December 2022 Around Town Update

December 20, 2022

Seasons Greetings!

I hope that all of you are enjoying the holiday season! As 2022 winds down, I have been reflecting on all the growth in our community in the past year. We have welcomed two new restaurants, Ristorante Pasta D'Oro and Bel King, in the Napa Junction shopping center, new model homes at Watson Ranch have opened, construction of new homes on Oat Hill has just started, the Circle K gas station is nearly complete and construction on two new affordable housing complexes; Lemos Pointe and Napa Cove have begun. 2022 was a very busy year in American Canyon!

As we look forward to ringing in 2023, more new activity is on the horizon, including more homes in Watson Ranch, new restaurants, and businesses.

As I frequently tell people, if you want to know what's going on in American Canyon, attend the Planning Commission meetings. The Planning Commission meets on the third Thursday of each month at 6:30 PM in Council Chambers at City Hall. Public participation is also welcome via Zoom and the City's eComment portal, available on the website after the meeting agenda has been published.

City Offices will be closed from December 23rd – December 27th and on January 2nd. Building permits submitted outside of regular business hours will have an application submittal date equal to the next business day's date. For questions regarding building permits, please email permittech@cityofamericancanyon.org.

Please stay safe and be kind to one another.

Brent Cooper, AICP
Community Development Director

As we end 2022, we are bidding farewell to two Planning Commissioners whose terms will end this month. We are incredibly grateful to Commissioners Tyrone Navarro and Tammy Wong for their years of dedicated service to our community.

Tyrone Navarro has served on the Planning Commission since March 2011. During his time on the Commission, he served as both Chair and Vice Chair.

Tammy Wong has served on the Planning commission since February 2019 and is the current outgoing Vice Chair of the Commission.

Planning

The Planning Division completed 22 projects in 2022, with varying levels of complexity. Staff processed lot line adjustments for the Watson Ranch Specific Plan area, minor modifications for the PG&E regional center and Oat Hill apartments, and pre-applications for prospective projects in the Broadway District Specific Plan. The Planning Division also helped develop the City’s fuel station ordinance, the first of its kind in Napa County.

Building

The City approved several housing entitlements that began construction in 2022. The Oat Hill Apartments project for 291 apartment units at Oat Hill was approved in 2021, and staff issued mass grading permits this year. The Napa Cove Apartments project consists of 66 affordable apartments between Melvin Rd and Hwy 29 was approved in 2021, and building permits were issued this year. The Watson Ranch Artisan and Harvest Subdivisions were approved in 2021 for 317 single-family residential units. The initial phases of the new homes are in construction, and the model houses are complete. For more information, don't hesitate to contact our staff planner, William He, at whe@cityofamericancanyon.org. 

Figure 1: Oat Hill Apartments Minor Modification

Staff is anticipating many exciting new developments in 2023. The Planning Department is reviewing the following residential development projects:

• The Residences at Napa Junction project consists of 453 apartment units located north of the Canyon Ridge Apartments.
•  The Sun Square Mixed-Use Project comprises 20 apartment units and 7,300 SF commercial space located at 425 Napa Junction Rd. 
• The Watson Ranch Lot 8 Subdivision includes 25 single-family lots north of the Watson Ranch Harvest (Lot 10) Subdivision.

For commercial development, the Planning Department is reviewing the following projects:

• The Giovannoni Logistics Center comprises 2.4 million SF of warehouse space located south of the Napa Logistics Park at Green Island Rd. 
• The Watson Ranch Hotel includes a 200-room hotel and 30 dwelling units east of the Napa Valley Ruins and Garden. 
• The Chicken Guy Restaurant consists of a 2800 SF quick-serve restaurant with drive-through south of the Walgreens on American Canyon Rd. The restaurant is a franchise developed by the Food Network celebrity Guy Fieri.

Be on the lookout for these items on the Planning Commission agendas, subscribe to receive agendas here. 

Figure 2: Watson Ranch Hotel at the Ruins

Figure 3: Residences at Watson Ranch Hotel

Figure 4:  Residences at Napa Junction Concept Plan