Plastic Bag Ban Gets Green LIght From Napa City Council

Napa City Council on Tuesday agreed unanimously to move forward with preparing an ordinance that would ban city retailers from offering customers single-use plastic bags.

"It's time for Napa to take the lead on this," said Councilman Alfred Pedroza. "Partnering with the county is critical and we need to keep looking at potential statewide ban -- but I don't think we have to wait."

Napa officials said they would draw the outline of the ordinance from the text of 69 other California cities and counties that have already passed such measures.

A likely feature of the ordinance would be an accompanying 10-cent charge on paper bags, so that people don't trade one environmentally toxic habit for another. People would need to start carrying their own reusable shopping bags -- or fold-up "ChicoBags" -- in their cars or purses.

"Without mandating this, we're not getting people to change their ways," said Councilman Peter Mott, referring to an earlier education effort by Napa Valley CanDo that did not produce lasting results. "I would like to see this done sooner than later."

A crowd of about 60 people cheered at the 5-0 vote that came after a two-hour meeting at Napa City Hall.

About 15 people spoke -- or, in the case of student Henry Mattel, sang, accompanying himself on the guitar -- in favor of the ban.

Those included representatives from Napa Valley CanDo Visit Napa Valley, Friends of the Napa River, Napa Valley Green Party, Napa Valley College Campus Greens and others.

"In San Jose, they passed a ban to protect the Coyote Creek," said Karen Garcia of Napa Valley CanDo.

"Bodies of water are impacted by plastic bags because if any bags get into the environment, they are washed into storm drains and then out into a rivers and streams," she said.

"If Coyote Creek can be protected, then certainly Napa River can be protected,"  Garcia said.

Speaking against the ordinance was Napa Walmart co-manager Pang Yang.

She said she was concerned that not having plastic bags would lead to increase shoplifting because it would be hard to tell the difference between people with merchandise that was paid for -- and not in a bag -- and items that were being stolen.

"If we don't have plastic bags, we can't tell if people are taking from us," she said.

She also said the store was worried about having to charge customers for paper bags.

"We're concerned because there are customers who can't afford it," she said.

According to a Napa City staff report, a group likely exempted from the 10-cent fee for paper bags would be low-income families. Other exemptions on the plastic bag ban are also listed in the staff report.

To see a copy of the staff report, visit the Napa City website.

Mott said he thought that if the city could do a thorough job on the environmental study required by California Environmental Quality Act, then it could stand on firm legal ground with a "negative declaration of environmental impact" for the proposed ordinance.

That would be instead of spending $100,000 and a year's time doing an environmental impact report. An EIR is seen as one of the protections against a lawsuit by pro-plastic bag trade groups, but a Napa city attorney said it was not a guarantee one way or the other.

Some plastic ban ordinances with just a negative declaration have been upheld -- as with the city of Manhattan Beach, upheld by the state Supreme Court -- and others have been overturned, he said.

"No one can answer it for all," the attorney said. "It's decided on a case-by-case basis -- it depends if that particular negative declaration is adequate for that particular ordinance in that particular city or county."

He said the city could always add in an EIR later if it was joined by partners such as Napa County or other cities and towns.

One of the pro-ordinance speakers, Carol Lilleberg, reminded City Council that not too long ago, recycling pickup at the curbside was seen as a pipe dream that could never be accomplished.

"We used to have to hire teenagers to pick up the recycling and then take it to places that would purchase the recycled items," she said.

"On Mondays, now, when I see the blue bins out there, I say to myself, 'That really happened -- people can now put out recycling and get it picked up,'" Lilleberg said. "It gives me goosebumps."

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