CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2017–2018 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 126

Introduced by Senator Dodd
(Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Aguiar-Curry)

April 02, 2018

Relative to the 50th Anniversary of the Napa County Agricultural Preserve.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


SCR 126, as introduced, Dodd. 50th Anniversary of the Napa County Agricultural Preserve.
This measure would recognize April 9, 2018, as the milestone 50th Anniversary of the Napa County Agricultural Preserve and the critical part the hundreds of growers, vintners, local leaders, and members of the Napa community play to preserve the beauty and splendor of the valley and its agricultural industries, for this and future generations.
Fiscal Committee: NO  
WHEREAS, Through trying times, including the Prohibition Era, natural disasters, and the relentless encroachment of urban sprawl, agriculture has maintained its celebrated position as an integral part of life in the Napa valley; and
WHEREAS, For nearly two centuries, Napa valley farmers have worked with the valley’s fertile volcanic soils and unique climate, optimal for growing lush vineyard grapevines and producing world-class wine grapes and other agricultural products; and
WHEREAS, In the 1960s, agricultural regions throughout the state were rapidly disappearing, and being replaced with residential subdivisions and commercial developments, that were seen as more lucrative uses of the land; and
WHEREAS, While many other regions throughout California permanently paved over their agricultural land, Napa valley did something visionary and doubled down on agriculture, resulting in the long-term preservation of Napa County’s agricultural legacy; and
WHEREAS, On April 9, 1968, the Napa County Board of Supervisors voted to create the Napa Valley Agricultural Preserve, the first of its kind in the United States; and
WHEREAS, This innovative resolution initiated a succession of progressive land-use policies to protect Napa valley farmland from encroaching urbanization, and prioritized agriculture as the best use of the land, thereby protecting 31,609 acres of agricultural preserve farmland from urban development until 2058; and
WHEREAS, Well into a second generation effort to preserve the valley, Napa County property owners are voluntarily placing their land into conservation easements, dictating how those parcels will be used in perpetuity, thereby ensuring that approximately 55,000 acres of Napa County will be forever guaranteed to remain rural through the program; and
WHEREAS, In addition to protecting Napa County’s agricultural land, the Napa County Agricultural Preserve ensures the preservation and sustainability of the wine country’s agricultural heritage, including the charitable leadership of the industry, innovative agricultural housing and worker protection programs, standard-setting sustainability efforts, and, of course, the production of world-class wines; and
WHEREAS, Napa valley continues to maintain its commitment to agriculture, and the maintaining of its agricultural preserve, stating clearly in its general plan: “Napa County in 2030 will remain a world-famous grape growing and winemaking region, with a viable and sustainable agricultural industry”; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly thereof concurring, That the Legislature recognizes April 9, 2018, as the milestone 50th Anniversary of the Napa County Agricultural Preserve, and further recognizes the critical part the hundreds of growers, vintners, local leaders, and members of the Napa community play to preserve the beauty and splendor of the valley and its agricultural industries, for this and future generations; and be it further
Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.