Pacific Union College is resuming work on its Angwin eco-village project, but the Seattle-based developer that has guided the project since 2005 will assume a smaller role in the 380-unit project.

In a statement, the college announced that rather than selling more than 560 acres of land to Triad Communities if the project is approved, “PUC will complete the entitlement work itself and then decide how to sell the land.”

The recession was the catalyst that led the two parties to reevaluate their relationship, according to John Collins, PUC’s vice president for financial administration, and Curt Johansen of Triad.

Under the new arrangement, approved by the PUC board on Monday, the college will retain Triad as a consultant, but won’t be obligated to sell the land to Triad if the controversial project is approved.

Now that Triad no longer has a financial stake in the project, the college will have more flexibility in negotiating with the county on changes to the project, said Collins and Curtis Johansen of Triad.

Johansen acknowledged that unless Triad ultimately buys the land and sells it at a profit, it will have to write off millions of dollars it has invested up to this point.

“The recession has made it more challenging for Triad to stay in as a financial endeavor, but we’re still 100 percent committed to making sure the project gets approved,” said Johansen.

Johansen said the slow economy has hurt his firm. “Triad has been hit hard like most real estate development companies,” said Johansen. He said the firm has been particularly hard-hit with projects in Seattle. “In Seattle we do a lot of construction ourselves, and have a number of projects in various stages.”

Nonetheless, Johansen said Triad could enjoy long-range benefits to having its name attached to the eco-village, “a unique project that will get national attention for its sustainability features,” said Johansen.

“Not every project is a financial success, but there are times when it’s important to complete a project because of its aesthetic value and its reputation value.”

The college sent a letter to the county Tuesday signaling that work is resuming on the project’s environmental impact report. The environmental report was put on hold in January when complex land use issues arose that could have precluded the project.

In April the Board of Supervisors resolved those questions in a way that placed some limits on PUC’s ability to develop its land, but allowed the eco-village application to proceed.

Work on the environmental report didn’t resume immediately because the recession caused PUC and Triad “to slow down and try to understand how to move forward without making mistakes,” according to Collins,

Allen Spence, a spokesman for Save Rural Angwin, which opposes the eco-village, released a statement in response to the news.

“We are grateful to the majority of the (Napa County) Board of Supervisors for clearly indicating that 43 percent growth in a remote mountain-top community is inappropriate and that their position helped PUC regain control of its land use,” he said.

Next steps

Collins said the college is aiming to release a draft environmental report in October, followed by public hearings in early 2010 and a vote by the Board of Supervisors in July 2010.

Collins said the departure of PUC President Richard Osborn last month had nothing to do with the eco-village. He said the PUC board is in the process of selecting a new president, who should be in place by the time the environmental report is done.

The college isn’t making any immediate changes to the eco-village proposal, which was last modified in fall 2008 when the proponents relocated proposed new units, reduced the number of traditional housing units and added a 105-unit retirement center.

The environmental report will probably evaluate the comparative impacts of an alternative project that’s somewhere in between the proposed eco-village and the 191-unit development already pre-approved by the county’s housing element, said Johansen.

Collins said that with the help of environmentally friendly features and mitigations, the final project will have an “ecological footprint” no larger than that of the 191-unit project.

The college is aiming to raise $80 million for its endowment from the sale of the land.

Register Staff Writer Jillian Jones contributed to this report.