The Spotlight
Today’s Under the Hood Article Summary:
Napa County is rewriting its General Plan for the unincorporated area — not the cities of Napa, American Canyon, Calistoga, St. Helena or the town of Yountville — while a wave of resort projects continues to advance. Entitled in a different economy, these projects add capacity even as wages flatten, younger households decline and constraints such as groundwater limits and fire risk grow. A 2018 city study using ACS and state HCD income bands found about 72% of hotel-worker households tied to new lodging at or below moderate income, with a weighted average hotel wage near $42,800 against a three-person annual mean income in the county at $81,900. The question for the update is whether land-use rules will reflect today’s conditions and tomorrow’s needs— and the Ag Preserve’s intent — or lean on growth-era assumptions.
Beyond today’s discussion, we’re also diving into the latest data from our readers’ polls and providing insights from our economic dashboard, covering local Napa Valley, U.S. and global markets…