Planners find compromise among winery owners

Compromise among local winery and vineyard owners was said to be a key outcome of a planning group subcommittee’s meetings regarding the county’s draft changes to the Tiered Winery Ordinance.

The Ramona Community Planning Group set up the ad hoc winery subcommittee, chaired by Paul Stykel, after hearing pros and cons from winery owners and stakeholders at its Dec. 8 meeting about the draft ordinance amendments. Although public review of the draft had closed Nov. 23, 2015, the county allowed the planning group additional time to respond.

Heather Lingelser with county Planning and Development Services (PDS) told the planning group at its Jan. 7 meeting that the county Planning Commission rescheduled its vote on the draft ordinance, postponing it until Feb. 5. Lingelser said the final draft ordinance will be available on the PDS website 10 days before it goes to the Planning Commission.

Both Lingelser and PDS Planning Manager Joe Farace attended subcommittee meetings.

Thanking the county for the extra time, Piva said: “There was just a lot of items and there was some dissension between the wineries...and I think we’ve come to a compromise. I believe our ad hoc was supposed to come to a compromise and hopefully come up with something that’s viable that really represents our wineries for the best.”

The planning group’s subcommittee members worked with winery owners on the changes.

The county Board of Supervisors adopted the Tiered Winery Ordinance that allows boutique wineries to open tasting rooms in August 2010. Because of issues and discrepancies that have arisen since its adoption, PDS formulated amendments to eliminate any ambiguity in the requirements. Some of those issues concerned food served at tasting rooms, events, and the amount of fruit that can be sourced for wine production.

Stykel said the subcommittee had two options for required source of fruit, but preferred Option A over Option B.

Option A states that to ensure compatibility with lot size, a minimum of 25 percent of the winery’s production shall be from fruit grown on the premises, a minimum of 50 percent shall be from fruit grown in San Diego County, and the remaining 25 percent may be sourced from anywhere. “No more than 25 percent of the winery’s production may consist of wine sourced from off premises,” it states.

If the county does not agree to that, Stykel said Option B would require 25 percent of grapes from winery premises, 65 percent from within the county and 10 percent from anywhere.

The subcommittee also seeks clarification that large equipment could be stored in non-production space while not in use and not impact production square footage. Photos of such equipment was included.

Stykel said there was a concern that the draft ordinance language could lead to restrictions on small scale retail sales that are common in tasting rooms.

“So this is related to some of the things we would like to sell or have in our boutique wineries,” he said. Among those items are wine accessories, winery branded apparel, wine related art, soap, candles and pre-packaged food.

Winery owners who use their private patios for wine tasting were concerned that a proposed change would limit their use, so the subcommittee suggested the ordinance state the area shall be used by the public only during the hours of operation.

Before Stykel reported on the subcommittee’s findings, Heather Buonomo from the county’s Department of Environmental Health (DEH) presented information about her department’s requirements regarding food distribution at wineries.

Buonomo said a boutique winery can have temporary food vendors and mobile food in conjunction with a permitted temporary or community event, held by a nonprofit. A boutique winery can have up to six such events in a 12-month period. Catered food for occasional private functions such as wine club events is allowed, she said, but the caterer must have a permit from environmental health and have access to a commercial restroom.

“All of the food should be prepared at their permitted kitchen and then transported up there for service,” Buonomo said.

DEH has a mini-permit that wineries can obtain for pre-packaged food, such as cheese, salami and crackers, to sell, she said, but servers cannot open and prepare such food for the customer.

“An important thing to remember with this permit though is you may not open and prepare food yourself,” said Buonomo. “It has to be all pre-packaged.”

Customers can bring their own food and there is allowance for pre-packaged non-hazardous and non-perishable food with no permit if the display is less than 25 square feet, she said.

Allowing one mobile food truck at boutique wineries is being proposed in the draft ordinance, she noted.

Some winery owners said they felt there was conflicting information between what PDS was proposing about food and what DEH required.

Lingelser said the existing ordinance says catered food service is allowed but no preparation is allowed at the wineries, and that will not change.

There were a number of public speakers and a few commented about noise traveling from a winery that has a major use permit and holds events on the east side of town.

“We’re so supportive of any of the agricultural industry here in Ramona....but we need to be good neighbors,” said Nancy Riegler, who lives in the 26000 block of state Route 78.

Beth Edwards, co-owner of Edwards Vineyards and Cellars, said she was concerned about the hours in the county’s draft that says tasting rooms can stay open until 6 p.m. from November 1 through March 1. Edwards said she did not think that was reviewed in the environmental impact report (EIR) for the ordinance and if someone pulls up at 5:59 p.m., they will stay until 7 p.m.

Edwards also said discussion of leasing land in the small winery category was never covered by the EIR.

“First of all, if you get to the point where you outgrow the acreage that you’re at and you’re making enough wine to jump into the next category, you’re making enough millions to buy a bigger property,” she said.

Micole Moore and Terri Kerns, owners of Ramona Ranch Winery, said they had no concerns and thanked the planning group. Kerns called it a “great collaboration.”

The planning group unanimously approved the subcommittee’s draft changes, that included the two options for the source of grapes, to submit to the county.