To: Honorable Mayor and Members of City Council
From: Molly Rattigan, Interim Community Development Director
Prepared By: Brendan Hurley, Economic Development Program Coordinator
TITLE:
Title
The Napa RiverLine Strategic Plan Update
LABEL
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Recommendation
Receive an update from the Economic Development Division on the RiverLine Strategic Plan, also known as the Napa RiverLine Economic Resilience Strategic Plan authorized by the Council on April 2nd, 2024.
Body
DISCUSSION:
1. Historical Background on the RiverLine Initiative
The Napa RiverLine (RiverLine) is a transformative community initiative designed to improve access to and enjoyment of the Napa River. Inspired by world-class trails and waterfronts like the New York High Line and the Tampa Riverwalk, the RiverLine envisions a scenic, water-focused walkway that supports the river’s natural habitat while offering environmental, recreational, social, historical, and economic benefits to the community and region.
As the Napa area faces increasing growth and climate-related challenges, the RiverLine represents responsible stewardship. It aligns with the Flood Control Project’s “Living River Objectives,” reimagining the Napa River’s role while enhancing its natural functions and balancing environmental preservation with community access.
The RiverLine conceptually ties together and builds upon previous City planning documents. It specifically envisions the implementation of the City’s recently adopted 2040 General Plan, which calls to strengthen the river’s role as a community focal point and supports the use and activation of the Napa River corridor. Selected strategies, goals, and policies that are identified in the General Plan that support the RiverLine are included in Attachment 1.
Other plans that support the development of the RiverLine include:
• The 2012 Downtown Specific Plan, for example, Land Use Policy 14 states “Create linkages to and between public gathering places, parks and the Napa River for people to explore downtown”.
• The 2005 Napa River Parkway Plan, which envisions the entire 7-mile long river corridor for recreational and environmental improvements.
• Other past documents include the 2005 Soscol Corridor/Downtown Riverfront Development & Design Guidelines and the 2005 Tannery Bend Development and Design Guidelines.
The RiverLine complements and connects these established plans, aligning future development efforts under a unified vision for the Napa River corridor.
2. Project Background
Starting in 2021, a group of private property owners, businesses, and stakeholders located in the Oxbow District focused on the vision and enhancing economic vitality and community appeal and development of the area. This group, named The Oxbow Task Force, formed a sub-committee with members of the Friends of the Napa River to advance the RiverLine. This community group was instrumental in incubating the RiverLine concept.
In 2024, the Oxbow Task Force sub-committee formed a group called the Napa RiverLine Advisory Committee (“Advisory Committee”) comprising of 16 members to champion the project from the private stakeholder and community side. The Advisory Committee plays a crucial role in providing feedback and serving as a liaison between the project team and the broader community. Advisory Committee members include:
• Steve Carlin (Oxbow Public Market), Chair
• Gabe Carlin (Oxbow Public Market)
• Tom Bensel (former Managing Director of CIA-Copia)
• Phill Blake (Friends of the Napa River)
• Chuck Shinnamon (Friends of the Napa River)
• Francie Winnen (Friends of the Napa River)
• Gordon Huether (former City of Napa Planning Commissioner, Gordon Huether Studio)
• John Salmon (in memoriam)
• Ryan Gregory (Sherwood Engineers and former Napa County Supervisor)
• Chuck McMinn (The Napa Valley Vine Trail Coalition)
• Alonso Corona (Napa County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce)
• Craig Smith (former Downtown Napa Association Director and river advocate)
• Councilmember Beth Painter (City of Napa- District 2), Public agency advisor
• Supervisor Joelle Gallagher (Napa County- District 1), Public agency advisor
• Neal Harrison (City of Napa Economic Development), Public agency advisor
• Brendan Hurley (City of Napa Economic Development), Public agency advisor
The Advisory Committee is in the process of forming a RiverLine nonprofit organization. This nonprofit is envisioned to lead long-term stewardship of the RiverLine by supporting community engagement, fundraising, coordination of future design and programming efforts, and serving as a collaborative partner to the City and other agencies in implementation.
In January 2024, The City of Napa received a $250,000 grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) to fund the Napa River Economic Resilience Strategic Plan (“Plan” or “Napa RiverLine Strategic Plan”) for strengthening economic resilience along the flood-prone Napa River, with the RiverLine as the core concept. At the April 2nd, 2024 Council Meeting, the Council approved the acceptance of the grant for the Plan.
In April 2024, the City released a Request for Proposal (RFP) and, through a competitive bidding process, selected the firm SWA Group as the prime consultant for the RiverLine Strategic Plan. The project team includes BAE Urban Economics as the economic consultant and Acorn Environmental to prepare a CEQA approach memo. The project kicked off in July 2024. The role of the project team is to develop a Plan that builds upon their professional expertise and develop concepts based on input from the community, the Technical Advisory Committee, and Advisory Committee.
A Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) was established to help set the stage for the project, shape its outcomes, and coordinate efforts along the Napa River. The TAC is made up of a variety of public agency staff that have influence in the future development of the project. TAC members include City staff members from Parks and Recreation, Planning, Public Works, and the City Managers Office, staff members from the Napa Valley Transportation Authority (NVTA), staff members from Napa County Flood Control and Water Conservation District, and two technical community members. The TAC met three times to provide input, feedback, and direction during crucial points in the planning process.
The planning process also included a community open house that was held on January 25th, 2025 with over 100 community members in attendance, a workshop with the Napa County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce that was held on March 15th, 2025 with around 25 participants, three online surveys to gather community input at various stages of the project, and multiple presentations to community groups and boards that expressed interest in the project. In addition, staff have been meeting with the Advisory Committee bi-monthly on the project. Key community themes that emerged included a desire for improved trail connectivity, more public amenities along the river, and enhanced ecological education opportunities.
3. Overview of the RiverLine Strategic Plan
As the City prepares for an increase in available land for commercial, residential, and industrial purposes as the result of the new flood walls proposed under the Napa River/Creek Flood Protection Project (“Flood Project”), the planning and design conducted with this Plan seeks to address equitable consideration of access and economic opportunity for sustainable growth. The Plan is included as Attachment 2.
While the Flood Project led by the Napa County Flood Control & Water Conservation District is integral to the Plan and includes the construction of a continuous trail network as part of its flood wall improvements, the RiverLine Strategic Plan is a separate and complementary effort. The Flood Project is currently extending the trail network north and south of Downtown Napa, laying a physical foundation for access. The RiverLine builds upon this infrastructure by establishing a broader vision for community engagement, public amenities, economic activation, and design guidance along the riverfront.
Although the two efforts are distinct and led by different organizations, the nexus is the RiverLine trail system, which the City and the Advisory Committee (which is forming a nonprofit organization) are working towards a cohesive vision for the riverfront experience.
The Plan achieves the following:
• Vision and Access
o Sets a vision for improved and enhanced access to the river via the Napa RiverLine.
o Implements the Napa General Plan 2040, which strengthens the river’s role as a community focal point and supports the use and activation of the Napa River corridor. Selected strategies, goals, and policies that are identified in the General Plan that support the RiverLine concept are included in Attachment 1.
o Aligns with the fiscal year 25/26 and 26/27 Council Focus Areas of Climate Action, Economic Resilience, Parks & Community Spaces, and Community.
• Design Framework
o Provides a high-level vision framework and design guidelines to inform the future creation of the RiverLine trail.
o Develops a framework that outlines future river-adjacent improvement projects to activate the river and attract locals and visitors to the river amenities.
o Enhances the floodwall trail that is part of the Flood Project and connects to existing or future trails that may come as part of future development projects.
• Economic Development
o Highlights opportunities for economic development and provides recommendations for economic resiliency to be leveraged by the Napa River as a business and ecological asset, strengthening the City’s economy and infrastructure as a result.
o Outlines important considerations of access to economic opportunities for new and expanding businesses.
• Implementation, Governance, and Engagement
o Creates a blueprint for implementation and coordination with non-profit partners, including governance, funding, and project prioritization.
o Supports a cooperative governance model between the City, the future RiverLine nonprofit, and other key stakeholders.
o Outlines activation strategies to encourage people to engage with the RiverLine through events and other programming.
o Through the engagement process, the project generated an email list of nearly 170 community members that are interested in the continued development of the RiverLine.
• Environmental Stewardship
o Promotes ecological and environmental stewardship through thoughtful trail design and activation.
o Highlights opportunities for nature and education on river ecology.
o Seeks to harmonize access to the river with ecological protection, utilizing existing and planned infrastructure for public enjoyment of the river trail.
o The RiverLine compliments many of “Living River” principles to enhance public access, promote environmental stewardship, and support relationship between the community and the river corridor
The Plan does not include:
• Changes to a property’s Land Use as outlined in the General Plan or Zoning Code.
• Policy changes to building setbacks, building heights, or riparian zone standards that are outlined in the Municipal Code.
• It is not a fully engineered, detailed site plan for the entire river.
• It is not a construction document. Any future projects or work would require additional engineering and environmental review.
The Plan (Attachment 2) is made up of the following sections:
• Executive Summary. Includes a high-level summary of the report.
• Introduction. Includes previous planning efforts, existing conditions, engagement process, and goals.
• RiverLine Vision. Sets the stage on how the benefits to Napa community and qualities of the RiverLine trail itself.
• RiverLine Experience. Establishes system-wide design guidelines that outline how the trail can reinforce connections to the water and the community. Meanwhile, specific design and development guidance outline the baseline trail condition and provide specific direction for improvements within each Benefit Zone illustrated in the Plan.
• RiverLine Highlights. Outlines future river-adjacent community improvement projects located at key locations along the RiverLine to provide new amenities, destinations, and crossings for users. Any future projects will be subject to future approvals, including identification of funding sources, and environmental review.
• RiverLine Activation. Outlines opportunities for the RiverLine to support a wide range of programming and activation that complement the trail through health & wellness, art & commemoration, and nature & education, subject to future approvals, including identification of funding sources, and environmental review.
• RiverLine Economic Opportunities. Summarizes planned and future development projects within the RiverLine area demonstrating the potential positive impacts for both existing and future residents. The plan describes a clear set of equitable outcomes to prioritize within the catalytic growth opportunities as well.
• RiverLine Implementation Blueprint. Outlines strategies for governance between the City, partners, and nonprofits, funding opportunities, project prioritization, and phasing.
• Appendices. Includes a case study review of other riverfront projects, alternative governance models, existing conditions and environmental considerations summary report, a post-open house summary report, and the Napa County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce workshop summary report.
4. Next Steps
The draft plan was released for a public feedback period in June/July 2025 and is posted to the project’s website www.NapaRiverLine.org <http://www.NapaRiverLine.org>. This is the final presentation of the full RiverLine Strategic Plan to the City Council prior to its finalization. Following this meeting, staff will collect any feedback provided by Councilmembers and incorporate it as appropriate into the final version of the Plan, which will be made publicly available in Fall 2025.
Once finalized, the Plan will serve as a visionary and aspirational document that informs future efforts and partnerships related to the Napa RiverLine. It is not a formal document and the City Council is not being asked to adopt the Plan at this time. The City and its nonprofit and community partners will use the Plan as a roadmap for identifying future funding opportunities and activation of the Napa River corridor over time, with potential implementation of the Plan subject to future public approvals and environmental review.
FINANCIAL IMPACTS:
As the City is not adopting the Plan at this time, there is no commitment to future actions or funding specific to this item.
CEQA:
As this item is for information only, the Interim Community Development Director has determined that the Recommended Action described in this Agenda Report is not subject to CEQA, pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15060.
The Napa RiverLine Strategic Plan can be characterized as a study that does not formally commit the City to any specific projects, funding, or approvals. Future actions undertaken as described within the Plan will require separate project-level CEQA review and permitting.
Although staff is not currently seeking official adoption of the Plan, it most closely aligns with the use of the Statutory Exemption for Feasibility and Planning Studies under CEQA Guidelines Section 15262. The use of this statutory exemption “does require consideration of environmental factors.” The exact format of this consideration is flexible, and environmental factors were considered during preparation of the plan as demonstrated in the “Existing Setting and Environmental Considerations” in the Plan Appendix. If staff seeks an official adoption of the Plan by City Council in the future, a Notice of Exemption would be filed with the Clerk and State Clearinghouse.
While not included in the current scope of work, the City may elect to prepare a Program EIR to environmentally clear projects outlined in the Plan for future project-level approvals.
DOCUMENTS ATTACHED:
ATCH 1 - Applicable General Plan Policies and Approaches
ATCH 2 - The Napa RiverLine Strategic Plan
NOTIFICATION:
None