On April 8, 2003, the Napa County Board of Supervisors passed the Stream Setback Ordinance by a vote of 3 to 1, with Supervisors Dodd, Wagenknecht, and Rippey voting YES, and Supervisor Luce voting NO. Supervisor Dillon was not able to vote because of a possible conflict of interest.
Accordingly, Napa Valley Land Stewards Alliance launched its widely anticipated referendum petition drive. Under the laws governing referendum petitions, NVLSA has just 30 days to obtain enough signatures on its petitions to qualify its referendum. A referendum petition simply asks the Board of Supervisors to either reconsider and repeal the ordinance or refer it to the voters at the next election. If NVLSA obtains approximately 3700 valid signatures of registered Napa County voters, the Board of Supervisors will be required to honor the request.
Some NVLSA members are already carrying petitions with them, and signature gatherers will be on the streets in force by this weekend, knocking on doors and asking registered voters to sign.