Détente has been declared between St. Helena and the Napa Valley Wine Train, but Mayor Del Britton isn’t so sure that St. Helena citizens are ready to lay down their arms.

On Tuesday, the City Council  rejected Britton’s proposal that St. Helenans vote on whether the Napa Valley Wine Train should drop off passengers in the city.

Britton, the only staunch opponent of the Wine Train on the council, said St. Helena voters should be asked a simple question on their November 2010 ballot: “Do you want the city to allow the Wine Train to discharge passengers in St. Helena?”

But other councilmembers agreed that any talk of a ballot initiative is premature until the Wine Train’s trial period has ended.

In June, the council agreed to allow the Wine Train to disembark up to 50 passengers during the next couple of Cheers! St. Helena events. At the end of October, the council will consider how things have gone and decide whether to allow more frequent stops.

The Wine Train made its first stop during the July 3 Cheers! event.

Britton has criticized the trial run, saying there’s no clear criteria with which to evaluate the Wine Train’s impact on the city.

“I’m getting a lot of feedback from people who are not happy about the fact that we’re doing this,”  Britton said.

“Everybody I talk to loves it, Del,” Councilwoman Bonnie Schoch responded. “Everybody you talk to hates it.”

Councilwoman Catarina Sanchez seconded Britton’s motion to put the issue on the ballot, but the rest of the council voted against it.

“There’s no need to try to fracture the community over this right now,” Crull said.

However, Councilman Eric Sklar said he might be willing to consider the idea once the current trial period is over. Since the city can’t formally place an initiative on the ballot until 2010 anyway, the council should reconsider the matter next year, he said.

Councilmembers Schoch and Sharon Crull said the Wine Train issue doesn’t necessarily boil down to a yes/no question. Crull argued that many former opponents of the Wine Train now support the limited stops.

Sklar said the original dispute between St. Helena and the Wine Train “wasn’t about whether the Wine Train let people off or not. The issue was whether we controlled and had a say in how many. We have that control now.”

He also pointed out that no members of the public have come to council meetings to speak against the Wine Train’s trail period.

Britton suggested that the outcome of the 2008 election, in which he beat Schoch for the mayor’s seat, was an indication that voters oppose the disembarking of Wine Train passengers.

Schoch didn’t think their differing views on the Wine Train were the key factor in the election results, saying that their stances on growth were a crucial issue.