Napa Valley neighborhood rises up to reject vacation rental

KEVIN COURTNEY – Napa Valley Register Wrote: Siding with neighbors who complained about noise and traffic, the Napa City Council Tuesday rejected impassioned pleas to allow a historic five-bedroom home in Browns Valley to continue to operate as a vacation rental.

…When the council formalizes this action in January, the Dornaus family will have to close the vacation home they have operated for the past two-and-a-half years with a provisional city permit.

…The Dornaus application triggered an organized response from neighbors upset that the city had let two vacation rentals operate within a few blocks of each other without subjecting them to public hearings.

Many of the same neighbors who turned out Tuesday night to oppose the Dornaus application could return in January when the council is scheduled to hear an appeal by owners of a property on adjacent Arden Way.

…Commissioners noted that family members lived in three of the five residences on the 1.3-acre property, assuring tight monitoring of guests.

…To meet commission concerns, the Dornaus family had agreed to limit overnight stays at the Adriance House to 10 guests, with no more than 15 during the day.

…Gavin surveyed people living closest to the sprawling Dornaus compound, and said 44 households were opposed to a vacation rental, six were neutral and just six were not opposed.

…Rob Dornaus said he had operated a vacation rental for more than a year without neighbors being aware of what he was doing.

…Long-time residents on Larkin were angry that the Dornaus family, knowing this history, had obtained a permit for a vacation rental in early 2007 without the city giving neighbors a chance to protest.

Mayor Jill Techel, who was on the council in 1999 when the B&B application was heard, said she had decided then that a commercial use did not belong in this residential neighborhood.

…Councilman Mark van Gorder praised the Dornaus family for its integrity — “I wish I lived next to the Dornaus family” — but said neighborhood fears could not be mitigated.
 

To read the full article:  www.napavalleyregister.com/