The Loose Cannon – Yountville Shopping Center
Yountville was referred to as a “city” until 1980 when it transitioned to the “Town of Yountville” by designation of the Yountville City / Town Council.
In February of 1966, the Yountville City Council adopted a resolution initiating proceedings to annex 26 acres of land for a proposed shopping complex. The landowners, Gerald Myers and Joyce Webb, were seeking annexation to develop a $5 million shopping center.
From Emma Gwin’s column “Yountville News” published in the Napa Register:
“The various shops and businesses will include a clothing store, gift shop, supermarket, gas station, bank, theatre, bowling alley, saddle shop, farm equipment store, variety store coffee shop and Greyhound bus station.”
Ricardo Castro had been the head of the Pleasant Hill Planning Department prior to becoming Yountville’s city planner at the time. He questioned the need for the proposed 10-acre shopping center, claiming that a development of that size should have a population of 8,000 people within a mile radius. Yountville only had 2,409 residents.
The annexation of the land needed to be approved by the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO), and it was voted down 3-2.
The commission agreed with locals that the annexation would constitute “leapfrogging” of the Yountville municipality. The land was about a half mile south of the Yountville city limits, 2,076 feet to be exact. There was vineyard land between the property and the city.
Following that announcement, Alta F. Myers wrote a letter to the editor in the Napa Register. Her letter included the following:
“The city of Yountville wanted this project very badly and three men said no. Is this a democracy? Is this how we progress?”
1966 was an election year. Two of the first city council members, George “Bud” Dulinsky and Cleve Borman, opposed the shopping center and were NOT reelected. It was implied that they lost due to their opposition to the proposed shopping center. Bud’s opposition was not surprising since he and his wife Barbara then owned the Cash N’ Carry market (now Ranch Market Too).
The principals promoting the shopping center requested another chance to convince LAFCO, citing a procedural error in their first denial.
In May, LAFCO denied the proposed shopping center a second time by the same 3-2 vote, once again noting their opposition to “leapfrog” development.
In June, Joyce Webb again requested the Yountville City Council include her property in the upcoming city master plan.
In July, City Planner Ricardo Castro presented his work on the master plan, which projected an eventual city population of 51,000. Castro’s expressed preference was for the city to grow to 27,000 between 1980 and 1985. The council expressed the most interest in a city population of 14,000.
Castro included the Webb property in the plan. The properties between the shopping center and the former city limits would be designated “open space, agricultural.”
Castro projected that his plan would have the following results by 1985 as detailed in the Napa Register of September 22, 1966:
“Increase commercial land from 7.5 acres to 275 acres.”
“Allocate 787 acres for parks, parkways and open space development, including two motel-restaurants golf course developments along Highway 29 and Silverado Trail.”
“Establish a 12-acre civic center site north of Mulberry Street.”
“Castro’s analysis also predicts nine new elementary schools, two junior high schools, a high school, public library and an additional fire station.”
There are no typos in those amazing projections!
On October 26, 1966, Castro’s plan was formally accepted by the city council (Oh really?). But tracking the plan’s implementation after that got hazy. It was a long and arduous process addressing the details and fielding questions and concerns from the residents.
The eventual adoption of a general plan for Yountville wasn’t until 1975. Fortunately, it looked little like the Castro plan and will be the topic of a future column.
Editor’s note: According to the 2020 census, the population of Yountville was 3,436 with nearly a third of the town’s population residing at the Veterans Home of California.
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