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

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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