County Strikes Blow Against Proposed Dairyman Winery Project
County strikes blow against proposed Dairyman winery near Sebastopol
by Bill Swindell
The Press Democrat | December 23, 2015, 7:27PM
Delivering a blow to the most controversial winery project in Sonoma County, the county’s top parks official has found that the owner of a vineyard near Sebastopol has no current legal right to access his property by crossing the Joe Rodota Trail.
Parks Director Caryl Hart also determined that any possible changes to the popular bike path to accommodate the proposed Dairyman Winery and Distillery project would not provide any benefit to the trail or the public.
Her decision places Sonoma County Regional Parks in direct opposition to the plan by winemaker Joe Wagner to turn his 68-acre property into a large winery and distillery that would produce up to 500,000 cases of wine annually and hold events with up to 600 guests.
Tennis Wick, director of the county’s Permit and Resource Management Department, said Hart’s letter has put the brakes on development.
“It’s development 101. No access, no project,” Wick said.
An attorney representing Wagner disputes the county’s legal reasoning, and the 33-year-old winemaker has vowed to press on. “We still believe this is the right project in the right place,” Wagner said in an interview.
In the year since Wagner applied for a use permit, the proposed Dairyman project has become the highest-profile battle over winery development and expansion in Sonoma and Napa counties. The fight pits wineries, which are looking for growth opportunities in an increasingly competitive industry, against community activists and environmentalists who contend such expansion is ruining their quality of life with traffic and congestion.
Wagner, who earlier this year sold his Meiomi brand for $315 million to Constellation Brands Inc., has encountered significant opposition to his proposal from a range of local groups raising concerns about the development’s impact on natural resources, groundwater and roads. The Sebastopol City Council unanimously approved a nonbinding resolution in February urging county officials to deny the application for the project, located along the Highway 12 corridor between Santa Rosa and Sebastopol.
Permission to cross the Joe Rodota Trial, an almost 9-mile pedestrian and bike trail, has emerged as the major sticking point. Even Wagner acknowledges that the dispute must be resolved for his bid to be successful.
Sonoma County acquired the land for the trail in 1988 from Northwestern Pacific Railroad and it has become a very popular path, used by everyone from long-distance bike riders and commuters to children learning how to ride. Roughly 600 to 700 people used it during weekends in August last year, according to a 2014 study conducted by the Sonoma County Transportation Authority.
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Re: County Strikes Blow Against Proposed Dairyman Winery Project
may we rejoice in small victories...i don't mean to diminish this one...perhaps, it is bigger.
i give thanks to Caryl Hart for putting a monkey-wrench in the works. phew, that was close...but
as we all know, it's not over. let's not become complacent.
and just to set the record straight...let's tell Mr. Wagner's attorney, "this is the Wrong project, Wrong place,
and nowhere will this project ever be the Right place, thank you very much, but No Thank You!"
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Posted in reply to the post by Sara S:
County strikes blow against proposed Dairyman winery near Sebastopol
Re: County Strikes Blow Against Proposed Dairyman Winery Project
From a journalistic point-of-view, note the difference in the pro-wine industry PD's article, which has substantial quotes from the Dairyman attorney, painting Wagner as a victim, and the Dec. 16 Sonoma West article, which quoted Padi Selwyn of Preserve Rural Sonoma County on this same matter. I posted that article on Wacco. There is a sharp difference between the tone of the writer of this article, wine industry cheerleader Bill Swindell, and other PD writers and the Sonoma West editor who first broke this story a week ago. Swindell is not objective or balanced in his reporting on the wine industry.
Swindell could easily have interviewed more than the one critic he did, but decided not to. He gave most of his soiled ink to Joe Wagner and his attorney. He could have interviewed people from Preserve Rural Sonoma County, Wine & Water Watch (www.winewaterwatch.com), or any number of groups and individuals, including the five Sebastopol City Council members who voted unanimously against this project and thus stimulated the growing criticisms.
Note that the letter that he refers to from Regional Parks head Caryl Hart was written in Sept. It has been in the public record since then, and many of us knew about it. Why did the PD wait until now to release this story. Their job should be to print the news, which they do not always do a fair job of doing.
Meanwhile, appreciations to PRMD's Tennis Wick for considering pulling the application and to Regional Park's Caryl Hart for speaking truth to power. Though this is a true victory, given the millions of dollars that Wagner has already spent on this project and the millions more he has, this does not mean that this has necessarily stopped the project in its tracks (so to say). We need to stay tuned and be willing to act.
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Posted in reply to the post by Sara S:
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County strikes blow against proposed Dairyman winery near Sebastopol...
