design Review conditions of approval by adding clear language about what’s required; instituting formal pre-construction meetings with the contractor or property owner that include “all appropriate departments or agencies” before a building permit is issued; and creating educational materials and requiring informational job site postings.
Based on a routine mid-year budget review, finance staff adjusted the town’s projected Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) revenue upward, from $7.75 million to $8 million for fiscal year 2023/24. Despite widespread concern about the economy, the TOT continued throughout 2024 to outpace budget analysts’ projections.

February

Napa Valley Unified School District agreed to sell the former Yountville Elementary School site to the town. The deal includes a purchase price of $11 million, which will be paid for with funds the town already has on hand – a combination of savings set aside in recent years for this purpose and surplus funding from several reserve accounts. “The Town has been interested in this property for years and we are excited to be moving forward,” said Yountville Mayor Margie Mohler.
In addition to acquiring and developing the former Yountville Elementary School property, the Town Council, in a goal-setting session, also listed development of an alternative power source as a top priority. Other top goals included the creation and adoption of a town-wide bicycle and pedestrian master plan, a dog run or park, offering Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training to residents, eliminating the use of single-use plastics in town, and encouraging pop-up businesses to provide more retail offerings to visitors and locals.
The Napa Valley Museum announced plans to open a new flagship location in St. Helena in the building formerly occupied by Gary’s Wine and Dean & Deluca, adjacent to Press Restaurant. This expansion comes 51 years after the museum was founded by a passionate group of locals wanting to preserve Vintage Hall in St. Helena, and 25 years after the museum built its current facility on the Veterans Home property in Yountville. The new spot will be named Napa Valley Museum of Arts & Culture or, “the MAC.”

March

Having reached a deal with the Napa Valley Unified School District on the purchase of the elementary school property, the town held an open house at the site giving residents an opportunity to ask questions of town staff and leave input on what they’d like to see there.
The Town of Yountville earned Blue Zones workplace designation.
The Town planted a tree in Yountville Community Park on what would have been Mike Grgich’s 101st birthday. The legendary winemaker died in December of 2023. The memorial “celebrates the legacy of Grgich for his contributions to the wine industry and for his efforts to help farmers around the world, particularly through his support of Roots of Peace, an international humanitarian organization dedicated to removing land mines from war-torn countries and returning the land to agriculture.”
Jamie Neely, a transgender woman, was elected as chair of the Yountville Veteran’s Home Allied Council, a group that serves as a conduit between the home’s administration and its nearly 600 residents. Neely, an Army veteran, is the first woman to be elected to the position in the council’s history.

April

In partnership with Lindsay Hoopes of Hoopes Vineyards, the town debuted a new Thursday morning “farm stand,” selling fresh produce and farm goods, along with take-out food and coffee.
A proposal to subdivide a 1.3-acre parcel of land in Yountville into nine single-family home lots got its first public airing before the town’s Zoning and Design Review Board. The Oak+Vine subdivision at 1980 Yountville Crossroad is being developed by owners/applicants Terry and Mary MacRae of Yountville.
Sgt. James Baumgartner, a Napa native who joined the Napa County Sheriff’s Office in 1997, was named to replace Sgt. Mike Milat as supervising officer in Yountville. Milat, a St. Helena native who joined the Sheriff’s Office just one year before Baumgartner, announced earlier that he would retire in May.
The U.S. Postal Service confirmed it is seeking a new location for the Oakville Post Office, which has served the unincorporated community for over 167 years. A new lease deal could not be worked out with property owner Jean Charles-Boisset.
Escrow officially closed on the town’s purchase of the Yountville Elementary School property.
The Town threw a party to honor lifelong resident and 38-year Parks & Recreation Department employee Jennifer Carvalho upon her retirement.

May

After multiple attempts over at least two decades to find space for an off-leash dog park, the Town Council voted unanimously to create a temporary dog park on the Yountville Commons property.
Jessup Cellars made regional headlines when it announced it would be leasing space to Napa Valley cult brewery, Mad Fritz.
The 12th annual Yountville Art, Sip & Stroll, the largest outdoor art festival in Napa Valley, was held. This year, 65 juried artists participated, up from 50 artists last year.

June

A 60-acre wildfire that started June 5 in the burn scar of 2020’s Glass Fire in Deer Park jump-started the 2024 fire season and rattled the nerves of fire-wise Napa County residents. Cal Fire LNU immediately suspended the use of burn permits in North Bay counties. Two days later, an open-burn ban was enacted for the Lake Berryessa Recreational Area.

July

The Oakville Post Office closed its doors after not being able to secure a property lease and not being able to find another location within the rural hamlet. The United States Postal Service said that its Oakville operations would be “temporarily transferred” to the Yountville Post Office, about four miles away.
Yountville Veterans Home Administrator Lisa Peake resigned. Peake, a retired U.S. Army colonel with 33 years of service, was named administrator in Yountville on July 8, 2019.
The Town entered into an agreement with Donovan Almond, allowing the fitness professional to open a fitness center in one of the buildings at Yountville Commons. A similar deal was reached with Lindsay Hoopes of Hoopes Vineyard to operate a year-round public farm stand and café out of the Yountville Little League Snack Shack on the property.

August

The Town held its first Yountville Night Out – a community-wide event in which different neighborhoods hosted separate but simultaneous parties. Local officials, law enforcement officers, firefighters, and the Napa County Sheriff’s Department Mounted Posse visited each site and shared information.
The town’s first official dog park (though temporary) opened at Yountville Commons.
Incumbent Town Council members Pam Reeves and Eric Knight announced their intent to seek reelection Nov. 5, joining Veterans Home resident Robert Moore and former Town Director of Public Works Joe Tagliaboschi in a race for two seats on the council.

September

The Town of Yountville held its Annual Fall Clean-Up Day, encouraging residents to properly dispose of items such as electronics, batteries, and yard waste.
The Yountville Sunflower Festival was hosted, celebrating the blooming sunflower fields and drawing locals and visitors for family-friendly activities and artisan markets.
The Napa Valley Museum announced an exhibition featuring local artists and their interpretations of Yountville’s agricultural and viticultural history.

October

The Yountville Halloween Spooktacular returned, with costume contests, trick-or-treating, and a haunted trail at Yountville Park.
A new sculpture was installed as part of the Yountville Art Walk, adding to the town’s reputation as an open-air gallery.
The Yountville Community Foundation launched a new grant program to support local nonprofits focused on education and youth services.

November

The Veterans Day Parade in Yountville honored service members and featured a ceremony at the Veterans Home.
The Yountville Chamber of Commerce hosted its annual Holiday Marketplace, kicking off the holiday season with local vendors, music, and festive treats.
Residents and town officials attended a Community Visioning Workshop for the Yountville Commons project, sharing their input on the development’s potential amenities and design.

December

The Yountville Holiday Lights Celebration lit up the town, with thousands of lights adorning trees and buildings. Visitors and residents enjoyed hot cocoa and caroling at Yountville Community Park.
The temporary Yountville Dog Park was officially extended for another year following positive feedback from residents and visitors.
The Town announced that it had reached the final stages of acquiring additional funding for the Yountville Commons Project, setting the stage for planning to commence in early 2025.