St. Helena fights for access to wastewater treatment plant

Chaix Lane, a private road off Highway 29, is at the center of a court battle between the two sisters who own it and the city of St. Helena, which uses it to access its wastewater treatment plant.

Two sisters are skirmishing in court with the city of St. Helena over access to the wastewater treatment plant, which is undergoing major upgrades.

Denise Chaix Wiig and Darcel C. Chaix own Chaix Lane, a private one-lane road the city uses to reach the plant from Highway 29.

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The city has used the road for decades under the terms of a century-old easement, but on March 2 the Chaix sisters filed a lawsuit in Napa Superior Court accusing the city's contractors of trespassing on the road.

The legal challenge sought to prevent the city's contractors from using Chaix Lane for a major concrete pour necessary to upgrade the 1960s-era plant.

After hearing oral arguments from both parties on March 28, a judge denied the sisters’ request for a temporary injunction blocking the contractors from using Chaix Lane.

City officials say the concrete pour, originally scheduled for March 29, has been postponed by four to six weeks for unrelated technical reasons involving bad weather and supply chain delays. City Manager Anil Comelo said the city "is still engaged with the Chaix sisters through the City Attorney's Office." The case's next hearing is scheduled for Aug. 9.

In court filings, the Chaix sisters say the city's contractors, Thompson Builders, can't use Chaix Lane without their permission. With heavy construction vehicles using the road to access the plant, the sisters claim "harm in the form of damage to the roadbed and annoyance and distress to the various humans and animals" on the Chaix property.

The city's attorneys say a 1966 condemnation order gave the city the right to use Chaix Lane under the terms of an easement granted in 1915 to the previous owners of the wastewater treatment plant site.

That easement gives St. Helena and its "servants, visitors and licensees" the right to use Chaix Lane "for all purposes," the city's lawyers say.

Vice Mayor Eric Hall filed a sworn declaration claiming that one of the sisters, Darcel C. Chaix, admitted to him in 2020 that the city had the right to use Chaix Lane, although she wished the use weren't so heavy and she hoped it wouldn't increase when the plant was upgraded.

The Chaix sisters’ court filings suggest the city should access the plant using other roads off Zinfandel Lane, instead of Chaix Lane.

In statements filed with the court, Public Works Director Joe Leach and Paul Petri, division manager for Thompson Builders, each said those unpaved agricultural roads are unsuitable for heavy construction vehicles like concrete mixer trucks because of tight turns and standing water that accumulates on the roads after storms, causing even smaller trucks to get stuck.

The upcoming concrete pour is a crucial prerequisite to installing the plant's new membrane bioreactor, which is being pre-constructed in Paso Robles and will be delivered in two pieces, Leach told the Star.

Before the bioreactor can be installed, 60 concrete mixer trucks will have to deliver 540 cubic yards of concrete to the site. Leach said crews had planned to start at 3 a.m. and be done in 16 to 18 hours, with a long line of trucks staging along Highway 29 while they wait to enter the site via Chaix Lane.

The treatment plant has been operating under a cease-and-desist order since 2016 because it can't meet modern treatment standards. Since 2018, the city has incurred about $147,000 in fines because treated effluent released from the plant has exceeded allowable contaminant levels.

Prohibiting the use of Chaix Lane to access the plant could cost the city $3,500 per day in construction delay costs and risk further fines, the city's attorneys stated in a court filing.

The Chaix sisters’ attorney, Thomas Carey, could not be reached for comment.

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You can reach Jesse Duarte at (707) 967-6803 or [email protected].

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St. Helena Editor

Jesse has been a reporter for the St. Helena Star since 2006. He became editor in 2021.

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