General Plan

Napa County General Plan Cover

Napa County General Plan

The County's General Plan serves as a broad framework for planning the future of Napa County. This General Plan is the official policy statement of the County Board of Supervisors to guide the private and public development of the County.

  • Directs housing and commercial enterprises to the incorporated jurisdictions and designated urbanized areas through the use of maps and policies.
  • Protects agriculture and agricultural, watershed and open space lands by maintaining 40- and 160-acre minimum parcel sizes, limiting uses allowed in agricultural areas, and designating agriculture as our primary land use.
  • Provides for the additional workforce and affordable housing by identifying necessary sites and programs and by continued collaborations with municipalities.
  • Contains policies aimed at preserving the County’s irreplaceable biodiversity, protecting significant natural resources and water resources, and improving the ecological health of the Napa River.
  • Includes provisions focused on identifying and preserving the County’s cultural and historical resources.
  • Provides transportation policies aimed at addressing congestion, safety, and accessibility, emphasizing alternatives to the private automobile and limited road improvements.
  • Describes a network of bike routes and recreational trails connecting residents to parks and an increasing amount of permanently protected public open space.
  • Includes policies aimed at reducing local contributions to global climate change and encouraging sustainable building practices, sustainable vineyard practices, and ecological stewardship.
  • Recognizes that protecting the economic viability of agriculture is critical to the County’s future and that tourism and supporting industries that are compatible with agriculture also contribute to its viability.

Table of Contents

All files below are in the Adobe PDF format. You need Adobe Reader to view these files. You may download it for free at Adobe's website.

  1. Napa County General Plan - Complete Document (PDF)
  2. Amending Resolutions (PDF)
  3. Signature Page (PDF)
  4. Introduction (PDF)
  5. Summary and Vision (PDF)
  6. Agricultural Preservation and Land Use Element (PDF)
  7. Circulation Element (PDF)
  8. Community Character Element (PDF)
  9. Conservation Element (PDF)
  10. Economic Development Element (PDF)
  11. Housing Elelment (2014) (PDF)
  12. Recreation and Open Space Element (PDF)
  13. Safety Element (PDF)
  14. Implementation Plan (PDF)
  15. Glossary (PDF)
  16. Acknowledgements (PDF)

Implementation

The County is required, pursuant to Government Code 65400(a)(2), to report to the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) as well as the Office of Planning and Research (OPR) regarding reasonable and practical means for implementing the General Plan if a new plan, in total or in part, has been adopted. In addition, a separate report is required that details the progress of implementing the Housing Element.

Since adoption of the General Plan in 2008, the County has prepared and maintains a comprehensive list of implementation action items referenced in the General Plan. The Implementation Table (PDF) details each action item by element and the status of its implementation. In addition, the County implements its General Plan by applying the Plan's goals and policies to individual discretionary decisions in the course of the year.

The list of Housing Element Programs (PDF) from the Housing Element adopted in June of 2009 with corresponding completion dates is available here. While there is some question from HCD as to the adequacy of the element, the Board of Supervisors adopted the Housing Element with the belief that this important chapter of the General Plan meets all statutory requirements and staff continues to implement the programs contained within the document. The goal of the Housing Element is to ensure housing for each economic segment of the community and to reduce constraints in the development of affordable and special needs housing.

General Plan - Environmental Documents

Download Resolution 08-86 (PDF), certifying the environmental impact report for the General Plan Update (2008). Use the tabs below to access PDFs of the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) documents prepared for the General Plan Update:

  1. DEIR
  2. DEIR Appendices
  3. Final EIR, Volume I
  4. Final EIR, Volume II

General Plan Update - Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR)

  1. 0.0 Cover Page General Plan DEIR (PDF)
  2. 0.2 Dividers General Plan DEIR (PDF)
  3. 0.3 Title Page General Plan DEIR (PDF)
  4. 00 Table of Contents General Plan DEIR (PDF)
  5. 1.0 Introduction General Plan DEIR (PDF)
  6. 2.0 Executive Summary General Plan DEIR (PDF)
  7. 3.0 Project Description General Plan DEIR (PDF)
  8. 4.0 Assumptions General Plan DEIR (PDF)
  9. 4.1 Agriculture General Plan DEIR (PDF)
  10. 4.10 Geology General Plan DEIR (PDF)
  11. 4.11 Hydrology General Plan DEIR (PDF)
  12. 4.12 Cultural and Paleontological Resources General Plan DEIR (PDF)
  13. 4.13 Public Services General Plan DEIR (PDF)
  14. 4.14 Visual General Plan DEIR (PDF)
  15. 4.2 Land Use General Plan DEIR (PDF)
  16. 4.3 Population and Housing General Plan DEIR (PDF)
  17. 4.4 Transportation General Plan DEIR (PDF)
  18. 4.5 Biological Resources General Plan DEIR (PDF)
  19. 4.6 Fisheries General Plan DEIR (PDF)
  20. 4.7 Noise General Plan DEIR (PDF)
  21. 4.8 Air Quality General Plan DEIR (PDF)
  22. 4.9 Human Health Risk of Upset General Plan DEIR (PDF)
  23. 5 0 Cumulative Impacts General Plan DEIR (PDF)
  24. 6.0 Alternatives General Plan DEIR (PDF)
  25. 7 0 Long-Term General Plan DEIR (PDF)
  26. 8.0 Report Preparers General Plan DEIR (PDF)
  27. 9.0 Acronyms General Plan DEIR (PDF)
  28. General Plan Community Character Element Excerpt, Table CC-A Historic Resources List 2006 (PDF)