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  1. TopTop #1
    Barry's Avatar
    Barry
    Founder & Moderator

    Proposed Freestone wine-tasting room, event venue raises hackles

    Here's the next one. Sigh...

    One interesting twist in this one is that Eric the K (Koenigshofer), is weighing in against this project, which is an unusual role for him of late. Perhaps it's because he "once lived in Freestone" and can sympathize. Seems a common situation for those on the right. They start off as opposed/immune to compassion for others, unless they have experienced "it" (the challenge at the moment) themselves, and then their heart finally opens. They can't quite get to having compassion from the beginning.

    Barry





    Proposed Freestone wine-tasting room, event venue raises hackles in western Sonoma County

    MARY CALLAHAN
    THE PRESS DEMOCRAT | March 24, 2017, 9:31PM

    FREESTONE — Evolving plans for a new wine-related event center at the entrance to this rural, historic village have some people here bracing for a fight, afraid the charm and flavor of their pastoral valley may be in jeopardy.

    After the owner of a prominent farmstead at the crossroads of Bodega and Bohemian highways sought permission in January to convert his landmark barn into a wine-tasting venue, tap room and art gallery, concerned residents spread the word, preparing to mobilize once the proposal reached a more advanced stage.

    But Sonoma County planners already have put the project on hold, telling property owners John and Jennifer Webley it won’t be allowed to go forward without significant revision, according to Tennis Wick, director of the county’s Permit and Resource Management Department.

    “It is substantially out of scale with the community,” Wick said in an interview. “This is not the right use. It’s not the right scale of use. It’s development that’s completely out of character with the community.”

    But John Webley, a well-known innovator and entrepreneur who owns Santa Rosa’s landmark McDonald Mansion, the Victorian estate he restored at the heart of the historic McDonald Avenue neighborhood, said his envisioned Freestone project, Mableton Farms, has been largely misunderstood.

    The written proposal calls for a 6,200-square-foot tasting room and commercial area, with an outdoor patio and a separate, lawn area nearby to host outdoor events. A total of 230 parking places were included, including 50 near the barn, in part to accommodate three events a year drawing as many as 300 people each. Food sales, promotional lunches and dinners also were planned.

    Webley said the project would not be the highly commercial, Napa-style wine center that his critics make it out to be.

    “What I’m trying to do is good for them, and they don’t know it,” he said.

    Continues here
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    Shepherd's Avatar
    Shepherd
     

    Re: Proposed Freestone wine-tasting room, event venue raises hackles

    For more information on the threats to our coast and the Freestone neighborhood by this proposal, you can go to the websites of Wine and Water Watch (www.winewaterwatch.org) and Preserve Rural Sonoma County, as well as its Facebook page. We need all the allies we can get on this one, regardless of views and politics on other matters. This huge development would be a big disaster.
    Last edited by Barry; 03-27-2017 at 10:23 AM.
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