The environmental study of the proposed Angwin eco-village, a key document in getting the project before Napa County officials and the public, is on hold pending the outcome of the county’s bubble debate.

Developer Curt Johansen of Triad Communities said Pacific Union College suspended work on the environmental impact review in January and will resume studies only if changes to the Angwin urban bubble are favorable for developers.

John Collins, vice president of finances for Pacific Union College, confirmed that work on the review has stopped.

“The completion of this extensive document was temporarily suspended pending the outcome of the General Plan zoning matter because of its relevance to the project application,” he said.

The decision to postpone work on the eco-village environmental review followed a December vote by the Napa County Board of Supervisors that left land use in Angwin in limbo. The issue now is bouncing between the Planning Commission and the board, and is expected to be resolved at the end of April. Previous discussions suggest that the changes to the Angwin urban bubble — the area in which residential or commercial development could take place — will likely not keep the eco-village proposal from being heard later this year.

“We decided that it would be wise to let this get sorted out,” Johansen said.

“Until the county votes later this month, the college doesn’t have certainty that those 63 acres are not going to be changed,” he added.

Collins said that if the compromise on the table is ultimately approved, “We will proceed to complete the EIR as quickly as possible and look to distribute it publicly this summer.”

Johansen acknowledges there are both financial and political reasons for wanting to wait on the environmental review.

Given the $3 million to $4 million cost of generating the eco-village  environmental review, it makes good financial sense to wait for a decision from the county, he said.

“It would be costly to continue and finish a document like that that would never be allowed to have a public hearing process,” he said.

There are also political reasons for wanting to wait, according to Johansen.

“Politically,” he said, “the issue is if, in fact, the supervisors were going to go in a different direction, that would cause the college to reevaluate the direction they were headed in terms of their property rights.”

Both Collins and Johansen say the environmental review is about      80 percent complete, though Napa County Planning Director Hillary Gitelman said that may be overly optimistic.