St. Helena’s economy has survived, if not thrived, during the recent economic downturn. But what should be done to keep it healthy for the next 20 years?

That’s one of the key questions addressed in a report by the Economic Outlook Study Group, a committee of a dozen business representatives, citizens and city officials formed in May at the request of St. Helena Mayor Del Britton.

“Our job was to think about the economic situation in St. Helena and think about what we might do to make St. Helena’s economy sustainable in the future,” group member Dave Brotemarkle told the city’s General Plan Update Steering Committee on July 22.

The study group identified St. Helena’s dominant industries as wine, tourism, and various retail and other businesses. But it concludes that there’s also potential for a fourth major industry sector, broadly defined as “health and wellness, fitness, research, education and health care.”

The report argues that making St. Helena a health destination would be compatible with the wine industry and would attract a similar demographic. Plus St. Helena already has the infrastructure for such an industry, with businesses such as the Culinary Institute of America, St. Helena Hospital, the Napa Valley College Upvalley campus and Health Spa Napa Valley.

“Quality of life lessons emphasizing health, wellness and fitness in our beautiful valley will harmoniously attract more low-impact, high-dollar visitors, and be good for our residents,” said Brotemarkle, who proposed the motto “St. Helena is good for your health.”

The entire study group attended the last week’s general plan meeting because the committee was scheduled to tackle the “Economic Stability” element of the new general plan. But Brotemarkle, the study group’s spokesman, didn’t get a chance to summarize the report until after the committee had finished discussing the general plan’s economic policies.

Senior Planner Greg Desmond, the city staffer in charge of the general plan update, said there’s still plenty of time for people to provide input. “There’s time to comment now and up until Nov. 15,” he said.

Members of the Economic Outlook Study Group were interviewed as stakeholders as the draft economic element was being put together, Desmond added. “So a lot of what they proposed is in the draft element already,” he said.

The report has already won the full endorsement of the St. Helena Chamber of Commerce’s board of directors. A full presentation of the report and its recommendations is scheduled for the Aug. 25 City Council meeting.

The report includes a few broad recommendations: keep the wine business in focus, invest in infrastructure improvement, improve St. Helena as a destination, revisit downtown retail/commercial policies, explore the possibility of promoting new industry and continue to focus on economic sustainability.

The report points out that the costs of necessary infrastructure improvements exceed city revenues. One of the solutions, the report states, is to boost revenues by easing restrictions on businesses. Formula business restrictions, hotel room caps, restaurant seat caps and parking restrictions hamper businesses that drive the city’s economy and generate revenue for costly infrastructure projects, the study group concluded.

“We think the city needs to transition from being a gatekeeper to being a proactive partner in our town’s future economic sustainability,” said Brotemarkle.

The report looks at St. Helena’s revenue sources, relative to comparable cities like Calistoga and Yountville. It observes that St. Helena gets just 17 percent of its revenue from transient occupancy taxes (TOT), compared with 59 percent in Yountville and 48 percent in Calistoga.

Compared with those cities, St. Helena receives a relatively large portion of its revenue — roughly 30 percent — from sales taxes. The top generators of sales tax revenue are food products, including restaurants (41 percent), retail building materials (21 percent), general retail (18 percent), and transportation (13 percent).